News Archive
Season Round-Up
14th August, 2019
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London League: Overall in the London League we a very good season. Our 1st team were solidly mid-table comfortably avoiding our perennial struggle against relegation. The addition of three or four strong players this coming season should see us mount a real challenge for promotion to the 1st Division. Our 2nd team showed the real progress the Club has made over the past couple of years by securing promotion to the 3rd Division as Champions. Our experimental Major team struggled a bit in the Major Division but it's purpose was to provide games and London League experience for our lower graded and new players. This coming season we will be withdrawing the Major team and entering a 3rd team in the 4th Division of the main League.
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Kent League: It's perhaps fair to say that overall our performance in the Kent League fell a little short of recent standards. Only our 1st team made it through to Finals Day in the Lewis Cup where we were beaten in a very close match v Beckenham 1. Our 3rd team reached the Semi-Finals of the Stevenson Cup where we suffered a shock 2-4 reverse against a considerably weaker Maidstone 2 team. In the En-Passant a defeat in our final group stage match v Petts Wood 4 prevented progression to the Semi-Final stage. Distinctly average seasons from our Harvey, Tom Fuller and Intro teams meant we were never in contention for Semi-Final berths in any of those competitions.
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Croydon League: As a Club we have tended to do fairly well in the Croydon League in recent seasons. Last season was disappointingly barren but this season we returned to winning ways. Our performance in the Martin Cath Trophy however was somewhat below average, finishing just above the wooden spoon position but in the Dave Luckin Trophy we went from wooden spoon to Champions. An unfortunate last day defeat to Streatham C meant they picked up the Deric Cox Trophy, but an exciting last match v South Norwood R saw us pick up the David Hodgson Rapidplay Trophy by the skin of our teeth meaning we picked up two of the four trophies we contested this season. In February a Lewisham quartet brought home the Bielski Cup, the Croydon League's Team Blitz Tournament to put the cherry on top of our Croydon League campaign.
January Round-Up
30th January, 2019
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The start to the busy New Year schedule saw the London League 1st team comprehensively outclass Div 2 strugglers East Ham 1 8.5-1.5 to maintain our bright start to the season. Unfortunately our Major team, up against a strong Spartacus line-up, slumped to a 1.5-2.5 defeat despite London League skipper Andrew Craig's lead-from-the-front win.
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On the same night we also had an En Passant Cup match at the Club v Dartford 2. Massive frustration for yours truly, acting as stand-in captain for the evening, as I watched our team race to a 3-1 lead only to see Syd let a good chance of a draw slip and then Steven miss a clear win to slide to defeat under time pressure to present our opponents with what was, for most of the evening, a most unlikely 3-3 draw.
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No such problem's for Mike Wood's Harvey team a week later as they hammered under-strength Charlton 2 6-0. Our Dave Luckin team weren't able to emulate that performance as we were held 2-2 by Wallington. The following evening saw more frustration for yours truly as we travelled to reigning Martin Cath Champions Old Whitgiftians. Poor David Hamilton couldn't find the venue and only arrived after his default time had come and gone. Dimitrios ground out an implausible win on Bd 1 whilst Tim agreed a quick draw on Bd 2. Bd 3 was a default loss and Gokhan on Bd 4 ran into a dangerous mating attack which he could only repulse with material loss and positional disadvantage which his opponent duly converted for the win to hand us a 1.5-2.5 defeat overall.
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More disappointment for us the following Monday as our Intro team travelled the short distance to take on Charlton 3. Cristiano soon found himself a piece and pawn down and couldn't hold his position. Next to finish was Brendan who engineered a beautiful smother mate against his highly talented junior opponent, who was playing on the back of winning his last tournament outing with 6 out of 6! Alas, that was the end of the highlights as Max ran into a mating attack and Owen struggled to a draw, also against a very talented junior, for a final match score of 1.5-2.5
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Two days later saw the beginning of a flurry of activity in the Stevenson Cup as our Stevenson 2 team hosted Petts Wood 2 and our Stevenson 3 team hosted Sidcup 1. A mixed bag on the night saw our S2 team slump to a 2.5-3.5 defeat and our S3 team outmuscle Sidcup 1 4.5-1.5.
The following Tues our S2 team bounced back with a fine 3.5-2.5 away win at Gravesend 1 which was then matched the next night by our S3 team who hosted and bested the very dangerous Petts Wood 3 team 4-2. (See above match report by S3 captain Tim Gluckman)
Lewisham Team Blitz Tournament
30th August 2017
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The 2nd Lewisham Team Blitz Tournament took place on Weds Aug 30th. Eight teams from all over South London and Kent competed for the winner-take-all prize.
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The Tournament lead was hotly contested all the way through between Petts Wood and Streatham B. Entering the last round they were tied on 15.5 points each and due to face each other in a head-to-head showdown. First blood went to Petts Wood on Board 4 courtesy of a win for their Captain, John Cook. Boards 3 and 2 ended in draws and the top board was eventually won by Streatham's Martin Smith resulting in a match score of 2-2 and a final points total of 17.5 each. Petts Wood won the Tournament by virtue of having won the same amount of matches as Streatham B but by drawing more matches.
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Congratulations to John Cook and his team of Mikey Watson, Conrad Allison and Jacob Watson!
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The Player of the Tournament was a lot more straightforward and had already been wrapped up before the final round started. Congratulation's to Lewisham's Edward Small, who's only loss came in the final round, for a fine score of 6/7.
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Many Thanks to all who took part in what was an enjoyable if sometimes slightly chaotic, tournament. There is a link to the Googlesheet for the tournament here where you can access all individual and team stats and look at a round-by-round breakdown.
Final Destination
9th July, 2017
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Sunday 14th May saw Lewisham take two teams to the KCCA Finals Day at Dartford to compete in the Lewis and Tom Fuller finals v Rainham 1 and Petts Wood 4 respectively.
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Despite being evenly matched in terms of average grade, Lewisham 1 were pretty much dismantled by Rainham 1 in the Lewis Cup. 3 losses
and 3 draws saw us slump to a 1.5-4.5 defeat on the day. However, there was better news in the Tom Fuller where 2 wins and 2 draws
saw us lift the Trophy with a 3-1 scoreline, Congratulations to Gokhan, Steven and Cristiano (pictured) who along with David Hamilton were
our Champion team in the Tom Fuller. Commiserations to our Lewis team who scored some remarkable results on the way to the Final.
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In the London League our 1st team put up a great fight in going down 6-4 to the promoted Cavendish team. Our 2nd team's faint promotion
hopes were finally extinguished by a 4-4 draw v Metropolitan 3 in our last match of the season.
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Better news in the Croydon League, where Lewisham won 2 trophies on the same night without even playing! Our Dave Luckin team had already finished their campaign with 6/7 but could be pipped to the title by West Wickham C who went into their last match v South Norwood C on 5.5/6. A win would clinch the title for West Wickham but any other result would see the Title retained by Lewisham C on game count. Similarly, in the Dave Hodgson Rapidplay Division Lewisham R, having played all their games, sat at the top of the table on 2 match points, ahead of both Streatham R and Crystal Palace R both on 1.5 points. A win for either would see the winner take the title, a draw would hand the trophy to Lewisham by 0.5 of a game point. South Norwood C v West Wickham C ended in a 2-2 draw, Streatham R v Crystal Palace R ended in a 4-4 draw. Lewisham triumphant in both competitions!
Season Round-Up
9th July, 2017
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London League Div 1:
Champions: Wood Green 1
Relegated: Mushrooms 1, Drunken Knights 2
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London League Div 2:
Promoted: Wanstead & Woodford 1
8th Place: Lewisham1
Relegated: Streatham & Brixton 2*, Athenaeum 2 (*If two teams are relegated)
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London League Div 3:
Champions: East Ham 1
Promoted: Mushrooms 2
Relegated: DHSS 1*, Kings Head 3 (*If two teams are relegated)
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London League Div 4:
Champions: Wanstead & Woodford 2
Promoted: Battersea 3
4th Place: Lewisham 2
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Kent League:
County Cup: Beckenham_Bromley 1
Lewis Cup: Rainham 1
Stevenson Cup: Sevenoaks 1
En Passant: Beckenham_Bromley 2
Harvey Cup: Petts_Wood 3
Tom Fuller: Lewisham 5
Intro Cup: Sidcup 4
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Croydon League:
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Croydon Shield: West Wickham A
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Martin Cath Trophy: West Wickham B
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Dave Luckin Trophy: Lewisham C
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Dave Hodgson Trophy (Rapidplay): Lewisham R
Richard Haddrell
2nd October 2016
It is with great sadness that Lewisham Chess Club has learned of the passing of Richard Haddrell on Friday 30th September.
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Richard was a fantastic servant of chess in the South East for Club, County and at National level. As well as holding senior positions with the KCCA, the SCCU and as grading administrator, controller of the National Schools Championship and member of the Governance Committee of the ECF, Richard played for many years for Tunbridge Wells and was well known to many Lewisham members past and present as a fine friend and a worthy opponent.
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We offer our deepest condolences to Richard's family and all his many friends in the chess world and beyond.
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Details of Richard's funeral arrangements will be announced on the ECF website as soon as they are known.
Croydon League Rule Change
22nd September, 2016
At the CDCL AGM on Mon 19th Sep it was decided that a new timing system would be trialled for this season at CCF Chess Club.
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The AGM decided that the league would trial three-hour playing sessions in CCF home matches. These will work as follows (as also covered in the updated rules):
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- Play will start promptly at 7:30PM (rather than 7:40PM) with any delay borne on the clock of the home player;
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- The time controls for adjudication and adjournment game types will remain as present;
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- The time control for quickplay finishes will be 30 moves in 60 minutes and then an additional 30 minutes (rather than 20 minutes) to finish;
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- As an alternative to a quickplay finish, opposing players may agree to use a Fischer time control with one hour start time and a 30-second increment before each move.
Please would all team captains with away fixtures at CCF take note, especially of the earlier start time.
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Angus French, Croydon League Controller
London League Fixture Cancellation
20th September 2016
Unfortunately Woodbridge have had to withraw their team from the London League due to player withdrawals. Subsequently our match v Woodbridge 1 has been cancelled. We wish them all the best and hope for their speedy return.
Ted Mason Trophy
4th September 2016
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The 2016 Ted Mason Trophy was held on Sunday 4th Sep and is a handicapped quickplay tournament with each player sharing a 30 minute playing time according to their relative grades.
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Despite in many cases having only 3 to 7 minutes for his moves Mark Robertson strolled through the competition serenely and scored a magnificent 7/7, winning the trophy for another year and pocketing the £22 first prize. Tim Gluckman and David Hamilton shared the £8 second prize with a respectable 4/7 each.
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Many thanks to Andrew for running a very smooth competition and for providing much-needed sustenance for this long session of games and to everyone who took part in a very enjoyable Sunday afternoon experience.
Team Blitz Tournament
31st August 2016
8 teams competed in the inaugral Lewisham Team Blitz Tournament.
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Lewisham fielded two teams and Crystal Palace, Streatham, Chislehurst, Dartford, Sidcup and Petts Wood each sent one team.
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Despite an organisational hiccup at the start the whole tournament ran very smoothly and was played in a fantastic spirit.
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Over the board Crystal Palace, the current Bielski Cup holders, reigned supreme and ran out worthy winners despite a valiant chase by both Lewisham 1 and Streatham.
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Crystal Palace won the tourney with a game score of 21.5 points, winning 6 and drawing one of their 7 matches, heading Lewisham 1 and Streatham by 3 and 3.5 points respectively.
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Aided in no small part by No. 2 board John Bennett who scored a remarkable 7/7 and walked away with the £12 individual prize for the tournament's best player to add to his share of the £48 prize awarded to Crystal Palace for winning the tourney. Congratulations to them and a huge thanks to everybody who took part.
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See you next year!
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Martin Stewart.