The 2015 Hampshire Chess Championship was held at Eastleigh College between 6th and 8th November 2015. It was split into 3 sections with in total 58 players participating. The Major tournament saw Matthew Wilson retain his title. He would go on to win the championship again in 2019.
Picture above of Raj Pentakota who won the Peter Marshall Cup for best performance by a Hampshire player in the Major section.
Contents
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.
Tournament
The Hampshire Major was for players graded under 160, and with 23 players starting this was the largest section of the three in the Congress. There were a number of strong local players including Gareth Jones, Raj Pentakota and Les Allen, but current champion Matthew Wilson was probably favourite going into the competition.
Round 1
Matthew Wilson first round was against Southampton’s Dave Agostinelli, who can be a dangerous player. But Dave made an unlikely blunder losing a piece at which stage the game was really over.
Southampton Chess club’s Paul Hurn accepted the Morra Gambit pawn, but as can happen Black made one mistake and White soon has a great attack. Black did get back into the game, but could not quite turn around his position and White converted the game.
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| David R Agostinelli | 136 | 0 | Matthew R Wilson | 159 | 1 |
| Gareth Aneurin Jones | 159 | 0 | Ian G Matthew | 138 | 1 |
| John B Symons | 141 | 0 | Leslie C Allen | 159 | 1 |
| Alex Conway | 148 | ½ | Mark R Stone | 128 | ½ |
| Richard E Desmedt | 152 | 1 | Paul AT Hurn | 136 | 0 |
| Christopher Smith | 127 | 1 | Robin Williams | 142 | 0 |
| Kevin Sawers | 127 | 1 | Phil T Foley | 142 | 0 |
| Gillian A Moore | 139 | 1 | John R Sellen | 127 | 0 |
| Rajasekhar Pentakota | UG | 1 | Controller Bye | ||
| Gavin Fong | UG | ½ | Bye | ||
| Frazer Graham | 117 | ½ | Bye | ||
| John Belinger | 142 | ½ | Bye | ||
| Alexander Cagnasso | 137 | ½ | Bye | ||
| Paul Northcott | 135 | ½ | Bye | ||
| Joseph Allin | 130 | ½ | Bye |
Round 2
Just two players moved onto maximum points with Matthew Wilson beating Kevin Sawers and the unrated Raj Pentakota doing the same to Christopher Smith. Christopher can consider himself a bit unlucky as he blundered in a very drawish position.
Meanwhile Matthew Wilson played a closed Sicilian. Kevin made a mistake in not playing Bd4+ on move 14 as this would allow him to play f5 on move 15. Due to this Matthew was able to play f5 and Black was soon struggling.
Finally the finish to the Alex Conway – Fraser Graham game. The improving Fraser showed he was a threat to the top seeds, despite only being graded 117.
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matthew R Wilson | 159 | 1 | Kevin Sawers | 127 | 0 |
| Ian G Matthew | 138 | ½ | Richard E Desmedt | 152 | ½ |
| Rajasekhar Pentakota | UG | 1 | Christopher Smith | 127 | 0 |
| Leslie C Allen | 159 | ½ | Gillian A Moore | 139 | ½ |
| Frazer Graham | 117 | 1 | Alex Conway | 148 | 0 |
| Mark R Stone | 128 | ½ | John Belinger | 142 | ½ |
| Paul Northcott | 135 | 0 | Alexander Cagnasso | 137 | 1 |
| Gavin Fong | UG | 1 | Joseph Allin | 130 | 0 |
| Phil T Foley | 142 | 1 | Paul AT Hurn | 136 | 0 |
| John R Sellen | 127 | 1 | John B Symons | 141 | 0 |
| Gareth Aneurin Jones | 159 | ½ | Bye | ||
| Robin Williams | 142 | ½ | Bye | ||
| David R Agostinelli | 136 | ½ | Bye |
Round 3
With just the two players on maximum points they clashed in round 3. The game looks to have been level for all the moves Arthur Brameld could decipher, but Matthew prevailed and took home the point. The position below is the last one available at move 46 and the computer has this as 0.0. Although White has the two Bishops, Blacks Knight is very good.
Richard Desmedt played another Morra Gambit, and this was an exciting tussle, with good play on both sides. This time he came out on the losing side, with Frazer Graham defending well, and taking his chances when Richard blundered, in what was likely time trouble.
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matthew R Wilson | 159 | 1 | Rajasekhar Pentakota | UG | 0 |
| John Belinger | 142 | ½ | Ian G Matthew | 138 | ½ |
| Alexander Cagnasso | 137 | ½ | Leslie C Allen | 159 | ½ |
| Gillian A Moore | 139 | 0 | Gavin Fong | UG | 1 |
| Richard E Desmedt | 152 | 0 | Frazer Graham | 117 | 1 |
| Christopher Smith | 127 | 0 | Phil T Foley | 142 | 1 |
| Kevin Sawers | 127 | ½ | John R Sellen | 127 | ½ |
| Joseph Allin | 130 | ½ | Gareth Aneurin Jones | 159 | ½ |
| Alex Conway | 148 | 1 | David R Agostinelli | 136 | 0 |
| Robin Williams | 142 | 1 | Paul Northcott | 135 | 0 |
| Paul AT Hurn | 136 | ½ | John B Symons | 141 | ½ |
| Mark R Stone | 128 | ½ | Bye |
Round 4
Matthew Wilson was the only player on maximum points, with Gavin Fong and Frazer Graham only half a point behind. Gavin Fong was the player who had the upfloat, whilst Frazer Graham had a downfloat to face Alexander Cagnasso.
The board one game was drawn after 50 moves (unless others were not recorded) and the final position seemed to have a small advantage for Matthew, being a pawn up. This is not an easy position to convert, so a draw was not unexpected.
Frazer Graham took advantage of a unwise pawn push by Black, who then decided to sacrifice a piece. Although Black did have a temporary piece sacrifice he could have played, which would have made the position equal (but not drawn). Once Black had missed this, his position soon collapsed.
This win meant Frazer Graham joined Matthew Wilson in the lead, with Phil Foley and Raj Pentakota also winning these two players joined Gavin Fong half a point behind the two leaders.
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gavin Fong | UG | ½ | Matthew R Wilson | 159 | ½ | |
| Frazer Graham | 117 | 1 | Alexander Cagnasso | 137 | 0 | |
| Phil T Foley | 142 | 1 | Richard E Desmedt | 152 | 0 | |
| Ian G Matthew | 138 | 0 | Rajasekhar Pentakota | UG | 1 | |
| Gareth Aneurin Jones | 159 | 1 | Christopher Smith | 127 | 0 | |
| Mark R Stone | 128 | 1 | Robin Williams | 142 | 0 | |
| David R Agostinelli | 136 | 0 | Paul Northcott | 135 | 1 | |
| John Belinger | 142 | 1 | Controller Bye | |||
| Joseph Allin | 130 | ½ | Bye | |||
| John R Sellen | 127 | ½ | Bye | |||
| Leslie C Allen | 159 | ½ | Bye | |||
| Alex Conway | 148 | ½ | Bye | |||
| Gillian A Moore | 139 | ½ | Bye | |||
| Kevin Sawers | 127 | ½ | Bye | |||
| John B Symons | 141 | ½ | Bye | |||
| Paul AT Hurn | 136 | ½ | Bye |
Round 5
The two leaders clashed on Sunday morning with Matthew coming out on top, although both players could have won the game at different stages. The ending reached, was a very difficult one and understandably both players went wrong. This could all have been stopped if Frazer had played 32… Qd4 when White was either losing a Rook or being mated.
Raj Pentakota decided to sacrifice a pawn in a Queen and double Rook ending, the advantage being he had a very dangerous advanced pawn. Phil Foley tried to blockade the pawn, but he would have been better off pushing one of his own passed pawns. By blockading he allowed a tactical sequence which would have seen White’s pawn promote and he had to resign.
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matthew R Wilson | 159 | 1 | Frazer Graham | 117 | 0 | |
| Rajasekhar Pentakota | UG | 1 | Phil T Foley | 142 | 0 | |
| Leslie C Allen | 159 | ½ | Gavin Fong | UG | ½ | |
| Ian G Matthew | 138 | ½ | Mark R Stone | 128 | ½ | |
| John R Sellen | 127 | 0 | Alex Conway | 148 | 1 | |
| Gillian A Moore | 139 | ½ | Gareth Aneurin Jones | 159 | ½ | |
| Robin Williams | 142 | 1 | Kevin Sawers | 127 | 0 | |
| Paul AT Hurn | 136 | 1 | John Belinger | 142 | 0 | |
| Christopher Smith | 127 | 0 | David R Agostinelli | 136 | 1 |
Round 6
Matthew Wilson was on 4½ points, with Raj Pentakota half a point behind. Gavin Fong and Frazer Graham were on 3½. These were the only players in contention for the top prize, and Matthew would have had the best tie-break if there was a tie.
With this in mind it was not a surprise that his game ended in a 9 move draw against Alex Conway. Gavin Fong and Raj Pentakoka also had a short draw (13 moves). As mentioned the Hampshire Trophies can come into play and Matthew was not a Hampshire player, therefore this drawn meant Raj was the winner of the Peter Marshall trophy as Frazer Graham lost to Southampton’s Les Allen.
This must have been a disappointing finish to Frazer’s tournament, as with a few minor changes he could have been challenging for the top place. But Frazer had a great tournament, coming in with the lowest rating, and he could have easily played in the minor, if he did not want the challenge of the Major section.
John Bellinger played a very nice game against Dave Agostinelli’s Nimzowitsch’s Defence. This can be a difficult opening to play although some local players manage this task (David Pye and Dave Holmes). I think subsequently Dave has played g6 against e4 rather than b6 and with much better success.
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alex Conway | 148 | ½ | Matthew R Wilson | 159 | ½ | |
| Gavin Fong | UG | ½ | Rajasekhar Pentakota | UG | ½ | |
| Frazer Graham | 117 | 0 | Leslie C Allen | 159 | 1 | |
| Phil T Foley | 142 | 1 | Gillian A Moore | 139 | 0 | |
| Robin Williams | 142 | ½ | Ian G Matthew | 138 | ½ | |
| Gareth Aneurin Jones | 159 | 1 | Mark R Stone | 128 | 0 | |
| Kevin Sawers | 127 | ½ | Paul AT Hurn | 136 | ½ | |
| John Belinger | 142 | 1 | David R Agostinelli | 136 | 0 | |
| Christopher | 127 | 1 | Controller Bye |
Games
All the games from the Major games can be downloaded here.
Major Final Position Summary
Matthew Wilson finished half a point ahead of Raj Pentakota (who won the Peter Marshall Cup). Phil Foley, Gavin Fong and Les Allen finished in joint third. Raj was unrated in this tournament, but can now been found playing in the Open’s as rating is normally around 2000.
Frazer Graham won the U140 grading prize with his 3½ points. Frazer is another player whose last rating was over 1950.
If you played in the tournament and have any personal memories to share, or annotated games, please do let me know.
The information has been obtained from the ECF rating site crosstable, which does not take into account byes therefore 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.
| Rank | Name | Grade | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Rd 6 | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matthew R Wilson | 159 | 21+ | 13+ | 4+ | 3= | 7+ | 8= | 5 |
| 2 | Phil T Foley | 142 | 13– | 15+ | 19+ | 16+ | 4– | 12+ | 4 |
| 3 | Gavin Fong | bye = | 23+ | 12+ | 1= | 5= | 4= | 4 | |
| 4 | Rajasekhar Pentakota | bye + | 19+ | 1– | 6+ | 2+ | 3= | 4.5 | |
| 5 | Leslie C Allen | 159 | 22+ | 12= | 17= | bye = | 3= | 7+ | 4 |
| 6 | Ian G Matthew | 138 | 9+ | 16= | 14= | 4– | 10= | 11= | 3 |
| 7 | Frazer Graham | 117 | bye = | 8+ | 16+ | 17+ | 1– | 5– | 3.5 |
| 8 | Alex Conway | 148 | 10= | 7– | 21+ | bye = | 18+ | 1= | 3.5 |
| 9 | Gareth Aneurin Jones | 159 | 6– | bye = | 23= | 19+ | 12= | 10+ | 3.5 |
| 10 | Mark R Stone | 128 | 8= | 14= | bye = | 11+ | 6= | 9– | 3 |
| 11 | Robin Williams | 142 | 19– | bye = | 20+ | 10– | 13+ | 6= | 3 |
| 12 | Gillian A Moore | 139 | 18+ | 5= | 3– | bye = | 9= | 2– | 2.5 |
| 13 | Kevin Sawers | 127 | 2+ | 1– | 18= | bye = | 11– | 15= | 2.5 |
| 14 | John Belinger | 142 | bye = | 10= | 6= | bye + | 15– | 21+ | 3.5 |
| 15 | Paul AT Hurn | 136 | 16– | 2– | 22= | bye = | 14+ | 13= | 2.5 |
| 16 | Richard E Desmedt | 152 | 15+ | 6= | 7– | 2– | 0 | 0 | 1.5 |
| 17 | Alexander Cagnasso | 137 | bye = | 20+ | 5= | 7– | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 18 | John R Sellen | 127 | 12– | 22+ | 13= | bye = | 8– | 0 | 2 |
| 19 | Christopher Smith | 127 | 11+ | 4– | 2– | 9– | 21– | bye + | 2 |
| 20 | Paul Northcott | 135 | bye = | 17– | 11– | 21+ | 0 | 0 | 1.5 |
| 21 | David R Agostinelli | 136 | 1– | bye = | 8– | 20– | 19+ | 14– | 1.5 |
| 22 | John B Symons | 141 | 5– | 18– | 15= | bye = | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 23 | Joseph Allin | 130 | bye = | 3– | 9= | bye = | 0 | 0 | 1.5 |
Gallery
HCA Summary
Hampshire’s Chess Association Secretary’s John Wheeler’s report on the 2015 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).
Acknowledgements and Sources
- Hampshire Chess Archives
- British Chess Rating System
- John Wheeler
- Kev Lamb for photos
- Arthur Brameld for games