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.

Player	Grade	Result	Player	Grade	Result
Michael H Fernandez	216	½	David A Cordner	173	½
Philip M Stimpson	168	0	Mike P Waddington	191	1
Matt Chapman	183	1	Timothy J Davis	165	0
Mark A Potter	163	0	David W Fowler	180	1
Keith DF Gregory	180	1	Paul Northcott	161	0
James I Chilton	145	½	Peter W Anderson	174	½
Robin Williams	158	½	Bye
David J Deacon	157	1	Controller 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!

Player	Grade	Result	Player	Grade	Result
Mike P Waddington	191	1	David J Deacon	157	0
David W Fowler	180	½	Matt Chapman	183	½
Peter W Anderson	174	1	Keith DF Gregory	180	0
Robin Williams	158	0	Michael H Fernandez	216	1
David A Cordner	173	1	James I Chilton	145	0
Paul Northcott	161	0	Philip M Stimpson	168	1
Timothy J Davis	165	1	Mark A Potter	163	0

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

Player	Grade	Result	Player	Grade	Result
Michael H Fernandez	216	0	Mike P Waddington	191	1
David A Cordner	173	0	David W Fowler	180	1
Matt Chapman	183	0	Peter W Anderson	174	1
Keith DF Gregory	180	1	Timothy J Davis	165	0
David J Deacon	157	½	Philip M Stimpson	168	½
Mark A Potter	163	½	Paul Northcott	161	½
James I Chilton	145	0	Robin Williams	158	1

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.

Player	Grade	Result	Player	Grade	Result
Mike P Waddington	191	1	David W Fowler	180	0
David J Deacon	157	0	Michael H Fernandez	216	1
Robin Williams	158	½	Matt Chapman	183	½
Paul Northcott	161	½	Bye
Mark A Potter	163	½	Bye
James I Chilton	145	½	Bye
Peter W Anderson	174	½	Bye
Philip M Stimpson	168	½	Bye
Keith DF Gregory	180	½	Bye
David A Cordner	173	½	Bye
Timothy J Davis	165	½	Bye

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.

Player	Grade	Result	Player	Grade	Result
Peter W Anderson	174	1	Mike P Waddington	191	0
Philip M Stimpson	168	½	Michael H Fernandez	216	½
Matt Chapman	183	1	David A Cordner	173	0
David W Fowler	180	1	Keith DF Gregory	180	0
Paul Northcott	161	1	David J Deacon	157	0
Timothy J Davis	165	0	Robin Williams	158	1
James I Chilton	145	1	Mark A Potter	163	0

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).

Player	Grade	Result	Player	Grade	Result
Mike P Waddington	191	1	Robin Williams	158	0
David W Fowler	180	0	Peter W Anderson	174	1
Michael H Fernandez	216	1	Paul Northcott	161	0
David A Cordner	173	½	Philip M Stimpson	168	½
Timothy J Davis	165	1	James I Chilton	145	0
David J Deacon	157	½	Mark A Potter	163	½
Matt Chapman	183	1
Keith DF Gregory	180	0

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	Mike P Waddington	191	7+	13+	3+	4+	2–	6+	5
2	Peter W Anderson	174	11=	8+	5+	bye =	1+	4+	5
3	Michael H Fernandez	216	9=	6+	1–	13+	7=	12+	4
4	David W Fowler	180	14+	5=	9+	1–	8+	2–	3½
5	Matt Chapman	183	10+	4=	2–	6=	9+	bye +	4
6	Robin Williams	158	bye =	3–	11+	5=	10+	1–	3
7	Philip M Stimpson	168	1–	12+	13=	bye +	3=	9=	3½
8	Keith DF Gregory	180	12+	2–	10+	bye =	4–	0	2½
9	David A Cordner	173	3=	11+	4–	bye =	5–	7=	2½
10	Timothy J Davis	165	5–	14+	8–	bye =	6–	11+	2½
11	James I Chilton	145	2=	9–	6–	bye =	14+	10–	2
12	Paul Northcott	161	8–	7–	14=	bye =	13+	3–	2
13	David J Deacon	157	bye +	1–	7=	3–	12–	14=	2
14	Mark A Potter	163	4–	10–	12=	bye =	11–	13=	1½