Hampshire Individual Chess Championship 1965

The 1965 Hampshire Individual Chess Championship was held during the 1964/1965 season. Only 8 players entered, and 2 of these dropped out before and during the competition.

Tournament Details
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Remaining Games
Final Table and Summary
HCA Period of Change

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 Details

The Hampshire Individual Chess Championship has used numerous formats in the last 90 odd years, from the Knockout format in 1930, qualifying sections e.g. 1932 to the current Swiss tournament held over three days. The format used for the 1965 Championship was an all play all, played over the season.

For the competition this year it was discussed at the AGM and Committee meetings, that the tournament may be better run as a KO tournament (as per the 1930’s), or a regional basis. But opinion was divided amongst the committee, and it continued with the current Swiss (which turned into an all play all). The committee were tasked with thinking of ways of attracting more entries. The following year a 5 round Swiss was held which attracted 14 players.

**Extract from May 1964 HCA Committee Meeting**

The two players not detailed in the table below are Hon C Orde-Powlett who entered, but withdrew before the tournament started and HR Moir. He only played a couple of games, and then withdrew and as his name was not included in the Final table, I assume his games were null and void. There is nothing detailed in the Hampshire Bulletin on his withdrawal, which is the main source of information for this tournament.

This meant this was probably the smallest entry that the Hampshire Individual has ever had, but the players who did play included a couple of very strong ones.

There was some round by round information in the Hampshire Bulletin, I have re-created what I can from the limited information. There were no games from the Championship, which is a shame.

Round 1

Back in 1964/65 the old BCF ratings (or gradings) were used, a conversion to the later (but not current) 3 digit grades is below. Only some of the ratings were available, but Marshall Thompson was 5a and Alf Edmonds 5b the previous year.

Rating	3 digit equivalent	Rating	3 digit equivalent
9b	105-112	6b	154-160
9a	113-120	6a	161-168
8b	121-128	5b	169-176
7b	137-144	5a	177-184
6b	153-160	4b	185-192

The two results I have from round 1 had Squadron Leader Vine and JF Watson winning their games. Alf Edmunds also won his game, but this was against HR Moir. JF Watson was a junior (as club is detailed as Taunton’s College) and played for Hampshire 9 times from 1962 to 1969 when his rating was 165, but he was probably a bit weaker in 1964/65.

Player	Grade	Result	Player	Grade	Result
Sq-Ldr L Vine	6b	1	TJ deBuriatte	7a	0
JF Watson	6b	1	Gillian Moore	6b	0

Round 2

Gillian Moore (who is still playing regularly for Southampton and Hampshire in 2024) beat Squadron Leader Vine and TJ DeBuriatte held the strong Marshall Thompson to a draw.

Player	Grade	Result	Player	Grade	Result
Gillian Moore	6b	1	Sq-Ldr L Vine	6b	0
TJ deBuriatte	7a	½	Marshall Thompson		½

Round 3

Gillian Moore continued her winning ways, beating one the favourites Alf Edmonds. Marshall Thompson was again held to a draw, this time by Squadron Leader Vine.

Player	Grade	Result	Player	Grade	Result
Gillian Moore	6b	1	AM Edmonds		0
Sq-Ldr L Vine	6b	½	Marshall Thompson		½

Round 4

I only have the one result which was a draw between TJ DeBuriatte and JF Watson.

Player	Grade	Result	Player	Grade	Result
TJ deBuriatte	7a	½	JF Watson	6b	½

The Hampshire Bulletin provided these results, as well as the information on the Hon. Orde-Powlett withdrawing from the competition.

**HCA Championship 1965 Scores Rounds 1 to 4**

Remaining Games

Unfortunately I have no more round by round results, but the Final table does detail the results against each player. This is detailed below, but some of these would have been from rounds 1 to 4, and some from the last few rounds. Colours are not known and I have just included the results.

Player	Grade	Result	Player	Grade	Result
Marshall Thompson		1	AM Edmonds	6b	0
Marshall Thompson		1	Gillian Moore	6b	0
AM Edmonds		1	Sq-Ldr L Vine	6b	0
AM Edmonds		1	JF Watson	6b	0
Sq-Ldr L Vine	6b	1	JF Watson	6b	0
TJ deBuriatte	7a	0	AM Edmonds		1
Gillian Moore	6b	0	TJ deBuriatte	7a	1
Marshall Thompson		½	JF Watson	6b	½

Final Table and Summary

The scores after five rounds were included in the Hampshire Bulletin, and as reported it looked like an exciting finish, with the players on the following scores from either 3 of 4 games. I have included the player’s clubs for additional detail.

AM Edmonds + 1 – Itchen
JF Watson +0 – STOICS or Taunton’s School
Gillian Moore + 0 – Southampton
TJ DeBuriatte + 0 – Fareham
Marshall Thompon + 0 – Southampton
Sq-Ldr L Vine – 1 – Eastleigh

In the end Marshall Thompson finished with two wins to take home the 4th of his 9 championships, his wins in his last two games included beating Alf Edmonds, who remained on + 1 and finished second. The tail-ender Sq-Ldr L Vine moved onto 50% whilst the other three players all dropped to – 1.

**HCA Championship 1965 Scores after 5 rounds**

Despite only six players in the championship, it was a very close competition, and all players won at least one game. Marshall Thompson was a deserving winner, as the only player who did not lose a game. The Hampshire Committee obviously realised that changes were required to the competition and the following year the season long competition was replaced with a weekend tournament, which saw an increase to 14 players.

The main benefit of winning the championship is to hold the impressive Silver Rook Trophy for a year, but in addition prizes of £3, £2 and £1 were awarded to the first three places.

If anyone has additional information on the tournament, including games please do supply and I will update the article.

HCA Period of Change

It should be noticed that the HCA was going through a period of change at this time. JEC Grant had taken on the Secretary role in the 1962/63 season, replacing the veteran SL Russell who had filled this role since 1951/52. SL Russell was the Hampshire Champion in 1935 and represented Hampshire in the County Matches from 1929 to 1972. He also took on the President, SCCU Delegate and Correspondence Match Captain roles for Hampshire. He served Hampshire chess very well!

John EC Grant would continue as Hampshire Secretary for 20+ years, and was trying to move Hampshire Chess forward, as he saw that we could be doing a lot more, he was especially frustrated with the apathy of some players, and this can be seen in his Secretary’s reports. I think the low number of entrants for the Hampshire Championship was something he felt was unsatisfactory, and he certainly (with the support of the other officers) turned this around in the next few years.

This is certainly no criticism of SL Russell, there had been a lot of other changes to Hampshire Chess in this period, including the passing of the Honorary President John Spedan Lewis who made up for his lack of strength in chess, with his deep pockets. He normally donated £50 each year to Hampshire (approx. £1,300 in today’s money), which was almost half the Income the HCA received. After his passing the HCA had to make up this gap in their finances, and this was a struggle, as players were not used to contributing the amounts which would keep the association in the black.

This is why you should not rely on donations for normal activities, but ensure this is paid for by the membership! That said, if anyone wishes to donate this sort of money to Hampshire I am sure we can find a use for it.