The 2014 Hampshire Chess Championship was held at Eastleigh College between 7th and 9th November 2014. It was split into 3 sections with in total 63 players participating. The Open tournament saw Tony Corkett wining the Hampshire Individual Championship for the 8th time.
Picture above of Tony Corkett from 2015 tournament, as no photos from the 2014 were taken. Just imagine him with slightly less grey hair.
Contents
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
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 2014 Championship was a six round Swiss. Non Hampshire players were welcome to enter, but were not eligible for the Hampshire trophies.
In total 13 players entered the 2014 Championship, with two of these graded in excess 200, although three players were ungraded and two of these would normally also have a grade over 200. Another player which sticks out was 13 year old Harry Grieve, future British Chess Champion. Although a small number of entrants this would be a tough tournament.
We are fortunate the Arthur Brameld entered all the games from the Open and Major sections.
Players
- Tony Corkett 203
- Rowan Brown u/g
- David Pye u/g
- Gavin Lock 204
- Godfrey Pafura u/g
- Dominic Tunks 197
- Oliver Gill 194
Players
- Peter L Davies 178
- Harry Grieve 174
- David W Fowler 173
- Brian Macreamoinn 162
- Stephen J Smith 160
- Greg Murray Willett 140
Round 1
I am not sure about Tony Corkett’s first round, but looks like it could be against a non show, or late default. Either way, this was a full point for Tony. The complete score is not available from Rowan Brown’s win against Peter Davies, but this is an interesting game. Rowan playing White slowly squeezed Black, but allowed Peter back in the game around move 33.
In this back and forth game there was obviously some more twists to come but I presume Black’s flag fell before he completed his 40th move.
In the other games the higher rated players came out on top, although the games are well worth playing through as some interesting positions arose.
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rowan M Brown | 1 | Peter L Davies | 178 | 0 | |
| David W Fowler | 173 | 0 | Dominic R Tunks | 197 | 1 |
| Oliver Gill | 194 | 1 | Brian MacReamoinn | 162 | 0 |
| David E Pye | 1 | Greg Murray Willett | 140 | 0 | |
| P Godfrey Pafura | 1 | Stephen J Smith | 160 | 0 | |
| Gavin R Lock | 204 | ½ | Bye | ||
| Anthony R Corkett | 203 | 1 | Default | ||
| Harry Grieve | 174 | ½ | Bye |
Round 2
Like the Kamuma brothers Godfrey Pafura is from Uganda and played for the Southampton Chess club on and off from 2002 to 2016. Although ungraded at the tournament his peak ECF grading was 199 and was obviously a very strong player. He was paired with another ungraded player Rowan Brown, who was graded way in excess of 200 during his time playing English chess.
You can see more of Rowan in the 2015 Hampshire Championship which he won, just dropping half a point against Tony Corkett. A very talented player who beat Peter Roberson (222) and drew with GM Jonathan Hawkins (251) at the Basingstoke Congress in 2012.
In this game it was Godfrey who came out on top. The game is picked up after move 16 and Godfrey plays extremely well to convert his advantage.
Dominic Tunks and Oliver Gill played an interesting game which ended in a complicated ending where all three results were possible. Gill made the final mistake and Tunks was able to bring home the point. Unfortunately four time Hampshire Champion Dominic tournament went downhill after this game, not scoring any more points (I did mention this was a tough tournament).
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P Godfrey Pafura | 1 | Rowan M Brown | 0 | ||
| Dominic R Tunks | 197 | 1 | Oliver Gill | 194 | 0 |
| Gavin R Lock | 204 | ½ | David E Pye | ½ | |
| Brian MacReamoinn | 162 | 0 | Stephen J Smith | 160 | 1 |
| Peter L Davies | 178 | ½ | Harry Grieve | 174 | ½ |
| Greg Murray Willett | 140 | 1 | David W Fowler | 173 | 0 |
| Anthony R Corkett | 203 | ½ | Bye |
Round 3
Round three saw Tony Corkett play his first game, although he was on one and a half points with a bye in the second round on top of his default win in the first. He faced David Pye whilst the two players on maximum points Dominic Tunks and Godfrey Pafura were paired together.
David Pye played a closed Sicilian without g3, exchanging his white square Bishop. Pieces were manoeuvred, trying to find the correct time to break. Apart from an early Bb5, no piece moved into the opponent’s territory until the 20th move. There was an interesting point when if white did not take the knight on move 21, Black had a feasible sacrifice of the knight for initially two pawns, although it could quite quickly turn into four pawns.
As this was not allowed and the knight was exchanged, another period of manoeuvring occurred, eventually leading to Tony winning a pawn and white’s position soon collapsed.
Finally the game concluded with a bishop sacrifice, which if taken would lead to mate and at this time David resigned. A very well played game by Tony Corkett.
In the Pafura – Tonks game Dominic had a bad opening and was soon overwhelmed, losing in 18 moves!
Oliver Gill, Rowan Brown and David Fowler were the other winners, whilst Gavin Lock faced the French exchange as Black against Harry Grieve which ended in a draw.
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P Godfrey Pafura | 1 | Dominic R Tunks | 197 | 0 | |
| David E Pye | 0 | Anthony R Corkett | 203 | 1 | |
| Oliver Gill | 194 | 1 | Greg Murray Willett | 140 | 0 |
| Harry Grieve | 174 | ½ | Gavin R Lock | 204 | ½ |
| Rowan M Brown | 1 | Stephen J Smith | 160 | 0 | |
| David W Fowler | 173 | 1 | Peter L Davies | 178 | 0 |
| Brian MacReamoinn | 162 | Withdrew | 1 |
Round 4
Saturday evening saw four players take the half point bye, which left four games to be completed. Dominic Tunks suffered his second loss, this time against Rowan Brown.
Meanwhile Tony Corkett played Oliver Gill, but after some opening mistakes by black Oliver never really got into the game. In the end the black king was chased across the board.
Gavin Lock and David Fowler drew their game, whilst Greg Murray Willett lost to Harry Grieve.
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthony R Corkett | 203 | 1 | Oliver Gill | 194 | 0 |
| Dominic R Tunks | 197 | 0 | Rowan M Brown | 1 | |
| Gavin R Lock | 204 | ½ | David W Fowler | 173 | ½ |
| Greg Murray Willett | 140 | 0 | Harry Grieve | 174 | 1 |
| P Godfrey Pafura | ½ | Bye | |||
| David E Pye | ½ | Bye | |||
| Stephen J Smith | 160 | ½ | Bye | ||
| Peter L Davies | 178 | ½ | Bye |
Round 5
At the start of round five the three leaders were Tony Corkett and Godfrey Pafura on three and a half points, whilst Rowan Brown was half a point behind.
We pick up Tony’s Corkett’s game at move 35 where he plays an exchange sacrifice to open the position.
Meanwhile Harry Grieve showed great tenacity to hold the draw from a losing position against Rowan Brown when he went wrong in a Rook and pawn ending. The time control for the tournament was 40 moves in 100 minutes and 20 minutes quickplay finish. No increment in 2014, and playing any type of ending at move 60 would likely be with little time on the clock (for one of the players at least). This may be relevant with regards to the result.
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthony R Corkett | 203 | 1 | P Godfrey Pafura | 0 | |
| Harry Grieve | 174 | ½ | Rowan M Brown | ½ | |
| Oliver Gill | 194 | 0 | Gavin R Lock | 204 | 1 |
| Stephen J Smith | 160 | 0 | David W Fowler | 173 | 1 |
| Dominic R Tunks | 197 | 0 | David E Pye | 1 | |
| Peter L Davies | 178 | 1 | Greg Murray Willett | 140 | 0 |
Round 6
Tony Corkett had a one point lead after the 5th round over Rowan Brown and Godfrey Parufa. Tony was facing Rowan Brown who would need to defeat him to share 1st place. Meanwhile Godfrey Parufa would need to beat Gavin Lock with Black to also finish on four and a half points.
At first glance it looks as if a short draw was played on board one. But looking at the final position, Rowan Brown’s closed Sicilian seems to have gone wrong. Black’s position is better and you can see why he accepted the draw offer.
Godfrey Parufa was also struggling against Gavin Lock, whose Trompowsky had garnered him the advantage of the two Bishops. Although the position fluctuated in the early stages, Gavin Lock gained an advantage and squeezed Godfrey relentlessly.
| Player | Grade | Result | Player | Grade | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rowan M Brown | ½ | Anthony R Corkett | 203 | ½ | |
| David E Pye | 1 | Harry Grieve | 174 | 0 | |
| Gavin R Lock | 204 | 1 | P Godfrey Pafura | 0 | |
| David W Fowler | 173 | ½ | Oliver Gill | 194 | ½ |
| Peter L Davies | 178 | 1 | Dominic R Tunks | 197 | 0 |
| Greg Murray Willett | 140 | 0 | Stephen J Smith | 160 | 1 |
Games
All the games from the Open games can be downloaded here.
Open Final Position Summary
A very impressive tournament win by Tony Corkett, just drawing his last round game (with a half point bye in round two as well) with 5 points. Rowan Brown, Gavin Lock and David Pye (who beat Harry Grieve in the last round) shared 2nd place with 4 points.
The under 175 prize was shared by Harry Grieve and David Fowler with 3½ points with Harry taking home the Len Walters Trophy.
As the basis of this is from the ECF rating site crosstable, 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 | Rowan M Brown | 9+ | 5– | 11+ | 10+ | 8= | 3= | 4 | |
| 2 | David E Pye | 12+ | 4= | 3– | bye = | 10+ | 8+ | 4 | |
| 3 | Anthony R Corkett | 203 | bye + | bye = | 2+ | 7+ | 5+ | 1= | 5 |
| 4 | Gavin R Lock | 204 | bye = | 2= | 8= | 6= | 7+ | 5+ | 4 |
| 5 | P Godfrey Pafura | 11+ | 1+ | 10+ | bye = | 3– | 4– | 3.5 | |
| 6 | David W Fowler | 173 | 10– | 12– | 9+ | 4= | 11+ | 7= | 3 |
| 7 | Oliver Gill | 194 | 13+ | 10– | 12+ | 3– | 4– | 6= | 2.5 |
| 8 | Harry Grieve | 174 | bye = | 9= | 4= | 12+ | 1= | 2– | 3 |
| 9 | Peter L Davies | 178 | 1– | 8= | 6– | bye = | 12+ | 10+ | 3 |
| 10 | Dominic R Tunks | 197 | 6+ | 7+ | 5– | 1– | 2– | 9– | 2 |
| 11 | Stephen J Smith | 160 | 5– | 13+ | 1– | bye = | 6– | 12+ | 2.5 |
| 12 | Greg Murray Willett | 140 | 2– | 6+ | 7– | 8– | 9– | 11– | 1 |
| 13 | Brian MacReamoinn | 162 | 7– | 11– | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
HCA Summary
Hampshire’s Chess Association Secretary’s John Wheeler’s report on the 2014 Congress is below. Many thanks to John for sending all his reports for the HCA Archives, as although I had some of these, not being active in the HCA (or any Chess at this time I did not have this one).
Acknowledgements and Sources
- Hampshire Chess Archives
- British Chess Rating System
- John Wheeler for HCA Report
- Arthur Brameld for games
- Britbase for 2022 British Chess Championship
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