Here are the results of the Easter rapid event for the Bourne Trophy
24 players took part again this year in another fun event which has become a regular fixture on the clubs calendar
This years winner was Mark Rich
Easter Rapid results 6th April 2026
Not a Good Friday
McArthur Cup Semi-Final: Hastings & St Leonards 2-4 Lewes
Friday night saw the semi-final of the McArthur Cup between Hastings and Lewes, with Lewes looking to avenge their departure from the Paul Watson Trophy by Hastings earlier in the season.
Well, there’s an old Klingon proverb that says “Revenge is a dish best served…with toasty hot cross buns”
Well, as it was Good Friday, Hastings elected to provide hot toasty hot cross buns with real butter, in order to lull Lewes into a sense of false security, but not knowing that old Klingon proverb, it backfired stupendously.
The match started OK with an early draw from new draw master Brougham, who is looking to take Jim’s crown as king of the draws.
An early offer of a draw on board 2 by Lewes in a drawn position was rightly refused by Francis as there was still plenty of play in the game and in the match in general. Francis managed to winkle a +2 pawns opposite ‘B’ ending and convert beautifully.
A draw offer with another opposite ‘B’ ending on board 1 but with no additional pawns was declined by Lewes, but Daniel showed the futility of trying to play on that type of end game and a draw was made a number of moves later.
Brendan’s nonstop attack on the kingside was eventually nullified by Lewes. Hence, attention swung to the queenside, where an equally fierce battle was had with Brendan eventually breaking through and getting his queen in behind enemy lines and looking good. Still, the weakness of his own king was enough for Matthew Masani to find the right counter, reducing the game to a queen endgame and with the more advanced pawn managing to secure the victory for Lewes.
John, in his own words, said: “After 4 moves (!) of an innocuous-looking opening, I was faced with serious problems; and by move 10 the position was strategically hopeless”. However, struggling on for 58 moves and even at the end, perpetually checking the enemy king had the possibility of taking the game to a 50-move rule stoppage. The game was at the position below when time was called on the match. Could John have made the 50 move mark? How would you have played it?
Game of the match was between Terry and Richard Welford, with Richard achieving man of the match. Terry, getting into a bit of trouble with pieces pinned and restricted on the queenside, found a knight sack on g2, exposing Richard’s king and with the threat of knights, queen and bishops all landing in front of the king, Richard had to find the exact moves or get mated. More piece sacks occurred but Richard, with a belly full of hot toasty hot cross buns kept finding all the right moves to weather the storm and eventually made his material advantage count.
A very close match, but the spoils, of a final against Horsham, go to Lewes, whilst Hastings gets to keep the crumbs of the buns.
Good luck to Lewes in the final.
Easter Rapid play
EASTER RAPID PLAY
Monday Bank Holiday April 6th
by courtesy of THE CHAIRMAN AND COMMITTEE
OF HASTINGS & ST LEONARDS CHESS CLUB
TO BE HELD ON
MONDAY 6TH APRIL 2026
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
No tournament if fewer than 12 entries by Monday 30th March.
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
A miracle on 34th move
Hastings beat holders Lewes in the first round of the Paul Watson Trophy!!!
Christmas is a time of miracles and that’s certainly what occurred on Thursday evening.
Hastings having never progressed past the 1st round of the Paul Watson Trophy and matched up against Lewes who are the holders and have reached the final in the past three consecutive years, the result was never in doubt.
However, someone on the Lewes team must have been on the naughty list as Santa granted a miracle to Hastings.
Mason fell quickly to a quick Christmas novelty, leaving the three Musketeers of John Sugden, Henry Cove & Daniel Evans-White the hard work of bringing home the victory. Whilst looking on with a hot mince pie & cream, Mason witnessed three Christmas crackers unwrapping Lewes to secure our first ever victory in this competition.
Hastings now have a short journey to Bexhill in the New Year to contest the Quarter Finals.
Paul Watson Trophy 2025/26 first round draw
Hastings drawn against holders Lewes in the first round of the Paul Watson Trophy 2025/26
Hastings will be underdogs for the match and with our past record of never progressing past the first round of this trophy, the situation looks grim for us.
The Paul Watson Trophy is a 4 board 1825 average tournament.
The match is scheduled for tomorrow evening at 7:30PM at home.
Draw in full:
The outstanding third team
Underdogs Hastings(3) triumph in Brighton(2) 3.5-0.5
In the words of Bjørge Lillelien.
“We are the best in the second division! We are the best in the second division! We have beaten Brighton & Hove seconds in Chess!!! It is completely unbelievable! We have beaten Brighton! Brighton the birthplace of Mods and seaside Pride and giants! Sir Winston Churchill, David Gilmour, Chris Eubank, Fatboy Slim, Steve Ovett, Nick Cave, Zoe Ball, Lewis Dunk. We have beaten them all. Holly Willoughby can you hear me? Your boys took a hell of a beating! Your boys took a hell of a beating!”
Relegation favourites Hastings 3 had an amazing win on Monday night against promotion hopefuls Brighton 2.
Arriving with an under-strength Third team and expecting a 4-0 drumming, Hastings instead won amazingly 3.5-05 (see match card below).
First to finish was Derek on bottom board playing Paul Selby. Whilst having the bishop pair in the end game and smashing up Paul’s pawn structure, Derek decided to accept the draw although the computer put him +0.99 up after proceedings. After a tough game it wasn’t worth risking it.
Birthday Boy Marc Bryant on board two, hoping for gifts from his opponent, wasn’t disappointed. Chris Lake defaulted two minutes of time after wrongly accusing Marc of an illegal move on move 3!!! All Marc’s moves should be made illegal but on this occasion, it was just bonkers but rattled Chris straight away. The moves were 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 (Ruy Lopez) Nce7 !? giving up the pawn on e5 but unsettling his opponent as compensation. It worked!! A super unusual opening with constant threats gaining multiple tempi and Marc easily ahead in development. A beautifully crafted attack then followed and Chris was just an on-looker. 1.5-0.5
(In the above position Marc is attacking, White only has a single move to save the game, can you find it? Details below)
High after his stunning victory over Luke Chapman the week before WGM Mason pulled off another upset. This time Paul Edwards, slow development by Paul and Mason saw his chance to sack his knight for a pawn to open the position and get to the King in the middle after smelling blood Mason was relentless with attacking play and initiative. 2.5-0.5
(In Mason’s game black just moved Nc5 threatening the bishop and possibily looking to exchange queens on c7 and getting a cheeky back rank mate but can you find the winning move for white?)
With the match won it was only left to Jim who was also outgraded on top board to complete the rout. His opponent played the currently popular Caro-kann but Jim was ready with his own creative response. What followed was an ambitious Brighton stalwart having fun picking up pawns with his queen whilst Jim slowly carried on with development. A pawn down but ready for some fun of his own Jim came out swinging and chased that queen down, slowly but surely improving his position in the meantime making some mate threats. In the end Jim got that early game Minx and once gone the lack of development for Albert was no compensation. 3.5-0.5
On the drive home there was plenty of singing in the car and the heavens opened up, probably the tears of Brighton players past trying to drown us out! A fabulous result & performance by our Thirds. Could we do it again? Never in a million years, Brighton are just quality but we will certainly cherish this moment.
Result of Marc’s puzzle:
g3 was played in the match attempting to win the bishop but the assesment is +2 to Marc as Bxg4 is coming. The only saving move for white is the odd looking Re7 and white is +0.8 any other move and +2 or greater for Marc.
Presidents party
This years Presidents party takes place on 14th December at 3pm. RSPV to alan.hustwayte@yahoo.com
Hastings v Bexhill – September 2025
Hastings v Bexhill – September 2025
Arriving at our club on a bright sunny day in Hastings, we looked forward with excitement and anticipation to our annual match against our neighbours from Bexhill, always a highlight of the chess calendar.
The teams were spread across both floors of the club, and play commenced promptly at 1 o’clock with clocks set at 65 minutes plus a 30-second increment.
The first result came on board 3, where John secured a solid draw. Not long after, Bexhill struck first with a win on board 10, as Rose produced an excellent game against Keith – clearly a player to watch for the future.
Two more draws followed in quick succession on boards 13 and 12, with both Steve and Alex putting in strong, steady performances. Hastings then recorded their first win on board 8, with Sarah once again showing her continued rise up the ratings list is no fluke.
The match was now level, and excitement built among those who had already finished. Paul then added another point for Hastings with a fine win on board 7, but Marc’s loss on board 9 quickly cancelled out the advantage.
The next two results also balanced each other out. Daniel won well on board 6, before Martin went down on board 11, leaving the match finely poised once again.
On board 2, Francis scored a valuable win, only for Henry to lose soon after on board 4 – once again leaving the scores tied. Terry then produced a determined performance on board 5 to edge Hastings ahead going into the final game.
All attention turned to the top board, where at one point it looked as though defeat might allow Bexhill to snatch a draw in the match overall. However, Daniel held his nerve in a tense endgame to secure a draw around 4 o’clock, which was enough to clinch overall victory for Hastings in this year’s Challenge Trophy.
Final Score
Hastings 7 – 6 Bexhill
Hastings players
- D. Lowe 2136
- F. Rayner 2067
- J. Sugden 2004
- H. Cove 1927
- T. Hoxey 1906
- D. Evans-White
- P. Kelly 1809
- S. Orsborne 1696
- M. Bryant 1592
- K. Hossack 1454
- M. Fletcher 1453
- A.Watts 1376
- S. Oakman 1166
Captain and reserve A. Cload (1547)
Reserve S. Blewitt (1806)
Glyde Cup, next tournament 5th October 2025. 2pm
The Glyde Cup is won by winning the lightning 10 seconds per move tournament . If you wish to play please email me at HastingsChessClub@outlook.com
These are the rules:-
Rules for Lightning (10 second) chess : 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.
Hastings Weekend u2000 September 20/21 2025
Hastings Club Weekend U2000 Chess Tournament
September 20th and 21st 2025
To be held at the Hastings and St. Leonards Chess Club 2 Cornwallis Terrace Hastings TN34 1EB
Round Times
Saturday 20th September
Round 1 10.00. Round 2 14.15Round 3 18.30.
Sunday 21st September
Round 4 10.00. Round 5 14 15.
This will be limited to approx. 24 players with free tea coffee and sandwiches
All players will need to be silver or gold members of the ECF
Entry fee non club members £25
Hastings club members and Juniors £20
September grades will be used
Time control 1-hour 40mins +15sec a move
½ point Bye Round…………….
Prizes
1st £125
2nd £75
3rd £50
Grading under 1700 £75
Entry to
Marc Bryant at 2 Cornwallis Terrace Hastings Sussex TN34 1EB
Email bryant8830@yahoo.co.uk
Tel 01424 436313
Entry form
Name
Grade
Club
Phone number
Address
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