Hampshire Individual Chess Championships

[Malcolm Clarke]

These were held at Eastleigh College over the weekend of 4th-6th November and the winners were as follows

Craig Hanley (Wood Green) won the Open with 5.5 points, finishing half a point ahead of 16 year old Peter A Williams who wins the silver rook for the highest placed Hampshire player. Paul Hackman (Andover) with 4 points finished third in Open section. 12 year old Rohan Shiatis (Coulsdon) scored 3.5 points and won the grading prize (under 175 grading) in this section.

Ian Matthew (Portsmouth) won the major section (under 160 grading) with 5 points out of six finishing half a point ahead of runner up Matt Chapman (Southampton University), with Gillian Moore and Alec Samuels (both Southampton) and Peter Dallas (Cosham) sharing third place. The grading prize (under 140 grading) in this section was shared by Paul Hurn (Southampton) and Mark Stone (Orpington).

Gunnar Mallon (Southampton University) won the minor section (under 125 grading) outright with 5 points, finishing half a point ahead of James Farrant, Kevin Sawers and Alex Dore (all Southampton). Robert Hewitt (Southampton University) won the grading prize (under 100 grading) for this section.

Thanks to Kevin Thurlow and John Wheeler for controlling the event, and to Gillian Moore who received entries and dealt with the financial arrangements, and still found time to achieve 4 points out of 6 in the major.

During the 12 years since it moved to Eastleigh College entries have tripled, and the number of sections has increased from one to three. During that time the prizes have invariably been presented by either the Mayor or Deputy Mayor of Eastleigh.

[Kevin Thurlow]

I must report that the Deputy Mayor gave a decent speech.

There were few problems with the event. One person lost on phone, despite the notice on the door and the reminders before each round, and the personal reminder as he walked into the hall clutching the phone... The players were a bit of a nuisance, getting the wrong results, so I had great fun sorting out 6 - 0 colour splits.

There was only one 10.2 claim, disallowed as the player had 3 minutes left, but his opponent then blundered, so it was drawn anyway. It would have been an interesting one. The claimant had R +a and b pawns, the opponent, RN + a and b pawns. So obviously a 10.2 claim from white attracts a 2-minute penalty, but black didn't seem to know what he was doing, and needed to actually move his king the wrong way to hide behind the knight and then get to the queenside the long way. Instead he allowed a rook exchange, and the white king got to the pawns and got P v N. The interesting thing is that white has to make the claim and allow the penalty, or he might lose on time without claiming!

Three cheers for Halfords in Eastleigh who fixed my two(!) blown headlight bulbs quickly and cheaply. I announced this at the start of the last round, and one parent of a player immediately dashed off to get their headlight fixed!

[Krishna Shiatis]

Dear Malcolm, Kevin, John and Gillian,

Many thanks for a great tournament! It was well organised and we met lots of lovely people again. Felt very welcome from the first phone enquiry, throughout the tournament and even when we phoned the next day. Thank you and hopefully see all again next year!

Kind regards and best wishes,

Krishna and Rohan

[Kevin Thurlow]

And I completely forgot to say that I managed to pair Keven Lamb and Bill Curry in Round 2, although I did not notice I had done it until the result arrived...

[Carol Williams]

Dear Malcolm, Kevin, John and Gillian,

Many thanks for a great tournament! It was well organised and we met lots of lovely people again. Felt very welcome from the first phone enquiry, throughout the tournament and even when we phoned the next day. Thank you and hopefully see all again next year!

Kind regards and best wishes,

Krishna and Rohan

I agree whole heartedly, Peter has played in this tournament a number of times and has always enjoyed it. Nice touch getting the Deputy Mayor to present the prizes.

Congratulations to Rohan on his performance - perhaps he will now get the chance to play for England

[Krishna Shiatis]

I agree whole heartedly, Peter has played in this tournament a number of times and has always enjoyed it. Nice touch getting the Deputy Mayor to present the prizes.

Congratulations to Rohan on his performance - perhaps he will now get the chance to play for England

Many thanks Carol for your kind words. Congratulations on Peter being crowned the Hampshire Champion and winning the Silver Rook. Also, on his brilliant result in Guernsey - which was a strong tournament.

Peter is really going from strength to strength and I look forward to seeing him/hearing about him receiving, his first title in the not too distant future!