Half-season round-up Part 5

This report focuses on Division 3 of the Suffolk Chess League

With each team having played six matches, there are just four points between leaders Ipswich E and bottom-of-the-table Bury St Edmunds D.   Pre-season favourites (and last season’s relegated team from Division 2) Clacton are only a point and a half behind the leaders.   Another round of matches in January could see the table almost turning upside down.   Felixstowe have been boosted by the arrival of Phil Hopkins, who has scored more than 50% of his team’s total points.

This is the current table:

Clacton have so far fielded the strongest teams, averaging 129.   Next is Manningtree B, averaging 122.   The remaining teams are bunched closely between 117 and 111.

A total of 50 different players have been used to date by the seven teams, with Bury St Edmunds taking the lion’s share with 11.   All credit to Ipswich E, who have fielded the same team on five occasions, only replacing their top board once; perhaps this is the reason for their success (and Bury’s lack of success…)

The individual table is led by two players who have won all six games.   Unsurprisingly, Phil Hopkins, at 171 the highest graded player in the division, is one.   The other is 76-year old Roger Smith (106), on board 3 for Ipswich E.   His only losses this season have been in the Bury Congress.