News

Plinth Plaques Update

The Wilson cup plinth which had an extension recently has had two plaques added. These record the winners that were missing from previous season's. The first plaque was an aluminium one filling the last possible place on one of the tiers of the plinth. This recorded Feliks Kwiatkowski's 2017 win. The second plaque in sterling silver records the more recent winners up to the present date. Two images below show both plaques added to the plinth.

Sussex AGM Yesterday

Richard Welford captain of the Lewes Paul Watson Trophy side is presented with the trophy following Lewes's defeat of Bexhill in the final this season.

Sussex County Chess Association AGM

The AGM will be held Tuesday, 16/09/25 at St Mary's Supporters Club, Christie Road, Lewes, BN7 1PL. The meeting will start from 7:45 pm.

Agenda

President's welcome and opening remarks.
Apologies for absence.
Minutes of last AGM..
Matters arising from the minutes.
Treasurer's report.
Election of Officers.
Open team and Minor counties team captain reports.
Tournament Controller's report.
County championship report.
ECF and SCCU delegate comments..
Presentation of trophies..
A.O.B.

3RD Sussex University Chess Tournament

Please see below for various events and entry. It would be great if this Sussex event got good local support as it so richly deserves.

Treasurer Vacancy

After many years of service, Jim Wheeler has expressed his desire to step back, from the Treasurer's office. He has said he will continue until a replacement is forthcoming.

Those interested, please, contact myself[webmaster] at P.Batchelor@outlook.com

League AGM

The Sussex league AGM is set for 22/07/25. The venue is the St Marys Supporters Club, Christie Road, Lewes BN7 1PL.

The meeting usually starts around 8.p.m. Please, make every effort to attend and support this Chess event.

Wilson Cup Plinth Extension

Due to a lack of space to add further winners names. The decision was taken to add an extension to the current plinth. Later a silver roll will be added so further names can be engraved. See the image below showing the plinth with the extension.

Minor Counties Semi-Final versus Cambridgeshire

Sussex faced Cambridgeshire at a venue, we had not attended for some time. Wanstead House was the venue for the semi-final match with Cambridgeshire. We had been the ECF champions the previous season. This time we weren't to prevail. Cambridgeshire were to win by 9.5-6.5. Wins recorded for Sussex by Paul Edwards, Henry Cove and Luke Chapman. Please see, ECF LMS page lms.englishchess.org.uk/lms/fixture/92144

Sussex League Report

All fixtures in the Sussex league have now been completed. The winners for each division are now known.

The Division 4 champions are Brighton & Hove 4. Congratulations to the Brighton & Hove 4 team.

The Division 3 champions are Worthing 2. Congratulations to the Worthing 2 team.

The Division 2 champions are Bexhill 2. Congratulations to the Bexhill 2 team.

The Division 1 champions are Worthing 1. Congratulations to the Worthing 1 team

Worthing 1 reach unassailable lead in Division 1 of the Sussex League.

Subsequent to a convincing 3-1 victory over Bexhill, Worthing have reached an unassailable position in Division 1 of the league. Please see below for the ECF LMS card

lms.englishchess.org.uk/lms/fixture/49451

The McArthur Cup

The tournament was well supported with eight teams entering the event this season. In the final Hastings & St Leonards played East Grinstead. East Grinstead were to win by 4-2. Please see the LMS page lms.englishchess.org.uk/lms/fixture/93495 . Congratulations to the East Grinstead team.

Paul Watson Trophy.

The competition was very well supported this season with ten teams entering the event. In the final Bexhill 1 played Lewes. Lewes were to win by 2½-1½. Please see the LMS page lms.englishchess.org.uk/lms/fixture/93435 . Congratulations to the Lewes team.

Sussex versus Somerset[ Minor Counties Competition].

Sussex faced Somerset at the quarter-final stage last Saturday. The match was held at Newton Tony Memorial Hall. Sussex were to win by a score of 11-5. In the next round Sussex face Cambridgeshire. The venue for this will be in Essex. If all goes well Wanstead House will be the venue. See below for the ECF LMS page .

lms.englishchess.org.uk/lms/fixture/92150

2nd Sussex University Chess Tournament

The second Sussex University Chess Tournament is to be held 25-26th January. Please see below for details and registration

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScVJL2-JKyyiPFXkLJjObmHh5JubNAfNqHheOxMeQllQTnA8g/viewform?usp=sf_link

Sussex Open team win against Kent Open team

The first win of the 2024-25 season came for Sussex in their home tie with Kent. This was a very convincing win with a six point margin. for the full match card please see

lms.englishchess.org.uk/lms/fixture/68827

Sussex County Chess Association AGM

The AGM will be held Tuesday, 17/09/24 at St Mary's Supporters Club, Christie Road, Lewes, BN7 1PL. The meeting will start from 7:45 pm.

Agenda

President's welcome and opening remarks.
Apologies for absence.
Minutes of last AGM..
Matters arising from the minutes.
Treasurer's report.
Election of Officers.
Open team and Minor counties team captain reports.
Tournament Controller's report.
County championship report.
ECF and SCCU delegate comments..
Presentation of trophies..
A.O.B.

Sussex versus Lincolnshire, Minor Counties final

Another very close match. After the last game finished the sides were tied 8-8. The first tie-break was board count. Sussex came out victors by a 27-41 board count. Included are some photos taken by Paul Edwards just following the Sussex victory. The ECF website should have further pictures including a team shot in due course. So for 2024 Sussex are the Federation Minor Counties champions. Here is a link to the match sheet. Please see lms.englishchess.org.uk/lms/league_fixture/215777 Also, for those interested a link to the individual games of the encounter lichess.org/broadcast/ecf-county-championship-minor-counties/round-1/OuEJ7R0A#boards Well done everyone who played at some stage during the course of the competition. This would not have been achieved without your support. Thank you, Paul.

Wilson cup-Sussex Individual Championship

There were five entries for this event. In the opening round Andrew Briggs won against Hooman Honarvarmahalati. The two semi-finals pitted Andrew Briggs versus Luke Rutherford and Russell Granat versus Feliks Kwiatkowski. Luke Rutherford was to win the first semi-final and Russell Granat the second. In the final Russell Granat was to face Luke Rutherford. This was a minimum of two games. The first encounter was a draw with Luke Rutherford having the white pieces. In the second encounter Russell Granat having white defeated his opponent thereby winning the final and the competition. Congratulations to Russell. For results see ecflms.org.uk/lms/league_comp/212971/rounds

McArthur cup competition

There were six entries to the competition this season. In the first round Hastings & St Leonards beat Bexhill and Sussex University beat Horsham. In the semi-finals Lewes beat Hastings & St Leonards and East Grinstead beat Sussex University. The final was Lewes against East Grinstead. This was to go East Grinstead's way and they ran out winners by 4.5-1.5. Congratulations to East Grinstead for winning the tournament this season. For the match card see ecflms.org.uk/lms/league_fixture/214041

Sussex versus Norfolk, Minor Counties semi-final

A tense match culminated in a memorable finale. Two late wins by James Mansson and Feliks Kwiatkowski, lastly, drew the scores level 8-8. The tie breaks were then in. On the first tie break Sussex were to prove winners by 46-60[ the lower score being the superior total]. Please see lms.englishchess.org.uk/lms/league_fixture/215779

Paul Watson Trophy

There were ten entries to the competition this season. This was the most widely supported competition for the Sussex Association this season. In the opening round Shoreham defeated Sussex University by 3-1. Likewise Uckfield defeated Hastings & St Leonards by 3.5-0.5.. The next stage was the quarter-final. East Grinstead was to face Shoreham and won by a 3-1 score-line. Bognor & Arun faced a Horsham side but were able to overcome their opponents by 2.5-1.5. Bexhill played Uckfield and were to win by 3-1. The last quarter-final was Lewes versus Crowborough. This was to end 2-2. Lewes proceeded through board elimination tie-break. The semi-final saw Bognor & Arun face East Grinstead . This went 2.5-1.5 in Bognor & Arun's favour. Bexhill faced Lewes in the other semi-final. Lewes prevailed by 3.5-0,5. Lewes played Bognor & Arun in the final. The scores were level 2-2. This was decided by board count tie-break in Bognor & Arun's favour. Congratulations to Bognor & Arun on their tournament success this season. for results see lms.englishchess.org.uk/lms/league_comp/188657/efixtures

Sussex versus Worcestershire[ Minor Counties] at Appleford.

In a close encounter Sussex just managed to edge out Worcestershire and proceed to the next stage. The match result was determined by the outcome of the final game which was decided in Sussex's favour.

Below are some picture taken by Ray Collet, the Worcestershire President, who also took part in the event. Even winning his game for the Worcestershire side.

For the LMS match card see ecflms.org.uk/lms/league_fixture/215780

39th Crowborough Chess Congress

24th February 2024

Details of the winners and prize-winners can be found above. Callum Brewer was kind enough to volunteer to transport the Joe Beiderbeck cup to the congress and came away with joint first place in the very same event. Congratulations to all winners and prize-winners.

Caplin Hastings International Chess Congress

The Caplin Hastings Chess Congress will run from 28th December until 7th January this time round. There are a whole host of events to enter for all standards of player. Below is an email received from GM Stuart Conquest concerning the upcoming event.

Hi Paul,

Just following on from Mark's email of yesterday, it would of course be a pleasure to welcome any Brighton and Hove players to our traditional Congress, now in its 97th edition.

The website is here: Caplin Hastings International Chess Congress – December 28th 2023 to January 7th 2024. We have various sections, according to rating and of different duration, with many events FIDE-rated. Current confirmed entries can be found through a link to chess-results on our site.

Please do help us by sharing this information among your club members, as well as with others who you think may be interested - with grateful thanks.

Kind regards,

Stuart Conquest.

Stuart is in charge of running the tournament this time round. I can heartily recommend participation in this event and have enjoyed many times it's various tournaments. See the link above for the various details.

County Open team win against reigning England Counties Champions.

Sussex as the home side had a fine win against Middlesex over the weekend just gone. Despite being 3-0 down Sussex came back to win by a 3 point margin. There were a total of

six wins for the County. See below :

ecflms.org.uk/lms/league_fixture/188266

https://ecflms.org.uk/lms/league_fixture/188266

Paul Watson trophy received back from engravers.

The Paul Waton Trophy was collected from the engravers today. As agreed all past winners are listed on it's plinth. It has been inscribed as agreed at the AGM in August. The current winners 2022-23 are Lewes. A very diligent and organised Officer Paul Watson was a great servant to Sussex chess.

What's in a name?

What for many of us has been the Mid-Sussex Chess League for years, has had a change in name. At The AGM held in June a motion was passed to change the name to 'Sussex Chess League'. It is true that for a long time the league has expanded beyond it's initial 'mid-Sussex' area. Perhaps Sussex Chess League is a more fitting term, given the extended geographical area the league now covers. For results in see ecflms.org.uk/lms/node/36512

County Championship

There were two entries for the championship this year,

The two entries were Feliks Kwiatkowski and Andrew Briggs.

The format was a two game match final. In the first game Feliks

Kwiatkowski won with the white pieces. The next encounter resulted in a draw.

The result a win for Feliks Kwiatkowski in the championship of 2022-23.

Feliks retains the title.

Please send any news items to P.Batchelor@outlook.com

A new trophy has been procured for the Paul Watson Trophy event. Please see below. Past winners will be inscribed as well as the current winners Lewes.