2004 / 2005 County Results - Open

The Hampshire Open team is run by Dominic Tunks  

West of England Championship

19 September 2004

Jamboree

Taunton (Hampshire did not compete)

9 October 2004

Hants B

lost

7 - 9 

Dorset (Under 150 Match)

29 Oct to 31 Oct

Hampshire Individual Championship

4 December 2004

Hants A

won

9.5 - 6.5

Wiltshire A

8 January 2005

Hants A

lost

6.5 - 9.5

Glos A

29 January 2005

Hants A

lost

6.5 - 9.5

Somerset A

29 January 2005

Hants B

lost

3.5 - 12.5

Somerset B

12 February 2005

Hants A

lost

3 - 13

Devon A

12 February 2005

Hants B

lost

-

Devon B (defaulted)

18 Feb to 20 Feb

Portsmouth Congress

12 March 2005

Hants A

lost

6.5 - 9.5

Cornwall A

BCF Minor County Quarter Final

2.5 - 13.5

BCF Under 125 Quarter-Final

5.5 - 10.5

Harold Meek Tournament 2004 - 2005: Table

Somerset wins the Harold Meek Cup by virtue of their result against Devon

Wayling Cup Competition 2004 - 2005: Table

BCF U-125 County Quarter Final

BCF Minor County Quarter Final

West of England Championship

Date:    8 January 2005

The team for this match was stronger than the team that had beaten Wiltshire earlier in the season. We outgraded Glos by an average of 5 points per board - not much of a plus but enough to make us slight favourites for another win. We were within reach of victory too - we scored 6.5 points and could easily have picked up the two more needed to win. The most glaring failure was perhaps on board 4, where, having already missed some earlier good chances, the Hampshire player reached a major piece ending a Knight up, but, having (I think) already having given a perpetual away, I avoided the checks by walking into a mating net, escaping which cost my Rook and the game.

A disappointing result personally and for the team.

Thanks to all who played - a couple of fresh faces (welcome to our latest board 1, Paul Cooksey, and this was also the first time for Ashraf Syed in the "Open" team), and thanks to those who stepped in at the last minute when we lost a couple of players to sickness.

Dominic Tunks - Match Captain

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In recent years, Wiltshire have tended to outgrade us on the top six or so boards but fall away so that we have a chance on the bottom ten. What this hides is that they have a number of juniors - and juniors are capable of playing well above grade. So, for example, two years ago when they came to Southampton we held them to very respectable 2½-3½ on the top six and I was optimistic that we would win on the bottom 10. However their juniors put in a stunning 5-0 performance and we lost 7-9. Would the same happen again this time?

No! With Richard and Ken taking over on the top two boards, we were more of a match on the top six, holding them to 3-3. And our bottom ten took revenge in sweet style, winning 6½-3½. A fine team performance.

Wiltshire did lose one player through sickness at the last minute, and my thanks must go to all 17 Hampshire players who were available

Dominic Tunks - Match Captain

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With Hampshire outgraded on every board, my main hope for the result of the match was that we'd do better than Cornwall - whom Devon had dispatched 14-2 in the previous round. Achieving even that looked a challenge - only on the top 2 or 3 boards did we have anything like parity of grades.

The final score of 13-3 exceeded my expectations - so well done all. It could have been even better - we were pressing for wins on 1 and 4 too. But our failing to convert just highlights Gillian's terrific result all the more. And this is no one-off - Gillian already has a success against a 160+ player earlier in the year (see Cosham A v Emsworth A in the Portsmouth League).

Thanks to all who played - and I should mention Ken Retallack too, who was willing to play.

Dominic Tunks - Match Captain

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Match Conceded.

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Date:    29 January 2005

The encouraging thing for me about our match against Somerset was the sense of team spirit. We had players in the side that first played for Hampshire many decades ago, some that have barely missed a match in over 30 years and some that were playing for the first time, but it felt good and I really enjoyed playing as part of that team. Thank you all - and sorry about the mix-up over refreshments.

On paper you would think we started slight favourites, at least in the A team. The B team, starting 4-0 down, had a mountain to climb. However, having thrown away the match against Gloucestershire, the A team had to beat Somerset A to stand a chance of winning the league, and Somerset are a tough team. There was no disgrace in this loss.

Dominic Tunks - Match Captain

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This was a good match to end the West of England season. It is unfortunate that Hampshire had to default two boards - over the 14 boards played the match was well-balanced (7½-6½ in Cornwall's favour - and note the big group of draws in the middle!) and with a couple more players in the team we could well have overturned this 1 point deficit.

This was the first time out in WECU for Ricardo, David and Steve. County chess is not supposed to be easy and it seems that all three had a baptism of fire! Ricardo was the last of us to finish and went down fighting to the end. Jon was also unfortunate to lose - that last move of the time control is always a critical one!

It is worth noting that the draws were all against higher graded opposition - in fact, we didn't have a grade advantage on any board. So this was a pretty good effort, all things considered.

Dominic Tunks - Match Captain

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Date:    9 October 2004

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