WELLS Chess Club had a great result in their Online 4NCL match. It was the play-offs to decide the winner of Division 3. John Waterfield, Alice Lampard, Leon Nelson and Jamie Eales as Wells Hartbreakers swept aside all before them with a 3-1 win in the semi-final and a comprehensive 4-0 victory in the final. This leaves them as Division 3 champions for 2024.
Louis Pollard (captain) and Camden Lovelace played a key part of the Somerset Under 9s victory in January’s Southwest Jamboree in Bristol. A great success for the team coached by Wells’ Sasha Matlak. Junior Leon Nelson has also been playing lots of events at the start of the year including Oxford and Hammersmith and scoring some good results against strong opposition.
Wells have had a tough start to the year in the Somerset League with losses in Division 1 against a strong Yeovil team and away at Sedgemoor. This drops them to fourth place with two games left to play.
In Division 2 Wells were away against Weston and Sedgemoor but also lost out decisively. Despite this Wells remain in second place in Division two with three key home games coming up.
Good results in their remaining games could still see them crowned champions.
In Division 3 Wells narrowly lost out 4-2 in a closely fought home match against Frome. The six-board match saw three juniors involved, Forrest Whitworth, Gigi Ionescu and Zino Zigan.
Wells is also hosting its second annual Chess Congress sponsored by Rugantino on the weekend of March 7-9 at the Town Hall. After the success of last year’s inaugural event, the club is hoping to see more players along as chess takes centre stage in Wells again. Increased prize money and larger capacity should help draw in players from across the South West and beyond.
Friend of the club, Grandmaster Keith Arkel will be attending after his win in the Open section last year.
Wells is always keen to hear from players both young and old, experienced and new to the game. They can be found at the White Hart on Wednesdays from 7.30pm, on wellschess.co.uk and emailed at wellschessclub@outlook.com
Anyone wishing to play in the Chess Congress can find a link on the website.
• Picture: Players concentrating hard in the Division 3 match between Wells and Frome, with Conor Pinder of Wells in the foreground, Zino Zigan back left and Gigi Ionescu behind