Hampshire Chess Championship 2017 – Major

Alongside the 2017 Hampshire Individual Championship, the Major and Minor Congresses were held. The Major had 23 players participating, but one player dominated winning all six of his games.

This was Geoffrey Brown whose picture is above. Geoffrey had an ECF grade of 153 at this time, although he would normally be found playing in opens as his grade has been in the 180’s before. That said, winning a Major is very difficult, let alone with a maximum score and Geoffrey played some very good games to win the competition.

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

On a personal view my tournament started off very well, defeating the top seed Joe Coburn with the Black pieces. After this it all went downhill, not winning another game. But I was persuaded by John Wheeler to enter my game for the John Dunleavy Memorial Best Game Prize, and it may be that not many others entered, or the committee were impressed with the game as it won.

A lot of the other games were tough battles with eight of them going over 40 moves. Unlike a lot of tournaments where the 1st round can be a bit of a bloodbath the difference between the players grades was on average only about 18 ECF, which meant you would not expect the higher graded players to win each game.

There are not many of my games which I would add to these articles, but I will make an exception in this case. Click on any move to open a chess board.

Player	Grade	Result	Player	Grade	Result
Joseph A Coburn	157	0	Graham Stuart	137	1
Geoffrey M Brown	153	1	David R Agostinelli	136	0
Ian G Matthew	134	½	Brendan O'Gorman	151	½
Lukasz Marek Piecha	150	1	Jeremy Hudson	132	0
Thomas Evans	130	½	Simon Venables	149	½
Tristan Dray-Pearce	146	½	Kevin Sawers	128	½
John R Sellen	126	1	Christopher G Webb	144	0
Phil T Foley	142	1	Richard J Wright	123	0
Mark R Stone	121	½	Gillian A Moore	141	½
Alex Dore		0	John P Carter		1
Christopher Smith	137	0	John B Symons	119	1
Peter Manning	137	½	Bye

Round 2

Three players moved onto two points. Geoffrey Brown beat John Sellen, Lukasz Piecha accepted the pawn in my Morra Gambit and beat me in a complicated game. Finally, Phil Foley came out top against John Symons.

A nice tactical move by Geoffrey Brown to win a pawn. Although it took another 40 moves to win the game.

Player	Grade	Result	Player	Grade	Result
Geoffrey M Brown	153	1	John R Sellen	126	0
Graham Stuart	137	0	Lukasz Marek Piecha	150	1
John B Symons	119	0	Phil T Foley	142	1
John P Carter	135	½	Tristan Dray-Pearce	146	½
Simon Venables	149	1	Ian G Matthew	134	0
Gillian A Moore	141	1	Thomas Evans	130	0
Brendan O'Gorman	151	1	Mark R Stone	121	0
Christopher G Webb	144	0	Christopher Smith	137	1
Richard J Wright	123	1	Alex Dore		0
Jeremy Hudson	132	½	Joseph A Coburn	157	½
Kevin Sawers	128	1	Peter Manning	137	0
David R Agostinelli	136	1	Controller Bye

Round 3

Of the players on maximum points Geoffrey Brown beat Lukasz Piecha, whilst Phil Foley drew against Brendan O’Gorman. He was joined on two and a half points by Gillian Moore who won the all Southampton Chess Club clash beating Kevin Sawers.

This was an interesting game when a not obvious move was missed after White had already correctly sacrificed a piece for an even game. Although the combination left Black with a Rook and two minor pieces for the Queen, White had four pawns and Black’s pieces were not well placed. A difficult move to spot, let alone play. After exchanging Queens Black soon converted the better position into a win.

Player	Grade	Result	Player	Grade	Result
Lukasz Marek Piecha	150	0	Geoffrey M Brown	153	1
Phil T Foley	142	½	Brendan O'Gorman	151	½
John P Carter	135	½	Simon Venables	149	½
Kevin Sawers	128	0	Gillian A Moore	141	1
Tristan Dray-Pearce	146	1	John B Symons	119	0
John R Sellen	126	1	Graham Stuart	137	0
Ian G Matthew	134	0	Richard J Wright	123	1
Christopher Smith	137	0	David R Agostinelli	136	1
Thomas Evans	130	0	Jeremy Hudson	132	1
Alex Dore		0	Christopher G Webb	144	1
Joseph A Coburn	157	½	Bye
Mark R Stone	121	½	Bye

Round 4

Ten players took a bye in the Saturday evening game, but 10 players played their third game of the day along with two who had taken an afternoon bye. Geoffrey Brown continued his winning way defeating Phil Foley. Thomas Evans also won, and the other four games were drawn.

At the end of the round this meant Geoffrey Brown was on maximum points on four points. Gillian Moore was a full point behind on her own, with a further nine players a half point behind Gillian. Unless Gillian could get a win against Geoffrey in the fifth round the tournament would be decided before the last round.

Player	Grade	Result	Player	Grade	Result
Geoffrey M Brown	153	1	Phil T Foley	142	0
Simon Venables	149	½	Lukasz Marek Piecha	150	½
Jeremy Hudson	132	½	Kevin Sawers	128	½
Alex Dore		0	Thomas Evans	130	1
Christopher G Webb	144	½	Mark R Stone	121	½
Joseph A Coburn	157	½	Christopher Smith	137	½
David R Agostinelli	136	½	Bye
Brendan O'Gorman	151	½	Bye
Gillian A Moore	141	½	Bye
John P Carter	135	½	Bye
Tristan Dray-Pearce	146	½	Bye
John R Sellen	126	½	Bye
Ian G Matthew	134	½	Bye
Richard J Wright	123	½	Bye
Graham Stuart	137	½	Bye
John B Symons	119	½	Bye

Round 5

Geoffrey Brown playing Black quickly exchanged Queens against Gillian and then won her a pawn as after BxN, BxB, Nb4 there was a nasty fork on d3 so Gillian wisely castled and gave up the pawn. After this it was a long grind, but Gilian finally threw in the towel on move 66.

It was a round where players with the Black pieces dominated with seven wins and only the one loss. With first place already decided it was the minor places which were still to be fought for, Lukasz Piecha, Simon Venables and Tristan Dray-Pearce all had three and a half points.

Meanwhile three players graded under 140 had three points and were in contention for this prize (John Carter, John Sellen and Kevin Sawers).

Player	Grade	Result	Player	Grade	Result
Gillian A Moore	141	0	Geoffrey M Brown	153	1
David R Agostinelli	136	0	Simon Venables	149	1
Phil T Foley	142	0	Lukasz Marek Piecha	150	1
Richard J Wright	123	0	Tristan Dray-Pearce	146	1
Brendan O'Gorman	151	½	John P Carter	135	½
Jeremy Hudson	132	½	John R Sellen	126	½
Thomas Evans	130	1	Joseph A Coburn	157	0
Graham Stuart	137	0	Christopher Smith	137	1
John B Symons	119	0	Christopher G Webb	144	1
Mark R Stone	121	0	Ian G Matthew	134	1
Kevin Sawers	128	1	Controller Bye		0
Alex Dore		½	Bye

Round 6

Despite winning the tournament, Geoffrey Brown continued to fight for maximum points. Playing the Bird again Black’s King was caught in the middle as Black tried to attack on the kingside. But when a Knight managed to be deployed on d6 Black’s position soon crumbled.

This win put stop to Simon Venables chances of second place, leaving the Lukasz Piecha – Tristan Dray-Pearce game key for this placing. Tristan Dray-Pearce pushed too hard with a sacrifice which did not work, leaving Lukasz Piecha with second place one and half points behind Geoffrey Brown.

Of the three players battling for the Under 140 Grading prize only John Carter won, beating Gillian Moore. He therefore was successful in winning this prize.

Player	Grade	Result	Player	Grade	Result
Geoffrey M Brown	153	1	Simon Venables	149	0
Lukasz Marek Piecha	150	1	Tristan Dray-Pearce	146	0
John P Carter	135	1	Gillian A Moore	141	0
Kevin Sawers	128	0	David R Agostinelli	136	1
Christopher G Webb	144	0	Jeremy Hudson	132	1
John R Sellen	126	0	Phil T Foley	142	1
Ian G Matthew	134	1	Thomas Evans	130	0
Christopher Smith	137	1	Richard J Wright	123	0
Joseph A Coburn	157	½	John B Symons	119	½
Mark R Stone	121	0	Alex Dore		1
Graham Stuart	137	1	Controller Bye

Other prizes can be seen in the HCA Secretary Report at the bottom of the article, but the Ladies prize was jointly won by Amanda Jones, Maha Chandar, Mansa Chandar and Gillian Moore all had 3 points, and have agreed to share the trophy between them

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.

Rank	Name	Grade	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Score
1	Geoffrey M Brown	153	16+	10+	2+	3+	9+	4+	6
2	Lukasz Marek Piecha	150	6+	19+	1–	4=	3+	8+	4½
3	Phil T Foley	142	15+	17+	11=	1–	2–	10+	3½
4	Simon Venables	149	12=	14+	5=	2=	16+	1–	3½
5	John P Carter	135	22+	8=	4=	bye =	11=	9+	4
6	Jeremy Hudson	132	2–	18=	12+	21=	10=	13+	3½
7	Christopher Smith	137	17–	13+	16–	18=	19+	15+	3½
8	Tristan Dray-Pearce	146	21=	5=	17+	bye =	15+	2–	3½
9	Gillian A Moore	141	20=	12+	21+	bye =	1–	5–	3
10	John R Sellen	126	13+	1–	19+	bye =	6=	3–	3
11	Brendan O'Gorman	151	14=	20+	3=	bye =	5=		3
12	Thomas Evans	130	4=	9–	6–	22+	18+	14–	2½
13	Christopher G Webb	144	10–	7–	22+	20=	17+	6–	2½
14	Ian G Matthew	134	11=	4–	15–	bye =	20+	12+	3
15	Richard J Wright	123	3–	22+	14+	bye =	8–	7–	2½
16	David R Agostinelli	136	1–	bye +	7+	bye =	4–	21+	3½
17	John B Symons	119	7+	3–	8–	bye =	13–	18=	2
18	Joseph A Coburn	157	19–	6=	bye =	7=	12–	17=	2
19	Graham Stuart	137	18+	2–	10–	bye =	7–	bye +	2½
20	Mark R Stone	121	9=	11–	bye =	13=	14–	22–	1½
21	Kevin Sawers	128	8=	23+	9–	6=	bye +	16–	3
22	Alex Dore		5–	15–	13–	12–	bye +	20+	2
23	Peter Manning	137	bye =	21-					½