bexhillchessclub.co.uk

Category: News

  • Annual ‘derby’ match v. Hastings & St Leonards

    Friday 2nd October – Chairman Bill Tracey’s report :

    • “It was great to see the place buzzing with 14 matches being played. The form guide suggested a Hastings win particularly as they out rated Bexhill on all the top 8 boards.
      The final score of 8- 6 reflected the difference in ratings but it also shows how well Bexhill competed.Notable performances for Bexhill came from Andrew Fleming drawing on board 3, Bill Luxton drawing on board 6 and fine wins from James on board 2, Lawry on board 7, Geoff on board11, Oli on board 12 and Mike Reynolds on board 14.
      I would like to thank all 14 members of our team for how well they represented our club.
      The full team in board order was Luke, James, Andrew, Janis, Jo, Bill Luxton, Lawry, Bill Tracey, Michael Hayward, Jonathan Mfula, Geoff Veale,Oli, Jon James and Mike Reynolds.”
    • And thanks too to our guests for the amicable spirit in which the match was conducted.
    Full Results below:

    Bexhill —- Hastings

    L. Chapman B0 2048D. Lowe W1 2145
    J. Lumsden W1 1915F. Rayner B0 2081
    A. Fleming B1/2 1897J. Sugden W1/2 1991
    J. Petersons W0 1875H. Cove B1 1908
    J. Carthew B0 1681T. Hoxey W1 1 883
    W. Luxton W1/2 1664J. Wheeler B1/2 1848
    L. Rhodes B1 1612M. Brougham W0 1852
    W. Tracey W0 1582P. Kelly B1 1813
    M. Hayward B0 1590A. Cload W1 1590
    J. Mfula W0 —M. Bryant B1 1579
    G. Veale B1 1902PM. Fletcher W0 1418
    0. Balp W1 1545A. Pontonutti B0 1354
    J. James B0 1 356G. Chandler W 1 1192
    M. Reynolds W1 —S.Oakman B0 1154

    Above ratings from ECF Database as of 5/10/26

  • Bexhill Rapid 2024

    Thank you to everyone who came and supported this event. It was another wonderful day with a great atmosphere and some epic chess battles! Congratulations to this years winner: David Graham! And thank you to everyone who played with such good spirit and respect. It was a wonderful day. Full results can be found here.

  • Bexhill defeat Crowborough to go through to the next round of the Watson trophy

    Match report from Bill Tracey for Bexhill vs Crowborough in The Watson Trophy.

    On Friday 13th December, Bexhill played in The Watson Trophy at home vs Crowborough.

    Our team, in board order, was Andy, Janis, James and Lawry.

    Janis was first to finish with a solid draw.

    James then put us in a very strong position by, yet again, playing very well for a win.

    Lawry and his opponent played a long well matched game. In the end game Lawry was up three pawns to two but with Bishops of opposite colours a draw was the final outcome.

    Andy on board 1 just needed a draw but pushed hard for the win and was eventually rewarded with a fine win.

    Final score Bexhill 3 Crowborough 1

    Bexhill will now play Uckfield in the quarter final and if we win will then play our other team in the semi final.

  • Bexhill juniors at Worth

    Bexhill juniors took a team of nine players to the Worth Grand Prix, everyone had a fantastic day and played some great chess. 

    In the U8’s we had Timmy Nguyen who scored an incredible 5/6 coming second!

    We’re looking forward to seeing how he performs in the U8 championship this weekend!

    In the U10’s we had Jaxson Foster and Noah Pearson both in their second ever tournament!

    Jaxson in fact played Noah in the second round. He won and finished on two points.

    Noah played the person who ended up winning the tournament in round 1 and was winning but made an unfortunate error under time pressure and lost but still managed to score 2 points.

    In the U12’s we had Samuel Merchant, Harry Morter and Rose Burgess.

    Harry won 3 points from 5 rounds and then got a draw in round 6 giving him a total of 3.5 points coming 5th and qualifying for the under twelves minor section at the London championships, as did Rose who got 3.5 points as well and the top girl trophy!

    Samuel got 5 from 5 and took a draw with Rose in the last round getting 5.5/6 and winning the section! Congratulations Sam!

    In the U18 minor there was Sebastian Merchant, who scored two and a half points.

    In the U18 major we had Luke Chapman and Andy Nguyen.

    In a very tough section, Luke scored 2 and Andy three and a half.

  • Battle of Hastings

    Report from Bill Tracey:

    On Saturday 22nd July Bexhill made the short journey to Hastings for our annual match.

    The original plan was to have 12 or more per side, but unfortunately Hastings struggled to get enough players so we settled on 9 a side.

    Hastings did their best to match up well against us as we were missing 4 of our top 6 players. At first this was achieved, but due to a few late withdrawals Hastings were forced to include several of their strongest players. As a result we were out rated on the 5 top boards by almost 1500 points!

    Our team, in board order was Andy, Leo, Bill Luxton, Steve Merchant, Luke, Sam, Seb, David Slidel and Mike Chapman.

    There were some exceptional performances from our players.

    On board 1 Andy who is only 11 faced the best player in the Hastings club and achieved a very fine draw. Leo on 2 also gained an excellent result with a draw agains a player rated 320 points higher.

    Bill on 3 continued the trend by also drawing this time against an opponent out rating him by 170 points.

    Sam on 6 was involved in a very entertaining and topsy turvy game that eventually settled as a draw.

    Our only winner on the day came on board 7 where Seb played a very solid game and confidently entered a winning end game with a 2 pawn advantage.

    Many thanks to Hastings for their hospitality.

    Finally many thanks to all our members who played and also to those that volunteered to play but were unable to get a game.

  • Bexhill Blitz 2023

    On Friday 14th July, we held a Blitz tournament which was attended by 16 club members. It was good to see two new members join us, Jake and Ed. The competition was a 6 round Swiss and the action, as it normally is in Blitz, was fast and furious. 

    The results were as follows:

    Joint Third: Sam (top junior) and Andrew on 4 points

    Second: Janis on 41/2 points

    First: Mark with a perfect 6 from 6.

    Well done to all who took part.

    We plan to hold events such as this on a more regular basis and further details will be published soon.

    Cross tables below:

  • Chess on the beach 2023

    Chess on the beach is returning to the De La Warr this summer on August 19th. We will be having all the usual fun, free beginner coaching, giant chess, chess variants and good fun for all ages and all abilities. We will be running from 11am till 5pm. No need to book or register. Just come on down and play some chess!

    As part of the day we will be running two tournaments. The first will be a bughouse competition at 11am and the second will see the return of the Bexhill beach Blitz!

    See the links below for more information on both of these.

  • Bexhill junior shines at national youth championships

    Many congratulations to Bexhill junior Rose Burgess who played at the EJCOA national youth championships last weekend. Rose, pictured here with CM Rob Willmoth and IM Lorin D’Costa, won a training award for outstanding performance in the training sessions; £50 chess and bridge voucher. Well done Rose!!

  • Kent congress

    Last weekend, seven members of Bexhill chess club headed over to Tunbridge wells for the Kent congress held at the bridge club.
    It was a well run event in a beautiful building and a great weekend of chess.
    In the under 1650 section, Sharon Merchant was very happy to win two points. Sebastian Merchant scored 3 and finished in 8th. Samuel Merchant came in 4th (joint 2nd) and won the grading prize of £50. Luke Chapman had a fantastic congress and finished on 4.5 in joint first place! He wins £138! Congratulations Luke!! 🥳🥳🥳

    In the very competitive under 1950 section, Steve Blewitt managed a win and two draws to finish on 2 points. Bill Luxton managed half a point more with 2 wins and a draw to finish on 2.5. And finally Steve Merchant with 2 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss, finished with 3 points in 13th place.

    Many thanks to Satish Gaekwad, Ashok Damodaran for their excellent organization. And especially to John Bowley for being the most friendly and professional arbiter I have ever met.

  • Gordon cup 2022/23

    Today, Tuesday 30th May, saw the completion of the Gordon Cup. This years competition has been incredibly hard fought, with many very high standard games being played. In the end the top three were as follows:

    3rd place Mike Lambert with 5.5 points

    2nd place Sam Merchant with 6 points

    1st place Sharon Merchant with 6.5 points

    A massive congratulations to Sharon as a significant piece of history was made with this result, as no female member has won a club competition for at least 22 years (as long has Joe has been in the club). As a result of this Sharon and Sam gain promotion.

    A huge well done to everyone that took part in what was a very close competition.