National County Chess Matches 2013 / 14

Hampshire had a very busy chess season, playing in the West of England, Chiltern League and National stages. Adding all these matches (26!) would make this post too long, and therefore it will be split into separate articles. This post is to cover just the National stages where Hampshire played 3 matches.

The previous Chiltern League article for the same season is here and the WECU one here. Photo above has Hampshire’s Captains Ashraf Syed receiving the National U140 Championship trophy, with Sam Murphy and John Wiseman on the left.

If anyone has any additional information on the season, please do let me know, either in the comments or by email Hampshirechesshistory@gmail.com



For the record of Hampshire County matches and links to any articles I have written the table on the Hampshire County Chess Matches page will detail these. The Hampshire County Chess History page summaries the leagues Hampshire have played in and the successes Hampshire have achieved. Both of these are available from the menu at the top of the site as well.


National County Matches

Hampshire are eligible to enter the National Stages of the County Championships as they are part of the WECU. This year they entered the Minor and the Under 140 competitions. If you saw the results from the WECU you would have seen that Hampshire finished 4th of 5th in the A team, and 3rd of 4th in the B team championships.

For the national stages not all counties enter and specifically from the WECU they don’t. Therefore even though our low places may not have deemed qualification, this was not an obstacle.


Hants A v Gt Manchester A – 26 April 2014

Hampshire were paired against Greater Manchester in the preliminary of the Minor County Championship. The other counties which had entered this were Somerset, Surrey, Suffolk, Nottinghamshire, Sussex, Leicestershire, Cambridgeshire and Essex.

Spoiler alert, Hampshire did not win, as Suffolk beat Nottinghamshire in the final.

Hampshire met Greater Manchester and safe to safe it was not their best result, losing 3½ – 11½ (I have added board 16 as a double default as I don’t have the details) and there were no Hampshire winners!

This was the end of the A team’s National season, but we still had the Under 140 team!

BoardHants AColourGradeResultGt Manch AColourGradeResult
1Ian D ThompsonWhite2170Ali Reza JaunoobyBlack2021
2Dominic R TunksBlack188½Andy K ReeveWhite200½
3Paul F CooperWhite182½Ioannis LentzosBlack193½
4David W FowlerBlack1810Harry LambWhite1811
5Stuart W KnoxWhite167½Adam TytonBlack175½
6Martin GS BuckleyBlack1650Graham P BurtonWhite1741
7David F ThompsonWhite1600Dave TooleBlack1741
8Timothy J DavisBlack159½Steve TranterWhite169½
9Gillian A MooreWhite1470Philip J OlbisonBlack1621
10Barry A KocanBlack1460Yaroslav KolodiyWhite1581
11Michael RobertsWhite145½Jon I LonsdaleBlack150½
12James I ChiltonBlack1400Alan BeresfordWhite1551
13Stephen D LeFevreWhite139½David KiermanBlack154½
14Ashraf SyedBlack1360David PardoeWhite1441
15Kevin G SteeleWhite134½Ian D LambBlack137½
16Default0Default0
16016911½

Hants U140 v Lancs U140 – 14 June 2014

Hampshire also entered the U140 Championship, along with Lancashire, Middlesex, Nottinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Kent and Staffordshire. With seven teams one County had to have a bye to the semi-final and this was Hampshire. Lancashire beat Middlesex in the quarter final and were Hampshire’s opponents in the semi-final.

Digressing slightly, I captained the Hampshire Under 150 County Team in 2003, and after winning the quarter final against Dorset (9-7) we met Lancashire in the semi-final and lost 6½ – 9½. I was slightly annoyed that their captain, who was graded 134 slotted himself in on bottom board, below a player graded 104. Whilst I battled and lost on board 7, he comfortably beat a player 22 points lower than himself. I had managed to put together a strong team, with future IM Peter Roberson on board 1 (149 graded junior at the time) and not dropping under 140 until board 9; and I was hoping that Hampshire would go all the way (Lancashire did go on to win the title, beating Yorkshire in the final)

Anyway, although nothing to do with this this match, it is pleasing to see Hampshire coming out on top, against a similar strength team. The grades for the match were probably based on the start of the season, as Lancashire board 1 was graded 149 (and is currently 2248, so the sort of player you want in your graded limit team).

But Ashraf had collected a number of strong Hampshire players, and we came out on top 8½ – 6½. Roy Ashmore, Ashraf Syed, John Symons and John Wiseman were the Hampshire winners. Again this was played over 15 boards, and I do not know if anyone won board 16 by default?

BoardHants U140ColourGradeResultLancs U140ColourGradeResult
1James I ChiltonWhite1400Nugith JayawarnaBlack1491
2Roy E AshmoreBlack1371Luboslav Socha (Max)White1310
3Ashraf SyedWhite1361David snr StanfieldBlack1420
4Timothy J ChapmanBlack135½James CarringtonWhite128½
5Bob A CleaveWhite134½David Malcolm InnesBlack128½
6John B SymonsBlack1341J David KellyWhite1350
7Kevin G SteeleWhite134½Peter EdhouseBlack124½
8Jonathan G YoungBlack133½Dave S AlmondWhite123½
9Frank A BonseyWhite129½Steven M FlahertyBlack119½
10Christopher SmithBlack1280Chris LysonsWhite1231
11Philip GethingWhite119½Colin FriarBlack122½
12Barry DiaperBlack1170Lawrence HaroldWhite1171
13John M WisemanWhite1171Josh PendleburyBlack1200
14Brian V CochranBlack105½Derek MarsdenWhite114½
15Paul EylesWhite991Anthony JinksBlack1150
16DefaultBlackDefaultWhite
126126

Hants A vs Notts U140 – 30 June 2014

In the final Hampshire’s opponents were Nottinghamshire, and again both teams were evenly matched on grades. Another close match saw Hampshire come out on top by two points, with our winning players being Jamie Chilton, Robert Davenport, Jon Symons, Kevin Steele, Chris Smith and John Wiseman.

With an up and down season for the County teams, the Under 150 / 140 team led by Ashraf were the highlight for Hampshire. Defaults in the WECU affected their record, but in the Chiltern League and National Championship Hampshire played 7 matches and won them all.

All the County Final matches were played together in Warwick and the ECF have a report on this which includes one of the Hampshire games and a couple of photos.

12345678abcdefgh
Atiomo, William140
Chilton, James I140
National U140 Championship
June 30, 2014 – Warwick
Annotated by Graham Stuart
1.e4c52.Nf3e63.d4cxd44.Nxd4a65.Nc3Nc66.Be2Qc77.a3b58.O-OBb79.Be3Nf610.Bf3?!10.Nxc6Bxc611.Qd311.Bd310…Ne511.Re1Nc411…Bd612.Bc1?!12.e5Nxe513.Bxb7Qxb714.Bg512…Bd613.h3Be514.Nde2O-O15.Rb1Nxa3Although tactic wins a pawn, moving the Rook is better.15…Rac816.Nxb5??But this does not work.16.bxa3Bxc317.Nxc3Qxc318.Bb2Qc5With compensation.16…Nxb517.Qd3Rac818.c3Rfd819.Bg5h620.Bh4g5Black is still winning, but this gives a target,20…Nd621.Bg3d522.exd5Bxg323.Nxg3Nxd524.Nh5Nf425.Qe3Rd326.Qe5Qxe527.Rxe5Bxf327…Rxf328.gxf3Nxh528.Nxf4gxf429.gxf3Rxf330.Kg2Rd331.Ra1Kh732.Rxa6Rg8+33.Kf1f334.Ra1Nd635.Ree1Nc436.Red1Nd2+37.Rxd2Rxd238.Rb1Rg239.b4Rdxf2+40.Ke1Rb20–1

BoardHants U140ColourGradeResultNotts U140ColourGradeResult
1James I ChiltonBlack1401William Atiomo (snr)White1400
2Robert DavenportWhite1401Darran InceBlack1390
3Roy E AshmoreBlack137½Alan J KenyonWhite137½
4Ashraf SyedWhite136½James L ThomsonBlack135½
5Timothy J ChapmanBlack1350Robert H WilloughbyWhite1351
6Bob A CleaveWhite134½Stephen J FosterBlack134½
7John B SymonsBlack1341Graham J GibsonWhite1350
8Kevin G SteeleWhite1341George J MurfetBlack1340
9Chris R SmithersBlack1330Peter W Gorecka-MarshallWhite1271
10Frank A BonseyWhite129½Alan S RobinsonBlack127½
11Christopher SmithBlack1281Hambel M WillowWhite1260
12John H WattsWhite1220Michael J NailardBlack1261
13Philip GethingBlack119½Graham NeilWhite124½
14John M WisemanWhite1171Terry WT LavelleBlack1210
15Sam J MurphyBlack1130Chris BuddWhite1221
16James A BarnettWhite111½Michael J HarperBlack120½
12991307
Hampshire-Under-140-Champions
Hampshire-Under-140-Champions – Source ECF

The winning Hampshire U140 team moving left to right, Alex Holowczak (ECF arbiter and official), Unknown, Bob Cleave, John Wiseman, John Symons, Ashraf Syed, Jim Barnett, Rob Davenport, Sam Murphy, Unknown, Unknown and Kevin Steele. Please let me know of the unknown ones.

Update April 2024: Many thanks to David Culliford for supplying a number of the unknowns.

Ashraf-Syed-winning-Hampshire-captain
Ashraf-Syed-winning-Hampshire-captain

Hampshire Player Performance – National

You will not normally play many matches in the National stages, but we did play three, and some players were in each fixture. John Wiseman and John Symons had a 100% record from their two games, whilst Roy Ashmore won one and drew one game.


Summary

This was the third time Hampshire won the U140 championship (2009/10 & 2010/11) and this was actually their largest win, with the others being 8 – 8 (bd count win) and 8½ – 7½. This was a great achievement for Hampshire and to their Captain Ashraf.

As some background on Hampshire Chess this season the winners of the top divisions in the Southampton Chess and Portsmouth Chess Leagues were Southampton University A and Portsmouth A respectively. The 2013 Hampshire Congress has 75 entrants (a record at this time) was won by Alex Ruiz of Southampton Chess Club.

The full list of Hampshire officers during the 2013 / 14 season were:

  • President: Chris Priest
  • Vice-President: Paul Hurn
  • Secretary: John Wheeler
  • Treasurer: Gillian Moore
  • Match Captain (WECU): Dominic Tunks
  • Match Captain (Chiltern): Fraser McLeod
  • Under-150/140 Captain: Ashraf Syed
  • Grading /Results Officer: Roger Marsh
  • Junior Organiser: Joe French
  • Correspondence Match Captain: Mickey Blake
  • Webmaster: Chris Priest
  • ECF Delegate: John Wheeler
  • WECU Delegate (Executive): John Wheeler
  • WECU Delegate (Council): Paul Hurn
  • Hampshire League Conductor & Quickplay Organiser: Roger Marsh
  • Individual Championship Co-ordinator: Gillian Moore
  • Honorary Examiner: John Drew

Acknowledgements and sources:


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