{"id":1828,"date":"2025-05-04T14:35:24","date_gmt":"2025-05-04T14:35:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bexhillchessclub.co.uk\/?p=1828"},"modified":"2025-05-07T13:07:35","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T13:07:35","slug":"1828","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bexhillchessclub.co.uk\/index.php\/2025\/05\/04\/1828\/","title":{"rendered":"LEAGUE RESULTS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There is an old proverb:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTwo into one won\u2019t go…\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But TWO of Bexhill\u2019s Teams WILL go into Division 1<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BEXHILL II \u2013 3.5    – HASTINGS II \u2013 0.5<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday 2 May, Bexhill 2nd team hosted Hastings 2nd team and we needed a draw to gain promotion from Division 2 and join our 1st team next year<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Careful team selection by captains Bill and Michael throughout the year and a pool of very strong players meant we could field an excellent team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was great to have John Kimber <\/strong>on the team after a break and on Board 4, his game did not disappoint. With White, John played a classical e4, Bishop\u2019s opening, and his cautious opponent adopted a Philidor structure\u2026e5, d6 and pinning the f3 N with …Bg4. John allowed the loss of a pawn on d4 after re-capturing with the Q on f3 avoiding doubled pawns. That took courage and insight into the positional compensation \u2013 2 bishops, an open centre, more space, and prospects of maintaining quicker development. Black\u2019s king remained uncastled while he challenged the White N on d5 with ..c6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We spectators were getting nervous for John as the N was chopped off and the reply Ba4 fixing the Black Q on d7, pinned to the King, was blocked by \u2026b7-b5. The extra tempi allowed White to deploy the second bishop and rooks and gain further central control with f2-f4. Black\u2019s N\u2019s were kept restrained on the K-side and his second rook was locked in at h8. Crucially, the King became held at e8, as Q xe5+ forked the King and Rb8, levelling the material and quickly forcing a decisive loss of heavy pieces on the back rank, when Black resigned. WELL DONE, John!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next to finish was Janis Petersons.<\/strong> He showed intention to play a double-edged position with a Benoni structure in reply to White\u2019s d-pawn opening. Developing his dark squared bishop on e7, rather than fianchetto, proved a successful choice as, all along,  it anchored  the d6 pawn, and later restrained  White\u2019s protected passed pawn on d5 after Black\u2019s  N was exchanged on e5. Janis formed a strong central and K-side pawn phalanx \u2013e5, f5, g6, h5, and White never managed to exploit his protected d-pawn, and Janis in turn was able to create his own protected passed pawn om e4! Janis tried to get a ..b5 pawn break, but White restrained it and with no open files for either side to exploit, a draw seemed a sensible decision. Great game, Janis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Board 2, Michael Hubbard <\/strong>was playing a strong opponent. With White, Michael established a strong centre with pawns, e4, d4, c3. Black adopted an Old Indian structure \u2026e5, d6, c6, b5 now ( I think) somewhat fashionable as the \u2018Black Lion\u2019 defence. The central tension was in the air for a long while, and both sides held off castling either side as both sides manoeuvred on both wings! As a spectator, I couldn\u2019t tell who was gaining the upper hand. After Black\u2019s ..h6, g5 and \u2026Bg6, putting pressure on the K-side, Michael decided to use the f5 outpost for his N. When the Bg6 exchanged on f5, Michael\u2019s Q was eventually able to invade on the weakened white squares (after a quick shift to g4 and h5). Black had a strong N on d5 which was still a threat, but it was Black\u2019s King which became chased across the back ranks to the Q-side , with no secure castled position. White\u2019s king had eventually safely tucked away with 0-0 and Michael set about Q-side progress eventually securing a passed pawn on b4, working with a strong Bc5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Black\u2019s Nd5 was now hanging without a pawn on c6. Black\u2019s attempted thrust of ..e5-e4 attacking the White N on f3, allowed the N to transfer to the Q side, and the push backfired when white\u2019s Q picked up the pawn after a check forking it. Exchanges of major pieces left White with 4 vs 3 pawns on the K-side (but it was an exposed doubled white pawn on f5) and a single white passed pawn on b5. It wasn\u2019t a completely straightforward ending. White offered the exchange of his bishop for Black\u2019s strong N, which was taken. Black\u2019s King was then encroaching to snaffle loose k-side pawns!  And Black\u2019s R was active behind white\u2019s passed pawn, which had reached b7 with white\u2019s R on b8. It then seemed to me that it only then became clear to Black that his King could not escape a fatal check which would allow White’s b- pawn to promote, which Michael engineered by K-side pawn moves. If the king captured any of the pawns, White\u2019s R would check. Yet if the offered pawn was refused it would itself promote! It was decisive and a delightful demonstration of great technique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last to finish was Luke Chapman<\/strong>\u2019s game on Board 1. Dare I say it, it was hair-raising! With Black, Luke answered White\u2019s King\u2019s Indian Attack with a Queen\u2019s pawn structure,  ..e6, d5,c5. Once White gained space with e4-e5, the game looked like a form of French Defence, but with White\u2019s Bg7 biting on granite at d5. When Luke closed the structure on the q-side with c5-c4, leaving each side with long, locked pawn chains, the situation had potential for both sides, but Black\u2019s problem was going to be his King (castled k-side with no piece cover). The open b-file and target on white\u2019s pawn on c3 favoured Black, with all Black’s pieces massing there – but White\u2019s King was in no danger. White broke cover first with a a positional sacrifice B x (pawn)h6. Luke was forced to take it and painfully evacuate his King to the q-side as white advanced two Ns to h6  and g5. With a Q squeezing through the gap at h7, White was able to wipe out Black\u2019s K-side pawns.  Luke managed to place a barrier of heavy pieces, and everything else at hand, to stop the e5 pawn reaching the finish line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From where I was standing, I was expecting a tsunami of the rest of White\u2019s k-side pawns. One thing in Luke\u2019s favour was the clock, down at one point to 12 seconds on White\u2019s. With everything hanging by a thread, Luke counter-attacked! …Nxc3. The N reached e4 and interfered with the e-file. Something went badly wrong for White in the flurry of piece exchanges and an ending with Black\u2019s Q against K, R and 2 connected passed pawns on the g and f- files. Before the end of the session Luke managed to pick off loose pawns elsewhere and had a Black pawn on a7 in reserve. The game was conceded to Luke after the evening\u2019s efforts ended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A result for determined defence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a great outcome for the team, and club. We will have 2 Teams in the First Division. There is still one fixture from rivals, Brighton and East Grinstead, but our position as division champions is secure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MEANWHILE\u2026..<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BEXHILL IV   – 2.5     –    EASTBOURNE IV – 1.5<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our 4th<\/sup> team were playing  Eastbourne\u2019s 4th<\/sup>  away, A great result and the Merchants exclusively<\/strong> made it happen!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Great too, to see all wearing the ‘Merchantise’!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is Sharon’s match report : <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seb finished first. He played an aggressive Jobava London line and after 18 moves, one move from checkmate his opponent resigned. Not bad considering he has barely played in 2 years!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I finished second. Bad out the opening. Fought on but was always a losing battle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steve won on board one. His opponent was attacking on the queen side while Steve attacked on the kingside and Steve got there first! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sam was last to finish. Looked like a losing battle after many trades and Sam came out a pawn down. But after some excellent play in a rook and pawn end game, a draw was agreed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

———————————————-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is an old proverb: \u201cTwo into one won\u2019t go…\u201d But TWO of Bexhill\u2019s Teams WILL go into Division 1 BEXHILL II \u2013 3.5    – HASTINGS II \u2013 0.5 On Friday 2 May, Bexhill 2nd team hosted Hastings 2nd team and we needed a draw to gain promotion from Division 2 and join our 1st […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bexhillchessclub.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bexhillchessclub.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bexhillchessclub.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bexhillchessclub.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bexhillchessclub.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bexhillchessclub.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1828\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bexhillchessclub.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bexhillchessclub.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bexhillchessclub.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}