Hastings lose McArthur Cup final

Disappointment and heartbreak as East Grinstead triumphed 4-2 on Monday night, retaining the McArthur Cup.

Our boys and girl couldn’t have done much more, that was the absolute strongest team we could possibly field but East Grinstead brought an even stronger team with them!

Some really interesting games which you would expect from such quality on display.

First to finish with an early draw was Francis (black). Got into a strange position after the opening both fianchetto’ed on the g file, a pretty symmetrical affair and the queens off on move 11 on the ‘a’ file??? This left Francis with a knight on the rim but had a little initiative although he said in the analysis he hadn’t got a clue what was going on. Computer gave white 1.5+ up with correct play but Peter Kemp said he wouldn’t have found the moves to get to that position so a draw was a fair result. Ng5 after Qxa4, Nxa4, b3 and a draw agreed.

Rasa opened with her customary English opening as was very solid until a slight inaccuracy/mistake which I missed and her position collapsed quickly although her opponent said it was defendable but it wasn’t pleasant and Rasa was struggling with time so it would have a been tough ask for her to find the correct responses to hold it together.

John had good opening (with black) facing an English-ish, set up with a Kings Indian Defence, got a good lead in development and pressure against h3 with a Q+B battery, however his opponent got back in the game and John was hit with a bit of crisis of confidence as he had been blundering a lot in recent games and so offered a draw which was accepted. A good result given that he was nearly 100 points outgraded and had the black pieces.

Daniel (white) came out fighting, blitzing out his moves until move 11, then once the dust had settled, he had this super centre pawn duo, good bishop v bad bishop and pressure down the open c file. In the car home, Daniel admitted he had never had that position before, which made me chuckle, how he blitzed out his moves like that and still had a great position with no theory, gives hope to us lesser mortals. An exchange of queens on g6 gave Daniel a teeny tiny advantage that was snuffed out later in the game with the pushing of said pawn destroying Daniel’s King cover and lots of mating threats, coupled with the pushing of pawns on the queenside that was difficult to stop. Eventually arriving on the second rank and it was time to resign.

Henry opened well, getting a great lead in development against a dutch with his catalan/KIA setup and looking to double fianchetto but went Ba3 and exerted a lot of pressure along the diagonal. In the end his development/pressure dwindled as his opponent kept swapping off pieces and it resulted in a same bishop ending 6v6 with Henry having the good bishop. His opponent refused to accept a draw much to the annoyance of everyone as the match had ended (this was the last game to finish and EG had already won 3.5-1.5). His chess etiquette was lacking all evening, having during the game moving and pressing the clock with different hands and consulting with his captain while Henry was trying to concentrate.

The titanic struggle on board 1 was a good watch between Mark Rich (black) and Chris Baker. Opened as English-ish then Mark morphed into a Najdorf structure but against a central bind, it was really hard to see how he would fix his backward d6 pawn with white pawns on e4 & c4. Anyway it went really positional and Chris manoeuvred pieces from the queenside to the Kingside then smashed up Mark’s King position where he had his King hiding in the corner behind a lone pawn but a semi open g file. Then it came, the queen retreating to d2 from h6 after being threatened by Rf6 forming a queen-sandwich against Mark’s d pawn which was only lightly defended. In came the rook to take the pawn and go material up but then Mark found this awesome Nd4 move trapping the rook which he had to give up an exchange otherwise potentially losing a queen, Rxf6 doesn’t work as Nf3+ is just nasty. After Rxd4 exd4 Qxd4, f4 was played and few moves later a draw was agreed and East Grinstead won the Cup.

 

East Grinstead came ready for the fight and although we got the very best team out that we could they still out-graded us. We may have call up and fly in our GM’s Stuart Conquest and Bogdan next year if we want to win this, the standard has got really high.

Many congratulations to East Grinstead on a fine display and winning the McArthur Cup 2025.

Congratulations to our own Henry Cove, who was the competition’s highest scorer with 2.5/3

Non playing captain: Mason Woodhams

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

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

 


	

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.

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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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

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

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

Est. 1882