Southampton League
Division 1 2000/2001 Analysis
Southampton A dominated Division One this year, easily retaining their title. For another team to challenge Southampton A it seems that the would have to strengthen their team somewhat. The average grade for Southampton A in their matches was 164.1, which was almost 10 points more then the next best average grade (Eastleigh Unity A, 154.5)
| Team | P | W | D | L | GS | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Southampton A | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 36½ | 19 |
| Passed Pawn A | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 27 | 13 |
| Eastleigh Unity A | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 26 | 12 |
| Southampton B | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 23 | 8 |
| University A | 10 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 20½ | 4 |
| Eastleigh BR A | 10 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 17 | 4 |
Southampton A
With five players playing 8 or more games, not much disruption to the normal playing order was seen. Also when reserves were used, they scored very well (two wins, two draws). This allowed Southampton A to score heavily and nobody challenged them in the title race. The biggest gain for the team was obtaining the services of T.Kazmierski, who used to play for the University, but has not played for a few years. He had an excellent season, gaining valuable wins and remaining undefeated. All the other players seemed to play at slightly above or below their grades, with the exception of David Flynn, who scored 12 points better (although this was only over 3 games).
In total the whole team only lost four games all season, but the only game I have is a loss! J.Jones v M.Buckmaster. So if anyone from Southampton A has a game from the season that warrants publishing, let me know. Update - McLeod v Clarke has now been supplied.
| Name | Grade | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points | % | Grading Perf |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P.J.Patience | 163 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 | 188.00 |
| D.Bell | 178 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5½ | 61.11 | 177.00 |
| T.Kazmierski | u | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 6½ | 81.25 | 172.00 |
| F.McLeod | 160 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 75.00 | 166.75 |
| M.Buckmaster | 176 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 62.50 | 165.50 |
| R.Perrin | 153 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 7½ | 75.00 | 156.00 |
| D.Flynn | 140 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 66.67 | 152.67 |
Passed Pawn A
If they could have fielded their strongest team more often, Passed Pawn A may have challenged for the title this year. Not that second place was a failure, as on paper Eastleigh Unity A had a stronger team. Good performances were obtained by Tony Carter, John Jones and Martin Buckley, with the last two especially moving their grades back to previous held levels.
To challenge next year, I think that Tony Carter, John Jones and Arthur Brameld will have to play more games than they did this year. Although on the whole the reserves did very well, a weakened team was probably the reason for some of the key defeats.
| Name | Grade | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points | % | Grading Perf |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A.Carter | 157 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 60.00 | 171.80 |
| J.Jones | 144 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 75.00 | 168.50 |
| J.Wilkinson | 167 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 50.00 | 156.10 |
| M.Buckley | 138 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 66.67 | 157.89 |
| A.F.Brameld | 184 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 40.00 | 152.40 |
| L.O'Sullivan | 135 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 66.67 | 147.67 |
| K.Retallack | 105 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 | 145.00 |
| S.Dean | 150 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 57.14 | 141.57 |
| S.LeFevre | 124 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 50.00 | 136.50 |
| A.Mayer | 126 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 | 92.00 |
| B.Grant | 116 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.00 | 81.00 |
Eastleigh Unity A
Losing Gavin Lock from last year weakened Unity a bit, as he was a great asset in the second half of the season. Bill Purkiss played far less games than normal, when he did play the team benefited greatly. In fact, in the five games that Bill played, Unity scored four wins and one draw - so an important aim for next year is to get Bill playing in more games!
Roger Marsh did not do as well in the Southampton league as he did in the Portsmouth league, where he had an excellent season and the other players were slightly above or below their grades. Obtaining Andy Mills was an asset, although he did not do as well for the A team, as he did for the B team. If Unity A can obtain one more strong player and Bill plays more games, then Unity have a good chance of challenging for the title next season, otherwise they will probably end up in the same position as this year.
| Name | Grade | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points | % | Grading Perf |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W.Purkiss | 174 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3½ | 70.00 | 187.60 |
| G.Stuart | 142 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 | 176.00 |
| R.Marsh | 166 | 10 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 6 | 60.00 | 158.20 |
| A.Carpenter | 151 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 60.00 | 154.10 |
| M.Newbury | 155 | 10 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 40.00 | 148.90 |
| A.Mills | 144 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3½ | 58.33 | 136.70 |
| J.Zastapilo | 135 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 40.00 | 124.60 |
| C.Priest | 146 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 | 88.00 |
Southampton B
Running two teams in one division is always difficult and the second team is normally a candidate for relegation. Southampton B seem to ignore this rule, as they have again finished comfortably in mid-table. It is important to have a strong top board when playing in Division and although Brian Otway only scored 30%, this was against opposition with an average grade of 173.
With Brian Otway holding the fort on board one, it was left to the lower boards to collect the points. This was done most successfully with most players playing above their grades. Luke Stables has proved that he was probably too strong to play in the Hampshire U125 championship, as he performed to 150 strength in division one. This point was made by several other entries to the U125 championship, although I was of the opinion that he was probably ok to play in it. I think I was proved wrong there, so I apologize to those people. Still the other players can be assured that he will be too strong to play in it next year!
One final point was Les Allen's great season. Les is playing a lot more games recently and this seems to have helped his game. The only annoying thing about this, is that he used to play for Eastleigh Unity.
| Name | Grade | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points | % | Grading Perf |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| L.Allen | 149 | 10 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 50.00 | 160.40 |
| A.Summers | 118 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 100.00 | 155.50 |
| B.Otway | 161 | 10 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 30.00 | 152.80 |
| L.Stables | u | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 66.67 | 149.50 |
| T.Anderson | 144 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 57.14 | 147.57 |
| P.L.Marshall | 134 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 25.00 | 119.00 |
| P.Hurn | 129 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 50.00 | 142.00 |
| I.Stenhouse | 144 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2½ | 35.71 | 122.43 |
| N.Packer | 141 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.00 | 99.00 |
University A
Unfortunately University are losing the majority of their A team players next season and have therefore asked for and been granted voluntary relegation to Division two. The actual relegation battle was a very close thing, but University managed to gain enough game points to stay above Eastleigh BR A.
Ian Henderson had a good season as did Chris McIntosh. University's problem was that they probably only had three/four players, that were of Division One strength and they suffered on the lower boards for this. I say this without being critical of these players, but the lower boards were normally heavily outgraded in most matches. Even with this handicap University did very well not to come bottom, but are probably hoping that some strong players join the University for next season.
| Name | Grade | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points | % | Grading Perf |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I.Henderson | 164 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 60.00 | 178.20 |
| C.McIntosh | 140 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 50.00 | 154.00 |
| S.Jeyarenta | 160 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 33.33 | 145.00 |
| J.Foster | u | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 50.00 | 133.00 |
| N.Missoulis | 108 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 33.33 | 133.00 |
| P.Lawson | 71 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 33.33 | 127.00 |
| A.Syed | u | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 33.33 | 121.30 |
| S.Gonem | 120 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 25.00 | 119.37 |
| A.Price | 101 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 | 91.00 |
Eastleigh BR A
In obtaining the highest graded player in the league, Eastleigh BR probably had high hopes for the season. Despite this BR struggled during the season and were overtaken on game points by the University in the end. Dominic was certainly a great asset and played to his grade with 4 points from 5 games. Unfortunately both Dominic and Malcolm Body (another player from the Portsmouth league) did not play in enough games to make the difference that was required.
Malcolm Clarke and Ivor Willis both had poor seasons by their standards and with the majority of other players playing below their grades, Eastleigh BR finished in last place and were relegated. If the core of Eastleigh BR stay together they should bounce back, but there are some hungry teams in Division Two!
| Name | Grade | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points | % | Grading Perf |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J.Nevalainen | 165 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100.00 | 214.00 |
| D.Tunks | 192 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 80.00 | 196.00 |
| M.Body | 152 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3½ | 70.00 | 167.40 |
| D.Balfour | 157 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 44.44 | 156.90 |
| R.Rezal | 37 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 50.00 | 135.00 |
| M.C.Clarke | 138 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 1½ | 15.00 | 119.50 |
| I.Willis | 133 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 22.22 | 118.00 |
| G.Payne | 110 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | ½ | 10.00 | 97.20 |
| D.Clark | 124 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.00 | 88.50 |
| E.Tregeris | 87 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 | 77.00 |
| J.Kooner | 95 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.00 | 61.50 |
For the complete match results see the Division One Results page.