After their recent success against Worthing the Hastings and St Leonards second team travelled to Hove full of excitement. They were fielding a fairly strong team with Henry Cove on first board; Paul Kelly on second board; Ian Calvert on third board; and Martin Fletcher (captain) on fourth board. This team had an average grade of 1835 and many years of experience at competitive chess between them.

However, the games did not go as they hoped. The first game to finish was Ian’s, and he was defeated by Brighton and Hove player, Geoffrey James.

The second game to finish was between the two team captains, with Martin against Paul Batchelor. As in the well-known television series Martin found himself facing the Queen’s Gambit opening, and he responded with a Semi-Slave defence. However Martin found that he was not able to channel Beth Harmon’s brilliance and after 35 moves he accepted the inevitable and resigned.

It was not long before Paul Kelly suffered the same fate against Calum Salmons.

On Board 1 Henry was facing Luke Rutherford, and as Luke is graded 200 points higher than Henry this was never going to be an easy match. But recognising that he had a strong position, and also not wanting his team to leave with no points, he offered Luke a draw. However, Luke declined the offer and the match continued. Indeed, it continued for another hour. But in the end Henry was unable to maintain his edge, and the Hastings team had a fourth loss for the evening.

It was a more subdued journey home, but the team are upbeat again as the contemplate their next match – at home against Horsham 1, on Tuesday 15 February. This looks like it will be another tough challenge, as Horsham are currently unbeaten in the League.

Contact – Martin Fletcher – fletcherinsussex@btinternet.com

From Martin Fletcher – second team captain; Hastings & St Leonards Chess Club

Mid-Sussex League chess match Hastings second team against Worthing

27 January 2022

Hastings 2^nd team were at home against Worthing in the second match of the season. The visiting team had a slight advantage, with an average score of 1930 per player, as compared to 1852 for Hastings.  These averages reflected a wide range of abilities, with the highest grading player being Russell Granat from Worthing (2262) and lowest being the home team captain, Martin Fletcher (1408).

Martin’s game was the first to finish, but at 63 moves it was by no means a short game.  Martin was facing Tim Hedger, one of the two Hedger brothers from Worthing.  Martin was white, and his standard opening of e4 was met by the unexpected d5 – the Centre Counter (Scandinavian) Defence.  This meant that Martin was in unfamiliar territory right from the second move against a player who was clearly in his comfort zone.  The game was finely balanced throughout the middle game, and with a passed pawn Martin entered the endgame in a strong position.  Tim played a solid defence and was able to exchange the passed pawn for two of his own, and with precise end game play the best Martin could deliver was a draw.

The next game to end was Henry Cove against the elder Hedger brother, Alec.  Henry was able to play reliably and delivered a win for Hastings.  Paul Kelly was facing the Worthing team captain, Peter Larwood.  Paul played his moves quickly, but found that he could not beat the more reflective Paul, and the game ended in a draw.

On Board 1 Bernard Cafferty was facing Russell Granat, and a win by Russell would tie the match.  The game was not without incident as Bernard noticed after playing for 20 minutes that the Hastings team had three players with white pieces, rather than two with black and two with white, as required by the rules.  It was established that the problem was on Bernard and Russell’s board and their game had to restart, with Bernard now having the black pieces.  Despite this initial confusion, Bernard was able to deliver his usual confident standard and gave the team a second game win.  With two wins and two draws, Hastings won the match 3 points to 1.  This was the team’s first win of the season, and put them at the top of the league table.

Hastings 2^nd team have their first away match on 3 February against Brighton & Hove.

Contact – Martin Fletcher – fletcherinsussex@btinternet.com

Postal Address:
Hastings and St Leonards Chess Club,
Pelton House,
2 Cornwallis Terrace,
Hastings,
East Sussex,
TN34 1EB, United Kingdom.

Email: HastingsChessClub@outlook.com

From Martin Fletcher – second team captain; Hastings & St Leonards Chess Club
Mid-Sussex League chess match Hastings first team against Hastings second team
18 January 2022

After a long period of suspension, over the board chess returned to Sussex on 18 January with the first game in the Mid-Sussex Chess League. Hastings & St Leonards Chess club had entered two teams and they were faced against each other in the first match of the season.
With teams of four players the fourth board for each team was played by the team captain. Jim Wheeler (first team captain) was facing Martin Fletcher (second team captain). The game lasted just 30 moves and was the first to finish, with Jim gaining one point for a win.
After the game Jim said that before lockdown his favourite opening was the Richter Veresov. During lockdown he revisited his openings and had been playing on line with many new variations. However, for this match he returned to his tried and trusted favourite, and his expertise in the Richter Veresov paid off.
The next two games to finish were Francis Rayner against Bernard Cafferty and Andrew McGettigan against Paul Kelly, and these both ended in a draw.
This put the pressure on John Sugden who was playing for the first team against Henry Cove. He needed a draw or better to secure the match. Although the games were limited to 65 minutes for each player there was an additional 30 seconds allowed after each move. Theoretically the game could go on all night. However, in this league there is a further time limit and all games must stop after 3 hours 10 minutes. As that deadline drew nearer the players were locked in a rook and knight endgame with John having a small pawn advantage. With less than five minutes to go John forced a rook exchange making his pawn advantage more important; but against Henry’s faultless defence he was unable to press his advantage. When the time limit fell the team members analysed the position to see if there was a clear winner. However, following much discussion it was agreed that the game was drawn.
Winning this game, the first team achieved 2 ½ points and a position at the top of the league table. The second team were happy to gain 1 ½ points against their strong opponents and went home with their heads held high.
Hastings second team are at home to Worthing on 27 January; and the first team play away against Eastbourne 1 on 4 February.

Contact – Martin Fletcher – fletcherinsussex@btinternet.com
Postal Address:
Hastings and St Leonards Chess Club,
Pelton House,
2 Cornwallis Terrace,
Hastings,
East Sussex,
TN34 1EB, United Kingdom.

Email: HastingsChessClub@outlook.com

Division 2

Woodpushers v Hastings & St.Leonards 3

Fabulous result last night as Hastings 3, pre-season favourites for relegation, defied the odds to overturn a stronger Woodpushers side 3-2 and go top of the table after 2 matches.

Henry Cove on board 1 navigated a very tricky Benko Gambit by his opponent who eventually relinquished the threats and offered a draw before entering the end game which Henry coolly took time to evaluate the match standings then accepted.

Practice in skittles chess paid off for Jim on board 2 who had a lot of practice facing Larsens opening/the little Orangutan when presented to him. It’s very easy to come unstuck in the unusual tactics this rarely seen opening but Jim was unfazed, kept his nerve and brought home the win.

Trying to work out what opening Marc played on board 3 was like sifting through an Eton Mess for little bits of fruit. Was that a strawberry or a little bit of raspberry? A Grob or the bishops game? Who knows it’s all covered in meringue & cream and we can’t make head nor tail out of this. Suffice it to say his opponent, ate it all up leaving little but crumbs after move 10 for Marc.

Board 4 saw the power of the position over material when Mason led for all the game by either two or one points physically but the computer showed his opponent +2 up due to the superior position and more active pieces. This even went up as high a +60 (stockfish) at one point but a missed move gave Mason the opportunity to force a draw after hearing the result from board 5 which secured the match.

Board 5 Omer Namouk played a great game and could have surprised his opponent with a aptly named Halloween Gambit in a four knights defence but opted for a respectable Ruy Lopez set up instead. Some good play by both players but eventually the game reduced to a minor piece + a few pawns each ending which Omer’s nicely positioned pawns were always going to win the day.

An all round great performance by all, which will take off so much pressure from the team for the rest of the season.

Hastings & St Leonards Chess club fail to regain the Ashes from Bexhill.

In a what proved to be a very close match Hastings were unable wrestle back the Ashes from local rival Bexhill chess club last Saturday having been beaten 35-37. Despite a valiant fight back in the last round where Hastings were initially trailing 28.5 -33.5 but managed to pull it back to 35-35 it wasn’t to be as Bexhill sneaked over the line to retain the Ashes.

Congratulations to Bexhill.

The thirds were pipped to the honours on Wednesday night by a good performance from high flying Lewes 2 in Division 2.

A brutal dispatch of Peter Weston by Marc Bryant in less than hour in to proceedings set the scene for an exciting match in which Hastings were looking for their first points of the season.

A four pawns attack against Chris’s Kings Indian defence was successful although Chris did come back from the brink a few times during the game, not making it easy for his opponent.

Top board saw Matt Britnell of Lewes lose out to the better technique of Brendan in an exciting opposite castled game.

Man of the match, Jonathan Britnell and the best game of the night saw the youngster take down one of our finest with a speculative single pawn storm that Steve castled into and got into all manner of difficulties. A great attacking game with lots of good ideas from both sides but the spoils finally going to the youngster.

That left Adrian to break the deadlock. A very solid opening with nothing going on and looking good for a draw, suddenly burst into life with a piece sac on h3 and long combination that when the dust settled left Adrian with no cover for his king. Adrian’s opponent then simplified to KvK +3v5 ending which it appears he didn’t know how to play but did get the better of Adrian in the end.

Despite the defeat the Thirds rise of the bottom of the table due to games difference.

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Division 2 Results

 Saturday saw Hastings & St Leonards first outing in the Intro cup for many a year. This season we have a squad of 7 juniors who will be contesting this competition on behalf of the club and town.  And our juniors represented us well, being polite, courteous and professional.

Unfortunately results didn’t go our way with the team losing 3-1 but given this was the first time children had played a classical time control they all handled it very well.

On board three Alex took an early lead in his game winning his opponents queen in a terrible blunder but his opponent fought back valiantly and evened proceedings with a Royal Fork before going on to build a mating net and finishing the game. 1-0

Chamithu on board 2 drop a piece early on but then took his opponent into an opposite coloured B’s ending making it exceptionally difficult but not impossible for her to win the point. 2-0

Sister Thamadi on top board played thoughtfully and steadily for the whole match but over-looked a number of captures losing quite a bit of material, then cheekily offered a draw which was rejected. 3-0

It was then left to William to save Hastings’ blushes and he didn’t disappoint. Outgraded and giving way to a more experienced junior William played nice and steadily, not rushing his moves or panicking. In a blocked position he managed to open a file, dominate with rooks and then force the breakthrough into enemy territory. Then what happen next was brilliant combination to get the mate that not only took his opponent by surprise but both coaches too who also didn’t spot the mate. William the conqueror from Hastings!

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MID Intro Cup

In the first visit to Sussex University by a Hastings team the questions were asked by our hosts in this University Challenge but the boys of the fourth team had swotted up! With no Paxman or Bamber Gascoigne to call time on proceedings the hosts opened with their starter for 10, with Bill Stock going down early despite having a massive lead in development  an ill fated/timed pawn storm unraveled an otherwise good opening.

John Kimber in his first ever away league game romped home with a win to claim a 100% record.

Shenanigans on board 3 where Mr. Willson’s opponent tried to intimidate him by leaving books of theoretical physics on the table with titles we couldn’t understand let alone the content, backfired as Gary’s opponent hadn’t banked on him having a little old man’s nap in the afternoon which left him refreshed for the game. 1-2 to Hastings.

On top board Captain Woodhams, who was outgraded by 50 points elected to forgoe his usual opening and instead play 1.a3 and within two moves took his opponent out of book gaining a “starter for ten” minutes on the clock. Then a ckeeky little rook exchange sacrifice mid-game gave plenty of initiative for the rest of game and could resulted in a draw but a little too much confidence sacrificing another piece backfired and lost the game. 2-2

That left Derek Cosens the pressure of bringing home the result and no disappointment there with a beautiful and magical combination that wouldn’t have looked out of place in Grandmaster game finished the game and the match. 2-3 Hastings.

A perfect start to the season for the Fourths now 2 for 2, who were relegation favourites at the start but now top of the table. Have we got enough points to stay up only time will tell?