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On Friday 1st March Bexhill 1 hosted Horsham 2 in League 1 .

Our team, in board order was Andy, Andrew, Janis and Leo.

Andrew continued his recent excellent form and was in control from early on until, with Andrew in an overwhelming position, his opponent resigned.

The remaining 3 matches were much longer and and closer fought.

Leo and his opponent had a three fold repetition in a very complex situation with Leo having pressed very hard for the win.

Andy and his opponent both seemed to have chances with Andy a pawn down at one point and then 4 pawns to two up. Unfortunately Andy’s rook was pinned down defending a pawn on the 7th rank and
a draw was agreed.

Janis’s game was eventually halted by time running out on the match clock. After a brief examination it was agreed that Janis was lost . Rather unusually after further analysis by Janis he discovered that 2 moves earlier the game was level and although Janis wasn’t certain at the time he did think about stopping moving and letting the match clock run out. If he had a draw would have been the result!

The final score was 2 all which means we still have a chance of avoiding relegation.

On the evening of 27th February 2024, Snodland chess club hosted a simul with GM Sergey Tiviakov. Rose Burgess from Bexhill was in attendance and all 26 challengers played the black side of the board. She noticed that Sergey played 1e4 in every game and against the Sicilian his moves are Nc3 and d3; he is a closed Sicilian player.

For most games, he played the Guicco Pianismo with good effect. Rose had the Guicco Pianismo line and was defeated after 1 hour 45 minutes. Sergey had a successful evening, leaving with an undefeated score 26-0

Report from Luke Chapman:

On Sunday the 25th, two Bexhill Juniors headed out to Burgess Hill to play Richmond in the SCCU U14 league. Firstly, on board three, Luke Chapman took two from two beating his opponents in two king and pawn endgames. Next on board nine, Rose Burgess won her first game in resounding fashion. This lead to a positive 3/4 for Bexhill and an astonishing 19.5-4.5 win for Sussex. Well done to all involved and thank you to Steve and Mike for the organisation.

Congratulations to all the members who played in Crowborough congress last weekend.
Bill Luxton had a tough draw with an average opponent rating of 1860, but managed two good wins against 1753 and 1829 to finish on 2/6.
Luke Chapman started the day in fine form taking a draw against Mark Rich (2143) and a win against 2075 in round 2. The rest of the day was not quite as dramatic and Luke finished on a respectable 2.5/6.
Stephen Blewitt also had a solid day. 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses to finish on 3/6.
Andy Nguyen finished in 8th place with an impressive score of 4/6.
Mark Rich just missed out on the top spot, finishing in joint 3rd after an early draw, and losing in round 5 to one of the overall winners, Dave Graham.
Well done everyone!
Congratulations to the overall winners, Callum Brewer and David Graham, and well done to David Fryer and all at Crowborough for organising another enjoyable event.

Congratulations to everyone who played in our fourth Grand Prix rapid tournament this evening.

Another wonderful turn out for this event. This sees us at the half way point in the season and with the top five scores counting towards your seasons total score… it’s all about to get very exciting!

The current standings have all been updated and are available here.

A special congratulations to this evenings overall winner: Andy!

A quick reminder to all our members that the early bird discount for the upcoming Crowborough tournament closes on Monday 19th February. The event takes place on Saturday 24th February at the Crowborough community centre. It’s a 6 round Swiss with a time control of 25+5. (Which is the same as a SJC Grand Prix for our junior members.) There are two sections; a Championship (U2250) section, (though open to Sussex players of any rating), and a Challengers section. (U1600). It’s a great day in a wonderful venue. Highly recommended.
For more information and to book, see the Crowborough Chess Club website.

Many congratulations to Bexhill junior Noah, who travelled to Kent to play in the East Kent Zonal this weekend. He finished on 4/5 and won the under 10 trophy! Fantastic stuff! Well done Noah!

Last weekend, many of our juniors made the long journey over to Horsham for the fifth grand prix event of the Sussex Junior Chess season.
Zac, in the under 11 minor section, started the day off badly with two losses, but came back strong to win three in a row, finishing on 3 from 6 in 11th place.
Eszter, in the same section, also finished on three points and on tie break finished 14th.
In the under 11 major section, Harry unfortunately had to withdraw after two rounds as he was feeling unwell.
In the same section, Noah had a great day, winning 4 from 6 and finishing in 3rd place! Fantastic achievement Noah!
In the incredibly tough under 18 major section, Rose finished on 2.5/6. Sam just above on 3/6 including a draw with 1829.
Luke had another fantastic tournament getting a draw in the last round against the overall winner and finishing on 4.5/6 and 2nd place!
But the day belonged to our Sebastian. Who has been plodding away in the background for many years. Finally, it was his day!
He strolled through his first four games winning them all. Round 5 saw him drawn against a strong opponent. A very tight game developed. Before Sebastian made an epic queen sacrifice to go into a winning position and checkmate followed soon after! An incredibly gutsy move under time pressure!
Finally, on 5/5 going into the last round needing at least a draw, his opponent fell into an opening trap and Sebastian quickly gave checkmate to finish on 6/6 and winning the Under 18 minor section!
Many congratulations Sebastian! A well deserved and hard earned achievement that should serve as a lesson to all the children who find themselves in a plateau and feeling a lack of progression. If you keep going, one day you will also have your day!!

Many congratulations to ALL the Bexhill players. One more GP to go in Worthing in May!

Our six man team made the short journey to play Hastings in the McArthur Cup on Sunday 4th February.

Our team, in board order was Andy, Andrew, Leo, Bill L, Michael Hayward and myself.

The match was very tight even though we were out rated on all six boards, in two cases by over 200 points.

Eventually there were 5 draws but we lost one game and hence the match by 3.5 to 2.5.

Many thanks to all members of the team who competed so well against a formidable Hastings team

Bill

On Friday 2nd February Bexhill played in the Paul Watson trophy at home to Uckfield. Our team in board order was Andy, Andrew, Janis and Sharon.

Andrew was first to finish. In a tight position and with it looking good for Bexhill on all boards, he agreed a draw.
Next to finish was Sharon. Playing someone 260 points higher rated, she played a great game and managed to get up an exchange. Her experienced opponent fought back, and despite being up she came under time pressure and lost back the exchange. Eventually she saw out a drawn king and pawn endgame to secure the half point for Bexhill.
Next to finish was Janis. His superior play took him into a winning game and Bexhill took the win!

At 2 to 1, it all hinged on board one, as a win for Uckfield and a 2-2 result would see them go through on board count. Andy initially looked strong going two pawns up. But his opponent fought back and went into a rook endgame eventually two pawns to none. With both players low on time, it was incredibly tense with both teams watching with bated breath.
Just as it looked as though the Uckfield player was about to break through, the flag fell and he lost on time. A savage loss.

This means the overall score was 3-1 to Bexhill and we progress to the semi-finals!

Well done Bexhill!