Four matches and a wedding

November has thrown up some interesting results for Snodland, and Snodland players representing Kent.

The first Tom Fuller match of the season, away to Maidstone, produced some very exciting games with the points all going with the white pieces. Snodland went 2-0 up in under half an hour, with strong attacks developing from 1. d4 openings by Pete Hickey and Matt Gazes. Unfortunately, the Maidstone contingent produced two fine attacking displays on boards two and four, tying the match after Neil Miners and Nick Allen both fell to strong kingside play.

Snodland was well represented in the first county games for the U100 and U140 Kent teams, playing Essex away. Strong performances in the U140 division saw Kent come away with an overwhelming victory, overseen by Tyrone Jeffries, captaining on behalf of David Lettington. Both of the Snodland players in the U100 division won their games, however the disappointingly large number of byes conceded by Kent contributed to overall defeat.

Snodland hosted an extremely strong Maidstone side in the Stevenson cup. The loss of several key Snodland players to illness lead to the team being heavily outgraded, and under the circumstances the scoreline of 4.5-1.5 was to be expected. Congratulations to Ben Spink for the sole win for Snodland, and to Nick Allen for a gruelling draw against a higher rated opponent.

Away to Rainham in the En Passant cup, wins by Pete Hickey, Ben ("Mr. Reliable") Spink and David Fowler were enough to tie the match 3-3 on the boards. In an unusual turnup for the books, Rainham had turned out with an overgraded team (average grade ~ 142 compared to a 140 limit) - the half point deduction was enough to give the win to Snodland, 2.5-3!

In other Snodland Chess Club news, congratulations and best wishes to David Lettington and Ruth for their marriage on 25th October.

A busy start to the new season!

In the few weeks since the start of the season, there has been a lot going on at Snodland.

A team composed of Ben Spink, Matt Bunn, David Nicholls and David Lettington took on some very strong competetion in the National Handicap Rapidplay competiton. Despite being heavily outgraded by some of the teams participating, the team placed as runners up, with an excellent set of results by Ben being particularly encouraging for the coming season.

The first match of the season for the club itself was the Len Hammond Memorial Shield. This friendly match will be held annually between Snodland and Maidstone in the future as a memorial for a greatly missed member of both clubs. Snodland were beaten 5-2, however the match was played in great spirit with fine chess across the boards.

In the two league matches played so far this season, Snodland have given a good account of themselves. A 2.5 - 3.5 defeat in the first Stevenson Cup game played by Snodland, at home to Folkestone, was a fine result by a heavily outgunned Snodland. Wins by Pete Hickey and Ben Spink put the game in the balance, but after some very long and hard fought games on boards two to five, only David Myles was able to hold on for the draw. In the Harvey Cup, Snodland finished 3-3 against Thanet, in a mirror image of the fixture last season! At one win apiece, Tyrone Jeffries wove through a tricky middlegame to reach an excellent ending, however a very neat stalemate resource prevented Snodland from taking the match.

Snodland Win Again

Snodland Chess Club have once again won yet another final!!!

This time it was the National Club Minor Championships. The Journey of the tournament started with a tough Maidstone side in which Snodland won the game very tightly on board count! Our next opponents was a strong Rainham side in which Snodland overcame to reach the Semi-finals. Snodland then had to beat Wanstead with a slightly weaker side than normal but overcame all odds when on the day to sail us to the final...Again! On Sunday the 12th of July National Finals day came and we were up against another very strong Hackey team (who knocked us out in the semi-finals of the National Club u100 section thus preventing Snodland from retaining that title (as you can tell, a bit of revenge was of the essence)). The final score fell 2.5-1.5 to Snodland taking victory of the match and the championship to cap off another excellent season of the club. A big well done to the captain David Lettinton who did a fantastic job running the team/s. And also to Tyrone Jefferies whom although wasn't present at finals day stepped in and once again picked up valuable points for the club when it really mattered. So a big well done for those 2 and to the team itself who have all played very well. A deserved trophy!



An honours board will shortly be available to view

Len Hammond

Len Hammond very sadly passed away last week. Len was a very loyal member to both Snodland and Maidstone Chess Club. He had a great sense of humour when at the club, always played for fun and was a joy to be around. He will be fondly remembered and greatly missed.


Rest in Peace
Len Hammond

Neil Wins the B-League

Neil Miners has successfully won the B-League for the season 2008/09! Many congratulations to him on what has been a fine and successful season.

Successful events at the Club

In the absense of the blogs Snodland has had a lot to talk about over the past few months!

We as a Club have reached 2 National Semi-finals, A county Final (once again) just when we thought the club couldn't get any more successful than last year it proves that we have done it again this year.

Furthermore we actually Won the county final of the Tom Fuller cup! Excellently led by the Captain Doug Smith who had a fantastic record all through the season and to all the teams players. Snodland got through the National Club Minor Championship final with a great win over Wanstead. Tremendous wins from David Nicholls and Tyrone Jefferies, a well faught draw by Chris Marshall who from what I'm told could have won against his higher rated opponent, and David Lettington unfortunately lost but again a great effort from the captain, who has sailed yet another team to a final, and not just with the club! Snodland failed to retain the National Club u100 trophy to a well prepared Hackney team who we wish all the best in the final.

Elsewhere in the past few months we now have the official A-league Champion! Matthew Bunn won the league with 2 games to spare after beating a tough David Fowler to seal his seasoned victory. Every player has played some exceptional chess this season and credit goes to everyone who took part. I have a feeling that with the continued rise in the attraction of players each season that next years leagues will be even tougher for certain.

Snodland also held their Speed Chess Tournament in which was won in the end by Matthew Bunn. Narrowly beating Bob Fenn to reach the final, him and David Fowler was to battle out this grueling game in which Matthew just about scraped a victory to seal a 2nd title this year.

Elswhere in the Challenge Trophy Matthew overcame Chris Marshall in the semi-final to play Doug Smith who triumphed over David Fowler in the other Semi-final to battle it out next Thursday at the club to decide the winner.

Neil Miners is now looking for Snodland's 'Game of the Year Award' for the 3rd year running. If you have a game that is worthy of the game of the year that has been played for the club then hand in the score sheet to either Neil Miners of David Lettington where it will be considered against other games to decide the award.

One Final reminder to all is the '2nd SNODLAND RAPIDPLAY CONGRESS' which is held at the Wolfe Centre in Holmesdale School, Malling Rd, Snodland, Kent ME6 5HS on SATURDAY 18th JULY. Early entry is advised as spaces are limited. This congress also holds the 'KENT INDIVIDUAL RAPIDPLAY CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP.' This tournament promises to be strong, fun and plently of money prizes and general prizes at the end. A link to the official website and more info at: http://www.snodlandcongress.blogspot.com/

Recent Progress

Snodlands prestigous A-league is going very well indeed and has some very interesting line ups. Matthew Bunn is leading the league but still has some very tough games (notably against David Fowler and Bob Fenn who we know to be "hard to beat" players and who are still in the running for the title). David Fowler doing very well also who is still a main challenger for honours at the end of the season. Most notable progress has been Len Hammond who has had some brilliant results in the league and is emphatically shining in the league. A brilliant turnout for him. Some very unlucky results from Nick in his games where from what is told he had the advantages in his games but very unfortunately lost, but still is by every means a very strong player has to be considered as that.

A few results in the Harvey has swindled our way and vice versa. We won against Tonbridge 2 at home 4.5 - 1.5 which was very convincing and brilliant results from all players.

We very unfortunately lost against the ever strong maidstone where we looked strong on every board but in the end swindled their way to overcome us 3.5 - 2.5. However a fantastic contribution from Soriah Williams on board 6 beating Brian Stock and also to Nick and David Fowler also for their results. Tyrone Jefferies, Henry Williams and Matthew Bunn were believed to be either winning or materially ahead in their games which they unfortunately lost to very strong opponents indeed.

However bouncing back from the unfortunate match against Maidstone, we beat Weald of Kent where indeed we were the fortunate and lucky ones. The match finished 3.5 - 2.5 to Snodland but the last two games more or less finished at the same time (about 3 minutes before both players times were up, and lead to a very quickplay finish) Snodland were 1.5 - 2.5 down where David Fowler beat Henry Cove on time and thus levelled the match, very shortly afterwards Matthew Bunn beat a strong David Warrick on board one on time but was a whole Bishop up and if more time required I think the game would have favoured Matthew and the Bishop. So a result Snodland were satisfied with.

Elsewhere in the En Passant Snodland 1 lost to Folkestone which made certainty that Snodland 1 Could not go through, However credit must be mentioned to David Nicholls who drew to Jim Bayford 185 which was thought to be a fantastic result for Snodlands board 1. And also to Tyrone Jefferies who won and who has believed to of had a brilliant season in terms of his results. David Fowler once again being his solid style drew to Chris Siebert who is a good player and again we very rarely see David Fowler losing. A Fantastic season for him also with many wins and draws and the one we always want to see, very few losses.

Also a victory for the En Passant team where we again overcame Tunbridge Wells 4-2 a brilliant result from David Fowler, Chris Marshall and Matthew Bunn who all won on boards 2, 3 and 4. Tyrone and Nick also achieving draws, while David Nicholls unfortunately lost. We all know the results he can pull off but even with Grandmasters, not everyone can pull off the results they want because chess nowadays is becoming so much more flexible and stronger. Saying that David is 9 times out of 10 on the stronger side of things than most of his opponents.

As always more to follow soon

Snodland's 5th Anniversary

On Thursday the 18th of December Snodland celebrated its 5th year as a chess club. To celebrate we had Steve Giddins come down to do some coaching to an eager audience. Before starting Steve very kindly presented some awards for everybody that participated in the success of winning the Harvey Cup last season.



Steve showed us some fantastic games with the Kings Gambit (one memorable game with Shirov at a very young age smashing his opponent as white with the gambit). He mentioned it was an opening that is do or die, as it can become very promising but very exposing. Also mentioning that Mark Hebdon is a fantastic expert of the Kings Gambit and can demonstrate just how lethal it can be.

After some examples he then moved on to some puzzles etc where the audience could chip in, in what they were thinking. Overall it was a fantastic night, well celebrated and with the success the club is having of late, we hope next years anniversary will celebrate even more successfull aspects of the season.