Southbourne Chess Club held its traditional 6 round Christmas time handicap tournament, open to all local players, on Friday 22nd December at Tuckton Social Club.

25 players took part including 11 visiting players.  In total, 4 local clubs were represented.

20 minutes was allocated to each game but the time given to each player was determined by the rating differential between the 2 players (e.g 15 minutes to 5 minutes). Indeed, in some cases, when there was more than a 750 rating point differential, the higher graded player only had 1½ minutes to the lower rated player’s 18½ minutes. Together with the ‘take the king’ rule this made for interesting chess!

Light refreshments were available throughout the evening in the form of Bucks fizz, prosecco, tea, coffee, mince pies, biscuits and chocolates and there was Christmas music whilst the chess was being played to add to the festive atmosphere which made it an enjoyable evening.

It was eyes down for the 1st round of matches

5 of the top 6 places were filled by non-Southbourne players and everyone won at least 2 prizes in the form of wrapped up presents.

Jamie Sen (New Milton), Adam Ursell (Highcliffe) and Clive Papworth (Unattached)  came equal 1st with 5 points (pictured above).

James Forster (Southbourne), Savannah Forster (Unattached) and David Balfour (Unattached) came equal 4th with 4 points (pictured above) and won 2 presents.

 

Martin Simons – 23rd December 2023