Match Reports and Tables

Hastings into the final!

Hastings & St Leonards Chess club took a massive step forward in their pursuit of silverware this season by winning their SCCA McArthur Cup semi-final away to Bexhill 2 on Friday night and booked their place in the 2024/2025 final.

Wins by Francis Rayner, John Sugden, Henry Cove & Terry Hoxey and a draw on top board by Daniel Lowe secured the win 4.5-1.5

A reduced-strength Bexhill due to many cup-tied players, gave a good account of themselves, but it wasn’t to be their night.

Hastings now await the victors of the other semi-final, East Grinstead (holders) v Horsham.

Should the home team progress, then Hastings will be at home for the final, however and interestingly should the away team win, then lots will be drawn. The format for lots in the final will be determined on the outcome of another random sporting event, an MLB Baseball match during the week. Hastings were offered the choice of which team to represent them in the draw and although we could have selected the Yankees or Red Sox or even the Dodgers, the choice was obvious, the Pittsburgh Pirates! We are of course, the pirate capital of the world (Guinness Book of World Records holder), so how fitting for us to cheer on the Pirates for us to get home advantage in the McArthur Cup final

Come on you Pirates!!!!

 

McArthur Cup SF 2005 results

Non playing captain: Mason Woodhams

Match Reports and Tables

Hastings win tough McArthur Cup QF

Friday 7 March 7:30 PM
Bexhill (2) 3-3 Hastings & St Leonards
(Hastings win 7-8 on board count)

Unbelievable as it sounds, Hastings were the underdogs against Bexhill’s second team in the quarter-final clash of the SCCA McArthur Cup but managed to progress by the skin of their teeth anyway. Giving away over 200 grading points in total across the six boards but still coming up trumps.

To be fair Bexhill did field all their best players sans Howard Tebbs for this fixture, gambling that they would have to play us eventually as their First team was also on the same side of the draw playing Crowborough and would meet us anyway, which indeed is the case as Bexhill 1 won setting up a semi-final clash against Hastings. In this tournament players can only play for one team, effectively being cup-tied so Hastings will now play a much reduced Bexhill next time out with eyes on progressing to the final.

The match itself was a tense affair mainly due to the confusion of the time control. The McArthur Cup is a prestigious tournament and so should reflect this in the time control. The default for a mid-week game was 40 moves in 90 minutes with 10s a move from move one. What the players didn’t realize was that the clocks just added 10s from move one and hence they had to work out that the cut-off time for move 40 was when there was 6:40 left on the clock (40x10s). No one realised this and hence the time control was not met in many the games. This didn’t really affect the final score so the captains let it slide.

In the match Francis was first to finish after agreeing a draw with Anh Nguyen, Francis’ position looked a little open and hard to defend but solid enough that Nguyen couldn’t find any answers. 0.5-0.5

Drawmaster Jim showed his mastery on how to draw a game when two pawns down, with opposite ‘B’s (sorry Henry) Andrew was never going to convert his advantage and after quite a number of moves had to concede the draw. 1-1

Young William Cobb was solid on board 4 going an exchange up and managing his time perfectly compared to his opponent who when playing close to the increment and facing a pair of connected passers on the Kingside thought better of the struggle and resigned. 1-2

John Sugden had a commanding position early in the game with a monster bishop on an outpost deep in enemy territory and with Luke’s King very drafty due to the Dutch opening he played, John just needed to bring his forces to bare and victory was assured. However a few inaccuracies and down on time allowed the youngster back in the game with vigor and vim and converted for the win. 2-2

Adrian, who was heavily outgraded played solidly and although fell for a tactic midgame losing a pawn kept the game complex and unclear right up to the end which was crucial to the match as Henry’s opponent had to keep an eye on the result to determine what to do in his own game.

Henry facing the Jobova London System set up in semi-slav fashion and having his queen’s knight forced to spend time offside on a6 due to defending the Jobova’s typical Bf4-Nb5 manoeuvre threatening the Nxc7 fork had to play a long positional game. However with time short and Adrian’s game unclear Henry’s opponent didn’t realise that he wasn’t getting anymore time when his flag fell and let his flag fell and lost on time. 3-3

The match ended in a draw but Hastings won 7 to 8 on board count and thus progress to the semi-finals.

Hastings face Bexhill again in the semi’s but as both teams were away in the previous fixture lots needed to be drawn to determine who has home advantage. Lots were chosen based on the result of the outcome of last night’s UEFA Champions League match between Liverpool & PSG with Hastings being assigned Liverpool and Bexhill PSG. Suffice it to say Liverpool LOST! and so Bexhill will be at home. However Hastings “will never walk alone” when we face our French cheering counterparts on the 18th April, the date of the SCCA McArthur Cup Semi-final.

You watch, I bet Liverpool go and win the Carabao Cup final this weekend but couldn’t do it last night to give us home advantage!

Friday 18 April 2025 7:30 PM
SCCA McArthur Cup Semi-Final
Bexhill (1) v Hastings & St Leonards

Full match results

 


	

	
	




	
	

			
	

				

			News
		

			
The King is Dead, long live the King

		

			 		

	


		

		
Congratulations to Gukesh Dommaraju the new chess World Champion!


Gukesh defeated reigning world champion Ding Liren 7.5-6.5 over 14 games in classical time control to become, at 18 the youngest ever champion eclipsing Garry Kasparov’s achievement at the age of 22.


The final game of the championship saw both players going for it until Ding decided to try and go for the draw late in the game and take the championship to tie-breaks but it was a strategy that backfired spectacularly. The swapping off of all the pieces left Gukesh with an easy (even for us lesser mortals) K+2p vrs K+1p ending which Ding resigned after realising his blunder.


The King is dead. Long live the King.


Well done Gukesk a worthy champion and inspiration to all juniors out there.


See Ollie Willson’s commentary on the final game of the championship.

	

	
	




	
	

			
	

				

			News
		

			
World Championship Chess 2024 Roundup

		

			 		

	


		

		
Follow the 2024 World Chess Championship with commentary and highlights by Hastings’ own, Ollie Willson.


I expected the best version of him: Game 1 of Gukesh v Ding.

No quick draws: Game 2 of Ding v Gukesh.

Man out of time: Game 3 of Gukesh v Ding.

I believe in playing the best moves: Game 4 of Ding v Gukesh.

A Queenless Middlegame or an Endgame: Game 5 of Gukesh v Ding.

The one that got away: Game 6 of Ding v Gukesh

Fortune favours the bold: Game 7 of Gukesh v Ding.

Playing the long game: Game 8 of Ding v Gukesh.

Don’t blink: Game 9 of Gukesh v Ding

No way through: Game 10 of Ding v Gukesh

The Critical Blow: Game 11 of Gukesh v Ding

Ding strikes back!!!: Game 12 of Ding v Gukesh

Ding dodges a bullet!!: Game 13 of Gukesh v Ding

18th World Champion: Gukesh Dommoraju: Game 14 of Ding v Gukesh


Ollie’s

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			Player History
		

			
Warren G Hepworth

		

			 		

	


		

		
Warren Grey (sometimes spelled ‘Gray’) Hepworth was born in Mafeking, South Africa, on 7.9.1890. In the 1911 census he was shown as living in Tiverton, while a bank clerk. He fought in World War 1 in the Royal North Devon Yeomanry and the Devonshire Regiment. In 1915 he was unlucky enough to be stationed at Gallipoli. In 2021 three of his medals were auctioned at Bonhams and sold for £180.


In 1922 he married Elisabeth Grace Browne at Exeter. In the 1939 Register he was living at Rye as a manager of Lloyds Bank. The Hastings and St Leonards Observer of 5.1.1952 described him as a retired bank manager from Worcester, who was so impressed by the Hastings Chess Congress that he joined the chess club and accepted an invitation to become a vice-president. The same newspaper of 6.12.1952 mentioned that he was chairman of the Hastings Rotary Club. 


I have a few references to matches in which he represented the club and I get the impression that he was an average club player or a little above average. I could not find a single reference to his playing in the East Sussex team in the Sexton Cup, so perhaps he was not very ambitious. Here are the few references that I have come across, though probably one could find several more:


1954 Board 5 for Hastings ‘B’ v Bexhill ‘A’. Drew with R E Smith.

1954 Board 2 for Hastings v Bexhill. Drew with F W Boff, a strong player, his best result.

1958 Board 13 for Hastings v Watford. Won v j Harvey.

1958 Board 14 for Hastings v Canterbury. Lost v R Boughey.


By 1958 he seems to have become inflicted by an illness and the Hastings and St Leonards Observer of 21.10.1958 mentions the new BBC chess programme called Network Three and states that it will be a godsend for chess-playing invalids like W G Hepworth. Hepworth himself added that he had high hopes that he would be in Hastings for the congress. He had lived for several years at 26, Warrior Square, but it appears that in that year he moved out to Hiham Green, near Rye.


Hepworth was a member of a revived Rye CC in 1959. During his time there he played in two matches against Hastings, the second of which was early in 1960.


I am not sure exactly when he moved to the Felpham District of Bognor, but in the Bognor Regis Observer of 12.5.1961 he is mentioned as playing in the club championship of Bognor CC. In another edition of the newspaper (10.2.1961) it is recorded that he played on board three for the club in a match against the local LEC Refrigeration Company and drew with G Biggs. He gave a brilliancy prize for the club and was a member in the 1962-63 season competing in the major event rather than the club championship. He died in 1963, aged 72. His wife died in 1982 in Exeter..


There was an obituary for him in the Hastings and St Leonards Observer of 4.5.1963. This described him as a former vice-president and auditor for the club. His professional help in committee was said to be invaluable. The article adds that until his move to Bognor, he had been a daily frequenter of the club. It is stated that he played a lively and quite formidable game, but he never bothered to play really seriously. He liked a bright, quick game with a fast-moving opponent. He was always excellent company. As a child he was in Mafeking during the seven month siege by the Boers in 1900. He vividly recalled the arrival of Lord Roberts’s relieving infantry.


B.Denman

	

	
	




	
	

			
	

				

			Events
		

			
Hastings draw Bexhill in Cups

		

			 		

	


		

		
Hastings have drawn local rivals Bexhill in both SCCA The McArthur Cup and Paul Watson Trophy.


Hastings will first contest the Paul Watson Trophy on Sunday 1st December before travelling to Bexhill on Friday 7th March 2025 to take part in the prestigious McArthur Cup.


The Paul Watson Trophy is a four board 1825 avg K.O. for both East and West Sussex.


The McArthur Cup which has been going for over 125 years is straight forward 6 board K.O. and is currently held by East Grinstead.


 




McArthur Cup Draw:




1st Round:


 


West: Sussex University v Lewes




2nd Round:


 


West: Sussex University or Lewes v Horsham (home team dependent on winners of the 1st round match).


           Brighton v East Grinstead




East: Bexhill 2 v Hastings & St. Leonards (Friday March 7th)


          Crowborough v Bexhill 1




Schedule:


1st round match to be played by January 18th 2025




2nd round to be played by March 8th


Semi-Finals to be played by April 26th


Final to be played by May 31st




 


 




Paul Watson Trophy:


 


1st Round:


 


West: East Grinstead v Bognor & Arun


East: Bexhill 2 v Crowborough




2nd Round:




West: East Grinstead or Bognor & Arun v Lewes (Home team dependent on winner of 1st round)


           Sussex University v Horsham


East:  Bexhill 2 or Crowborough v Uckfield (Home team dependent on winner of 1st round)


           Hastings & St.Leonards v Bexhill 1 (Sunday 1st December 2:00PM)








Schedule:


1st round matches to be played by January 18th 2025


2nd round to be played by March 8th


Semi-Finals to be played by April 26th


Final to be played by May 31st



	

	
	






	
	

			
	

				

			Events, News
		

			
November Rapid play

		

			 		

	


		

		
NOVEMBER RAPID PLAY


Sunday November 24th


by courtesy of THE CHAIRMAN AND COMMITTEE


OF HASTINGS & ST LEONARDS CHESS CLUB


TO BE HELD ON


SUNDAY 24TH NOVEMBER 2024


CLOCKS START 2:00 p.m.


(arrive and check in by 1:45 p.m.)


7 Round Swiss of 10 minutes per game plus 5 seconds per move.


Results will be submitted for English Chess Federation rapidplay grading.


ENTRIES FROM CLUB MEMBERS ONLY


Many modest (sometimes silly) prizes to be won by players at all levels.


Prize giving is expected to be finished by 6:30 p.m.


Entrance numbers strictly limited to 24 utter absolute tops


and people will be turned away after that number is reached,


so advance booking is strongly recommended.


Entry fee: £3 pay on the day.


Book by e-mail to hastingschessclub@outlook.com text or phone Adrian on 07518415429


No tournament if fewer than 12 entries by Monday 28th October.


Haphazard tea time refreshments (self-service) provided.


Visitors’ parking vouchers (cheaper than street parking) available from Jim Wheeler,


07875 712005 or james.wheeler9@btinternet.com

	

	
	






	
	

			
	

				

			Events
		

			
Lightning strikes once

		

			 		

	


		

		
The first Lightning tournament to held at the club in long while will be at the club this Saturday 14th September at 2PM.


The Glyde Cup will be up for grabs for members in what’s hoped to be a regular event going  forward.


To enter this competition and play a part of history (Cheshire noted about our 1895 Great Tournament that “Bird and Janowski enlivened us with a little lightning chess.”) please contact Adrian in the first instance


Lightning chess rules for this weekend:


Lightning chess can be a game between two players where the thinking time is regulated either by a buzzer sounding every ten seconds or by using digital clocks set in >Bronstein= mode.




1. The time limit between moves shall be ten seconds.


2. Where a buzzer is used, each player on his turn to move, shall move immediately the buzzer sounds – not before or after.


3. A move must be completed before the buzzer ceases to sound or the time on the clock expires. Any player exceeding this time limit is likely to be defaulted. An Arbiter should only give one warning of this, and thereafter enforce the Rule.


4. If a player completes an illegal move, his opponent can immediately claim the game. If he does not do so, but instead replies to the illegal move with a move of his own, the illegal move stands and the game must continue.


5. A player may not claim a draw on grounds which normally require the existence of a game score (eg repetition or the “50-move” circumstance).


6. Except insofar as they conflict with the Rules given above, the normal Laws of Chess (including the touch move Rule) shall apply.


7. If the Arbiter considers: (a) that neither player is trying to win; (b) that one player is unnecessarily prolonging the game; (c) or that irregularity or malpractice has occurred then, notwithstanding anything stated above, he may: (1) award a win to one player and a loss to the other (2) award a loss to both players (3) declare the game a draw (4) order the game to be replayed with or without colours reversed.


8. In the event of any dispute arising over the interpretation of these Rules, the Arbiter’s decision shall be final.




See you there.

	

	
	

		
			
		

	

	





		
Est. 1882