Eastleigh Unity A

As mentioned in the summary, along with Southampton A, Eastleigh Unity dominated the league this season. The title could have gone either way, as although both teams won the majority of their matches, the games they won were not by massive margins. Eastleigh Unity A won five of their nine wins by the smallest possible margin (3 - 2) and only had the one crushing win against Winchester A (4.5 - 0.5)

One of the main reason why Eastleigh were competitive with Southampton A this season was by gaining the services of John Jones for the majority of the season, John has been graded over 200 in the past and although Chess is no longer his main hobby, he a still a very strong player. Slotting in on board 3 enabled enabled Martin Newbury and Andy Carpenter to play on boards 4 & 5 respectively, where as last season they played on boards 3 & 4. 

Roger Marsh had the best performance of a Eastleigh player and along with John Jones was unbeaten, Roger seemed to be able to beat the lower graded players and held the dangerous Martin Buckmaster in the crucial matches against Southampton A. 

So after a 10 year gap, Eastleigh Unity have won the league again, although they were called Cricketers Arms the last time they won. With another name change next season, when they will probably be called Stoneham Chess Club, will it be another 10 years before they win it again?

Southampton A

The difference between Southampton A and Eastleigh Unity A final score was only 1 point, so it stands to reason that the majority of Southampton A players would have had a good season. But where as you normally get a few players playing above their grade and few under their grade, it seems the majority of the Southampton A regular players, played at about their grade (or just under). This was certainly the case with the top three boards, where they all performed at about 3 points below their grade. 

Performance wise, Tom Kazmierski had the best season of a Southampton A player, with his 5 wins, 1 drew and 1 loss, turning in a 171 performance. Crucially though, he did not play in the one loss of the season. Ian Stenhouse also had a good season, as first reserve, with his two wins from three games. All in all though, I would say that for Southampton A it was an average season, but they still almost won the league!

With all this in mind I think it would be a brave man to bet against Southampton A coming back next season and winning the league again.

Passed Pawn A

Passed Pawn finished second last season, thus dropping to third could be seen as a disappointment. But they had a strange season, with the second half being much better than the first. This was due to them gaining the services of the Hampshire Individual Champion Dominic Tunks, who won all three of his games. As Passed Pawn won two of these games and drew the other (against Southampton A), this was a major bonus for them.

If Passed Pawn have Dominic playing for them regularly next season this will turn them into champion contenders, as based on their strongest team this year, they would average 161.2 which puts them up there with Eastleigh Unity A and Southampton A.

As well as Dominic's 216 performance Martin Buckley had a fine season, with his two wins against Fraser McLeod probably being his best results. Stuart Dean is proving that age is no barrier to playing fine chess, with another good season. Tony Carter did not have a good season, but I understand that he had surgery this year, so was probably not at his best.

(a) Outstanding query re the result of Southampton B v Passed Pawn A

Winchester A