2023-24 News Bulletins

14 August 2024

Congratulations to Nick Hanne who followed up his victory in the 'Hand & Brain' competition the previous evening by claiming the Hereford KO Plate tournament with a win over Mark Calderwood in the final.

13 August 2024

A new event was held at Hereford Chess Club this evening.  5 pairs competed for the title of Hereford 'Hand & Brain' Champions where oneplayer announces the piece to move and his/her partner chooses where to move the piece to.  The event was a 5 round all-play all with Nick Hanne and John Preece claiming the title with a 100% winning record.  The pairings of Oliver Layton and Jack Clark shared second place with Aidan Jelf & Blake Newman. 

7 August 2024

Dillan Duke secured the Hereford Chess Club 'Triple Crown' this week.  His draw with black on Tuesday night against Lee Davis was enough to guarantee him victory in the Leslie Baker Swiss, and a win with the black pieces against the same opponent on Wednesday ensured that he retained the club knockout trophy that he won last season.

After beating Lee, Dillan even had time to play some offhand games: beating Henry Spedding 2-1 (although I suspect 'new member' Henry will be pleased with his victory), and Jack Clark was pleased to have forced a draw with Henry by sacrificing a bishopn on the g6 square in an offhand game.

1 August 2024

Congratulations to Dillan Duke, who drew with Andy Jenkins this afternoon and thereby secured the Herefordshire County Championship for the first time.

1 August 2024

The August ECF and FIDE ratings have been published and are available through the membership pages of this website.  Dillan Duke tops both rating lists for the Hereford club.  Dillan is now an England International; having represented England Juniors at the recent Glorney Cup event in Hull.

31  July 2024

A ten-board challenge match between Hereford and Leominster was the feature of this evening's chess in the function room at the Herdsman and Mark the landlord once again laid on sausages and chips for all the contestants.  Despite wins for Roger Aris, Jack Clark and Alex Adarski Leominster took the match 6-4.  Hereford club member Evelina Racheva chose to represent Leominster on the night and her upset victory on board 9 can be considered to have decided the match. 

The match scorecard is available on the Tournaments pages of this website.

In the county championship Lee Davis was able to scramble to a drawn endgame in the top of the table clash with Dillan Duke.

16  July 2024

Another well contested challenge match took place at the Herdsman this evening.  A 9-board match was arranged by match captain by Roger Aris well supported by Mark the landlord who laid on Sausages and Chips for all the contestants.  

A shock early reverse on top board was compounded by a loss on board 7 but Hereford's strength in depth came through once again and wins for Tom Dimaline on bottom board, and a mid-board checkmate from Nick Hanne on board 9 added to to Oliver Layton's victory on board 4 to give Hereford a one point lead.  Draws from Paul Barker, Will Slater and Henry Spedding (on his debut) meant that Kieran Lappin's game against the very experienced (and much higher rated) Ray Collett would decide the contest.  All the competitors huddled around board 3 to witness Kieran secure a draw on the board and a 5-4 win for Hereford.

The match scorecard is available on the Tournaments pages of this website.

15 July 2024

The July ratings have been posted on the membership pages of the website.

Congratulations to Dillan Duke for smashing through the 2100 barrier to maintain top ranking within the club.  Dillan is also Hereford's highest rated player on the FIDE list.

Most players have now graduated from Provisional ratings to full Active ratings and further congratulations should go to Alex Adarski as the  Most Improved Player with a rise of 170 rating points since December.  Also noteworthy are Aidan Jelf's rating rise of 150 points and Tom Dimaline's rise of 132 points (the most improved adult).  Nick Hanne's return to form with a rise of 88 ratings points should also be mentioned.  Those whose ratings have fallen should not be dispirited as in most cases this was as a result of moving from a Provisional rating to and Active rating and is a very usual occurence.

10  July 2024

The final standings in the Major Championship were decided in the first two weeks of July.  Once the dust had settled on three critical match-ups Nick Hanne and Jack Clark shared second place with Will Slater half a point behinf in fourth.

Javier Faucher progressed to the semi-final of the club plate with a replay victory over Tom Dimaline whilst Andy Jenkins and Less Collard split the point on board two of the Leslie Baker Swiss.  Roger Aris suffered further set-backs in rated challenge matches with losses against Kieran Lappin with white and Chris Tremayne with black.

All results and competition standings can be found on the 'Tournaments' pages of this website.

26 June 2024

A very good win for Avi Singh over Roger Aris in the club Major Championship was the stand-out performance of the evening at the Herdsman today.  Avi played a carfefully controlled tactical battle against Roger's uncastled king and was 3 pawns up when Roger dropped his rook to add to Avi's collection.

In the club plate Tom Dimaline and Javier Faucher played out a draw.  Javier had a rook and pawn vs. rook and perhaps should have played on to challenge Tom to demonstrate his knowledge of the drawing technique.

Having tasted victory for the first time last week Evelina Racheva is on a roll with another victory this evening over Leanne Balsdon; this time in the Leslie Baker Swiss where Will Slater and Mark Calderwood also played out a draw.

All results and competition standings can be found on the 'Tournaments' pages of this website.

20 June 2024

Hereford travelled to Worcester for the second year running for a challenge match agianst the Worcester City Chess Club.   The match was reduced from 5 boards to 4 when it was discovered that the board 5 clock had been set incorrectly and the players agreed to treat the game as a friendly but as a double-default with regard to the match score.  Lee Davis won am error strewn game on board one and Roger Aris won his game on board 4 to give Hereford a 2-1 lead with only Will Slater's rook endgame to play.  Will had rook and 2 pawns vs rook and duly won - to secure a 3-1 victory for Hereford when his opponent lost on time.

19 June 2024

Lee Davis could only manage to draw with the black pieces against Andy Jenkins in the county championship this evening and so lost ground on Dillan Duke who had earlier beaten Les collard with the white pieces to take the sole lead in the competition which continues to be a straight fight between the two protagonists.  Kieran Lappin and Chris Treemayne played out a draw in the same competition.

Nick Hanne defeated Kiegan Vallely to advance to the final of the club Plate.

Congratulations to Evcelina Racheva who secured her first ever victory in an official ECF rated game by beating Leanne Balsdon with the white pieces

Chris Tremayne drew with Roger Aris in a graded challenge game.

18 June 2024

The results of all official club games played in 2024 will be submitted to the ECF for rating purposes on 29 & 30 June.  This includes all tournaments, matches and official challenge games the results of which have been notified to the tournament director.  If any member wished his/her games to be rated by the ECF in the July rating list they must be played by Friday 28 June and the results submitted to the tournament director via the club noticeboard (or more directly if played after Wednesday 26 June).  

This would be a good time for members to check that all their results are correctly  entered on the club noticeboard and on the website.

All results and competition standings can be found on the 'Tournaments' pages of this website.

12 June 2024

An unfortunate slip by Edwin Joy helped Nick Hanne move into the semi-final of the club plate this evening, where he will face Kiegan Vallely for a place in the final.

There were games played in round 5 of the Leslie Baker Swiss.  Tom Dimaline capped a fine tournament with a win over Kiegan Vallely that will guarantee him at least a share of second place.  Tom used a long tactical sequence to win material and finished the game off through the use of a passed pawn.  Paul Barker beat Roger Aris with the black pieces whilst Chris Treamayne assured himself of a plus score with a win over Nick Tweddell.

Blake Newman defeated Leanne Balsdon to supplement his earlier victory over Evelina Racheva and secure a 9th place finish in the Minor Championship.

All results and competition standings can be found on the 'Tournaments' pages of this website.

5 June 2024

Congratulations to Tom Dimaline whose victory over Evelina Racheva secured the Minor Championship title with 9 points from 10 games.  Aiden Jelf secured a very creditable second place finish by drawing with Manuel Gonzalez to finish on 8 points from 10 games.

In the second semi-final of the club knockout Lee Davis with the white pieces defeated Paul Barker in a four-bishop endgame and will play Dillan Duke in the final.  Javier Faucher beat Patryk Bialowas in the plate competition and will meet  Tom Dimaline in the quarter final.

Two Challenge games were played: Aman Nisanth drew with Alex Adarski and Roger Aris drew with Chris Tremayne

All results and competition standings can be found on the 'Tournaments' pages of this website.

4 June 2024

Hereford travelled to Leominster for a 9-board challenge match this evening.  Despite defetas on the top two boards Hereford showed their strength in depth with wins from Tom Dimaline, Jack Clark, Aidan Jelf and Manuel Gonzalez; whilst Roger Aris' draw with Nick Hanne (who chose to represent Leominster) was enough for Hereford to claim a narrow 4.5-3.5 victory.

The full results can be found on the 'Tournaments' pages of this website.

29 May 2024

Congratulations to Paul Barker whose victories late in May over Will Slater (with white) and Jack Clark (with black) have ensured him of the major championship title with a final score of 12.5 points from 14 games.  There were also victories in this section for Jack Clark over Nick Hanne; Will Slater over Kiegan Vallely, and for Roger Aris (also over Kiegan Vallelly).  This leaves Will, Nick, Jack and Roger with games that will decide which of them finishes second, third, fourth, or fifth in that section.

In the Championship proper a tense encounter between Chris Tremayne and Kieran Lappin ended as a draw.

In the Minor Championship, Tom Dimaline's draw with Nick Twedell still leaves him needing to win his last game in order to claim the title.  Nick subsequntly played out a 'grandmaster draw' with Mark Claderwood whilst Manuel Gonzalez played a double header by beating Evelina Racheva after losing to Alex Adarski.

Roger Aris beat Avis Singh with the black pieces in the Leslie Baker Swiss, whilst Aman Nisanth will be very pleased with his victory over Les Collard in a challenge game

All results and competition standings can be found on the 'Tournaments' pages of this website.

21 May 2024

Two County Championship matches with impact on the top of the table took place upstairs at the Herdsman this Tuesday evening.  Dillan Duke won the exchange with the black pieces and converted this into a victory over Chris Tremayne.  A previously unreported draw between Dillan and Oliver Layton means that Dillan now has sole lead in the championship.  Lee Davis stayed in touch with Dillan in the two-way fight for the title with a narrow victory over Oliver.  It looked like Oliver was winning a pawn but there was a nasty tactic that would have won Lee a piece so instead Oliver had to go into a line where Lee had an extra pawn, albeit doubled, in a Bishop vs. Knight ending.  With pawns on both sides of the board such endings tend to favour the player with the bishop, but it may have been Oliver's commendable attempt to push for a win that ultimately cost him the game.

All results and competition standings can be found on the 'Tournaments' pages of this website.

15 May 2024

Lee Davis beat Javier Faucher with the white pieces in 14 moves this evening to once again draw level with Dillan Duke at the top of the County Championship table,  Earlier in the week Dillan had won his game with white against Andy Jenkins.  Two other championship games were played this evening, both of which ended in a draw.  Chris Tremayne survived a sharp tactical attack from Oliver Layton to secure his draw, whilst Les Collard was pleased to draw his game with 3rd seed Andy Jenkins.

In the Major section Paul Barker's victory over Nick Hanne assures him of at least a share of first place.  The only player who can now draw level with Paul is Jack Clark who delivered a fine victory with the black pieces over Kiegan Vallelly to keep his hopes alive.  However Paul needs only a draw from one of his two remaining games (one of which is against Jack) to secure the title outright.

Alex Adarski scored a commendable victory over Blake Newman in the Minor section.

All results and competition standings can be found on the 'Tournaments' pages of this website.

8 May 2024

There was a dramatic finish in the one County Championship game played this evening.  Javier Faucher was pressing hard for a victory over Kieran Lappin when he dropped a rook to an overlooked check on his king.  That one move blunder dropped Javier back to last place in the Championship table and enabled Kieran to move up to fifth.

In the Major Championship Paul Barker held a draw from second placed Nick Hanne to preserve his lead at the top of the standings.  Lower down the table Kiegan Valleley moved into 6th place with a win over last-placed Avi Singh, whilst Jack Clark put a dent in Will Slater's hopes of a second place finish by beating him with the black pieces.

There were three games played in the Minor Championship .  Mark Calderwood and Aidan Jelf kept up the pressure on leader; Mark Calderwood with wins over Evelina Racheva and Aman Nisanth respectively, and Manuael Gonzalez won his game against Leanne Balsdon.

Earlier in the week Nick Tweddell and Kiegan Vallely drew their game in round 4 of the Leslie Baker Swiss Tourmnament..

All results and competition standings can be found on the 'Tournaments' pages of this website.

1 May 2024

It was a night of shocks at the Herdsman this evening.  In the Championship Javier Faucher won a minor piece endgame by demonstrating the superiority of his knight over Andy Jenkins' bishop in a closed position.  In the Major Paul Barker's 100% record was blown apart when he lost his game by trapping his own queen when playing Roger Aris, and in the minor Tom Dimaline's 100% record was dented when forced to take a draw by perpetual check against Aidan Jelf.

Andy Jenkins and Oliver Layton are not yet out of contention but last week's win by Dillan Duke over Kiearn Lappin brought him level with Lee Davis at the top of the Championship standings and with six games to go the title seems to be a straight fight bewteen these two; with Dillan probaly having the easier run-in.  Chris Tremayne and Les Collard agreed an early draw in the only other game played in this section .

Despite Paul Barker's loss the Major section remains firmly under his control.  Will Slater drew his game with Kiegan Vallely, which he may see as a slight slip in his fight with Nick Hanne and Jack Clark for second place.  Similarly Tom Dimaline remains in control of the Minor section but Aidan Jelf's result, coupled with his earlier victory over Mark Calderwood, establishes him as Tom's main challenger should he slip up in his last two games.

With the white pieces Lee Davis won Rook & Bishop ending with an exrtra pawn in a challenge game against Lieran Lappin

17 April 2024

Although officially an open evening several compettitve games featured at the Herdsman this evening' whilst the younger club members were able to enjoy some offhand games.   After Dillan Duke's win against Andy Jenkins the week before Lee Davis needed to win with the black pieces against Paul Barker to have any chance of challenging Dillan for the Leslie Baker swiss Trophy.  It did not look good for Lee for the most of the game but an injudicious rook move by Paul gave Lee the opportunity to take the game into a 'better bishop' endgame which he duly won assisted by Paul's time pressure.  Also in the swiss. Kieran Lappin was able to win a theoretically drawn opposite coloured bishop ending against Mark Calderwood when Mark dropped a second pawn and this proved too great a deficit for him to hold the draw.

In the County Championship a complicated position accrued between Andy Jenkins and Chris Tremayne.  With all the major pieces exchanged a closed position with 6 pawns each was fought out between the 8 remaining minor pieces.  Although Chris was having the best of it a draw was agreed when Andy seemd to have been able to prevent Chris from converting his space advantage into a material one.  There was a good win for Aidan Jelf over Nick Tweddell in the Minor Chamiponship, and Kiegan Vallely beat Jack Clark in the plate.

1 April 2024

The new ECF and FIDE ratings have been published today.  Lee Davis' poor form of late widens the lead Dillan Duke holds at the top of the list of Hereford players and his No.1 spot is now confirmed as applying at the world level too as a FIDE ratings gap of 14 points opens up between the two players.

Lee Davis' performance at the Welsh Championship looks unlikely to be enough to close that gap despite the 19th seed finishing with a share of 11th place with only two losses; one to the holder of the title and eventual  winner of this years' championship, and one to the world middle-weight chess-boxing champion.

27 March 2024

Lee Davis moved into sole lead in the County championship with a rather fortunate win over Kieran Lappin in the only game played in the championship proper this evening.  Kieran had Lee in trouble for much of the game before allowing Lee to free his white squared bishop and elicit a sporting early resignation when Kieran dropped a pawn.

In the Major championship all 8 players were in action.  Paul Barker extended his winning run to 8 games by defeating Kiegan Vallely while Nick Hanne, Will Slater and Jack Clark kept 2nd, 3rd, and 4th places respectively with wins with the black pieces over Avi Singh, Roger Aris, and Ruben Mathey.

Many social chess games were played whilst the competition part of the evening was completed with games in the Minor Championship. Tom Dimaline confirmed his lead in the section by beating Alex Adarski, and Aman Nisanth won a tactical game with Nick Tweddell where the advantage fluctuated between the two players.  Manual Gonzalez won his game against Aman Nisanth's 'double-header' and Evelina Racheva played her fiirst ever tournament game - which ended in a win for Peter Davies,

Tournament standings can be found on the 'Tournaments' pages of this website.