Hampshire Individual Chess Championship 1957

As per the Portsmouth Evening News the Hampshire Individual Championship was in a different format this year:

This tournament was run on a totally new basis this year and 12 players entered. Previously (post war?) only the winners and runner-up of the local league Individual Competitions were eligible, which meant that strong players had to take part in what was to them, a rather tedious preliminary tournament. Now that there is an open entry it is to be expected that there will be more taking part next season.
Portsmouth Evening News June 1957

With a Swiss style competition, the 12 players played 6 rounds from January to May / June. I have managed to find the first five rounds from the Portsmouth Evening News, although for the sixth round it was only the Wilf Pratten – NC Taylor’s result given.

It was fortunate that over 500 of Wilf Pratten’s games were recorded and supplied to Britbase by Roger Paige and Arthur Brameld. Three of the games from the 1957 Championship were in this database and I have included in the article.

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

The results from the Portsmouth Evening News did not include colours, so I have just detailed as supplied which is likely just the winner as the first player named, rather than if they had the White pieces.

Player	Result	Player
GH Baverstock	1	S Rysewski
Sq-Ldr L Vine	1	SL Russell
AS Dance	1	CH Henshaw
A Edmunds	1	M Ventham
WC Martin	1	NC Taylor
WH Pratten	1	JAC Borland

A number of well-known Hampshire players participated, with Sq-Ldr L Vine (1953 champion), AS Dance, Wilf Pratten (four time champion) and SL Russell (1935 champion) all playing in the pre-war Championships.

In addition, there were younger players such as Michael Ventham who played in the British U18 championship in 1953 when at King Edward VI School, Southampton. Michael played for Hampshire from 1958 to 1972 (when we left the SCCU). I am not that familiar with a number of the other players although NC Taylor was another Fareham Chess club player and S Rysewski was a member of Southampton Chess club.

Round 2

Player	Result	Player	Result
A Edmunds	1	GH Baverstock	0
S Rysewski	1	M Ventham	0
NC Taylor	½	JAC Borland	½
WH Pratten	1	WC Martin	0
AS Dance	1	Sq-Ldr L Vine	0
CH Henshaw	1	SL Russell	0

AS Dance and Wilf Pratten were the only players to keep a 100% record, both winning their 2nd round matches. Wilf Pratten’s fine win against WC Martin is below, just click on any move to open the board.

Round 3

Player	Result	Player	Result
CH Henshaw	1	GH Baverstock	0
JAC Borland	1	WC Martin	0
AS Dance	1	S Rysewski	0
A Edmunds	0	WH Pratten	1
NC Taylor	1	Sq-Ldr L Vine	0
SL Russell	0	M Ventham	1

Both AS Dance and Wilf Pratten won again to keep their 100% records. CH Henshaw and Edmunds stayed in striking distance with two points from their three games. A crucial fourth round game between the two leaders was set to take place.

A Edmonds game against Wilf Pratten was an Evans Gambit.

Round 4

Player	Result	Player	Result
WH Pratten	1	AS Dance	0
CH Henshaw	1	A Edmunds	0
Sq-Ldr L Vine	1	JAC Borland	0
SL Russell	1	GH Baverstock	0
NC Taylor	1	S Rysewski	0
WC Martin	0	M Ventham	1

The two players on 100% meet but it was a short game with a tactical combination winning the exchange and soon after the game. CH Henshaw beat A Edmunds to join AS Dance on three points from four games to still be in striking distance of Wilf Pratten with his 100% score.

Round 5

Player	Result	Player	Result
WH Pratten	1	CH Henshaw	0
AS Dance	0	NC Taylor	1
JAC Borland	0	A Edmunds	1
M Ventham	½	Sq-Ldr L Vine	½
GH Baverstock	½	WC Martin	½
SL Russell	1	S Rysewski	0

Wilf Pratten kept his 100% score by beating CH Henshaw and won the championship with one round to spare. NC Taylor moved into second place by beating AS Dance. A Edmunds, AS Dance and CH Henshaw were half a point behind with three points from their five games.

Round 6

Player	Result	Player	Result
WH Pratten	1	NC Taylor	0
AS Dance	?	A Edmunds	?
CH Henshaw	?	Sq-Ldr L Vine	?
GH Baverstock	?	M Ventham	?
WC Martin	?	SL Russell	?
S Rysewski	?	JAC Borland	?

Unfortunately, only the Wilf Pratten NC Taylor result was in the Portsmouth Evening News and therefore I do not know the places behind Wilf Pratten. Only Wilf with 6 out of 6 and NC Taylor with 3½ out of 6 is known. The positions after round five was as below.

**5th Round Position 1957 Championship**

This was Wilf Pratten’s fourth and final Hampshire Individual Championship win. His other wins were in 1948, 1949 and 1950 although how many times he entered is unknown at present. He was certainly one of the strongest Hampshire players at this time, although he increasingly was more involved in the organisation side of chess, especially with the Sir William Dupree Junior tournaments.