Chiltern County Chess Matches 2023 / 24

Hampshire played six Chiltern county matches this season. In total they won three and lost three matches. Full details are available on the Chiltern League Website. Hampshire went into this season as current champions.

If any players would like to supply games, or snippets of games from the matches I will add to the report. Hampshirechesshistory@gmail.com

Chiltern League

Berkshire A 7 – Hampshire A 13 – 23 Sept 2023
Hampshire A 11 – Oxfordshire A 9 – 28 Oct 2023
- Yichen Han – Iwan Cave game
Buckinghamshire A 13 – Hampshire A 7 – 25 Nov 2023
Hampshire A 9 – Berkshire A 11 – 27 Jan 2024
Oxfordshire A 13 – Hampshire A 7 – 17 Feb 2024
Hampshire A 13½ – Buckinghamshire A 3½ – 2 Mar 2024

Hampshire Player Performance

Update June 2024 – The Hampshire League Captain provided the following report for the season for the HCA AGM and I have added the player performance for the season.

Hampshire came second in the Chiltern League this season, with a win and a loss against each of the other teams. Winners of the league were Berkshire, with four wins. For our home matches we had up to 30 players available but finding 20 players for our away matches was more difficult. There has been some talk amongst the Chiltern League captains of reintroducing a second team competition – yet to be decided.

Fraser McLeod – (Match Secretary, Hampshire Chess Association)

Chiltern League Final Position — **Chiltern League 23/24 Final Position**

For the record of Hampshire County matches and links to any articles I have written the table on the Hampshire County Chess Matches page will detail these. The Hampshire County Chess History page summaries the leagues Hampshire have played in and the successes Hampshire have achieved. Both of these are available from the menu at the top of the site as well.

Berkshire A 7 – 13 – Hampshire A 23 Sept 2023

A great start to the Chiltern League season yesterday with a 13-7 win over Berkshire yesterday – a bad day to be facing anyone called Deacon! and a great win for debutant Toni Martinez-Sykora on board one against a highly rated opponent.

Congratulations also to other winners: Peter Dallas, Phil Pinto, Gillian Moore, Ashraf Syed and Chris McSheehy – details below.

Fraser McLeod – Match Captain

Board	Berks A	Colour	Grade	Result	Hants A	Colour	Grade	Result
1	Paul Cooksey	Black	2349	0	Antonio Martinez-Sykora	White	2155	1
2	Charles Bullock	White	2002	½	Mark Broom	Black	2124	½
3	David Roberts	Black	2020	½	Martin Buckmaster	White	2018	½
4	Daniel Sparkes	White	1965	½	Tim Davis	Black	1962	½
5	Abhishek Pradhan	Black	1860	1	Fraser McLeod	White	1930	0
6	John Townsend	White	1855	½	Gareth A Jones	Black	1919	½
7	Jon Lloyd	Black	1829	½	Stuart Knox	White	1899	½
8	Ayan Pradhan	White	1791	0	Matthew Deacon	Black	1889	1
9	Peter Tickner	Black	1758	0	David Deacon	White	1861	1
10	Nigel Dennis	White	1768	½	Malcolm Cooper	Black	1821	½
11	David Johnson	Black	1802	½	Graham Stuart	White	1779	½
12	Yawar Jafri	White	1612	1	Simon Terleckis	Black	1744	0
13	Paul Deane	Black	1570	0	Peter Dallas	White	1737	1
14	Bob Wooding	White	1531	0	Phil Pinto	Black	1707	1
15	Hamish Sloan	Black	1518	0	Gillian Moore	White	1727	1
16	Shruthisriya Ganesh	White	1504	0	Ashraf Syed	Black	1684	1
17	Calvin Chris Biju	Black	1491	1	Scott Leadbetter	White	1671	0
18	Gareth Ward	White	1415	0	Chris McSheehy	Black	1696	1
19	David Lilwall	Black	1381	½	Simon Lawrence	White	1590	½
20	Alfie Smith	White	1328	0	Nicholas Deacon	Black	1529	1
			1717	7			1822	13

Hampshire A 11 – 9 – Oxfordshire A 28 Oct 2023

Hampshire won 11-9 in the Chiltern League yesterday against Oxfordshire, making it two wins from two in defence of our title.

Our opponents fielded some very strong players on the top boards and we struggled there apart from a sensational win by Iwan Cave against Yichen Han, rated over 2500.

We had more strength in depth though, and wins were recorded by Jamie Chilton, Malcolm Cooper, Rob McClatchey, Kevin Steele, Tim Chapman, Phil Pinto and Simon Gates (making his league debut).

The result is recorded at https://www.oxfordfusion.com/oca/ViewResult.cfm?LeagueID=464&Display=13852&Org=8 with a copy of the match card shown below.

Fraser McLeod – Match Captain

Game

Iwan Cave has annotated his excellent win against Dutch IM Yichen Han. I think the chess speaks for itself in this game. But for background Yichen has not lost a game since April this year, and was unbeaten in the British Championship, where he finished in equal third behind Michael Adams.

Board	Hants A	Colour	Grade	Result	Oxford A	Colour	Grade	Result
1	Iwan Cave	Black	2162	1	Yichen Han	White	2506	0
2	Antonio Martinez-Sykora	White	2155	½	David Zakarian	Black	2337	½
3	Mark Broom	Black	2124	0	Kenneth Hobson	White	2259	1
4	Keith DF Gregory	White	1982	0	Dimitrios Zakarian	Black	2121	1
5	Timothy Davis	Black	1962	0	Soren Riis	White	2094	1
6	Fraser N McLeod	White	1903	0	Gary C Jackson	Black	1937	1
7	Gareth Aneurin Jones	Black	1919	½	A Philip Neatherway	White	1801	½
8	Stuart W Knox	White	1899	½	Asif Hameed	Black	1770	½
9	James I Chilton	Black	1862	1	Richard Beckett	White	1747	0
10	Malcolm Cooper	White	1821	1	Martin Lambert	Black	1689	0
11	Rob McClatchey	Black	1790	1	Gary Reynolds	White	1671	0
12	Graham Stuart	White	1786	½	Ian Gilders	Black	1670	½
13	Steven E Jones	Black	1778	0	Simon E King	White		1
14	Kevin Steele	White	1767	1	Barry A Kocan	Black	1613	0
15	Simon Terleckis	Black	1744	0	William (Bill) Stanley	White	1597	1
16	Peter L Dallas	White	1732	½	Lakshay Prabhu	Black	1561	½
17	Timothy J Chapman	Black	1734	1	Craig Miller	White	1534	0
18	Gillian A Moore	White	1696	½	Andrew JP English	Black	1492	½
19	Phil Pinto	Black	1701	1	Ray Cordon	White	1291	0
20	Simon Gates	White	1398	1	Hakeem Asif	Black	1237	0
			1846	11			1786	9

Buckinghamshire A 13 – 7 – Hampshire A 25 Nov 2023

Hampshire suffered a 13-7 defeat yesterday at the hands of Buckinghamshire in the Chiltern League match played at Prestwood, Great Missenden.

Sole winners for Hampshire were Stephen Nelson-Smith, making his Hampshire debut, and Peter Dallas.

Fraser McLeod – Match Captain

Board	Bucks A	Colour	Grade	Result	Hants A	Colour	Grade	Result
1	Peter-Hans Hansen	Black	2200	½	Martin J Buckmaster	White	2013	½
2	Andrew P Smith	White	2192	1	Timothy Davis	Black	1961	0
3	Gary Kenworthy	Black	2104	1	Fraser N McLeod	White	1909	0
4	Roger D de Coverly	White	1984	½	Stuart W Knox	Black	1893	½
5	Andy Tinker	Black	1958	1	Matthew Deacon	White	1893	0
6	Jon Beedle	White	1968	½	David J Deacon	Black	1881	½
7	Stephen B James	Black	1951	1	James I Chilton	White	1875	0
8	Peter Kelen	White	1912	1	Steven E Jones	Black	1781	0
9	Peter Morrisby	Black		½	Kevin Steele	White	1777	½
10	Tim Wheeler	White	1838	½	Ray E Hartley	Black	1760	½
11	Watt Benjamin	Black	1815	1	Timothy J Chapman	White	1730	0
12	Ian K Cross	White	1774	0	Stephen Nelson-Smith	Black	1731	1
13	Ian Woodward	Black	1818	0	Peter L Dallas	White	1721	1
14	Stephen Cox	White	1785	1	Simon Terleckis	Black	1712	0
15	David J Turner	Black	1702	½	Gillian A Moore	White	1698	½
16	Mike Harrison	White	1699	½	Phil Pinto	Black	1698	½
17	Kevin M Chojnacki	Black	1685	½	Ashraf Syed	White	1649	½
18	David Rollinson	White	1644	½	Jonathan G Young	Black	1597	½
19	Eugene Bolduc	Black	1703	½	Simon Lawrence	White	1579	½
20	Duncan Clarke	White	1501	1	Nicholas Deacon	Black	1529	0
			1769	13			1854	7

Hampshire A 9 – 11 – Berkshire A 27 Jan 2024

A strong Berkshire team gained revenge on Hampshire yesterday in the Chiltern League, winning 11-9, and making the league table very close with all teams still in contention.

Winners for Hampshire were Raja Pentakota, making a welcome return to the team, Simon Redmill, on debut, Rob McClatchey, Malcolm Cooper, playing their captain (reserve) as their player apparently didn’t arrive due to ‘mobile/satnav battery failure’ (!), Scott Leadbetter, Phil Pinto and Gillian Moore. Full details below.

Fraser McLeod – Match Captain

Board	Hants A	Colour	Grade	Result	Berks A	Colour	Grade	Result
1	Iwan Cave	Black	2182	0	Paul S Cooksey	White	2341	1
2	Mark Broom	White	2111	0	Theo Khoury	Black	2258	1
3	Rajasekhar Pentakota	Black	1997	1	Ewan Wilson	White	2167	0
4	Timothy Davis	White	1974	0	Ben Olugbemiga Ogunshola	Black	2144	1
5	Gareth Aneurin Jones	Black	1913	0	Forbes Welford-Ranson	White	2081	1
6	Stuart W Knox	White	1899	0	John D Wager	Black	2040	1
7	Fraser N McLeod	Black	1898	½	Charles ES Bullock	White	2014	½
8	Simon Redmill	White	1895	1	David Roberts	Black	1994	0
9	Matthew Deacon	Black	1893	0	Daniel A Sparkes	White	1970	1
10	Rob McClatchey	White	1801	1	Hussien Mohamed	Black	1980	0
11	Malcolm Cooper	Black	1778	1	Gareth W Ward	White	1405	0
12	Kevin Steele	White	1775	½	Jon D Lloyd	Black	1816	½
13	Timothy J Chapman	Black	1721	½	Nigel W Dennis	White	1742	½
14	Peter L Dallas	White	1718	0	Peter W Tickner	Black	1739	1
15	Simon Terleckis	Black	1714	½	David Johnson	White	1735	½
16	Chris J McSheehy	White	1699	0	Calvin Chris Biju	Black	1702	1
17	Scott Leadbetter	Black	1694	1	Harriet Haslehurst	White	1676	0
18	Phil Pinto	White	1689	1	Manel Fernando	Black	1660	0
19	Philip Tarrant-Edwards	Black	1646	0	Yawar Jafri	White	1635	1
20	Gillian A Moore	White	1665	1	Russell Fletcher-Bott	Black	1737	0
			1833	9			1892	11

Oxfordshire A 13 – 7 – Hampshire A 17 Feb 2024

Hampshire were beaten 13-7 by Oxfordshire yesterday in the Chiltern League, at Cumnor. Winners for Hampshire were Mark Broom, Daniel Shek, Stuart Knox, Matthew Deacon, Gillian Moore and Jonathan Young. Full details of the result can be viewed at https://www.oxfordfusion.com/oca/ViewResult.cfm?LeagueID=464&Display=14064&Org=8.

The league is close, with all teams having won and lost at least two matches each but this result, our third loss of the season, probably means we can no longer successfully defend our title.

Fraser McLeod – Match Captain

Board	Hants A	Colour	Grade	Result	Oxford A	Colour	Grade	Result
1	Mark Broom	White	2108	1	Jon P Manley	Black	2157	0
2	Keith DF Gregory	Black	2009	0	Philip T Hayward	White	2076	1
3	Daniel Shek	White	1970	1	Dave Hackett	Black	2039	0
4	Stuart W Knox	Black	1910	1	Simon E King	White	1982	0
5	Simon Redmill	White	1895	0	Nigel J Moyse	Black	1975	1
6	David J Deacon	Black	1888	0	Carl S Portman	White	1916	1
7	Matthew Deacon	White	1887	1	Richard Weston	Black	1870	0
8	James I Chilton	Black	1847	0	Ian Bush	White	1860	1
9	Kevin G Steele	White	1776	0	Dave Robson	Black	1837	1
10	Malcolm Cooper	Black	1770	0	Matt Holmes	White	1825	1
11	Steven E Jones	White	1741	0	Neil Staples	Black	1810	1
12	Simon Terleckis	Black	1714	0	Reya Li	White	1808	1
13	Scott Leadbetter	White	1700	0	Graham L Cole	Black	1805	1
14	Gillian A Moore	Black	1668	1	Gary Hogan	White	1785	0
15	Ashraf Syed	White	1640	0	Richard Beckett	Black	1727	1
16	Simon Lawrence	Black	1634	½	Derek F Edwards	White	1695	½
17	Jonathan G Young	White	1600	1	Barry A Kocan	Black	1692	0
18	Frank A Bonsey	Black	1578	0	Ian Gilders	White	1666	1
19	Sam J Murphy	White	1548	½	William Bill Stanley	Black	1607	½
20	Nicholas Deacon	Black	1526	0	Paul Bizzell	White	1410	1
			1771	7			1827	13

Hampshire A 13½ – 3½ – Buckinghamshire A 2 Mar 2024

Hampshire played their last match of the Chiltern League season yesterday, at home against a much depleted Buckinghamshire team who could only raise 12 players. Hampshire won by 12.5-3.5, including 4 default wins (matches to be played over at least 16 boards).

The Hampshire team welcomed two new players, Paul Janota and Stephen O’Toole, who both won their games, as did Daniel Shek, Fraser McLeod, Matthew Deacon and Jamie Chilton.

The full match card can be viewed here.

Hampshire end the season with a win and a loss against all three opponents. The latest league standings are shown below, with the two remaining matches not being played until April.

If my calculations are correct, we can still dream of sharing the league title if, for example, Oxfordshire beat Berkshire by one point and lose to Buckinghamshire by 5 or 6 points.

Fraser McLeod – Match Captain

Board	Hants A	Colour	Grade	Result	Bucks A	Colour	Grade	Result
1	Keith DF Gregory	White	2015	½	Peter-Hans Hansen	White	2194	½
2	Timothy Davis	Black	1995	0	Stephen B James	Black	2002	1
3	Rajasekhar Pentakota	White	1978	½	Jon Syner	White	1974	½
4	Daniel Shek	Black	1969	1	Jon Beedle	Black	1961	0
5	Stuart W Knox	White	1907	½	Ian K Cross	White	1696	½
6	Gareth Aneurin Jones	Black	1899	½	Ian Woodward	Black	1796	½
7	Paul Janota	White	1894	1	David Rollinson	White	1636	0
8	Fraser N McLeod	Black	1892	1	Ian JK Hall	Black	1472	0
9	David J Deacon	White	1888	½	Ray Clark	White	1328	½
10	Matthew Deacon	Black	1877	1	Juan Perez	Black	1350	0
11	James I Chilton	White	1837	1	Patrick Collins	White	1303	0
12	Stepehn O’Toole	Black	1807	1	Robert Giambrone	Black	1289	0
13	Default			1	Default			0
14	Default			1	Default			0
15	Default			1	Default			0
16	Default			1	Default			0
			1913	12½			1827	3½

Hampshire Player Performance

Only one player was ever present in the Chiltern League this season, Stuart Knox scored one win and four draws from his six games, only losing to Berkshire’s John Wager. Five players played five games and Gillian Moore would have played all six if the last match was not restricted to twelve boards, due to Berkshire not being able to field 16.

Gillian continues to rack up the appearances (pushing 300 games), moving further away from Stephen D LeFevre, also scoring three wins and two draws from her five games for an excellent performance.

Phil Pinto only dropped one draw from his four games and Dan Shek and Rob McClatchey won both their games to be the pick of the other performances.

As per Fraser’s report we had more players wishing to play than available spots, and we can hope that a B team or Jamboree is introduced in the future to give other players an opportunity to play. That said 39 players represented Hampshire this year in the Chiltern League.

Hants Player	Win Percentage	Points Scored	Games Played
Gillian A Moore	80.0%	4	5
Phil Pinto	87.5%	3.5	4
Matthew Deacon	60.0%	3	5
Stuart W Knox	50.0%	3	6
Malcolm H Cooper	62.5%	2.5	4
Peter L Dallas	62.5%	2.5	4
Daniel Shek	100.0%	2	2
Rob McClatchey	100.0%	2	2
David J Deacon	50.0%	2	4
James I Chilton	50.0%	2	4
Kevin G Steele	50.0%	2	4
Antonio Martinez-Sykora	75.0%	1.5	2
Rajasekhar Pentakota	75.0%	1.5	2
Jonathan G Young	75.0%	1.5	2
Timothy J Chapman	50.0%	1.5	3
Ashraf Syed	50.0%	1.5	3
Simon Lawrence	50.0%	1.5	3
Mark Broom	37.5%	1.5	4
Gareth Aneurin Jones	37.5%	1.5	4
Fraser N McLeod	30.0%	1.5	5
Stepehn O’Toole	100.0%	1	1
Stephen Nelson-Smith	100.0%	1	1
Paul Janota	100.0%	1	1
Simon Gates	100.0%	1	1
Iwan Cave	50.0%	1	2
Graham Stuart	50.0%	1	2
Chris J McSheehy	50.0%	1	2
Simon Redmill	50.0%	1	2
Martin J Buckmaster	50.0%	1	2
Nicholas Deacon	33.3%	1	3
Scott Leadbetter	33.3%	1	3
Sam J Murphy	50.0%	0.5	1
Ray E Hartley	50.0%	0.5	1
Keith DF Gregory	16.7%	0.5	3
Timothy J Davis	10.0%	0.5	5
Simon Terleckis	10.0%	0.5	5
Philip Tarrant-Edwards	0.0%	0	1
Frank A Bonsey	0.0%	0	1
Steven E Jones	0.0%	0	3