Hampshire Chess Under 16 Championship 1977 – 1978

The Hampshire Under 16 Championship for 1977 / 1978 was held over six rounds. If you have seen the tournaments from the Southsea Congresses in 1975 and 1976 you will see a number of the players in the under 16 played in the Premier and Under 12 / 10 tournaments from those years.

The winner was the future GM Peter Wells, who won five games and lost to Ian Upton in round four. Second place was shared between Ian Welch, Stephen Bell, Carey Groves and the previously mentioned Ian Upton all on four and a half points. In fact Ian Upton beat both the top two seeds, as he beat Ian Welch in round three.

Using Chessbase and with 1978 as the base the winner and joint second place payers were all very much under 18. The winner was only 12 years and already showing great promise (which was fulfilled, as Peter Wells did become a GM). All of these players went on to be very strong adults and I am sure the Southsea and Hampshire Junior scheme at this time greatly helped in their progress.

Age of Winners

Peter Wells 12 years old
Ian Welch 12 years old and a classmate of Peter Wells until 11 and good friend thereafter.
Stephen Bell 14 years old
Carey Groves 16 years old – Carey became a WFM and Scottish International (Carey Willman)
Ian Upton 15 years old

Unfortunately at this stage I only have the hard facts on the tournament, but if I receive additional details, or come across more information from the archives I will add.

I have added Games, Crosstables, Excel spreadsheets and PDF’s as below.