Hampshire Chess Championship 2014 – Major

The 2014 Hampshire Chess Championship was held at Eastleigh College between 7th and 9th November 2014. It was split into 3 sections with in total 63 players participating. The Major section saw Matthew Wilson win ahead of a number of Hampshire players.

Picture above of the playing hall from 2013, as no photos were taken in 2014. This gives a good representation of the congress at Eastleigh College.

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Contents

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For a list of the winners of the Hampshire Individual Championship and links to any articles I have written, the table on the Hampshire Individual Championship is the best place to look. In addition, the table on the Hampshire Tournaments will detail these and any other tournament articles I have completed. Both of these are available from the menu at the top of the site as well.

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Tournament

The Hampshire Individual Chess Championship has used numerous formats in the last 90 odd years, from the Knockout format in 1930, qualifying sections e.g. 1932 to the current Swiss tournament held over three days. The format used for the 2014 Championship was a six round Swiss. Non Hampshire players were welcome to enter, but were not eligible for the Hampshire trophies.

Round 1

I noticed that Gareth Jones was playing in the Major, just sneaking into the under 160 grade. Gareth had probably returned to chess after a period away and his grade would have been much higher previously. He certainly would have been one of the favourites for the competition.

Ian Matthew can be an aggressive player, and despite his position being initially worse, he took advantage of some poor moves by his opponent, who finally drops the exchange and decides to throw in the towel.

The other winners were Barry Maund, defeating the high graded Alex Dore, Gillian Moore, Chris Snook-Lumb and Ben McManus.

Player	Grade	Result	Player	Grade	Result
Gareth Aneurin Jones	158	1	Timothy J Crouch	137	0
Barry Maund	134	1	Alex Dore	157	0
Ian G Matthew	145	1	Keith C Osborne	131	0
Jack Armorgie	130	½	Alec Samuels	144	½
Mark R Stone	128	0	Gillian A Moore	142	1
Phil T Foley	142	½	David R Agostinelli	128	½
Chris Snook-Lumb	124	1	Robin Williams	140	0
Rob Hewitt	138	1	John R Sellen	122	0
Ben McManus		1	Paul AT Hurn	137	0
Robert Gowers		0	John R Webb	127	1
Matthew R Wilson	148	½	Bye
Alex Conway	156	½	Bye
John Belinger	147	½	Bye
Sherif Gonem	128	½	Bye
Ashraf Syed	139	½	Bye

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Round 2

Ian Matthew was held to a draw by Barry Maund, with the final position on move 40 being interesting. White was the exchange up, but Black had three extra pawns. These positions can be difficult to determine who is better, and the computer thinks it is White, despite the material advantage being in Black’s favour.

Ashraf Syed was unlucky against Matthew Wilson, where he quickly went from +3 to – 4 with a couple of inaccurate moves.

We pick the game up from move 24.

Gillian Moore was the only player who was on maximum points, with a fine win against Ben McManus.

Player	Grade	Result	Player	Grade	Result
Barry Maund	134	½	Ian G Matthew	145	½
John R Webb	127	½	Rob Hewitt	138	½
Gillian A Moore	142	1	Ben McManus		0
Alex Conway	156	1	Chris Snook-Lumb	124	0
Alex Dore	157	1	Jack Armorgie	130	0
Alec Samuels	144	0	Sherif Gonem	128	1
John Belinger	147	½	Phil T Foley	142	½
Ashraf Syed	139	0	Matthew R Wilson	148	1
Timothy J Crouch	137	0	Mark R Stone	128	1
Keith C Osborne	131	1	Robert Gowers		0
John R Sellen	122	1	Controller Bye		0
David R Agostinelli	128	½	Bye
Gareth Aneurin Jones	158	½	Bye
Robin Williams	140	½	Bye
Paul AT Hurn	137	½	Bye

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Round 3

Matthew Wilson had the upfloat to face Gillian. The game reached a level ending, with Knight and five pawns each, but I get the impression that Gillian was probably short of time, as was outplayed in the ending. Not all the moves were legible, but we pick up the position at move 38.

Barry Maund built up a winning position against Phil Foley, but Phil hung in grimly and took control when Barry blundered.

Other winners were Alex Dore, Robin Williams, John Belinger and Timothy Crouch.

The Robin Williams game included a pretty tactic.

Player	Grade	Result	Player	Grade	Result
Matthew R Wilson	148	1	Gillian A Moore	142	0
Ian G Matthew	145	½	John R Webb	127	½
Rob Hewitt	138	½	Gareth Aneurin Jones	158	½
Phil T Foley	142	1	Barry Maund	134	0
Sherif Gonem	128	½	Alex Conway	156	½
David R Agostinelli	128	0	Alex Dore	157	1
Robin Williams	140	1	Jack Armorgie	130	0
Chris Snook-Lumb	124	0	John Belinger	147	1
John R Sellen	122	½	Alec Samuels	144	½
Paul AT Hurn	137	½	Ashraf Syed	139	½
Ben McManus		½	Keith C Osborne	131	½
Robert Gowers		0	Timothy J Crouch	137	1
Mark R Stone	128	½	Bye

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Round 4

Four players took a half point bye for the Saturday evening, whilst John Belinger had a zero point bye, as I presume something came up. Matthew Wilson was half a point ahead of ten players and it was Gareth Jones who had the upfloat to play Matthew.

This was probably one of the key games of the tournament due to Gareth’s strength. The game was level for a long time, but a small error by Gareth allowed Matthew to turn the screw. This soon turned into a larger advantage with the Queen and Knight penetrating leading to Gareth having to give up his Rook for a Knight, and resignation soon followed.

Four of the chasing players drew their games, but John Webb managed to beat Phil Foley to move into sole second place.

Player	Grade	Result	Player	Grade	Result
Gareth Aneurin Jones	158	0	Matthew R Wilson	148	1
Alex Dore	157	½	Ian G Matthew	145	½
Alex Conway	156	½	Rob Hewitt	138	½
John R Webb	127	1	Phil T Foley	142	0
Barry Maund	134	½	Ben McManus		½
Mark R Stone	128	0	Robin Williams	140	1
John R Sellen	122	1	Sherif Gonem	128	0
Chris Snook-Lumb	124	1	Ashraf Syed	139	0
Jack Armorgie	130	0	David R Agostinelli	128	1
Paul AT Hurn	137	1	Robert Gowers		0
John Belinger	147	0	0 point Bye
Alec Samuels	144	½	Bye
Gillian A Moore	142	½	Bye
Keith C Osborne	131	½	Bye
Timothy J Crouch	137	½	Bye

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Round 5

Matthew Wilson was still half a point ahead of John Webb, whilst seven players were a further half a point back. John Webb played an unusual Be6 line in the Alekhine Defence, and the position was fairly even on the board. But a later f5 caused Black problems and he was soon in trouble.

For the players a point behind Matthew, Ian Matthews and Gillian Moore won, beating John Sellen and Alex Conway respectively.

Ian’s game started as an Alekhine Defence, but transposed into a King’s Gambit declined. As stated earlier, Ian is an aggressive player and when Black hesitated he soon built a winning attack, finishing John off in 22 moves.

Another impressive win by Gillian against one of the higher rated players Alex Conway.

Player	Grade	Result	Player	Grade	Result
Matthew R Wilson	148	1	John R Webb	127	0
Ian G Matthew	145	1	John R Sellen	122	0
Rob Hewitt	138	½	Alex Dore	157	½
Phil T Foley	142	0	Ben McManus		1
David R Agostinelli	128	0	Gareth Aneurin Jones	158	1
Keith C Osborne	131	1	Chris Snook-Lumb	124	0
Gillian A Moore	142	1	Alex Conway	156	0
Sherif Gonem	128	½	Barry Maund	134	½
Timothy J Crouch		1	John Belinger	147	0
Robin Williams	140	½	Paul AT Hurn	137	½
Alec Samuels	144	½	Mark R Stone	128	½
Robert Gowers		0	Ashraf Syed	139	1
Jack Armorgie	130		Withdrawn

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Round 6

With his win in the fifth round Matthew Wilson went into the final round with a point lead from Ian Matthew and Gillian Moore. Ian faced Matthew and Gillian was paired with fellow Southampton Chess club player Gareth Jones.

There was no quick draw on board one where Ian sacrificed a pawn for good compensation. In a sharp position both players had to be careful and the final position giving was not really one where Ian should have resigned. It maybe that some moves are missing.

This win meant Matthew would finish one and a half points ahead of Gareth Jones (who beat Gillian Moore) and Robin Williams.

Player	Grade	Result	Player	Grade	Result
Ian G Matthew	145	0	Matthew R Wilson	148	1
Gareth Aneurin Jones	158	1	Gillian A Moore	142	0
Ben McManus		½	Rob Hewitt	138	½
Alex Dore	157	½	Keith C Osborne	131	½
Chris Snook-Lumb	124	0	Alec Samuels	144	1
John R Webb	127	0	Robin Williams	140	1
Mark R Stone	128	0	Phil T Foley	142	1
Alex Conway	156	1	Barry Maund	134	0
Sherif Gonem	128	½	Paul AT Hurn	137	½
John Belinger	147	1	David R Agostinelli	128	0
Ashraf Syed	139	0	Timothy J Crouch	137	1
Robert Gowers		1	Controller Bye		0
John R Sellen			Withdrawn

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Games

All the games from the Major section can be downloaded here.

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Major Final Position Summary

Matthew Wilson won all the games he played and despite not being a local player he went on to win the Major section another two times (2015 and 2019). Gareth Jones won the Peter Marshall trophy for best performance by a Hampshire player. This was on tie-break ahead of Robin Williams.

Rob Hewitt and Keith Osborne shared the Under-140 grading prize.

In addition this year the Gillian Moore Cup was introduced. This prize was for the best score by a Hampshire women in the Hampshire congress. This was actually won by Gillian herself, for her three and half points in the Major.

As the basis of this is from the ECF rating site crosstable, which does not take into account byes the rankings do not match the final real positions. But to amend this I would have to recreate the numbers for each player, which I have not done. But the table can be sorted to allow you to do this.

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HCA Summary

Hampshire’s Chess Association Secretary’s John Wheeler’s report on the 2014 Congress is below. Many thanks to John for sending all his reports for the HCA Archives, as although I had some of these, not being active in the HCA (or any Chess at this time I did not have this one).

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Acknowledgements and Sources

• Hampshire Chess Archives
• English Chess Rating System
• John Wheeler for HCA Report
• Arthur Brameld for games

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