There were three sections held at the Hampshire 2023 Chess Congress. The Major is the middle section, with a number of local club players, joined by several players from outside the area, battling for the title. The 1st article on the Open is available, and I hope to add a short report on the Minor in the near future. Above is Emsworth’s Ed Blanden being presented with the Peter Marshall Cup by the HCA’s Vice President Peter Eales, for the best performance by a Hampshire player in the Major.
Contents
HCA Major
The Hampshire Congress had three sections, an Open which included the Hampshire Individual Championship, the Major and the Minor. This article covers the Major tournament which was for players rated under 1900. In total there were 31 entrants with most local clubs represented. In addition, it was great to see a number of players from the Isle of Wight make the trip as well as from London and Dorset. The Lysses Hotel is a popular venue, with Castle Chess also holding tournaments at the venue. Many entrants are returning players, which is always a good sign that they enjoy the tournament.
There were some changes this year, with Congress Organiser being replaced with myself and Peter Eales but we were fortunate that the long standing arbiter Kevin Thurlow agreed to one run the congress one more time, before retiring. We hope he will be at the Congress next year, but as a player!
We also took advantage of the ECF LMS system, to allow people to follow the results as the round were played, and this was also used to pass the results to the ECF for rating. This system is free to use for ECF tournaments, leagues and clubs and I highly recommend it. We had a few small hiccups with mis keyed results, but these were quickly rectified.
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
With 31 entries, the Major had less entries than 2022 (41) but this was not a bad situation. The hotel can comfortably hold 90 to 95 players, but more than this and space is too tight. Therefore we decided that we would not accept more than 92 entries, and we had to add players to a wait list once we had reached this number. In 2022, we had also sold out, but the split in the sections was not ideal, the Open only had 8 entrants and we wished to have a more even split this year.
Therefore although the Major had less entrants, the Open had far more, which was our aim.
A pleasant surprise among the entries was Roy Goode, or more formally Sir Royston Miles “Roy” Goode CBE KC FBA. Apart from anything else this was the first chess player which my eldest Daughter had heard of, from his extensive published material on commercial law. From my perspective I had checked the Hampshire Chess Archives and confirmed that Roy had played for the Hampshire County team three times, with the first being 14th January 1950! it was a welcome return to Hampshire Chess for Roy, although at 90 years old he may have been better to try the Minor.
Roy tucked away on board 16 in his first county game at age 16 (although he lost this, he did win his other 2 games in 1951 and 1956). Roy was also Portsmouth Individual Champion in the 1950/51 season and Portsmouth Chess Club Champion in 19521.
He certainly had a tough 1st round, facing and losing to the top seed Andrew Walters. The other top seeds did not have it easy with Helen Archer-Locke beating Dave Holmes.
Southampton Chess Club player David Agostinelli faced a strong junior, in Igor Aleksandrov but Dave did manage to build a winning position. Just before the time control (move 40) Dave blundered and the whole game turned on its head. These juniors are very tricky.
We pick the game up on move 31.
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew Waters | 1883 | 1 | Roy Goode | 0 | |
| Nicholas Stout | 1699 | ½ | Brendan O’Gorman | 1873 | ½ |
| Maxime Soenen | 1556 | ½ | Phil Pinto | 1698 | ½ |
| Daniel Goodlad | 1686 | 0 | Richard Edney | 1828 | 1 |
| David Holmes | 1816 | 0 | Helen Archer-Lock | 1642 | 1 |
| Ian Matthew | 1636 | 0 | Yasser Tello | 1813 | 1 |
| David Collyer | 1804 | 1 | John Belinger | 1614 | 0 |
| Nicholas Warner | 1610 | 0 | Tim Jones | 1795 | 1 |
| Robert McDonald | 1788 | 1 | Pietro Silke Balerna | 1603 | 0 |
| Liam Devlin | 1606 | 0 | Edward Blanden | 1755 | 1 |
| David Agostinelli | 1727 | 0 | Igor Aleksandrov | 1590 | 1 |
| Anton Vann | 1503 | 1 | Thomas Philidor | 1725 | 0 |
| Daniel Miller | 1714 | 1 | Lewis Jackson | 1478 | 0 |
| Charles Charalambous | 1478 | 0 | Erico Ferreira | 1712 | 1 |
| Freddie Sugden | 1751 | ½ | Half Point Bye | ½ | |
| John Torrance | 1677 | ½ | Half Point Bye | ½ | |
| Ashraf Syed | 1649 | ½ | Half Point Bye | ½ |
Round 2
Round two saw some interesting pairings, with Ed Blanden against top seed Andrew Waters and Yasser Tello facing the junior Igor Aleksandrov. Both of these games were won by the lower rated player. Ed Blanden played a nice endgame to bring home the point.
In the Tello – Alexandrsov game it looks like White just blundered the exchange, but White had a winning combination. After this was missed the junior gave his opponent no chances.
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edward Blanden | 1755 | 1 | Andrew Waters | 1883 | 0 |
| Richard Edney | 1828 | 0 | Daniel Miller | 1714 | 1 |
| Yasser Tello | 1813 | 0 | Igor Aleksandrov | 1590 | 1 |
| Erico Ferreira | 1712 | ½ | David Collyer | 1804 | ½ |
| Tim Jones | 1795 | 1 | Anton Vann | 1503 | 0 |
| Helen Archer-Lock | 1642 | 1 | Robert McDonald | 1788 | 0 |
| Brendan O’Gorman | 1873 | 1 | John Torrance | 1677 | 0 |
| Ashraf Syed | 1649 | 0 | Maxime Soenen | 1556 | 1 |
| Freddie Sugden | 1751 | 1 | Nicholas Stout | 1699 | 0 |
| Phil B Phil | 1698 | 1 | Ian Matthew | 1636 | 0 |
| Lewis Jackson | 1478 | 1 | David Holmes | 1816 | 0 |
| John Belinger | 1614 | 0 | David Agostinelli | 1727 | 1 |
| Thomas Philidor | 1725 | 1 | Liam Devlin | 1606 | 0 |
| Roy Goode | ½ | Charles Charalambous | 1478 | ½ | |
| Pietro Balerna | 1603 | 1 | Daniel Goodlad | 1686 | 0 |
| Nicholas Warner | 1610 | 1 | Full Point Bye | 0 |
Round 3
Five players went into round 3 on maximum points, and only Daniel Miller would move onto three points. His game against the New Milton Chess Club’s Tim Jones is below. The position was level until Tim took a poisoned pawn, missing the strong continuation by Daniel with a bishop sacrifice.
Igor and Edwards’ game ended in a draw and in the all Southampton University clash, the upfloated Maxime defeated Helen Archer-Lock.
An interesting finish between David Collyer and Freddie Sugden.
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daniel Miller | 1714 | 1 | Tim Jones | 1795 | 0 |
| Igor Aleksandrov | 1590 | ½ | Edward Blanden | 1755 | ½ |
| Maxime Soenen | 1556 | 1 | Helen Archer-Lock | 1642 | 0 |
| Phil Pinto | 1698 | 0 | Brendan O’Gorman | 1873 | 1 |
| David Collyer | 1804 | 1 | Freddie Sugden | 1751 | 0 |
| David Agostinelli | 1727 | 0 | Erico Ferreira | 1712 | 1 |
| Andrew Waters | 1883 | 1 | Pietro Silke Balerna | 1603 | 0 |
| Nicholas Warner | 1610 | ½ | Richard Edney | 1828 | ½ |
| Anton Vann | 1503 | 0 | Yasser Tello | 1813 | 1 |
| Robert McDonald | 1788 | 0 | Lewis Jackson | 1478 | 1 |
| John Torrance | 1677 | 1 | Roy Goode | 0 | |
| Nicholas Stout | 1699 | 1 | Ashraf Syed | 1649 | 0 |
| Charles Charalambous | 1478 | ½ | John Belinger | 1614 | ½ |
| David Holmes | 1816 | 1 | Ian Matthew | 1636 | 0 |
| Daniel Goodlad | 1686 | 0 | Liam Devlin | 1606 | 1 |
| Thomas Philidor | 1725 | ½ | Half Point Bye | ½ |
Round 4
The Saturday evening round saw a third of the players take a half point bye. This is not unusual as three games in one day is tough. A number of players will also take a first round bye, and a handful a bye in other rounds. In total approx. 50% of players took a bye in the major. For 2024 we have taken the decision to change to a five round congress, this has pros and cons, but one of the main reasons was to enable a 90 mins + 30 seconds time control for games.
This is not possible with three rounds in a day as we could not guarantee the total time played and FIDE tournaments under our structure do not allow for more than 12 hours of chess per day. This is something we will review, but input from various players and other congresses led to this change. This may also include the start time, as it has been mentioned the 9am rounds are not that popular.
Twenty players did play in round 4, including the sole leader Daniel Miller, who was held to a draw by Erico Ferreira.
He was joined in the lead by David Collyer who followed up his win from round 3 by beating junior Igor Aleksandrov. We pick the game up from move 17 where Igor misses Black’s tactic.
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Erico Ferreira | 1712 | ½ | Daniel Miller | 1714 | ½ |
| Igor Aleksandrov | 1590 | 0 | David Collyer | 1804 | 1 |
| Yasser Tello | 1813 | 1 | Helen Archer-Lock | 1642 | 0 |
| Lewis Jackson | 1478 | 0 | Thomas Philidor | 1725 | 1 |
| Freddie Sugden | 1751 | 1 | Nicholas Warner | 1610 | 0 |
| Pietro Balerna | 1603 | 1 | Nicholas Stout | 1699 | 0 |
| Anton Vann | 1503 | 0 | Robert McDonald | 1788 | 1 |
| Liam Devlin | 1606 | 1 | Charles Charalambous | 1478 | 0 |
| Roy Goode | 0 | Ashraf Syed | 1649 | 1 | |
| Ian Matthew | 1636 | ½ | John Belinger | 1614 | ½ |
| Daniel Goodlad | 1686 | 1 | Full Point Bye | 0 | |
| Andrew Waters | 1883 | ½ | Half Point Bye | ½ | |
| Brendan O’Gorman | 1873 | ½ | Half Point Bye | ½ | |
| Maxime Soenen | 1556 | ½ | Half Point Bye | ½ | |
| Richard Edney | 1828 | ½ | Half Point Bye | ½ | |
| David Holmes | 1816 | ½ | Half Point Bye | ½ | |
| Tim Jones | 1795 | ½ | Half Point Bye | ½ | |
| Edward Blanden | 1755 | ½ | Half Point Bye | ½ | |
| David Agostinelli | 1727 | ½ | Half Point Bye | ½ | |
| Phil Pinto | 1698 | ½ | Half Point Bye | ½ | |
| John Torrance | 1677 | 0 | Default | 1 |
Round 5
Sunday morning saw the leader board look as below with David Collyer and Daniel Miller half a point ahead of 5 players. The tournament was still very open.
| Name | Score |
|---|---|
| David Collyer | 3½ |
| Daniel Miller | 3½ |
| Brendan O’Gorman | 3 |
| Erico Ferreira | 3 |
| Edward Blanden | 3 |
| Maxime Soenen | 3 |
| Yasser Tello | 3 |
The game between the two players on three and a half points ended in a shortish draw when the position was repeated. This allowed Brendan O’Gorman and Ed Blanden to join them on four points as they both won against Erico Ferreira and Maxime Soenan respectively. The other player on three points, Yasser Tello took a half point bye in the round.
The two players won in different styles, with Brendan being much worse as White in a King’s Indian and suffering to the ending, until he equalised. Erico then blundered a Knight and Brendan won in 60 moves.
Meanwhile Ed Blanden won in 18 moves against Maxime Soenen, when Maxime failed to stop White’s Knight coming to g5 with check, which meant Black’s Queen and King were going to be forked.
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| David Collyer | 1804 | ½ | Daniel Miller | 1714 | ½ |
| Brendan O’Gorman | 1873 | 1 | Erico Ferreira | 1712 | 0 |
| Edward Blanden | 1755 | 1 | Maxime Soenen | 1556 | 0 |
| Thomas Philidor | 1725 | 0 | Andrew Waters | 1883 | 1 |
| Tim Jones | 1795 | 1 | Freddie Sugden | 1751 | 0 |
| Robert McDonald | 1788 | 1 | Igor Aleksandrov | 1590 | 0 |
| Richard Edney | 1828 | 1 | Pietro Silke Balerna | 1603 | 0 |
| Liam Devlin | 1606 | 0 | Phil Pinto | 1698 | 1 |
| Helen Archer-Lock | 1642 | ½ | John Torrance | 1677 | ½ |
| Nicholas Stout | 1699 | 1 | David Holmes | 1816 | 0 |
| Nicholas Warner | 1610 | 1 | David Agostinelli | 1727 | 0 |
| Charles Charalambous | 1478 | ½ | Daniel Goodlad | 1686 | ½ |
| John Belinger | 1614 | 1 | Anton Vann | 1503 | 0 |
| Ian Matthew | 1636 | 1 | Roy Goode | 0 | |
| Yasser Tello | 1813 | ½ | Half Bye Point | ½ |
Round 6
Four players were on four points from five games at the start of round 6. Both games ended with a decisive result and in fact there was only one draw in the major section for round six.
Daniel Miller had won this first three games, drawn the next two and can consider himself unlucky that with this great start he finished out of the top places, losing to Brendan O’Gorman in round six. He did share the U1750 rating prize, which was some consulatation.
Looking at the opening, Daniel seemed to slip into a bad position with White and against a player of the experience of Brendan this proved fatal. He did manage to get some chances near the end, but when he took the Knight with his Queen, rather than Rook it was all over.
Ed Blanden and David Collyer had a real struggle and the position was level (but complicated) for a long time. But a slip by David allowed White to obtain a winning attack. A very nice game by Emsworth’s Ed Blanden.
These two results meant that Brendan and Ed shared first place, with Ed winning the Peter Marshall Trophy as highest finishing Hampshire player.
On boards 3 and 4 Andrew Waters and Tim Jones both won to move onto four and a half points for a share of third place. As mentioned Daniel Miller won the U1750 rating prize with four points.
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daniel Miller | 1714 | 0 | Brendan O’Gorman | 1873 | 1 |
| Edward Blanden | 1755 | 1 | David Collyer | 1804 | 0 |
| Andrew Waters | 1883 | 1 | Yasser Tello | 1813 | 0 |
| Maxime Soenen | 1556 | 0 | Tim Jones | 1795 | 1 |
| Phil Pinto | 1698 | 0 | Robert McDonald | 1788 | 1 |
| Erico Ferreira | 1712 | 0 | Richard H Richard | 1828 | 1 |
| Freddie Sugden | 1751 | 1 | Thomas Philidor | 1725 | 0 |
| Igor Aleksandrov | 1590 | 1 | Nicholas Stout | 1699 | 0 |
| Helen Archer-Lock | 1642 | 1 | Nicholas Warner | 1610 | 0 |
| John Torrance | 1677 | 0 | Pietro Silke Balerna | 1603 | 1 |
| John Belinger | 1614 | ½ | Liam Devlin | 1606 | ½ |
| David Holmes | 1816 | 0 | Daniel Goodlad | 1686 | 1 |
| David Agostinelli | 1727 | 1 | Charles Charalambous | 1478 | 0 |
| Roy Goode | 1 | Anton Vann | 1503 | 0 | |
| Ian Matthew | 1636 | 1 | Full Point Bye | 0 | |
| Lewis Jackson | 1478 | 0 | Default | 1 | |
| Ashraf Syed | 1649 | 0 | Default | 1 |
Final Table
The final table is below, but additional details are also on the LMS system. The results are also on the ECF rating system.
| No. | Name | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Rd 4 | Rd 5 | Rd 6 | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brendan O’Gorman | ½ (b17) | 1 (w26) | 1 (b14) | ½ (w ) | 1 (w16) | 1 (b8) | 5 |
| 2 | Edward Blanden | 1 (b22) | 1 (w3) | ½ (b11) | ½ (w ) | 1 (w13) | 1 (w6) | 5 |
| 3 | Andrew C Waters | 1 (w27) | 0 (b2) | 1 (w15) | ½ (w ) | 1 (b24) | 1 (w10) | 4½ |
| 4 | Tim Jones | 1 (b21) | 1 (w31) | 0 (b8) | ½ (w ) | 1 (w12) | 1 (b13) | 4½ |
| 5 | Richard H Edney | 1 (b18) | 0 (w8) | ½ (b21) | ½ (w ) | 1 (w15) | 1 (b16) | 4 |
| 6 | David Collyer | 1 (w20) | ½ (b16) | 1 (w12) | 1 (b11) | ½ (w8) | 0 (b2) | 4 |
| 7 | Robert McDonald | 1 (w15) | 0 (b9) | 0 (w25) | 1 (b31) | 1 (w11) | 1 (b14) | 4 |
| 8 | Daniel Miller | 1 (w25) | 1 (b5) | 1 (w4) | ½ (b16) | ½ (b6) | 0 (w1) | 4 |
| 9 | Helen Archer-Lock | 1 (b28) | 1 (w7) | 0 (b13) | 0 (b10) | ½ (w26) | 1 (w21) | 3½ |
| 10 | Yasser Tello | 1 (b19) | 0 (w11) | 1 (b31) | 1 (w9) | ½ (w ) | 0 (b3) | 3½ |
| 11 | Igor Aleksandrov | 1 (b23) | 1 (b10) | ½ (w2) | 0 (w6) | 0 (b7) | 1 (w17) | 3½ |
| 12 | Freddie Sugden | ½ (w ) | 1 (w17) | 0 (b6) | 1 (w21) | 0 (b4) | 1 (w24) | 3½ |
| 13 | Maxime Soenen | ½ (w14) | 1 (b30) | 1 (w9) | ½ (w ) | 0 (b2) | 0 (w4) | 3 |
| 14 | Phil B Pinto | ½ (b13) | 1 (w19) | 0 (w1) | ½ (w ) | 1 (b22) | 0 (w7) | 3 |
| 15 | Pietro Silke Balerna | 0 (b7) | 1 (w18) | 0 (b3) | 1 (w17) | 0 (b5) | 1 (b26) | 3 |
| 16 | Erico Ferreira | 1 (b29) | ½ (w6) | 1 (b23) | ½ (w8) | 0 (b1) | 0 (w5) | 3 |
| 17 | Nicholas B Stout | ½ (w1) | 0 (b12) | 1 (w30) | 0 (b15) | 1 (w28) | 0 (b11) | 2½ |
| 18 | Daniel Goodlad | 0 (w5) | 0 (b15) | 0 (w22) | 1 (w ) | ½ (b29) | 1 (b28) | 2½ |
| 19 | Ian G Matthew | 0 (w10) | 0 (b14) | 0 (b28) | ½ (w20) | 1 (w27) | 1 (w ) | 2½ |
| 20 | John Belinger | 0 (b6) | 0 (w23) | ½ (b29) | ½ (b19) | 1 (w31) | ½ (w22) | 2½ |
| 21 | Nicholas Warner | 0 (w4) | 1 (w ) | ½ (w5) | 0 (b12) | 1 (w23) | 0 (b9) | 2½ |
| 22 | Liam Devlin | 0 (w2) | 0 (b24) | 1 (b18) | 1 (w29) | 0 (w14) | ½ (b20) | 2½ |
| 23 | David R Agostinelli | 0 (w11) | 1 (b20) | 0 (w16) | ½ (w ) | 0 (b21) | 1 (w29) | 2½ |
| 24 | Thomas Philidor | 0 (b31) | 1 (w22) | ½ (w ) | 1 (b25) | 0 (w3) | 0 (b12) | 2½ |
| 25 | Lewis Jackson | 0 (b8) | 1 (w28) | 1 (b7) | 0 (w24) | – ( ) | 0 (w ) | 2 |
| 26 | John Torrance | ½ (w ) | 0 (b1) | 1 (w27) | 0 (w ) | ½ (b9) | 0 (w15) | 2 |
| 27 | Roy Goode | 0 (b3) | ½ (w29) | 0 (b26) | 0 (w30) | 0 (b19) | 1 (w31) | 1½ |
| 28 | David J Holmes | 0 (w9) | 0 (b25) | 1 (w19) | ½ (w ) | 0 (b17) | 0 (w18) | 1½ |
| 29 | Charles Andreas Charalambous | 0 (w16) | ½ (b27) | ½ (w20) | 0 (b22) | ½ (w18) | 0 (b23) | 1½ |
| 30 | Ashraf Syed | ½ (w ) | 0 (w13) | 0 (b17) | 1 (b27) | – ( ) | 0 (w ) | 1½ |
| 31 | Anton Vann | 1 (w24) | 0 (b4) | 0 (w10) | 0 (w7) | 0 (b20) | 0 (b27) | 1 |
Games
All the games from the HCA Major can be downloaded here.
PGN File Download
Summary
The Major was a very competitive competition, with talented juniors jostling with experienced players for the top spots. Brendan O’Gorman and Ed Blanden being deserving winners with their four wins and one draw (and a half point bye in round 4). The games are worth playing through, as there are a number of impressive ones from the Major.
As to the tournament, we were very happy with the numbers and the fact that there were less entrants in the Major than the previous year (but not the congress) was not a concern. This meant the Major was not supplementing the Open with regards to prize money. The Hampshire Congress is not one where the prizes are large, but we do think that players in all sections deserve prizes and trophies (for Hampshire players) for their successful play over the weekend.
Finally, if anyone has anything they wish to add about their experience at the HCA Congress, or wishes to supply an annotated game please do contact me, or add to the comments on this page (I can then email you directly).
Photographs
All photographs are in the Hampshire Gallery, but I have included a few from the Major and the obligatory picture of the trophies.
HCA Vice President Report
The Hampshire Vice President produced a press release on the congress, which is below.
Acknowledgements and sources:
- Peter Eales for HCA Press Release
- Peter Eales and Martin Simons for photographs
- Roger Leslie Paige for historic information
- Hampshire Chess Games 1950 to 1970 Roger Leslie Paige ↩︎
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