Hastings juniors beat Kent Intro Cup defending champions 4-0 last weekend to move 2nd in the table and potentially 3 matches away from lifting the title themselves. This was Medway’s biggest defeat in three seasons and provided compensation for the newly formed junior squad who were on receiving end of the same scoreline last season. The juniors are playing in an adult league and this was their third 4-0 in a row sending shockwaves through the division. William Cobb on board 2 was first to finish after just 20 mins of a 3 hour match when his opponent blundered his queen having been under pressure positionally from the start. Alex Lebedev showed again his excellent endgame skills by having two passers that the enemy king could only stop one from queening forcing his opponent to resign. Cool as cucumber Christy Parry on board 4 served up a dish of revenge against the gentleman who beat him last year after not really being troubled during the game. Magnanimous in victory as they were gracious in defeat last year the juniors are a real credit to the chess club and town. The junior’s next match is at home to Maidstone on Sat 14th March.

MID Intro Cup Sat 15th Feb 2020

Our junior squad picked up their first win on the road with triumphant 4-0 victory over Medway 3 this weekend. A quick victory by Chris Parry on board 4 set the scene for the juniors biggest ever victory. Chris nicely combined all his forces into an unstoppable overwhelming attack which his opponent couldn’t see a way to defend and resigned under the pressure 1-0. Next up was Alex Lebedev who saw his chance against a very weak King, applied the pressure, picked-up the opposition queen on route and finished the game off nicely 2-0. William Cobb on board 2 had the toughest game, but after going an exchange up early doors managed to grind out the win, and what a grind it was, a 7 pawn each blocked endgame with R+R+N vrs R+B+N. It wasn’t clear how Will would breakthrough and his opponent was applying the pressure advancing his pawns high up the board but find the breakthrough he did, queened a pawn and mated the King behind enemy lines 3-0. Last to finish was last-minute substitute Mason who outgraded his opponent 50 points, missed an easy tactic early on to win a rook (don’t tell the juniors!), and eventually scraped a win in a Rook & pawn endgame, 4-0. Our juniors were very magnanimous in victory and a real credit to the club.

MID Intro Cup Sat 25th Jan 2020