Hampshire loss to Kent

Ashraf Syed

Updated on:

Hampshire v Kent 040921

Hampshire lost a close-fought match to Kent Haddrell in the pre-season over-the-board 1600 average rating competition. The match took place at the Warren Centre, Micheldever Station. Everything turned out fine with the venue, the kit, the players (except one default from Kent on board 6 – sorry about that, Manoj) and the weather, which was fine and pleasant.

I met the Warren Centre’s representative at 1 pm and he showed me the venue layout, with which I was already familiar. Earlier in the day, I managed to obtain some sets, boards, clocks and scoresheets from our club cupboard at Chandler’s Ford. Players from both teams helped set out the tables, chairs, sets, etc., and Andy from Kent kindly set the clocks for G105/15, as required, so there was no need to fall back on the ‘all moves in 2 hours option.

We started pretty much on time, just before 1:35 pm, before which I gave the usual announcements, supplemented by some comments about the pandemic-related practicalities (e.g. masks to be worn, hand gel available, windows open to air the venue, etc.)

No issues arose throughout, except that Kent defaulted board 6 after one hour from the start of White’s clock.

I found the Kent captain, David Gilbert, to be very friendly and pleasant, and he has kindly logged the result on the ECF’s League Management System, so please refer to the following link for the full result, which was a 5-3 defeat for us. https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/70630

All in all, it was a very pleasant day, and thanks to all the Kent and Hampshire players who played and who helped with the setup and the putting away of the tables and chairs afterwards.

1 thought on “Hampshire loss to Kent”

  1. The occasion was well-organised especially in light of the original Hampshire match captain having to drop out on Saturday morning due to CV19 risks in his family. I was especially impressed by the social distancing and above all the excellent ventilation.
    I long ago reached the conclusion after some painful losses that chessers in rural counties are under-graded; in contrast, London is full of over-graded players e.g. GMs who qualified decades ago. And as David Gilbert (Kent captain) pointed out, -shire county competitors generally play each other over and over.
    I enjoyed the occasion, the pleasant countryside, and a fine glass of dry white wine from the local hostelry. Thank you!

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