Southampton League

Division 2 2000/2001 Analysis

A hugely competitive season, with very little to choose between any of the teams. As can be seen from the table, there were only 3 points separating the top four teams. In the end Winchester A sneaked it from Eastleigh Unity B, when Unity failed to defeat Southern Water A in their last match of the season. There was some confusion before this match, with Unity believing that they had already done enough to win the league. When the match was played, the majority of Unity players knew they had to win the match, but not all of them. This meant that Unity played the match with only four players and eventually lost 3½ to 1½, thus failing to win the league.

Winchester winning the league, sees their welcome return to Division One, where they have usually been found in previous years. After losing players in the last few years (as we all seem to) it is good to see teams getting new talent in. Khalid Esmat had a fantastic season for Winchester and picking up a 178 graded player (Toby Stock) is always going to help your team.

Winchester A

As mentioned above, Khalid Esmat had a fantastic season, scoring 85% on Board One. This man is obviously under-graded, as he had a tournament performance of over 185. I have included the grading performance to give you a better idea of how well a player has done, the calculation for this is probably not the most accurate, so please don't complain if you disagree (unless I am hugely out in my estimate!). 

As you would expect from the team that won the division, all of the regular players scored well, with Bob Cleave being the exception. This may be slightly unfair to Bob as he only lost one game, but probably had too many draws. 

I've noticed that M.Manzouri scored well for Winchester's B team, he certainly helped the A team with two important wins, including one in Winchester's 3-2 win against Southern Water A.

Eastleigh Unity B

Eastleigh Unity B had a poor start to the season scoring only half a point in their first three games, but then won 5 and drew 1 of their next 6 games. But a loss in the last game on the season, meant they failed to win the division. The sudden revival in their fortunes was probably due to Andy Mills joining the club when Fair Oak folded. Having a player of Andy's qualities meant the other players could play on a lower board and Andy scored excellently on board two.

Of the regular players Dave Holmes, had a good season, only losing the one game, although he still got into his normal time troubles. Where Unity picked up the points was with their reserves. You don't normally score too heavily when you have to bring in a lower graded player, but Unity managed to score 3½ out of 6 on board five, when a reserve was called in. As to my season, too many missed chances, especially against Chris Barber of Ordnance Survey. My one win, was very lucky, when Phil Barber of Southern Water blundered, in a better position.

Southern Water A

Southern Water also managed to strengthen their team this year, drafting in Bruce Jenks, who I understand plays in the Bournmouth league. This eased the pressure from Phil Barber on board one and enabled Southern Water to finish strongly. It was good to see Nigel Dicker return to chess again, after a few years away. He does not seem to have lost too much rustiness, scoring 4 points from 9 games.

Due to the new players, Bernhard Knight slipped down a couple of boards and took advantage of this, managing  7 points from 10 games. As you can see from my grading estimate, the majority of players grading performance was between 133 and 150, which is excellent. What Southern probably needed to win the division, was for one player to perform at 170 level, over a number of games. This would probably have given them a big enough boost to challenge. Maybe with Bruce Jenks playing more games next season, this will happen?

Andover A

I feel that Andover A did not have the strength in depth to challenge this year. Having Stuart Knox on board one is obviously helpful, but he performed slightly below his normal level. On board two Terry Gray did not lose a game, in an excellent season. Boards 3 - 5 all played at around about their grade, but probably needed to score a few more points to challenge. As Division 2 was so closely fought, Andover by no means had a bad season. But for a team that won Division one a few years ago, finishing with 50% in Division two is a step backward.

From speaking to some of the players, it seems that they have changed the way they run the club. Only players that regularly come along to club nights, play in the league matches. This has seen a couple of their high graded players leave the club in the last few seasons. David Thompson, who plays for the county, also no longer plays for Andover, although I understand that this is for a different reason.

Playing people who only come along to the club regularly, has its good and bad points. The bad point is probably more obvious, as you can see from a team that has won Division One, currently not doing as well. But at least all the club members know each other. I've played for clubs in the past where you go along to a home match and don't know who is playing for your team and who is playing for the opposition. It is always difficult to get the balance, but hats off to Andover, in taking this brave decision.

Ordnance Survey A

Ordnance Survey being involved in the relegation battle, when they scored 8 points is highly unusual. This just goes to prove, that any team could beat any other team this season. Surprisingly no-one had a bad season percentage wise, as the regular players all seemed to score between 40 and 60 percent. Brian Gale played a lot more or Ordnance Survey this season and had their best result. If he had managed to avoid playing Peter Eales of Unity he would have an even better season, as he lost both of these games. This is quite surprising , as Peter has never managed to beat Brian before (they have played numerous times).

Southampton C

Southampton C struggled to field a consistent team and probably paid for this. Towards the end of the season, they drafted in some of the players from the A and B teams, but by then it was too late and they finished bottom. Ian Stenhouse had the best result, proving that although his grade has slipped in recent years, he can still play at a higher level. This can also be seen from his play in the Hampshire Championship, where he defeated Dominic Tunks (192) and won the U150 grading prize.

I would not be surprised to see Southampton C bounce straight back next season, as they certainly have players of the highest calibre, who can easily hold their own in Division 2. It was just that this season was extremely hard fought and some-one had to be relegated.

For the complete match results see the Division Two Results page.