Uckfield Chess Club has recently received £3,270 of Lottery funding. It meets on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month at Holy Cross Church Hall, Uckfield (next to the main town car park). 7pm to 10.15pm; under-12s finish at 8.30pm. Beginners welcome!
The second Uckfield Chess Congress will be held on Sunday 17 July. It's a 30-minute rapidplay tournament, with a maximum entry grade of BCF180. There will be £250 in prize money, with a £100 prize for the top section.
For more information on either event, contact Anne-Marie Prescott on 01825 760005, prescott@therosery.force9.co.uk.
The news has just reached me that Peter Alford, chairman of Horsham Chess Club and an active participant in the league for many years, died a few days ago at the age of 83.
At the AGM it's been traditional to hand out a document listing all the results in the league for the season. These have to be rationed, pretty much one per club, and some people have to be disappointed. This year I've been able to create the document as a PDF file that can be downloaded here; now if you want your own copy you can print it out.
The calculations for the individual tankard winners have been made, and the results are ... Best Match Average Tankard is shared between Bernard Cafferty (Hastings) and Jim Graham (Crawley). Bernard Cafferty also wins the division 1 tankard. The division 2 tankard is shared between Peter Farr (The Args) and Chris Jones (Worthing); division 3 goes to David Cork (Crawley); and division 4 to Edward Hamlyn (Eastbourne). More details, together with the runners-up, can be seen here. Presentations of these trophies will be made at the AGM.
The agenda for the league AGM on 24 May is now available here.
This is a reminder that I shall be standing down as Match Recorder at this meeting. Thanks, everyone, it's been fun. I haven't quite said goodbye to Sussex completely, but I'm playing out a long technical endgame that will see me established in the Forest of Dean.
For those who like to plan ahead, I've just had notice that the Crowborough Junior Tournament will be on 10 September this year, and the Rapidplay on 11 September. This is a bit earlier in the season than normal.
After a long gap, I've received another submission for the games vault. Abi Fryer of East Grinstead wins a game with an attractive conclusion.
I've received a query about the status of nominations following the withdrawal of Haywards Heath 1. This ought to be clarified. (1) Haywards Heath players nominated for the first team will continue to be ineligible for the second team. (2) Since the results involving Haywards Heath 1 have been scratched, a player who appeared in a match against them will not have that appearance count towards the six games that will make him or her ineligible for a lower team.
Also, matches involving Haywards Heath 1 won't count towards a player's results for a Best Match Average tankard.
These matches will still be included in the data sent for grading.
Since most of its team members have for a variety of reasons become unavailable, Haywards Heath 1 has withdrawn from its remaining fixtures for the season. Clearly this will produce quite some disruption to division 1. All the team's results are scratched (rule 11.2).
Paul Watson, Secretary of Sussex County Chess Association, has been given the BCF President's Award for services to chess. Previous awards to a Sussex players include Bernard Cafferty in 1991 and George Self in 1984. Paul, who has done so much for chess in the county, thoroughly deserves this recognition for all his hard work.
Anne-Marie Prescott and Sue Carter are attempting to set up a new chess club in Uckfield. There will be an inaugural meeting at 7.15 p.m. on Wednesday 8 December at the Luxford Centre, Uckfield (at the top of the main town car park). All will be welcome. For further details, contact Anne-Marie Prescott on 01825 760005. It sounds a great idea; we wish them well.
Hastings & St Leonards Chess Club has launched a new website. It's still under construction, but looks as if it might develop into something interesting.
The BCF is attempting to update its list of clubs: see this page on their website. I downloaded the spreadsheet showing the information they have at the moment, and the information on Sussex clubs seems very out of date. I suggest that if your club has had a change of secretary in the past five years then you need to send in your new details.
Here are the players with Sussex affiliations in the latest FIDE ratings list. Several promising juniors are listed for the first time.
| 404454 | Williams, Simon K (Crawley) | m | 2473 |
| 401676 | Baker, Chris W (Crawley) | m | 2354 |
| 410608 | Howell, David W L (Crowborough) | f | 2340 |
| 404683 | Sachs, Gulnara (Haywards Heath) | wm | 2325 |
| 408760 | Rendle, Thomas (Hastings) | 2303 | |
| 401587 | Kenworthy, Gary (Crawley) | f | 2301 |
| 401331 | Moss, Robin W B (Hastings) | 2289 | |
| 401080 | Giddins, Stephen W (Hastings) | f | 2248 |
| 408131 | Graham, David B (The Args) | 2238 | |
| 2400316 | Denman, Brian J (Brighton) | 2230 | |
| 401803 | Kwiatkowski, Feliks J (Haywards Heath) | c | 2229 |
| 402346 | James, Geoffrey H (Brighton) | c | 2224 |
| 401005 | Cafferty, Bernard (Hastings) | f | 2218 |
| 1800132 | Rayner, Francis (Hastings) | 2212 | |
| 407275 | Costley, Martin O (Lewes) | 2212 | |
| 4000609 | Weber, Tom (Brighton) | 2211 | |
| 11000023 | Donnelly, Brian P (Horsham) | m | 2205 |
| 411272 | Broom, Mark (Lewes) | 2193 | |
| 406724 | Rich, Mark C (Hastings) | c | 2193 |
| 402222 | Kemp, Peter D (Crowborough) | 2192 | |
| 403059 | Noyce, Robert C (Crawley) | 2179 | |
| 408360 | Briscoe, Christopher (East Grinstead) | 2169 | |
| 405140 | Dodgson, John A (Sussex CCA) | 2162 | |
| 402001 | Sugden, John N (Hastings) | 2161 | |
| 1801031 | Oates, David R (Worthing) | 2159 | |
| 408646 | Lock, Gavin R (Horsham) | 2158 | |
| 404179 | Almond, Richard J (Hastings) | 2158 | |
| 404233 | Barton, R Alan (Hastings) | 2154 | |
| 403687 | Howell, Chris I (Hastings) | 2147 | |
| 411990 | Linford, Charlie M (The Holt) | 2142 | |
| 408786 | Jones, Chris (Worthing) | 2119 | |
| 407100 | Mansson, James C (Horsham) | 2093 | |
| 406384 | Fryer, David W (East Grinstead) | 2088 | |
| 2500612 | O'Brien, Richard W (Knoll Knights) | 2080 | |
| 408190 | Hawes, Stephen O N (Horsham) | 2055 | |
| 406538 | Kelly, Ian G (The Holt) | 2032 | |
| 2217015 | Luaces, Alfredo (Hastings) | 2019 | |
| 412660 | Eichner, Daniel (East Grinstead) | 1969 | |
| 410357 | Young, Mel J (Hastings) | 1966 | |
| 412066 | Barraclough, David (Haywards Heath) | 1945 | |
| 412635 | Barraclough, Stephanie (Haywards Heath) | 1922 | |
| 413011 | Tucker, Andrew (Crowborough) | 1903 | |
| 412961 | Fraser, Joe (East Grinstead) | 1897 |
The annual Champions v The Rest fixture was held last week. Bucking the trend of recent years, the Champions, Brighton & Hove, beat The Rest by 3½–2½. The score card appears on its own page.
The league will have three teams fewer than last season. The Knoll Knights will disappear from division 2; however, they hope to be back next year. Worthing will not be running a second team. Crawley will have only two teams, instead of three; however, they have elected to drop their first team (which won division 2 and earned promotion to division 1), since they have lost a number of their strongest players. In fact, the strong ex-Crawley players have relocated to Haywards Heath, which should now be a formidable fighting force in division 1.
The migration of players leads to a couple of changes of venue. Haywards Heath will now be playing at the Cock Inn in Wivelsfield Green. And Crawley, after a few months at the British Legion, has returned to its old place at Crawley Leisure Centre.
Hastings 1 will continue to play its "home" matches in Eastbourne, but Hastings 2 reverts to its old peripatetic ways, and will play all its games away.
Since the number of teams has reduced, the balance among the divisions will be 10–9–9–9 (last season we had 9–11–10–10). Now pay attention, because this gets complicated:
Gains Crowborough 2 is promoted from division 2. (Crawley 1 also earned promotion, but has dropped out.)
Losses None. (It was agreed last season that division 1 should be be brought back to full complement, so there are no relegations.)
Gains Woodpushers and Crowborough 3 are promoted from division 3.
Losses Crowborough 2 is promoted to division 1. Crawley 1 and Knoll Knights drop out. Holt 2 is relegated to division 3.
Gains Holt 2 is relegated from division 2. Hastings 2 is promoted from division 4. (Worthing 2 also earned promotion, but has dropped out.)
Losses Eastbourne 3 is relegated to division 4.
Gains Eastbourne 3 is relegated from division 3.
Losses Hastings 2 is promoted to division 3. Worthing 2 drops out.
If you've only ever looked at the web using the browser that came with your computer, you may not realize just how many different browsers are available. They all have their own little quirks, and trying to create a half-way sophisticated website that can be read by everyone needs a lot of effort and ingenuity.
The current design always gave Internet Explorer 5 for the Mac a tummy-ache: that's been a constant irritation to me, since the code I wrote was correct. However, I've finally found a way of making it work. The danger is that the fix for that problem will make some other browsers break down. I've tested the new code on the PC with Internet Explorer 6, Mozilla and Opera, and on the Mac with IE5, Firefox and Safari, and it seems OK.* I no longer have access to a machine that runs IE5 for PC, which is a particularly tricky customer, so I have to trust to luck on that.
So if you've been happily reading this site for some time, and suddenly things seem to have gone wonky, such as the blue column on the right of the page deciding to migrate to the end, then please e-mail me (not forgetting to let me know what browser you're using), and I'll do my best to fix it.
* In fact I know one thing that's not right: Safari now makes gets into a strop about the games pages, and sends the replay board to the end of the page instead of to the right of the notation. I'll figure that one out as soon as I can, but there are only so many hours in the day.
Feliks Kwiatkowski has sent in the rip-roaring game he played against David Howell in March. The moves have already appeared in Sussex Chess, but not Feliks's inimitable annotations. Read and enjoy.
This website aspires to bring you all the Sussex news when it happens, as it happens. Unfortunately over the summer I was tied up with work and absences from home, not to mention having my phone line out of order, so I wasn't able to keep up to date with recent non-league happenings in the out-of-season period. Anyway, I'm back, and here's a roundup of what's been happening.
Brighton & Hove won the McArthur Cup, beating Hastings & St Leonards on board count in the final on 22 August. As I reported some time ago, Feliks Kwiatkowski is County Champion. Daniel Hirsch won the West Sussex Queen competition. The East Sussex Queen was uncontested this year. As far as I know, the Veteran's Competition has still not been completed.
Entries for the 2004/5 competitions must be received by Ray Hunt by 1 October. The entry fee for each of the four individual events is just £3.50: the Championship is open to all Sussex players; the East and West Sussex Queens are both U180 competitions, open to players who live in or play for clubs in the respective halves of the county; and the Veterans competition is open to Sussex players aged 60 or over on 1 October. These competitions give you the chance to play serious full-length games with generous time-limits. Numbers participating in recent years have been a bit disappointing, so if you've been wondering whether to become involved, hesitate no longer, but contact Ray Hunt and sign up.
A good number of Sussex players took part in the British Championships, Scarborough, 1–14 August.
British Championship Simon Williams (Crawley) 8/11 joint 2nd; David Howell (Crowborough) 6; Thomas Rendle (Hastings) 6; Christopher Briscoe (East Grinstead) 5; Francis Rayner (Hastings) 3½
FIDE World MajorAlan Barton (Hastings) 7/11; Charlie Linford (Holt) 6½; Ian Kelly (Holt) 6; Ben Purton (Haywards Heath) 6; Stephanie Barraclough (Haywards Heath) 5; John Sugden (Hastings) 5; Mel Young (Hastings) 5; David Barraclough (Haywards Heath) 4½; Chris Jones (Worthing) 4½; Adam Prescott (Crowborough) 4½; Grant Bucher (Crowborough) 4; Joe Fraser (Crowborough) 4; Andrew Tucker (Crowborough) 4; Danny Eichner (East Grinstead) ½ (withdrew)
British Senior Championship Geoff James (Brighton) 5/7 3rd
Under-175 Tim Woods (Hassocks) 1½/5
Under-125 David Langridge (St Francis Hospital) 2/5; Kieran Fryer (East Grinstead) 1
5-Day Open – Week 2 David Langridge (St Francis Hospital) 2/5
Harry Baines – Week 1 Paul Smith (Knoll Knights) 3/9
Harry Baines – Week 2 Paul Smith (Knoll Knights) 3½/9
Rapidplay – 1 Aug Adam Prescott (Crowborough) 4/6; Grant Bucher (Crowborough) 3; Paul Smith (Knoll Knights) 2½; David Everitt (Haywards Heath) 0
Rapidplay – 1 Aug David Howell (Crowborough) 5/6 joint 2nd
Weekend Soanes Tim Woods (Hassocks) 2½/5; David James (Brighton) ½; Paul Smith (Knoll Knights) 0 (withdrew)
Weekend Yates David Everitt (Haywards Heath) 2½/5; Andrew Shoulders (Brighton) 1
U14 Championship Joe Richardson (Hastings) 2½/7
U13 Championship Andrew Tucker (Crowborough) 5/7 3rd; Lyall Bayliss (Crowborough) 3½; Abi Fryer (East Grinstead) 2
U12 Championship Elizabeth Tehrani (Crowborough) 2½/7
U11 Championship Christopher Linnett (Crowborough) 4/7; Farris Ziyada (East Grinstead) 4; David Grant (East Grinstead) 3½; George Salimbeni (Crowborough) 3½; Elliot Auckland (Crowborough) 3; Charles Board (Crowborough) 3; Nick Fraser (East Grinstead) 2½
U10 Championship Rhys Cumming (Crowborough) 4½/7; Andrew Turner (Crowborough) 3; Joseph Quinn (Crowborough) 0 (withdrew)
U9 Championship Joseph Quinn (Crowborough) 4½/7; Andrew Turner (Crowborough) 4½; Jude Lenier (Crowborough) 4; Polly Lambert (East Grinstead) 3½; Barnaby Paul (Sussex Juniors) 3½ Cyrus Tehrani (Crowborough) 1½
U8 Championship Jude Lenier (Crowborough) 4/6; Barnaby Paul (Sussex Juniors) 3½
Apologies if I've missed anyone; let me know if you spot any omissions.
Congratulations to our young Sussex players Thomas Rendle and Charlie Linford, who played on boards 1 and 2 (out of 5) of the England team who won the Glorney Cup in the competition that was played in Aberdeen, 26–9 July. England were comfortably first, followed by the Czech Republic, Belgium, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Thanks to Chris Howell for tipping me the wink on this one.
Many thanks to Anne-Marie Prescott and Sue Carter for providing details of the first Uckfield Chess Congress, held on Sunday 18 July 2004. 77 players entered, including a number of juniors and adults playing in their first chess tournament. £310 cash was awarded overall, plus additional section and team prizes. There were three sections.
In the U181 section the winner (£100 top prize) was David Fryer (East Grinstead CC), with grading prizes to Martin Cutmore (Folkestone), Joe Richardson (Hastings CC) and Max Smith (Folkestone).
In the U101 section the winner (£50 top prize) was Neil Carter (East Grinstead CC), with a grading prize to Ken Thompson (Uckfield).
In the U41/UG section the joint winners (£30 top prize) Dan Petrov and Andrew Kirk (Uckfield), who also shared the Top Ungraded Junior prize.
Top Ungraded Adult was Brian Stockham (Uckfield). Top Veteran was Ken Swanton (Uckfield). The Top Uckfield Player trophy was awarded jointly to Neil Carter, Dan Petrov andAndrew Kirk. The Team Trophy went to Holy Cross Chess Club.
In addition to the main tournament a five-minute blitz knockout ran in between rounds: the winner was Conrad Quintos (Hastings); the winning junior was Alex Masters (Uckfield).
This congress is a very welcome addition to the Sussex chess scene; let's hope it has a thriving future.
| 404454 | Williams, Simon K (Crawley) | m | 2427 |
| 401676 | Baker, Chris W (Crawley) | m | 2354 |
| 410608 | Howell, David W L (Crowborough) | f | 2334 |
| 404683 | Sachs, Gulnara (Haywards Heath) | wm | 2325 |
| 401587 | Kenworthy, Gary (Crawley) | f | 2301 |
| 401331 | Moss, Robin W B (Hastings) | 2289 | |
| 408760 | Rendle, Thomas (Hastings) | 2258 | |
| 1800132 | Rayner, Francis (Hastings) | 2252 | |
| 401080 | Giddins, Stephen W (Hastings) | f | 2248 |
| 408131 | Graham, David B (The Args) | 2240 | |
| 401803 | Kwiatkowski, Feliks J (Haywards Heath) | c | 2229 |
| 2400316 | Denman, Brian J (Brighton) | 2230 | |
| 402346 | James, Geoffrey H (Brighton) | c | 2220 |
| 401005 | Cafferty, Bernard (Hastings) | f | 2218 |
| 4000609 | Weber, Tom (Brighton) | 2217 | |
| 407275 | Costley, Martin O (Lewes) | 2212 | |
| 411272 | Broom, Mark (Lewes) | 2207 | |
| 11000023 | Donnelly, Brian P (Horsham) | m | 2205 |
| 406724 | Rich, Mark C (Hastings) | c | 2193 |
| 402222 | Kemp, Peter D (Crowborough) | 2192 | |
| 403059 | Noyce, Robert C (Crawley) | 2179 | |
| 402001 | Sugden, John N (Hastings) | 2173 | |
| 405140 | Dodgson, John A (Sussex CCA) | 2162 | |
| 404233 | Barton, R Alan (Hastings) | 2159 | |
| 1801031 | Oates, David R (Worthing) | 2159 | |
| 408360 | Briscoe, Christopher (East Grinstead) | 2157 | |
| 408786 | Jones, Chris (Worthing) | 2157 | |
| 403687 | Howell, Chris I (Hastings) | 2147 | |
| 411990 | Linford, Charlie M (The Holt) | 2146 | |
| 408646 | Lock, Gavin R (Horsham) | 2116 | |
| 404179 | Almond, Richard J (Hastings) | 2113 | |
| 407100 | Mansson, James C (Horsham) | 2086 | |
| 406384 | Fryer, David W (East Grinstead) | 2084 | |
| 2500612 | O'Brien, Richard W (Knoll Knights) | 2080 | |
| 408190 | Hawes, Stephen O N (Horsham) | 2055 | |
| 406538 | Kelly, Ian G (The Holt) | 2048 | |
| 2217015 | Luaces, Alfredo (Hastings) | 2019 | |
| 408174 | Twitchell, Neville H (Hastings) | 2003 | |
| 410357 | Young, Mel J (Hastings) | 1980 | |
| 412635 | Barraclough, Stephanie (Haywards Heath) | 1906 |
In an earlier version of this post, I commented that Brian Donnelly was missing from the July FIDE results. Chris Howell pointed out that this was because of non-payment of the FIDE fees by Zimbabwe, to which Brian is still affiliated.
Thanks to Paul Buswell for pointing out that John Sugden has a FIDE rating.
I'm sad to have to report that Derek Blott of Haywards Heath Chess Club, who will be known to many players in the MSCL, died on 17 May at the Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath, after being very unwell for a long time. My thanks to Feliks Kwiatkowski for passing on the news.
In the final of the rather protracted Knock Out Competition Woodpushers gained the 2 points they needed in order to beat Lewes on handicap, and so retain the trophy they won for the first time last season. It will look very well beside the division 3 trophy that they've already won.
Following regional qualifying tournaments around the country, in which over 50 county teams took part, on 8 May the Sussex Under-11 Junior Chess team competed among 408 children from 17 counties in the National Finals. They scored 18 points out of a possible 20 to clinch the tournament by a clear 4 points, and become U11 National Champions for 2004.
Sussex are now Under 11, Under 13 and Under 15 National County Chess Champions for 2004, and have 15 juniors in the England squad. This puts Sussex firmly in the top echelon of junior chess in England.
The Sussex Junior Chess organization has a full programme of training and tournaments held each month throughout Sussex. Details are on their web site.
I've now worked out the tankard winners for this season. The best match average tankard is shared between Bob Noyce (Crawley 1) and Chris Jones (Worthing 1), who also share the division 2 tankard. The division 1 tankard is shared between Patrick Coleman (Crowborough 1) and Chris Lowe (Brighton 1); the division 3 tankard goes to Julian Mitchell (Woodpushers); and the division 4 tankard goes to Chris Balchin (Haywards Heath 2). Clearly being called Chris is a distinct aid to one's ability at chess.
Although I'll be seeking re-election as Match Recorder at the AGM, I'm giving advance warning that I don't expect to be able to do the job for more than a year, since I'll be moving away from Sussex.
For the same reason, I'll be offering my services to the county association as Grading Reporting Officer for just one more year.
If you're interested in taking over either job from me at the end of next season, do let me know, and I'll tell you what's involved. The grading job in particular does involve quite a steep learning-curve, so it would be an exceedingly good idea if I could show my successor the ropes before I disappear.
The individual championship of the Sussex County Chess Association for 2003/4 has been settled. Feliks Kwiatkowski beat Charlie Linford 1½–½ in the final.
The following are Sussex players in the April FIDE rating list.
| 404454 | Williams, Simon K (Crawley) | m | 2411 |
| 401676 | Baker, Chris W (Crawley) | m | 2369 |
| 410608 | Howell, David W L (Crowborough) | f | 2332 |
| 404683 | Sachs, Gulnara (Haywards Heath) | wm | 2325 |
| 401587 | Kenworthy, Gary (Crawley) | f | 2293 |
| 401331 | Moss, Robin W B (Hastings) | 2289 | |
| 408760 | Rendle, Thomas (Hastings) | 2283 | |
| 1800132 | Rayner, Francis (Hastings) | 2263 | |
| 408131 | Graham, David B (The Args) | 2237 | |
| 401803 | Kwiatkowski, Feliks J (Haywards Heath) | c | 2230 |
| 2400316 | Denman, Brian J (Brighton) | 2230 | |
| 402346 | James, Geoffrey H (Brighton) | c | 2220 |
| 401005 | Cafferty, Bernard (Hastings) | f | 2219 |
| 407275 | Costley, Martin O (Lewes) | 2212 | |
| 4000609 | Weber, Tom (Brighton) | 2210 | |
| 11000023 | Donnelly, Brian P (Horsham) | m | 2205 |
| 406724 | Rich, Mark C (Hastings) | c | 2198 |
| 402222 | Kemp, Peter D (Crowborough) | 2192 | |
| 403059 | Noyce, Robert C (Crawley) | 2181 | |
| 408360 | Briscoe, Christopher (East Grinstead) | 2171 | |
| 411272 | Broom, Mark (Lewes) | 2170 | |
| 404179 | Almond, Richard J (Hastings) | 2164 | |
| 411990 | Linford, Charlie M (The Holt) | 2161 | |
| 1801031 | Oates, David R (Worthing) | 2159 | |
| 404233 | Barton, R Alan (Hastings) | 2158 | |
| 408786 | Jones, Chris (Worthing) | 2157 | |
| 403687 | Howell, Chris I (Hastings) | 2147 | |
| 405140 | Dodgson, John A (Sussex CCA) | 2141 | |
| 408646 | Lock, Gavin R (Horsham) | 2116 | |
| 407100 | Mansson, James C (Horsham) | 2085 | |
| 406384 | Fryer, David W (East Grinstead) | 2083 | |
| 2500612 | O'Brien, Richard W (Knoll Knights) | 2080 | |
| 408190 | Hawes, Stephen O N (Horsham) | 2055 | |
| 406538 | Kelly, Ian G (The Holt) | 2048 | |
| 2217015 | Luaces, Alfredo (Hastings) | 2019 | |
| 410357 | Young, Mel J (Hastings) | 1993 | |
| 412660 | Eichner, Daniel (East Grinstead) | 1966 | |
| 412635 | Barraclough, Stephanie (Haywards Heath) | 1901 |
Thanks to Paul Buswell for tipping me off about a couple of Hastings players I hadn't spotted.