Hampshire Individual Chess Championship 2017

The Hampshire Chess Championship was held at Eastleigh College for the last time in 2017. It had been held there since 2000 and had allowed the Congress to grow, as seen by the split into three sections and increase in numbers. From 2018 it moved to the Lysses House Hotel where it has continued to flourish.

The Hampshire Chess Secretary’s report on the championship stated:

We have a new county champion. 18-year-old Southampton University student Michael Fernandez is the new county champion and holder of the Silver Rook. Michael finished 1 point behind the joint winners of the Open Section, Mike Waddington and Peter Anderson, but he was the highest-placed qualified Hampshire player, beating Matt Chapman on tie-break.
Phil Stimpson won the Under-175 grading prize.

John Wheeler

The picture above shows joint first place winners Mike Waddington and Peter Anderson collecting their prizes from the Mayor of Eastleigh.

Luckily Keven Lamb was there to take photographs which always adds to these articles.

Alongside the Open there were Major and Minor tournaments and these will be covered in a separate post.


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.


Round 1

David Cordner held the top seed Michael Fernandez to a draw with Black. David actually held the advantage for the majority of the game and in the final position was a pawn ahead, although the White pawn was looking dangerous.

Jamie Chillton also held Peter W Anderson to a draw, whilst the other games were won by the higher graded player. A nice finish by David Fowler in his game against Mark Potter.

PlayerGradeResultPlayerGradeResult
Michael H Fernandez216½David A Cordner173½
Philip M Stimpson1680Mike P Waddington1911
Matt Chapman1831Timothy J Davis1650
Mark A Potter1630David W Fowler1801
Keith DF Gregory1801Paul Northcott1610
James I Chilton145½Peter W Anderson174½
Robin Williams158½Bye
David J Deacon1571Controller Bye

Round 2

Mike Waddington was the only player to move onto maximum points, beating David Deacon who had the full point bye in the first round. Two of the other three players on one point drew (Fowler – Chapman) and the other player Keith Gregory lost against Peter Anderson when in an even position he blundered his Queen playing Re5 and after Rh1 the Queen was embarrassed!

PlayerGradeResultPlayerGradeResult
Mike P Waddington1911David J Deacon1570
David W Fowler180½Matt Chapman183½
Peter W Anderson1741Keith DF Gregory1800
Robin Williams1580Michael H Fernandez2161
David A Cordner1731James I Chilton1450
Paul Northcott1610Philip M Stimpson1681
Timothy J Davis1651Mark A Potter1630

Round 3

Mike Waddington continued with his excellent start beating the top seed in a complicated Dutch defence.

Peter Anderson and David Fowler also won with Black to remain half a point behind Mike Waddington, whilst Keith Gregory beat Timothy Davis in a long game to remain a half point behind these two players.

Peter Anderson had a pretty mating attack against Matt Chapman

PlayerGradeResultPlayerGradeResult
Michael H Fernandez2160Mike P Waddington1911
David A Cordner1730David W Fowler1801
Matt Chapman1830Peter W Anderson1741
Keith DF Gregory1801Timothy J Davis1650
David J Deacon157½Philip M Stimpson168½
Mark A Potter163½Paul Northcott161½
James I Chilton1450Robin Williams1581


Round 4

If you have been reading the other tournament posts, you will know that round four is the Saturday evening round where players often take a bye. Eight players took this opportunity, leaving just the three matches to be played.

A successful evening for Mike Waddington as he beat David Fowler in a 22-move miniature when it looks as if missed a Bishop sacrifice. Meanwhile Michael Fernandez came out on top against David Deacon and Robin Williams held Matt Chapman to a draw.

At the end of day two Mike Waddington was in the lead on four points, which was one point ahead of Peter Anderson, with four players a further half point behind. The morning game between the first and second placed players would prove crucial, as if Mike could win, he would guarantee top place. With a draw he could still be caught but would still have a great tie-break.

PlayerGradeResultPlayerGradeResult
Mike P Waddington1911David W Fowler1800
David J Deacon1570Michael H Fernandez2161
Robin Williams158½Matt Chapman183½
Paul Northcott161½Bye
Mark A Potter163½Bye
James I Chilton145½Bye
Peter W Anderson174½Bye
Philip M Stimpson168½Bye
Keith DF Gregory180½Bye
David A Cordner173½Bye
Timothy J Davis165½Bye


Round 5

The crucial game between Peter Anderson and Mike Waddington was another Dutch. But the opening did not prove to be as successful for Mike as his one against Michael Fernandez in round three. In particular his white squared bishop’s development was not the best. It moved from c8 to e6, f7, g8! back to f7 finally taking the Knight on g6, but by this stage the game was lost.

A tactical shot on g6 brought home the point for Peter, ending up with a huge pawn on h7 when Mike threw in the towel.

With this win Peter joined Mike on four points from five games, whilst David Fowler was half a point behind after beating Keith Gregory.

PlayerGradeResultPlayerGradeResult
Peter W Anderson1741Mike P Waddington1910
Philip M Stimpson168½Michael H Fernandez216½
Matt Chapman1831David A Cordner1730
David W Fowler1801Keith DF Gregory1800
Paul Northcott1611David J Deacon1570
Timothy J Davis1650Robin Williams1581
James I Chilton1451Mark A Potter1630


Round 6

Both players on four points from five games faced tough opposition in the final round, but both battled through to win their games. Mike beat Robin Williams in 41 moves, whilst Peter won a tricky ending in 62 moves. This meant they were joint first in the tournament, but as neither were eligible for the Hampshire Individual Title.

This was won by Michael Fernandez (on tie-break from Matt Chapman) who played c3 as his first move against Paull Northcutt! This was followed up by a pretty sacrifice later in the game.

You could say c3 is a bit disrespectful, but I have always been of the opinion that you can play any move you like in the opening and also Paul Northcutt has been known to play a3 and h4 for his first move (as well as f4, although that is less controversial).

PlayerGradeResultPlayerGradeResult
Mike P Waddington1911Robin Williams1580
David W Fowler1800Peter W Anderson1741
Michael H Fernandez2161Paul Northcott1610
David A Cordner173½Philip M Stimpson168½
Timothy J Davis1651James I Chilton1450
David J Deacon157½Mark A Potter163½
Matt Chapman1831
Keith DF Gregory1800


Final Table

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.

RankNameGradeRd 1Rd 2Rd 3Rd 4Rd 5Rd 6Score
1Mike P Waddington1917+13+3+4+2–6+5
2Peter W Anderson17411=8+5+bye =1+4+5
3Michael H Fernandez2169=6+1–13+7=12+4
4David W Fowler18014+5=9+1–8+2–
5Matt Chapman18310+4=2–6=9+bye +4
6Robin Williams158bye =3–11+5=10+1–3
7Philip M Stimpson1681–12+13=bye +3=9=
8Keith DF Gregory18012+2–10+bye =4–0
9David A Cordner1733=11+4–bye =5–7=
10Timothy J Davis1655–14+8–bye =6–11+
11James I Chilton1452=9–6–bye =14+10–2
12Paul Northcott1618–7–14=bye =13+3–2
13David J Deacon157bye +1–7=3–12–14=2
14Mark A Potter1634–10–12=bye =11–13=

Games

The games from the Congress were entered by Arthur Brameld and can be played through and downloaded here.


Photographs

All photographs are in the Hampshire Gallery, but I have included a few from the Open and the obligatory picture of the trophies.


HCA Secretary Report

The Hampshire Chess Secretary produced a report on the congress, which is below.


Acknowledgements and sources:
  • Arthur Brameld for the chess games
  • John Wheeler for HCA Secretary Report
  • Keven Lamb for photographs

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