Members analysis session by FM Ezra Kirk, 4th June

Jan has kindly offered to sponsor an analysis session for club members on 4th June. It will be given by Ezra who will be looking at any games people bring. The session will be free to members and will run from 7:30 to 9:00 pm. Don't forget to bring your most interesting/confusing games!

McArthur cup final 2015

Hastings & St Leonards were to host Brighton & Hove for the 2015 final. Geoffrey James was to renew a rivalry that stretched back to 1969 when he faced John Sugden. Their opening was a Caro-Kann defence. Geoffrey won an exchange and soon after the game. Brighton & Hove took the lead. Brian Denman was paired with Howard Tebbs. Their game was a Slav defence. This was to end in a draw. Simon Wilks was to play Sussex County Chess Association president Robert Elliston. The game was a Catalan with Simon playing the black side. This ended peacefully in a draw. Julien Carron making his debut for the club was to face Francis Rayner, who has represented Wales apparently. The opening was an Open Sicilian. At the end of a joint time scramble it became apparent Francis had made one move to few. The game was won by the Brighton & Hove player. My game finished next. It had been a Bird's opening. My opponent offered the draw and i accepted. Brighton & Hove now had 3.5 points and could not be caught. Callum Brewer, a promising young player, was playing Rasa Norinkeviciute who has a WFM title. The opening had been a Sicilian defence. Callum won a pawn and with seconds to spare on Callum's clock, Rasa resigned, although mate was inevitable. So the final score was Hastings & St Leonards 1.5 Brighton & Hove 4.5. Brighton & Hove had won the match and retain the McArthur cup.

Hastings 1st Weekend Chess Tournament

Hastings&St Leonards Chess Club are hosting their first weekend chess tournament 30/31st May.
At the the moment four members of the club are hoping to attend.
Full details can be found from their web-site or from our link.

Tournaments

Please can all tournament players ( apart from OT ) arrange to play their remaining games as soon as possible so that all games are completed by 30th June 2015. Many thanks.

Brighton &Hove 1 v Eastbourne 1 and League report

Our last match of the season was against Eastbourne 1. John Henshaw was the first to finish, winning against the Semi-Slav. I drew against John Herbert. Callum Brewer drew a game which had transposed to an Old Indian line. Geoffrey James was next to finish, winning as black against an English set up. Last to finish was Brian Denman drawing in a Sicilian against Oliver Froom. We won this match by 3.5 points to 1.5 points.
  This last match victory enabled us to finish as runners up in Division one. Our overall performance was only slightly worse than previous years.Which was not totally disappointing. Luke Rutherford, a key player was unable to play any part in the season's campaign. We faced formidable opposition this season in a strengthened Worthing team. Both Michael Nicholas and Donald Macfarlane were to prove useful recruits to the Worthing club. Looking at the positives the club gained a strong new player in Simon Wilks. His results this season were very encouraging. On paper we were perhaps a little weaker than last season, but we still threatened for first place. In previous years, this season's
performance from the club, might have clinched the title. This season however it proved to be not quite enough. A strong Worthing side ran out winners and i think justly deserve their title.

Brighton and Hove win Knock Out final

A grading difference of 62 meant we needed 2½ to win the match (a drawn outcome is not possible in the KO, any more than unfinished games). Knock out matches usually go to the stronger team, in spite of the grading handicap - this year's results bear this out with only one upset in seven games. So 62 grading points - we were expecting more - was still enough to wipe us out. Most of the difference was on board one where Callum took on Feliks as black with a board difference of 43. Feliks was already struggling and two pawns down when the snatch of a particularly poisoned pawn led him into a trap and his queen was cornered. Robin narrowly lost a tricky and time-pressured ending on board two with a 20 point difference. Paul S. drew on board three, Michael H. lost on four and Jan won on five. We had 2½. A great result for Callum who is fast becoming one of our strongest players.

Play Online Chess

[Event "KO Final"]
[Site "BHCC"]
[Date "14.5.15."]
[Round ""]
[White "Feliks Kwiatkowski"]
[Black "Callum Brewer"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteELO "209"]
[BlackELO "166"]

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Bc4 Ngf6 6. Ng5 e6 7. Qe2 Nb6 8.
Bd3 Be7 9. N1f3 O-O 10. O-O h6 11. Ne4 Nbd5 12. Nxf6+ Nxf6 13. c3 b6 14. Bf4
Bb7 15. Rad1 Qc8 16. c4 Rd8 17. Bb1 Ba6 18. b3 c5 19. Be5 cxd4 20. Nxd4 Qc5
21. Rfe1 Rac8 22. Qc2 g6 23. a4 Bb7 24. f3 Rd7 25. Kh1 Rcd8 26. Bxf6 Bxf6 27.
Nb5 Qe5 28. Rf1 Rxd1 29. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 30. Qxd1 a6 31. Na3 Qb2 32. Nc2 Qxb3 33.
Qf1 Bc6 34. h3 Bxa4 35. Kh2 Bc6 36. Qc1 Qxc4 37. Qxh6 Be5+ 38. Kg1 Bf4 0-1

Congratulations and thanks to everyone who's played in the KO this year. As well as last night's team that's Michael C., Terry, Rob, Mustapha and Seb (and me).

*    *    *    *    *

PS The results posted below from the MSCL website use last year's grades which makes the grading difference 74 (with 49 on board one), whereas the results form is preset using the January grades. Rule changes to clarify this are apparently being sought at the MSCL AGM.

14 May		Brighton				Haywards_Heath
1	163	Brewer, Callum D	1	-	0	Kwiatkowski, Feliks J	212
2	163	Jones, Robin A	0	-	1	Boardman, Jeffrey	180
3	161	Selby, Paul R	½	-	½	Cole, Vivian J	169
4	152	Hamilton, Michael J	0	-	1	Faulkner, Martin J	161
5	129	Ten Sythoff, Jan	1	-	0	Fitzgerald, Neil A	120
grade diff:	-74		2.5		2.5
		Required to win:	2.5		3

MSCL results and final game of the season

The end of the season is nigh and results are in. Paul's first team came second to Worthing this year, due in part to a couple of Knoll Knights having trotted over to support Worthing when their team disbanded last year. Robin's second team won division two by three game points so will be facing tough opposition in division one next season. Jan's third team looks like slipping back into the third division, where they will be joined next season by Michael's fourth team coming up, having won the fourth division with ease winning every match bar one. Andrew's fifth team held a respectable centre position in the fourth division on four out of eight. So particular congratulations to the second and fourth teams who are this year's winners in the see-saw fortunes of the Mid-Sussex League.

Meanwhile the keenly-awaited final of the Knock Out Competition - the absolute last match of the season - will be held at Brighton and Hove this evening as we take on last year's winners and KO favourites, Haywards Heath. An exciting match is anticipated where our rising talent take on the heavyweights of Mid-Sussex - all games to be finished on the night by quickplay.