Hampshire Chess Association Newsletter
September 2001
With the new season about to start, I thought I would recap on last season’s Southampton and Portsmouth Leagues.
In the Southampton league it was pretty much a one horse race, as Southampton A retained their title. Passed Pawn A pipped Eastleigh Unity A to second place.
University A have asked to be relegated from Division One next season, as they are losing most of their A team. This sees two teams dropping down and two teams coming up from Division Two. Winchester A won Division Two and Eastleigh Unity B were second, so these are the two new teams in Division One next season.
Southampton League
|
Team |
P |
W |
D |
L |
GS |
Pts |
|
Southa mpton A |
10 |
9 |
1 |
0 |
36˝ |
19 |
|
Passed Pawn A |
10 |
6 |
1 |
3 |
27 |
13 |
|
Eastleigh Unity A |
10 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
26 |
12 |
|
Southampton B |
10 |
3 |
2 |
5 |
23 |
8 |
|
University A |
10 |
1 |
2 |
7 |
20˝ |
4 |
|
Eastleigh BR A |
10 |
2 |
0 |
8 |
17 |
4 |
The Portsmouth League was a much closer affair, with the title race coming down to the last match of the season.
Portsmouth A were playing Gosport and they needed to win to secure the title. Gosport A only needed a draw, but in the end managed to win the match 4˝ - 1˝. Therefore Gosport A also managed to retain their title.
The relegation issue also came down to the last game, with Emsworth A beating Cosham B 4 – 2 and thus retaining their Division One status next season. This also banished Cosham B to Division Two.
Portsmouth League
|
Team |
P |
W |
D |
L |
GS |
Pts |
|
Gosport A |
10 |
8 |
2 |
0 |
40 |
18 |
|
Portsmouth A |
10 |
7 |
0 |
3 |
36˝ |
14 |
|
Chichester A |
10 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
34˝ |
12 |
|
Cosham A |
10 |
5 |
1 |
4 |
32˝ |
11 |
|
Emsworth A |
10 |
1 |
1 |
8 |
18˝ |
3 |
|
Cosham B |
10 |
1 |
0 |
9 |
18 |
2 |
In the other division the winners were:
Southampton
|
Division |
Winners |
|---|---|
| Division Two |
Winchester A |
| Division Three | Ringwood |
| Division Four | Winchester B |
Portsmouth
|
Division |
Winners |
|---|---|
| Division Two |
Gosport B |
| Division Three | Cosham C |
Game
In the Portsmouth League Phil Groth of Gosport B played an excellent game against Paul Eyles of Portsmouth B.
This game can be viewed in the Games Page
County Teams
Hampshire has county teams in the West of England County Championship and the Chiltern League. The Match Captains are:
Open Match Captain - Dominic Tunks
U125 Match Captain – Mick Garrod
The first matches are scheduled for:
West of England
23 Sept – Jamboree Match – 12 Boards
13 Oct – Dorset v Hants – Bournemouth 24 boards
Chiltern League
29th Sept – Hants v Oxford (friendly) – Juniors
20th Oct – Hants v Berks - Juniors
20th Oct – Oxford v Hants – U170
27h Oct – Hants v Oxford – U125
U125 County Team
The U125 team did it again! They reached the Counties final, only to narrowly lose to Lancashire 9˝ - 6˝.
U125 Team
|
Stage |
Opponent |
Result |
|
Preliminary |
Dorset |
Won 11˝ - 4˝ |
|
Quarter Finals |
Norfolk |
Won 10 – 6 |
|
Semi Finals |
Merseyside |
Won 9 – 7 |
|
Final |
Lancashire |
Lost 9˝ - 6˝ |
The team also won the Chiltern U125 League again.
Final Table
|
County |
Played |
Won |
Drawn |
Lost |
Points |
|
Hants |
6 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
4˝ |
|
Oxon |
6 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
3˝ |
|
Berks |
6 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
2˝ |
|
Bucks |
6 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
1˝ |
Liam O'Sullivan
Liam O'Sullivan died suddenly of a heart attack at home on Thursday 12th July. If it were not for Liam, the Hampshire Chess Association would not now exist. Several committee members resigned in 1997, and the remaining committee had to suspend the Association until a new President, Treasurer and Secretary could be found. Liam offered to take over as President, and by December 1997, the other two posts had also been filled.
He made a point of attending the HCA committee meetings whenever possible, including one occasion when he came straight to our meeting from Paris, where he had been attending an academic function related to his work in Southampton.
Liam continued as President till June 2000, and then served one year as Vice-President. HCA is now a well-run organisation providing chess opportunities and information for very many people - something which did not seem possible in mid 1997. Liam was a long-time member of Botley Chess Club (now Passed Pawn Chess Club), and before that (long before that) played for Essex juniors in the dim and distant past. He will be greatly missed by his many friends in Hampshire.
Hampshire Individual
After the success of last year’s individual championship, I am very pleased to say that this year’s tournament will again be held at Eastleigh College. The tournament is being held from Friday 9th November to Sunday 11th November and there will be an Open and an Under 125 tournament.
Entry forms can be obtained from Malcolm Clarke on 023 80 615903 and full details are also on the Web site (see below). It is great to see the tournament being held every year again and I can recommend it to any Hampshire player as one not to miss. The venue is excellent and numbers are increasing year on year.
Web Site
The web site continues to expand. Some of the items that are now included are:
 |
Results from Southampton/Portsmouth leagues. |
|
County match results |
|
Division by division analysis for last year’s Southampton/Portsmouth leagues |
|
County Correspondence results |
|
Details of Hampshire Chess Clubs and Hampshire Chess officials |
|
Games from Hampshire Chess Players (play through games on-line) |
County Correspondence
Hampshire finished joint 3rd in the County Correspondence League this year, in a team ably run by Fraser McLeod. As we only obtained promotion a couple of seasons ago and finished 9th in 1999 – 2000 this is an excellent result. Congratulations to Fraser and the other players. Yorkshire won the league with 18˝ points.
Hampshire players that won were:
| A.R.Corkett | J.Corfield | C.Barber | D.Kinsler |
| A.F.Brameld |
J.F.Wheeler |
T.Cowling |
P.J.Hebblethwaith |
| P.D.Miller | T.Kazmierski | R.Ward | S.Murphy |
