Hampshire Individual Chess Championship 2004

The Hampshire Congress incorporating the Hampshire Individual Championship was held at Eastleigh College the weekend of 30th October 2004. After a steady increase of players in the last few years, it was disappointing to see the numbers in the Open down from 32 to 20, although there was an increase from 20 to 26 in the Under 125 tournament for which I will produce a separate article.

Tony Corkett was back to defend the title he won last year and being the highest graded player by 16 points made him the favourite. Other previous Hampshire Individual Champions in the field were Michael Yeo and Dominic Tunks.

Picture at the top is of Tony Corkett holding the Silver Rook.

Note 1: This article is mainly based on the one I produced in 2004 for the original Hampshire Chess Association website, although I have expanded some parts and I am hoping that my memories of the tournament are correct.

Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6

Final Table and Summary
Games
Gallery

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.

Open – Round 1

The first round was the normal domination by the higher graded players.

For myself, it was a case of deja vu, as I had white against John Wheeler, which was exactly the same pairing as last year. Unfortunately, for me the trend continued, with John winning the game fairly easily.

But there was one upset with Joe Coburn holding Michael Yeo to a draw.

In the final position Michael Yeo indicates that 22….Nxb4 23 Nd4 (with pawn take pawn first?) could be played where White has a slight advantage.

Number	Player	Grade	Result	Player	Grade	Result
1	A Corkett	205	1	FN McLeod	155	0
2	J Coburn	145	½	M Yeo	189	½
3	J Fraser-Mitchell	179	1	L Allen	141	0
4	G Stuart	141	0	J F Wheeler	178	1
5	D Cordner	176	1	C Klein	139	0
6	P Byre	132	0	G Lock	175	1
7	D Holmes	123	0	R McMaster	162	1
8	R Perrin	152	1	I Matthew	131	0
9	K Esmat	174	1	Bye		0
10	DR Tunks	177	½	Bye
11	S Khoo	148	½	Bye
12	P Williams	120	½	Bye

Open – Round 2

With only 20 players in the tournament, the 2nd round already saw some of the higher graded players clashing, notably Gavin Lock and Tony Corkett. This was a hard fought draw with Gavin defending a pawn down ending for most of the game. He eventually swapped off to a drawn two pawns v Knight and pawn ending.

Jeremy Fraser-Mitchell’s opponent failed to arrive and it later emerged that he had overslept and missed his lift. He turned up in the afternoon and was probably pleased to see that he had been given a half point bye, rather than a default.

This round also saw the arrival of Peter Williams, who is the highest graded under 9 year old in the country. He had a baptism of fire meeting Michael Yeo with Black and was given no quarter in a one sided game. This would affect a lot of players, but as can be seen from the rest of the tournament, Peter showed that he had enormous potential; and was correct in his decision to play in the Open, rather than the Under 125 tournament. This talent can be seen from Peter’s further development winning the Silver Rook in 2011 and reaching an ECF grade of 231 in 2012 but unfortunately he does not seem to be playing chess anymore.

Apart from Gavin Lock’s draw the only other major upset was Joe Coburn’s draw against Dominic Tunks, which is given below.

I was fortunate in my game against Ian Matthew. I had offered Ian a draw as I was not that happy with my position, but Ian had declined. After a couple of inaccurate moves, Ian offered the draw back. By this time, I was happy with my position, so chose to continue playing. This proved a good move, as I soon had a big advantage, plus I was ahead on the clock.

I won a pawn and then another was offered, which I took the wrong way (with the Knight, rather than Queen). Rather than give up a piece for another pawn, which would have left a double edged game, I interposed with my Rook, which Ian took, rather than play a move which would have won the Rook.

Number	Player	Grade	Result	Player	Grade	Result
1	G Lock	175	½	A Corkett	205	½
2	J Fraser-Mitchell	179	1	Default	0	0
3	JF Wheeler	178	1	R Perrin	152	0
4	K Esmat	174	½	D Cordner	176	½
5	M Yeo	189	1	P Williams	120	0
6	DR Tunks	177	½	J Coburn	145	½
7	FN McLeod	155	½	S Khoo	148	½
8	L Allen	141	1	P Byre	132	0
9	I Matthew	131	0	G Stuart	141	1
10	C Klein	139	½	D Holmes	123	½
11	R McMaster	162	½	Bye

Open – Round 3

Round Three saw only two players on maximum points, who were obviously paired against each other. This was an up and down game, where John Wheeler beat Jeremy Fraser-Mitchell, after what looked like a lost position. John therefore moved onto maximum points after three rounds.
Tony Corkett was in sole second place after he dealt out a vicious combination on Khaled Esmat.

Michael Yeo could not break down David Cordner’s solid defence and Gavin Lock somehow managed to get a draw from a completely lost position against Richard McMaster. I am sure that time-trouble was involved in the game.

Michael Yeo originally replied to my original post (to prove they were read) and disagreed with my analysis and mentioned where he went wrong.

David Cordner’s defence was less than solid. It was my own incompetence that missed clear wins on moves 32, 34 and most seriously move 36 when 36….Rxf3+ 37. Kxf3 Rh2 38. Kg3 c4 wins trivially.
Michael Yeo – 2005

Lower down I had my best game of the tournament, but this was from a distinctly ropey position. You can judge this one for yourselves though, but looking back on this now I think it it a good game.

Peter Williams bounced back from his loss and beat Cornelia Klein. I can’t show this though, as I could not make out all the moves from the scoresheet – Peter is an excellent prospect, but I’m not sure about his handwriting skills!

Number	Player	Grade	Result	Player	Grade	Result
1	JF Wheeler	178	1	J Fraser-Mitchell	179	0
2	A Corkett	205	1	K Esmat	174	0
3	D Cordner	176	½	M Yeo	189	½
4	R McMaster	162	½	G Lock	175	½
5	R Perrin	152	0	DR Tunks	177	1
6	S Khoo	148	0	G Stuart	141	1
7	J Coburn	145	0	L Allen	141	1
8	D Holmes	123	0	FN McLeod	155	1
9	P Williams	120	1	C Klein	139	0
10	P Byre	132	0	I Matthew	131	1

The scores at the end of round three were:

Open Round 3 Table

Name	Score
JF Wheeler	3
A Corkett	2½
M Yeo	2
J Fraser-Mitchell	2
DR Tunks	2
D Cordner	2
G Lock	2
R McMaster	2
L Allen	2
G Stuart	2

Open – Round 4

Round Four was the Saturday Evening game, which sees a lot of the players slinking off home (me included) as two games in a day is more than enough. This prompted the controller Pat McEvoy to question if it is worth holding a Saturday Evening round, due to the number of players that don’t wish to play three games in one day. The tournament is still played over six rounds, but this may still be a valid argument, although less important at the current venue. Previously at Eastleigh a security officer cost was also required, which would have lessoned the cost if there was no Saturday evening round.

The games on the top two boards were pretty important, as the players needed to win to keep within striking distance of John Wheeler, who had taken a bye and was therefore on three and a half points from the four games. Tony Corkett was only half point behind, but Michael Yeo, Dominic Tunks and Richard McMaster were all one point behind.

Not being an expert on Open Sicilians, I can’t give much insight into the game, but I think that Dominic’s 21.exd5 was pretty ambitious. If Dominic had played 21.Rxd5 then I think he would have had a slight edge, with a very solid position. After taking with the pawn Tony played 21..f5 and slowly improved his position, which the then proceeded to win.

The other games all produced wins for the higher graded players.

In Michael Yeo’s game against Richard McMaster, White already had an advantage, when he played 18.Rxe6, Black had to accept that he was going to lose a Pawn and play 18..fe, but Richard decided to mix it up with 18..Rxg2 but the tactics did not work and after another 13 moves he had to resign.

Number	Player	Grade	Result	Player	Grade	Result
1	DR Tunks	177	0	A Corkett	205	1
2	M Yeo	189	1	R McMaster	162	0
3	K Esmat	174	1	P Williams	120	0
4	I Matthew	131	0	S Khoo	148	1

Open – Round 5

Round five saw the two leaders clash, with Tony Corkett and John Wheeler both having three and a half points from four games. This was the same pairing as in round three last year, but this time Tony opened c4, rather than e4. John had a nice position, but was tempted into a complicated exchange, which left him worse off. Tony converted his advantage into a win, which meant that he went into the last round with a half point lead over second place.

In this position Tony has just played 13.h3 and John went into the complications of 13..Nxe3 and then 14..f6, which did not work out too well. If instead John had just retreated with 13..Nf6 or 13..Nh6 he would not have stood worse but the game would also just be out of the opening phase.

Second place was held by one player only, as Michael Yeo defeated Jeremy Fraser-Mitchell, who at one stage was so surprised by one of Michael’s move that he made an rather loud statement. I will let Michael explain it as this round’s highlighted game is this one, which has been annotated by the winner.

Further down both myself and Les Allen were please to draw against higher graded opponents and Joe Coburn got back on track with a win against Fraser McLeod.

Number	Player	Grade	Result	Player	Grade	Result
1	A Corkett	205	1	JF Wheeler	178	0
2	J Fraser-Mitchell	179	0	M Yeo	189	1
3	G Stuart	141	½	D Cordner	176	½
4	L Allen	141	½	K Esmat	174	½
5	G Lock	175	1	DR Tunks	177	0
6	R McMaster	162	1	S Khoo	148	0
7	FN McLeod	155	0	J Coburn	145	1
8	P Williams	120	½	D Holmes	123	½
9	C Klein	139	0	I Matthew	131	1

Going into the last round the leader board looked like:

Name	Score
A Corkett	4½
M Yeo	4
JF Wheeler	3½
G Lock	3½
5 players on	3

Open – Round 6

The top board in the last round featured the champions from 2003 and 2002, with Michael Yeo needing to defeat Tony Corkett to take the crown back. From the opening Michael got a slender edge but in the end decided that he could only push so far and settled for a draw and second place.

There was some disagreement between the players at the time with regards to my pretty vague description to the game with first Michael disagreeing with it and then Tony having another opinion on Michael’s comments. A lot of time has passed since then but I will include these below, as it does show the passion players have for the game.

Michael Yeo disagrees with my comments and I am sure he has looked at this far more than me! His comments are

In round 6, I think my edge against Tony Corkett was substantially more than “slender”, and hence I also disagree with your statement that he “did not seem to have a bad position in any of his games”. I think my worst mistake was on move 19 where, instead of the immediate 19.Ra5, I should play 19.Rc5. If 19….Bd7 20. Ra5 Ra8 21. Ba6 Rb8 22. Nc3 kf8 23. Be2 Rb7 24. Ne4 Ke7 25. Nc5 Rc7 26. f4 so better is probably 19….Bb7 20. Ra5 Ra8 21. Ba6 Rb8 22. Ne3 but in both cases White has what I would describe as a significant advantage. There were a number of other minor errors. Rather than the comfortable draw your report implies, he stood worse for almost the entire game and was extremely fortunate to draw!
Michael Yeo January 2005

Update 3rd Jan 2005

Tony Corkett has replied to Michael Yeo’s comments.

The position after 14 moves has been played many times before, and Black’s overall results are okay. My idea of 15.Bc8 wasn’t very good and it provided Michael with a window of opportunity to apply some pressure. As it was, Michael didn’t see the significance of 19.Rc5 before Ra5 until I pointed it out to him after the game. From this you may glean that Michael’s (Fritz’s?) lines of analysis shown above weren’t seen by him at the board – which if I’m not mistaken is quite important in OTB chess! I only had a few more moves where I was concerned, and I gradually improved my position. At the end when Michael offered the draw, I thought I was doing fine, and Michael agreed that at this point he thought his safe edge had disappeared. I hope that this provides a slightly different and significantly more accurate picture to Michael’s portrayal of my being worse for almost the entire game and being extremely fortunate to draw!!
Tony Corkett January 2005

This meant that Tony Corkett was the champion for the second year in a row and sixth time in total (to this point). He was a deserving winner and did not seem to have a bad position in any of his games (but see above). Michael Yeo was on his own in second place, as Gavin Lock and John Wheeler drew their game. Third place was shared between these two players, Dave Cordner and Khaled Esmat who beat Les Alllen and myself respectively.

The highlighted game this round is from the two female competitors who light the board with a series of sacrifices. Selina Khoo delivers the final blow, which is a mate in six. Congratulations to both players though, as it’s a real gem of a game.

The grading prizes were closely contested. Going into the last round myself and Les Allen were on three points and were probably thinking that a draw would be good enough to win the under 160 grading prize. Joe Coburn would also get to three and a half points if he beat Richard McMaster. But none of us got what we wanted, as both myself and Les lost and Joe drew. As you can see from the game above, Selina Khoo won and she joined all three of us on three points and shared the under 160 prize.

I received the Len Walter Trophy for the best under 160 performance, which I was very pleased to do so, as I have finished the wrong side of the tie-breaks in previous championships.

The under 140 prize was shared by Ian Matthew and Peter Williams who drew their last round game. Peter received the trophy and he can be very pleased with two and a half points from his first Hampshire Championship.

Number	Player	Grade	Result	Player	Grade	Result
1	M Yeo	189	½	A Corkett	205	½
2	G Lock	175	½	J F Wheeler	178	½
3	D Cordner	176	1	L Allen	141	0
4	K Esmat	174	1	G Stuart	141	0
5	J Coburn	145	½	R McMaster	162	½
6	DR Tunks	177	1	D Holmes	123	0
7	S Khoo	148	1	C Klein	139	0
8	I Matthew	131	½	P Williams	120	½

Open Final Position Summary

The prize winners of the Open Tournament were:

1st Tony Corkett (5) Silver Rook and Hampshire Individual Championship
2nd Michael Yeo (4½)
3rd John Wheeler, David Cordner, Khaled Esmat & Gavin Lock (4)
U160 Graham Stuart (Len Walters Trophy), Les Allen, Joe Coburn and Selina Khoo (3)
U140 Peter Williams (Peter Marshall Cup) & Ian Marshall (2½)

As the basis of this is from the ECF grading site, which does not take into account byes the rankings do not match the final real positions. But to amend this I would have to recreate the numbers for each player, which I have not done. But the table can be sorted to allow you to do this.

Rank	Name	Grade	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Score
1	Anthony R Corkett	205	15+	4=	7+	10+	3+	2=	5
2	Michael J Yeo	189	11=	14+	5=	6+	17+	1=	4½
3	John F Wheeler	178	8+	16+	17+	bye =	1–	4=	4
4	Gavin R Lock	175	20+	1=	6=	bye =	10+	3=	4
5	David A Cordner	u	19+	7=	2=	bye =	8=	9+	4
6	Richard G McMaster	162	18+	bye =	4=	2–	12+	11=	3½
7	Khaled Esmat	174	bye =	5=	1–	14+	9=	8+	3½
8	Graham Stuart	141	3–	13+	12+	bye =	5=	7–	3
9	Leslie C Allen	141	17–	20+	11+	bye =	7=	5–	3
10	Dominic R Tunks	177	bye =	11=	16+	1–	4–	18+	3
11	Joseph A Coburn	145	2=	10=	9–	bye =	15+	6=	3
12	Selina Khoo	148	bye =	15=	8–	13+	6–	19+	3
13	Ian G Matthew	u	16–	8–	20+	12–	19+	14=	2½
14	Peter A jnr Williams	120	bye =	2–	19+	7–	18=	13=	2½
15	Fraser N McLeod	155	1–	12=	18+	bye =	11–	Wdr	2
16	Richard D Perrin	152	13+	3–	10–	Wdr			1
17	Jeremy N Fraser-Mitchell	179	9+	bye +	3–	bye =	2–	Wdr	2½
18	David J Holmes	123	6–	19=	15–	bye =	14=	10–	1½
19	Cornelia Lerch	139	5–	18=	14–	0	13–	12–	½
20	Peter IR Byre	133	4–	9–	13–	0	0	0	0