THERE was a good attendance for the annual prize giving evening at the Basingstoke Chess Club, writes DAVID GRAHAM.

The prizes were presented by John French, nephew of the late Joe French who was club secretary for many years.

Before the trophies were given out a short report was provided on the season’s activities.

This included a review on the various teams who by and large finished in the middle of their respective divisions.

After this the following presentations were then made.

For the second time in three years, Ivan Stipcevic won the Joe French Cup (Basingstoke Individual Chess Champion) after beating Liam Blanc.

The Charles Henshaw Tourney for players graded under 125 by the English Chess Federation was won by Mo Negargar with Almeo Bontigao the runner-up.

Both players are playing in their first season at the club.

Yasmin Phillips who attends Brighton Hill Community School became first ever girl player to win the Robin Higgs Trophy (Basingstoke Junior Individual Champion).

This is a competition which has run since the early 1970s.

She beat Edison Brown in the final. He is aged seven and attends Daneshill School.

Alekhine Trophy was won by Basing and their captain Adam Matthews received the trophy on behalf of the team.

The club was also able to report a good rise in membership and strong performances by the junior players at the various Congress competitions.

This included a Giga-Final success for Daniel Yu at last year’s Delancey Giga-Finals.