Portsmouth League
Division 2 2000/2001 Analysis
A tough old season, with many close matches. In the end Gosport B beat Petersfield B in their last game of the season to gain promotion to division one. Gosport will have the problem of fielding two teams in division one next season, so it will be interesting to see how this turns out.
|
Team |
P | W | D | L | GS | Pts |
| Gosport B | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 44 | 17 |
| Petersfield | 10 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 33 | 14 |
| Fareham A | 10 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 29½ | 9 |
| Chichester B | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 26 | 7 |
| Portsmouth B | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 24 | 7 |
| Victory | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 23½ | 6 |
Gosport B
In the first game of the season, I played on board one for Gosport B, in the last game I played on board four. This showed that the expectations for Gosport changed dramatically as the season progressed. In fact it was only two players who played more games than they normally would; these being Roger Marsh and John Jones. Roger and John certainly helped Gosport gain the promotion spot, as they both played well above their grades. Bill Purkiss also had an excellent season and by winning all five games he won the John Grant trophy.
I was also pleased with my unbeaten season, something that I certainly did not do in the Southampton league! My best win came against A.Pettersson of Chichester, who did not lose any other games for both the A and B team. No one else did particularly well for Gosport, but with the four players mentioned above scoring 20 points from 22 games this was enough to gain promotion.
How we fare in division one next season will be interesting, as will how it affects the A team, who have won the league for the last two seasons. Hopefully we will not lose the services of Bill, Roger and John?
| Name | Grade | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points | % | Grading Perf |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W.Purkiss | 174 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 100.00 | 204.80 |
| R.D.Marsh | 166 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3½ | 87.50 | 184.50 |
| J.H.Jones | 144 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 7½ | 93.75 | 175.75 |
| G.Stuart | 142 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 80.00 | 155.80 |
| A.Elbourne | 95 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 | 138.00 |
| A.Mills | 144 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 62.50 | 135.88 |
| C.Smith | 116 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 100.00 | 135.00 |
| D.Holmes | 135 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 4½ | 50.00 | 126.66 |
| P.Groth | 136 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 75.00 | 124.00 |
| B.Gale | 114 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 50.00 | 124.00 |
| P.J.Eales | 117 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 75.00 | 120.75 |
| D.Eland | 115 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 33.33 | 75.33 |
Petersfield
Petersfield managed to persuade Dominic Tunks to move from Emsworth, which was an obvious advantage for them and certainly boosted their chances of promotion. In the end the promotion race was decided on the last game of the season, when Gosport managed to defeat Petersfield.
Being one of the smaller clubs in the league is a bit of a disadvantage, as not many points were picked up on the lower boards when the strongest team was not available. Neil Harrison had a good season, for someone who has not played league chess before. He will be a good asset for Petersfield, as I think his game will improve over the next couple of seasons.
If Petersfield hang on to their players and maybe obtain a 120 to 130 graded player they will probably finish top of division two next season (depending on how Cosham B structure their team).
| Name | Grade | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points | % | Grading Perf |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D.Tunks | 192 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 7½ | 75.00 | 180.20 |
| P.F.Cooper | 162 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 6½ | 72.22 | 160.78 |
| M.Krawczuk | 149 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 55.56 | 138.22 |
| R.H.Storr-Best | 148 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 60.00 | 129.70 |
| N.Harrison | u | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 50.00 | 117.00 |
| L.S.Krikland | 113 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1½ | 37.50 | 101.25 |
| R.A.Mullenger | 100 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 50.00 | 95.75 |
| D.Ainslie | 83 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ½ | 12.50 | 70.00 |
| D.Broom | 64 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.00 | 55.00 |
| M.Banfield | u | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
Fareham A
After relegation from division one last year, Fareham had a solid year in division two. T.A.Wykes had the best season, being undefeated in his 8 games. This included wins against a couple of 140 plus players and a draw against P.F.Cooper of Petersfield (162). Although D.Elliott only scored 35%, he also had a good season, as he was playing much higher graded players in the majority of his games.
| Name | Grade | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points | % | Grading Perf |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T.A.Wykes | 135 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 6½ | 81.25 | 159.38 |
| D.Elliott | 134 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 3½ | 35.00 | 146.40 |
| J.A.Coburn | 141 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 50.00 | 136.25 |
| B.Stoppard | u | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3½ | 70.00 | 132.80 |
| D.Clarkson | 120 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2½ | 41.67 | 117.50 |
| B.Massey | 97 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 33.33 | 112.33 |
| L.Springthorpe | 94 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 55.56 | 104.56 |
| M.Hockey | 83 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 50.00 | 104.55 |
| P.Waller | 125 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ½ | 23.60 | 88.00 |
| J.A.Craig | 104 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 | 86.00 |
| R.Aylott | u | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 50.00 |
Chichester B
As per the A team in division one, Chichester B used a lot of players during the season, with a mixture of results. Whilst R.T.F Williams had a great season, several other players played below their grades. Some of these players did excellently for the A team, so not too much should be read into their B team performances, as the scores probably evened out.
| Name | Grade | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points | % | Grading Perf |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R.T.F Williams | 136 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 4½ | 90.00 | 173.20 |
| A.Pettersson | u | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 50.00 | 147.00 |
| N.P Gunther | 108 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2½ | 62.50 | 125.50 |
| A.H.McDougal | 128 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 50.00 | 121.88 |
| P.Overton | 141 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 20.00 | 120.40 |
| I.A Richardson | 145 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 2½ | 31.25 | 119.75 |
| P.Wake | u | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4½ | 50.00 | 109.43 |
| P.A Rayment | 134 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 25.00 | 103.50 |
| Z.Kopas | u | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 33.33 | 87.00 |
| R.Lilley | u | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2½ | 83.33 | 76.66 |
| J.Richmond | 91 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ½ | 10.00 | 63.80 |
Portsmouth B
Whilst the A team was pushing for the division one title, the B team season was not as successful, finishing 2nd from bottom (with the same number of points as Chichester B). Certain players had a good season, but the team had some narrow losses, which counted against them in crucial matches. M.L Brown had the best season, but M.White, M.Garrod and B.V.Cochran also performed well above their grades.
I think Mick Garrod probably plays the most chess in Hampshire as he played in all his A, B and C teams matches in the season, as well as numerous tournaments. It seems to be paying off, as this season he has performed well above his current grade. After playing D.Radford I'm surprised that he only managed one draw, as our game was a real battle. I would expect him to get better results next season.
| Name | Grade | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points | % | Grading Perf |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M.L Brown | 162 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 83.33 | 189.16 |
| P.Zabrocki | u | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 50.00 | 141.00 |
| M.White | 119 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 60.00 | 131.80 |
| M.Garrod | 113 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 50.00 | 127.80 |
| A.Evens | 140 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2½ | 31.25 | 116.88 |
| B.V.Cochran | 100 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 2½ | 27.78 | 116.00 |
| P.Eyles | 88 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 3½ | 38.89 | 89.55 |
| R.M.Prince | 90 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 25.00 | 82.50 |
| D.Radford | u | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ½ | 8.33 | 73.50 |
| N.Egleton | u | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
Victory
After being promoted from division three last year, Victory struggled in division two (although they did score 6 points) and came last. One of their key players from their promotion team last year did not play this season and this had a detrimental effect on the team. Although D.Scotney only played three games last season, he won them all and he would have certainly helped the team this year.
M.Gregory and P.Sibley had the best season, but in the end Victory were outgunned in most games. Look to see them bounce back next season.
| Name | Grade | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points | % | Grading Perf |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R.F.Carter | 136 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2½ | 62.50 | 136.00 |
| P.J.McEvoy | 152 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 20.00 | 130.30 |
| M.Gregory | 102 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 44.44 | 124.55 |
| P.Sibley | 115 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 50.00 | 120.40 |
| M.Baxter | 104 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 44.44 | 109.11 |
| P.Flack | 108 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1½ | 30.00 | 107.80 |
| D.Worsfold | 94 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3½ | 50.00 | 97.57 |
| C.Smith | u | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0.00 | 85.33 |
For the complete match results see the Division Two Results page.