The 1982 Hampshire Individual Chess Championship was held at Southampton University over two weekends (28th November – 5th December and 29th November – 6th December 1981). Although it was played in 1981 this was for the season 1981/82, hence recorded as 1982. The tournament also included the University Championship, which only University players were eligible for.
The picture at the top is of Keith Gregory from the Hampshire Championship 35 years later (2016) than his tournament win this year. Happy to add one of the younger Keith if supplied.
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.
Schedule
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 1982 tournament was controlled by Hampshire veteran AC Barton who first played in the championship in 1947 and won the tournament in 1968.
The entry form is included in the gallery, but highlights from this is interesting reading:
- Two games per day on Saturday and Sunday.
- 48 moves in 2 hours after which the Conductor has the right to require players to play on or adjudicate at his discretion after 48 moves have been played. I think these were normally played on, as when I have spoken to players from this on the 1984 tournament which was played under the same format they do not remember any adjudications
- The winner holds the County Championship Trophy for one Year. A small replica to be given also for his retention
- Please bring a clock if you have one
- Entry fee was £1 which has half what it would be two years later. This is the equivalent of about £5 today and this was therefore an inexpensive tournament to enter. You would have to be a member of the Hampshire Chess Association or private member and these were both £2. If you just played in the University Championship you did not have to pay this additional £2
Tournament
I do not have round by round information, as the cross table in the archives just indicates the player pairings from which you can see their results. It does have additional notes on players who defaulted and as there were a few this seems to have gone some way towards the change of the rules for 1984 which specifically mentioned that the controller had the right to reject player who had defaulted in previous tournaments. The U would appear to refer to University Tournament eligibility.
As you can see from the cross table the winner of the tournament was Keith Gregory. This was his second Hampshire Individual Chess title, but he would go on to win another three in the 1980’s. Keith finished one point ahead of Bob Cullinane and Martin Newbury. The grades of the players is not detailed but on checking the county results from this year I have included for these 3 players plus some of the other top rated players.
- Gerald Bennett – 213
- Paul Hackman – 181
- AK Reeve – 181
- Keith Gregory – 180
- Martin Newbury – 180
- Bob Cullinane – 175
Keith went through the tournament undefeated, just dropping a draw to Martin Newbury and AK Reeve. I have detailed his results along with the two joint second placed players.
Keith Gregory 7/8
- MG Buckley – 1
- SM Chivers – 1
- A Cullinane – 1
- PL Hackman – 1
- M Newbury – 0.5
- AK Reeve – 0.5
- JT Ward – 1
- P Johnson – 1
Martin Newbury 6/8
- N Colter – 1
- A Cullinane – 1
- K Gregory – 0.5
- PL Hackman – 0
- N Packer – 1
- AK Reeve – 0.5
- RJ Richard – 1
- P Johnson – 1
Bob Cullinane 6/8
- A Blades – 1
- MG Buckley – 1
- SM Chivers – 1
- K Gregory – 0
- M Newbury – 0
- RJ Sherry – 1
- C Spencer – 1
- JT Ward – 1
There was a letter from the Controller to the HCA Secretary (JE Grant) summarising the tournament and highlighting the issue with a couple of players who defaulted for no reasons (two players did withdraw for genuine reasons). One of the players who defaulted for no reason was the top seed Gerald Bennett and AC Barton was most unhappy and it would seem from his letter that he thought Gerald would have improved with age that this was not the first time this had happened, although I have no evidence of this.
The letter went on to say that he would not accept his entry going forward, but as Gerald Bennet won the following year and played in 1984 he must have relented on this stance!
Games
I do not have any games from this tournament but if any come to light I will add.
Gallery
The following documents were in the Hampshire Chess Archives. The original entry forms, the cross table with additional hand written comments.
Summary
The double weekend tournament certainly has some advantages as this allowed a longer time control and more games than we currently have; if this was the format now this would also allow for the tournament to meet the FIDE rating criteria. But it is very unlikely that this would be suitable for most players due to the two weekends, and unless you had a inexpensive venue the cost would be prohibitive as well.
Keith had an excellent tournament and it is no mean feat to go through undefeated, especially with a number of players grouped around the 175 to 180 grading (2000 to 2050 rating). Martin Newbury and Bob Cullinane never won the Hampshire Individual Championship although both played for Hampshire for a number of years, Bob from 1962 to 1982 and Martin 1968 to 2007, although Martin is still playing and winning in the Southampton Chess League.
Please do leave a comment if you have additional information or questions on the tournament.
Acknowledgements and Sources
- Hampshire Chess Archives