bexhillchessclub.co.uk
Tonight was the last meeting of the season for the Bexhill juniors and also the 1 year anniversary of the founding of the Junior club. So we had a party! Many thanks to all the kids and especially all the parents that made this evening, and the whole season so wonderful!
Look forward to seeing you all again in September.
(Amazing chess cake made by Karen Burgess.)
Bexhill juniors hosted a handicap Blitz tournament on Wednesday evening. Some good fun and some great chess!
Luke Chapman and Harry Morter shared first place with 4.5 from 5, though Luke took the winner trophy on tie break and Harry took the runner up trophy.
They went into the final round both on four points. Harry offered an early draw which was declined. Luke seemed to be getting the better position and was slightly up in material, when he blundered his Queen! He played on valiantly and won back the lost material. But upon going into a winning endgame, he sportingly offered a draw which Harry gratefully accepted! Great chess and great sportsmanship!
A wonderful tournament with all the games played in good spirits. Well done everyone!
Following the EGM yesterday… we will be changing one of our meetings. With immediate effect, we will no longer be meeting on Saturday afternoons. The Saturday afternoon meeting is being replaced with a Friday evening meeting from 7pm till 10pm at our usual meeting place at St. Marks.
Tuesday meetings will remain unchanged.
We look forward to seeing you all at our first evening meeting this Friday June 30th!!
Here is a report from our chairman Bill Tracey on this years handicap tournament:
On Saturday 13th May a Time Handicap Tournament was held for members of the club.
It was fantastic to see an entry of 25 members which included 6 juniors.
The event was held as a 6 round Swiss with up to 7 minutes time difference between players.
After 3 hours of intense competition the results were as follows:
3rd place went to our junior England player Andy with 4 .5 points from 6.
In second place was Phil, who made an excellent return to the club after being away working for 6 months. He scored 5 from 6.
In first place was our National Master Mark who scored a perfect 6 from 6.
Mark did say that the handicap system meant that he was pushed very hard in a number of his matches
The future of the club looks very promising with 6 juniors participating, of whom 5 were in the top 10!
My thanks are due to Michael Hayward , Bill Luxton, Rose and her family and the Merchant family for arriving early and helping to set up the venue.
Particular thanks goes to Sharon for her admin work through out the tournament.
Well done to all that took part.
It is an aim of the club that we will run more events such as this on a more regular basis.
Final cross table and photos from the event can be found below.
Match report from our captain Bill Tracey.
On Friday 24th march Bexhill hosted East Grinstead Bookshop 1 in
a Division 2 league match.
This was a match that we needed to win to stay in the Division,
it was also a match that on paper we were favourites to win.
However the match did not go well for us.
On board 1 Leo faced a player playing his first ever league match,
who turned out to be a very strong player and produced a very fine performance to beat Leo in 25 moves! Had Leo faced any other player that had previously played
for our visitors he would have been considered a firm favourite.
On board 3 Steve Blewitt faced an opponent that it is probably fair to say that he would beat maybe 9 out of 10 times, but, unfortunately, Steve made a very uncharacteristic early error that cost a piece, and,
despite battling hard, eventually he was forced to resign.
On 4 Michael played very well and had established a very strong position and was also 2 pawns up,
however he got a sequence wrong which cost him the game.
John Kimber was playing on board 2 and was against a very useful young player. John played a fine game and eventually his opponent was forced to resign.
So the final score was Bexhill 1 Bookshop 3.
This means that we are now relying on other results to avoid relegation.
Finally, after the match, which was our final League match of the season, John announced that he was retiring from playing League matches (unless we were ever to
be a player short for a match with no one else to play).
John played in our first ever League match in October of 2019, winning on board 2 against Uckfield so it was good to see him end his career with another win on board 2.
John has been an invaluable member of our teams in so many ways. Win or lose his Chess is always great to watch as he plays in such a bold attacking manner. He has on a number of occasions taken
on the role of Captain and travel organiser.
His good humour and Chess knowledge will be sorely missed on the long journeys around the County.
So on behalf of the Club I would like to thank John for all that he has done to support our League
teams over the last four years.
Congratulations to Bexhill Junior Samuel Merchant who was awarded his trophy at chess club this week by Joe Sharp for winning the challengers section of the in house club rapid competition. Well done Sam!
Match report from our captain Bill Tracey:
On Friday 10th March Bexhill 1 hosted Crowborough 1 in a match vital to our chances of remaining in Division 1.
The team of Andrew, Janis , Andy and Michael Hayward responded superbly and emerged as winners by 2.5 to 1.5.
Janis on board 2 was first to finish when he and his opponent agreed to a draw.
Andy on 3, made a brilliant Bishop sacrifice to break open his opponents King side and although she battled on with great resolve, Andy pushed his advantage until
he forced a resignation.
Michael on 4 continued his fine form for the club and played a very solid game to achieve a draw.
Andrew on 1 was involved in a 3 hour plus game and seemed to have a winning position but his opponent fought hard and found a perpetual check.
This win means that Hastings 2 are relegated and the other relegation spot is now between ourselves and Horsham 2. We are 3 points ahead of Horsham with a vastly better
game points difference but they do have a game in hand.
They next play on Tuesday 21st March and if they lose, we will not be relegated.
It is worth pointing out that although we are currently 9th of 11 teams in the league our game points difference is only minus 1 compared to the two teams below us on minus
9 and minus 15. This shows how competitive the team has been over the course of the season.
Here is the match report from our captain Bill Tracey.
On Friday 17th February Bexhill 2 played Eastbourne 3 at home
in Division 2 of the Mid Sussex League.
Our team, in board order was Leo, Andy, John and Steve Merchant.
This was a very important match as a win would pretty much ensure that
we would remain in Division 2, and I am pleased to say that all four players responded superbly and Bexhill won 4 to 0.
First to win was Steve, who continued his fine recent form and overwhelmed his opponent who resigned when Steve played a fine Knight move that checked his opponent, and, at the same time won his Queen.
Leo, on board 1 also won in very quick time, when after just 20 moves his opponent resigned after a smart tactic from Leo meant the loss of his opponents Queen
John on 3 continued the theme, when he too won his opponents Queen quite early on.
His opponent fought on bravely, but John quite soon after forced a resignation.
Andy and his opponent played out a simply magnificent game on board 2.
Andy attacked through out with great style, but his opponent defended with great resolve,
and eventually managed to push a pawn to the 7th rank.
Andy, despite being under huge time pressure managed to hold the pawn on the 7th and, by clever use of his Knight, engineered a position where he would be able to win this pawn.
Meanwhile, his opponent was now also under immense time pressure, and ran out of time.
A league match can only last a maximum of 3 hours and 10 minutes and there was barely 20 seconds
left when his time ran out.
Both players received a very well deserved round of applause from all present.
The 2nd team is now in a much more comfortable 6th place in the league.
Match report from our captain, Bill Tracey:
Bexhill 3 took on Eastbourne 5 on Friday 10th February, in Eastbourne
hoping to continue our 100% record in Division 3.
The final result was Bexhill 3, Eastbourne 1.
Luke Chapman at just 12 years of age made his debut for us on board 4. He quickly had his very experienced opponent in trouble. He kept up the pressure and won comfortably.
I was next to finish and, unfortunately lost my first match of the season by failing to spot
the danger from a Knight sacrifice.
Bill on board 1 continued his fine season for the 3rd team by winning his 5th game from 6.
He sacrificed a knight and only then did his opponent realise that checkmate was inevitable in a couple of moves, and chose to resign.
Alan on 3 played a fine end game and with the promotion of a pawn imminent his opponent resigned.
Alan now has 3.5 points from 4 games this season.
We remain top of the division and, with 3 matches remaining, need just two more wins to secure the title.
