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.
Here is the report from our captain Bill Tracey on the League season 2022 to 2023.
For the 1st time, Bexhill entered 3 teams into the Mid Sussex Chess Leagues. Only 2 other clubs entered more than us with several entering only 1. This, I believe, is another powerful indication of how much stronger the club is becoming both in terms of member numbers and in playing strength.
A total of 17 members played for the club this season, including 8 new members.
I would like to thank all these members for making my job as team captain so easy.
Across the 3 divisions we played 27 matches which equates to 108 games, and, for each of these we had not a single drop out from any member who had committed to play.
From those 108 games 43 were wins 35 were draws and 30 were losses.
Our 1st team had the daunting prospect of playing in Division 1. This was always going to be a huge challenge and this was clearly shown when we were out rated in our first match against Brighton by1380 rating points! Despite this those who played for the 1st team did a fantastic job of keeping us in the top league. Although we finished in 7th place from 9 we only had a game point difference of only minus 6, this contrasts with the two teams below us with minus 16 and minus 13.
The two standout players were Andrew Fleming and Janis Petersons. They played all 9 matches, all bar one on boards 1 and 2 against the best players in the league and only lost 4 games from 18.. Janis scored 5 points and Andrew 4.5.
Our 2nd team played in Division 2 and despite the best efforts of the 10 members who played during the course of the season we finished 8th and hence are relegated. The story of the season was of several close matches that we lost by a point. Our game points difference was minus eight, meaning on average we lost by just under a point per match, so we were competitive in many of the matches but just came up short too often.
Our 3rd team in Division 3 had a fantastic season being unbeaten all season winning 8 matches and drawing one and thus winning the Division crown. Our game point difference was 28 to 8 with only 5 games resulting in a loss.
9 members played throughout the season including 5 new members.
Several players deserve a special mention, Alan Ticehurst with 4.5 from 5 points, Steve Merchant 5 from 7 Bill Tracey 5 from 7, Luke Chapman making his debut at the age of 12 and winning his first match for the club, but especially Bill Luxton who, in his first season for the club won 6 drew 2 and lost just one while playing 7 times on board one.
Next season, with the amount of members that have expressed an interest in playing, we are hoping to enter 4 teams. Please let me know if you wish to play next season.
The 17 members who played this season are Andrew Fleming, Janis Petersons, Steve Blewitt, John Kimber Leo Woning, Bill Luxton, Bill Tracey, Steve Merchant, Phil Swain, Alan Ticehurst, Alfie Reed, Luke Chapman, Michael Hayward, Sam Merchant, Mark Rich, Derek Cosens and Andy Nguyen.
The next season will start in October.
Bill Tracey
N.B. Bexhill chess club would like to express their gratitude to Bill Tracey for another season of excellent captaincy. Many thanks Bill. Your dedication and hard work is very much appreciated.
Thursday 20th April saw our 3rd team play their final team match of the season.
We travelled to Haywards Heath to take on their 2nd team. Our team, in board order was Bill L, Bill T, Alan and Derek.
Alan and I finished at almost the same moment.
My opponent played a dubious opening and I was able to establish a good position. This advantage was then greatly increased when he blundered his Queen! He played on for a few more moves but then resigned.
Alan had a very similar game as he too built a strong position, when his opponent blundered his Queen and a few moves later he resigned.
Bill on 1 was next to finish. Bill had a shocking journey to the venue, the Police had closed a road which meant his journey taking almost two hours, which caused him to arrive slightly late. I think that this clearly affected his opening, but he fought well in a difficult position and eventually accepted his opponents offer of a draw.
Derek was last to finish. He played very well against a determined opponent and eventually won by checkmate.
Final score Haywards Heath .5 Bexhill 3.5
This means that we have finished the league unbeaten with 8 wins and a draw.
Well done to all who played for the 3rd team this season.
A full report on all 3 league teams will be published shortly.
On Tuesday 18th, Bexhills 1st team made the short journey to Hastings to play their 1st team in our final league match.
Hastings, as expected, put out their strongest team as they are in with a chance of finishing 2nd in the league.
Our team, in board order was Andrew, Janis, Andy and Michael.
Janis was first to finish. He played the Dutch against his opponents English and came out of the opening with a slight advantage. Unfortunately his opponent, rated 250 points higher played a very strong middle game and eventually gained a point for Hastings.
Michael played very well against an opponent out rating him by 350 points but eventually had to concede.
Andy has recently gone over 1900 rating points, an outstanding performance by an 11 year old. He fought hard right to the end but did get into time trouble. His opponent, rated 165 points higher, eventually gained the upper hand and won another point for Hastings.
Andrew on board 1 continued his fine season and gained a very solid draw against Hastings’ top player. Again there was a big rating difference, this time of 210 points so this represents a fine game by Andrew.
Overall Bexhill were out rated by over 1000 points and yet halfway through the match all games were still competitive.
We hope you have all enjoyed the Easter holidays! Along with the clubs move to our new home at St. Marks, we are pleased to announce that our junior club will be following suit and moving across. This means that we will be meeting at our usual time of 6pm till 7pm, but we will now be meeting on WEDNESDAY evenings. Our first meeting will be this Wednesday 19th April. Many, many thanks to the RAFA club for hosting us up until now. Look forward to seeing you all soon.
Four of our juniors travelled to Maidenhead this week for a one day rapid tournament. Here is a report on the day from one of those juniors; Luke Chapman:
On April 12th, four of our Bexhill juniors headed out to Maidenhead for a gruelling six rounds of intense junior chess action. In the hotly contested U11 section, Rose Burgess pulled out an impressive 4/6 drawing two of the strongest players in very intense matches.
In the U18 section, Sebastian Merchant, Samuel Merchant and Luke Chapman were battling it out. Sebastian Merchant, going into the final round on 3.5/5, was paired against a very tough opponent. The two fought it out for over an hour. Sebastian, who played some fascinating chess, after the tough six rounds, landed on 3.5/6. His brother, Sam, playing excellent chess all day, had a huge score of 4/5 going into the final round. Subsequently, Sam was paired against the highest seed who out-rated him by 400 points. He ended his day on a brilliant 4/6 with only one loss. Finally, Luke Chapman, playing dubious, attacking chess all day, had the luck of the devil in the last round when his opponent hung a rook; he finished on 4.5/6, coming joint 3rd (4th on tie-break).
Well done to all of our rapidly progressing juniors and a big thank you to our supportive parents. Keep up the fantastic chess!
On Saturday 1st April we met for the first time at our new home, St Marks in Little Common.
The turnout was fantastic with a total of 27 people attending. This included four people making their first appearance at the club..
What was also so good to see was that we had an age range from 10 to 81 and also a wide range of playing strengths from novice to National Master.
The consensus of those present was that St. Marks provides a wonderful base for our club not just for the present but for the future as the club continues to grow.
Positive comments were made about having a large car park, that the main playing area was very light and spacious, that the 2nd room was an ideal base for league and competition matches and that the accommodation was light, airy and warm.
Our next meeting is on Tuesday 4th April at 1pm, and we look forward to having another well attended session.
We are very pleased to announce that Bexhill chess club has a new home! Despite many wonderful years at Centenary house, our growing membership means we have found ourselves needing to seek a bigger space. We have found ourselves a new home at St Marks church community Centre. Our Tuesday and Saturday meetings will remain at the same times, but will be moving to St. Marks, starting on Saturday 1st April. Meetings will continue as normal at Centenary house until then. Look forward to seeing you all then.
