Hampshire Chess Congress Minor 2022


Contents


Alongside the Hampshire Individual Chess Open and Major a competitive Minor tournament was also taking place. If the Major had a number of improving players this was probably even more prevalent in the Minor. When you look at the final table and check the names at the top in a couple of years I am sure you will see these players with ratings 200 to 500 points higher and playing in the Major and Opens.

The picture above shows first place winner of the Minor Tom Philidor of Fareham Chess Club being presented with first place prize by Hampshire Chess President David Nelson.

Whereas Arthur Brameld keyed in the games from the Open and Minor this was not the case for the Minor, therefore this report is less in-depth than the others. However, if you played in the tournament and have an annotated (or unannotated) game please do send to me and I will update the article accordingly.

Keven Lamb took the photographs and many thanks to him for this.


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

Players current grades are less relevant in Minor chess tournaments, as there will always be a number of players who are improving and the tournament will be a stepping stone to the Major and Open tournaments. I looked at the entrants and thought a couple of players stood out as potential winners.

  • Peter Eales:- Returning to chess after a long break and has been graded 140 to 150 in the past (1750 to 1825).
  • Tom Philidor:- Only had a rating for a year, but plays in Keith Gregory’s Wessex Online Tournaments and regularly beats players who would be in Open tournaments.
  • Keven Lamb:- Has done very well in these tournaments in the past and a very dangerous aggressive player.

These were the players I knew of, but with 38 players in the Minor there would be many I was unaware of. The first round is an example of not expecting the higher graded players to win easily with junior Nicholas Deacon defeating the top seed G Ainsley.

He was not the only one though, as J Wallman and O Pustyntsev both won against higher rated opponents.

NumberPlayerGradeResultPlayerGradeResult
1G Ainsley15930N Deacon14001
2C Gardiner13990.5J Hunt15850.5
3N Hordnes15661A Matthews13860
4J Wallman13861L Devlin15480
5P Collis15411D Williams13610
6H Blin14710T Philidor15121
7S Syed15061M Davies12670
8B Cochran12830A Pradhan15051
9C Budden14831A Graham12480
10O Pustyntsev12421C Charalambous14730
11P Eyles14740.5F Shabgard14560.5
12O Ward14521D CampionUG0
13J BentUG0P Stevens14501
14K King14481Y ForbesUG0
15A Weaver11840D Burton14391
16K Lamb14401E Ricketts11160
17H SaundersUG0.5P Eales14220.5
18B Hermanns13791Controller Bye
19J Taylor11910default
20F Christou-Moore14600.5bye
21L Summers12990.5bye

Round 2

N Hordnes, P Collis, Tom Philidor, A Pradhan, C Budden, O Pustyntsev and K King all moved onto maximum points.

NumberPlayerGradeResultPlayerGradeResult
1P Stevens14500N Hordnes15661
2D Burton14390P Collis15411
3T Philidor15121K Lamb14400
4N Deacon14000.5S Syed15060.5
5A Pradhan15051J Wallman13860
6B Hermanns13790C Budden14831
7O Pustyntsev12421O Ward14520
8F Shabgard14560K King14481
9J Hunt15851H SaundersUG0
10P Eales14221P Eyles14740
11L Summers12990F Christou-Moore14601
12D Williams13611C Gardiner13990
13A Graham12480.5G Ainsley15930.5
14L Devlin15481B Cochran12830
15C Charalambous14731J BentUG0
16E Ricketts11161J Taylor11910
17A Matthews13860.5A Weaver11840.5
18M Davies12670Y ForbesUG1
19D CampionUG0.5bye0.5

Round 3

A couple of players took a bye on the Saturday afternoon, but N Hordnes, O Pustyntsev and A Pradhan all played and won their games to maintain maximum points.

NumberPlayerGradeResultPlayerGradeResult
1N Hordnes15661K King14480
2P Collis15410O Pustyntsev12421
3C Budden14830A Pradhan15051
4F Christou-Moore14601J Hunt15850
5S Syed15060.5P Eales14220.5
6O Ward14521N Deacon14000
7D Williams13610L Devlin15481
8J Wallman13861C Charalambous14730
9E Ricketts11160P Stevens14501
10Y ForbesUG1D Burton14390
11G Ainsley15930.5B Hermanns13790.5
12P Eyles14741A Weaver11840
13D CampionUG0F Shabgard14561
14C Gardiner13991L Summers12990
15H SaundersUG0.5A Matthews13860.5
16J Taylor11910B Cochran12831
17J BentUG1Controller Bye
18T Philidor15120.5Bye
19K Lamb14400.5Bye
20A Graham12480.5Bye
21M Davies12670.5Bye


Round 4

Only six players took a Saturday evening bye and two of the leaders (N Hordnes and A Pradhan) drew their game against each other. Meanwhile a refreshed Tom Philidor came back from his afternoon bye to beat O Pustyntsev and join the other two players on three and a half points.

NumberPlayerGradeResultPlayerGradeResult
1A Pradhan15050.5N Hordnes15660.5
2T Philidor15121O Pustyntsev12420
3L Devlin15480F Christou-Moore14601
4P Stevens14500.5S Syed15060.5
5K King14481C Budden14830
6J Wallman13860O Ward14521
7J Hunt15851B Hermanns13790
8N Deacon14001P Eyles14740
9F Shabgard14560.5C Gardiner13990.5
10K Lamb14400D Williams13611
11C Charalambous14730.5A Graham12480.5
12D Burton14391H SaundersUG0
13A Matthews13861E Ricketts11160
14J BentUG0M Davies12671
15L Summers12991D CampionUG0
16B Cochran12831Controller Bye0
17P Collis15410.5Bye
18P Eales14220.5Bye
19Y ForbesUG0.5Bye
20G Ainsley15930.5Bye
21A Weaver11840.5Bye
22J Taylor11910.5Bye


Round 5

A number of key games were played with the leaders clashing. Tom Philidor managed to beat N Hordes and mentioned that this was his most difficult game.

My round 5 game against Niclas Hordes which was the toughest, lasting the full four hours I had black pieces against his Jobava London, I had a French set up with opposite side castling, very dynamic, I was up in opening & middle game but losing in endgame, my only saving grace was his time was nearly gone, he got a second queen which I took with my rook leaving his queen against my bishop but I had 4 pawns one ready to promote, he resigned.

Tom Philidor
NumberPlayerGradeResultPlayerGradeResult
1N Hordnes15660T Philidor15121
2F Christou-Moore14601A Pradhan15050
3O Ward14521K King14480
4O Pustyntsev12421J Hunt15850
5P Eales14220.5P Stevens14500.5
6S Syed15060.5P Collis15410.5
7C Budden14831J Wallman13860
8B Cochran12831Y ForbesUG0
9D Williams13611D Burton14390
10C Gardiner13990.5A Matthews13860.5
11M Davies12670.5G Ainsley15930.5
12P Eyles14741K Lamb14400
13B Hermanns13790.5C Charalambous14730.5
14A Graham12481L Summers12990
15A Weaver11840.5J BentUG0.5
16H SaundersUG0E Ricketts11161
17J Taylor11911Controller Bye0
18F Shabgard14560Default1
19N Deacon14000.5Bye


Round 6

Tom Philidor beat F Christou-Moore which gave him an unbeatable five and half points and the Parsons Trophy. O Ward beat N Hordnes to reach five points which meant he finished in sole second place. The two players above who lost had the consolation prize of shared third place, whilst the under 1450 grading prize was shared by C Budden, D Williams, Peter Eales and O Pustyntsev.

Sophie Syed who scored four points was the winner of the Gillian Moore Ladies Prize for the best performance by a lady in the Congress. There were a number of ladies in the tournament and this is another good sign to see.

NumberPlayerGradeResultPlayerGradeResult
1T Philidor15121F Christou-Moore14600
2N Hordnes15660O Ward14521
3A Pradhan15051O Pustyntsev12420
4P Collis15411N Deacon14000
5K King14480S Syed15061
6B Cochran12830C Budden14831
7P Stevens14500D Williams13611
8J Hunt15850P Eales14221
9A Matthews13860.5P Eyles14740.5
10Y ForbesUG1C Gardiner13990
11B Hermanns13791A Graham12480
12G Ainsley15931J Wallman13860
13C Charalambous14730.5M Davies12670.5
14E Ricketts11160D Burton14391
15K Lamb14401A Weaver11840
16L Summers12990J BentUG1
17H SaundersUG0F Shabgard14561


Final Table

The final table is detailed below. Tournament winner Tom Philidor commented on his win.

This was my first OTB tournament victory after starting chess in August 2020 and I’ve never been happier, I got the trophy replicated so when I surrender the annual one I have a permanent memory of the event.

My logic when entering was that my online rapid rating was very high, even though online ratings are inflated I knew I had potential to win, i took a half point bye in round three giving me a mental break on the Saturday where you have 3 games in a row, I also stayed at the venue so I had a base to relax and get in the zone, experiencing it to the full.

Tom Philidor

To win a tournament after only starting playing two years previously is a huge achievement and you can be sure that Tom will be playing and achieving great results in the higher rated tournaments in the future. He also came in with a plan and took sensible breaks to maintain his strength in what is a gruelling contest.

It was excellent to see such a high number of entries into the Minor, which alongside the Major had the highest number of entries ever (where there were three sections). It is hoped that next years tournament will be just as successful.

PlacePlayerPoints
1Tom Philidor
2O Ward5
3=F Christou-Moore, A Pradhan
5=P Collis, Sofia Syed, C Budden, D Williams, Peter Eales, O Pustyntsev4
11=N Hordnes, Y Forbes
13=G Ainsley, K King, F Shabgard, P Stevens, D Burton, N Deacon, A Matthews, B Hermanns, Brian Cochran, Paul Eyles3
23=J Hunt, C Charalambous, Keven Lamb, C Gardiner, M Davies, A Graham, J Bent
30=L Devlin, J Walman, E Ricketts2
33=A Weaver, J Taylor,L Summers
36H Saunders1
37D Campion½

Games

No games from the Minor Tournament, but I will add any if supplied.


All photographs are in the Hampshire Gallery, but I have included a few from the Open and the obligatory picture of the trophies.


HCA Secretary Report

The Hampshire Chess Secretary produced a report on the congress, which is below.


Acknowledgements and sources:
  • John Wheeler for HCA Secretary Report
  • Keven Lamb for photographs

    Leave a comment

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    PAGE TOP