The Hampshire Chess Championship was held at Eastleigh College between 4th and 6th November 2016. It was split into 3 sections with in total 44 players participating. The Major tournament saw Joe Coburn finishing one point ahead of junior Paul Northcott and Gillian Moore.
The picture above shows Joe Coburn being presented with the Peter Marshall Cup presumably by the Mayor of Eastleigh? Keven Lamb was there to take photographs and some of these are included at the end of the article.
If you played in the Congress and wish to add anything or supply an annotated game please do contact me through the comments or at Hampshirechesshistory@gmail.com
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.
Round 1
13 players entered the Major and as this was a drop from 24 in 2015 this was a disappointing number. On the plus side after not playing since 2006, I returned to test the waters again. Although ungraded I felt playing in the Major was the right choice. On the whole it was a tough tournament for me with bad time management and a few missed chances.
I would say there was not any real favourite in the tournament as ignoring the ungraded players the difference in grading between the top and bottom was only 23 points. In addition a number of the lower rated players have been graded higher and junior Paul Northcott would be playing in the Open the following year.
Therefore Gillian Moore beating the highest rated player was not really an upset. What was surprising was that along with this there was only one other decisive result in round one with Mark Stone beating John Belinger. Mark played the very pretty Ba3 below where obviously the Bishop could not be taken due to Qa1 mate. But c3 would have been stronger than the Ba5 played when Qxb2+ gave Black a wining position.
John Belinger – Mark Stone – Round 1
The only problem was that after exchanging a few pieces Mark forgot his Bishop was on prise and castled allowing Rxa3. John was now back in the game with a piece for three pawns.
As can be the case is these positions White allowed the pawns to advance too far and although this was not the final position (as I don’t think all the moves were recorded) Black is comfortably winning now.
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gillian A Moore | 134 | 1 | Phil T Foley | 148 | 0 |
| Joseph A Coburn | 146 | ½ | Christopher Smith | 133 | ½ |
| Paul Northcott | 139 | ½ | Graham Stuart | ug | ½ |
| John Belinger | 128 | 0 | Mark R Stone | 136 | 1 |
| David R Agostinelli | 132 | ½ | John P Carter | ug | ½ |
| Paul AT Hurn | 135 | ½ | Jeremy Hudson | 125 | ½ |
| Ashraf Syed | 133 | ½ | Bye |
Round 2
In round two there were three won and three drawn games (P Northcott had a bye).
The first win was Joe Coburn’s where he managed to beat Jeremy Hudson in the endgame.
Meanwhile Dave Agostinelli trapped Christopher Smith’s Bishop leaving him a piece up.
The third win was by John Carter who defeated Fareham’s Ashraf Syed.
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mark R Stone | 136 | ½ | Gillian A Moore | 134 | ½ |
| Jeremy Hudson | 125 | 0 | Joseph A Coburn | 146 | 1 |
| Christopher Smith | 133 | 0 | David R Agostinelli | 132 | 1 |
| Graham Stuart | ug | ½ | Paul AT Hurn | 135 | ½ |
| John P Carter | ug | 1 | Ashraf Syed | 133 | 0 |
| Phil T Foley | 148 | ½ | John Belinger | 128 | ½ |
| Paul Northcott | 139 | ½ | Bye |
Round 3
Moving into round three there were five players on +1. David Agostelli had one of those King’s Indians where his attack never got going and Joe was able to quickly win material on the Queenside and Black’s position soon crumbled.
Gillian Moore won her game as did Paul Northcott. Paul Hurn missed a number of complicated wins in an exciting game where the advantage swapped sides a number of times. We pick the game up on move 17.
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joseph A Coburn | 146 | 1 | David R Agostinelli | 132 | 0 |
| Gillian A Moore | 134 | 1 | John P Carter | ug | 0 |
| Ashraf Syed | 133 | ½ | Graham Stuart | ug | ½ |
| John Belinger | 128 | ½ | Christopher Smith | 133 | ½ |
| Paul AT Hurn | 135 | 0 | Paul Northcott | 139 | 1 |
| Jeremy Hudson | 125 | 0 | Phil T Foley | 148 | 1 |
| Mark R Stone | 136 | ½ | Bye |
Round 4
Going into round 4 Joe Coburn and Gillian Moore led with two and a half points with Paul Northcott and Mark Stone half a point behind, but one of them had a chance to catch the two leaders as Joe and Gillian had a bye. Only one of them could catch them though, as they were paired together.
The game started as a Centre Counter, but transposed into a Caro-Kann. Mark blundered a piece after moving his King back into the centre. Paul mopped up efficiently and joined Joe and Gillian at the top of the leader board with three points from four games.
Phil Foley and Chris Smith also won their games. Phil Foley won the best game prize with his win which is included on the Hampshire Chess Website. This has his opponent as John Wunderle but the ECF site has this as Jeremy Hudson? I presume the ECF site is correct and have included the report with Jeremy.
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paul Northcott | 139 | 1 | Mark R Stone | 136 | 0 |
| Phil T Foley | 148 | 1 | Jeremy Hudson | 125 | 0 |
| Christopher Smith | 133 | 1 | Ashraf Syed | 133 | 0 |
| John Belinger | 128 | ½ | Jeremy Hudson | 125 | ½ |
| Graham Stuart | ug | ½ | Bye | ||
| Joseph A Coburn | 146 | ½ | Bye | ||
| Gillian A Moore | 134 | ½ | Bye | ||
| Paul AT Hurn | 135 | ½ | Bye | ||
| David R Agostinelli | 132 | ½ | Bye | ||
| John P Carter | ug | Withdrawn |
Round 5
Gillian Moore and Joe Coburn were paired against each other, whilst Paul Northcott had the down float and took on Phil Foley.
Gillian’s game against Joe had a number of tactics but turned into a Rook and three paws vs Rook and two pawns all on the same side. Top players seem to draw these with ease, but this is not something you would like to defend, which Gillian did for most of the game. But in the end the pressure built up and Joe converted the win.
In Paul Northcott’s game Paul had the better position, but Phil played well to reach a level game. However, time was against him and he lost with one move to make the time control. The final position is below where Phil playing White flag fell.
The only other loser in the round was myself, in a game which both players had the better position at different stages but Chris played better and took the point home.
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gillian A Moore | 134 | 0 | Joseph A Coburn | 146 | 1 |
| Phil T Foley | 148 | 0 | Paul Northcott | 139 | 1 |
| Graham Stuart | ug | 0 | Christopher Smith | 133 | 1 |
| Ashraf Syed | 133 | ½ | John Belinger | 128 | ½ |
| David R Agostinelli | 132 | ½ | Mark R Stone | 136 | ½ |
| Jeremy Hudson | 125 | ½ | Paul AT Hurn | 135 | ½ |
Round 6
With the results from round five this saw Joe Coburn and Paul Northcott paired and the winner would win the title, with both on four points from five games, which was a full point ahead of Gillian Moore and Chris Smith.
Joe’s experience told in an interesting game in which both sides had chances, with the win Joe won the Major with five points from his six games (one bye).
Gillian Moore, Phil Foley and Paul Hurn also won their round six games.
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joseph A Coburn | 146 | 1 | Paul Northcott | 139 | 0 |
| Christopher Smith | 133 | 0 | Gillian A Moore | 134 | 1 |
| David R Agostinelli | 132 | 0 | Phil T Foley | 148 | 1 |
| Mark R Stone | 136 | ½ | Graham Stuart | ug | ½ |
| Paul AT Hurn | 135 | 1 | John Belinger | 128 | 0 |
| Ashraf Syed | 133 | ½ | Jeremy Hudson | 125 | ½ |
Open Final Position Summary
Joe Coburn was the 2016 Hampshire Major Championship a point ahead of Gillian Moore and Paul Northcott. Prize winners were:
- 1st (5 pts) Joe Coburn (Gosport) winning the Peter Marshall trophy.
- 2nd= (4 pts) Gillian Moore (Southampton) and Paul Northcott (Emsworth).
- Under-140 Grading Prize (3 pts) Mark Stone (Petts Wood & Orpington), Chris Smith (Fareham) and Paul Hurn (Southampton)
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.
| Rank | Name | Grade | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Rd 6 | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joseph A Coburn | 146 | 5= | 11+ | 8+ | bye = | 3+ | 2+ | 5 |
| 2 | Paul Northcott | 139 | 10= | bye = | 7+ | 6+ | 4+ | 1– | 4 |
| 3 | Gillian A Moore | 134 | 4+ | 6= | 12+ | bye = | 1– | 5+ | 4 |
| 4 | Phil T Foley | 148 | 3– | 9= | 11+ | 12+ | 2– | 8+ | 3½ |
| 5 | Christopher Smith | 133 | 1= | 8– | 9= | 13+ | 10+ | 3– | 3 |
| 6 | Mark R Stone | 136 | 9+ | 3= | bye = | 2– | 8= | 10= | 3 |
| 7 | Paul AT Hurn | 135 | 11= | 10= | 2– | bye = | 11= | 9+ | 3 |
| 8 | David R Agostinelli | 132 | 12= | 5+ | 1– | bye = | 6= | 4– | 2½ |
| 9 | John Belinger | 128 | 6– | 4= | 5= | 11= | 13= | 7– | 2 |
| 10 | Graham Stuart | 2= | 7= | 13= | bye = | 5– | 6= | 2½ | |
| 11 | Jeremy Hudson | 125 | 7= | 1– | 4– | 9= | 7= | 13= | 2 |
| 12 | John P Carter | 8= | 13+ | 3– | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1½ | |
| 13 | Ashraf Syed | 133 | bye = | 12– | 10= | 5– | 9= | 11= | 2 |
Games
The games from the Congress were entered by Arthur Brameld and can be played through and downloaded here.
Photographs
All photographs are in the Hampshire Gallery, but I have included a few from the Congress.
HCA Secretary Report
The Hampshire Chess Secretary produced a report on the congress, which is below.
Acknowledgements and sources:
- Arthur Brameld for the chess games
- John Wheeler for HCA Secretary Report
- Keven Lamb for photographs
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