After extracting his revenge on John Stephens, last night, for his recent league win, Alan Brusey cruised into joint first place, one of only two on 2/2. He also seemed to have a very slight edge towards the end of his Rd. 3 game against Roger de Coverly (see below) with a pawn on the 7th rank,  but having bishops of opposite colours, it proved impossible to make any inroads and a draw was agreed.

At the end of the day, they remained in the joint lead on 2½/3, but were joined by Mackle, Helbig and Homer.

Brusey (R) vs de Coverley: a draw was agreed shortly after.

Sunday morning – Round 4:

Of the 6 joint leaders overnight, only Roger de Coverley could post a win, which put him in pole position going in to the final round. Top-graded Mackle, playing the white pieces, might have been expected to get a win from Alan Brusey, 43 grading points below him, but he could not convert to a full point. Only 3 other players from the top half could also get win, Gilmour, Stephens & Bass. 

It was up to Steve Homer with White, a local player with an attacking style, to stop de Coverly. Up to the middle game he did indeed seem to have a slight edge, but de Coverly held his nerve and the position, and gradually turned things round, getting an outside passed pawn to the 7th rank, and Homer’s pieces were tied up trying to prevent it queening. Mackle won to get him to 2nd place, but just as Helbig was launching what looked like a winning attack, his opponent stopped the game claiming there may have been a 3-fold repetition. The Arbiter was called to check it out; there was no repetition, the attack continued and he won in just a few more moves, to join Mackle on 2nd=.

Mark Abbott won a good game against one of last year’s joint winners to claim the senior grading prize, while Jepps also beat one of last year’s winners to get the U-162 grading prize.

In the Major, Colin Sellwood and Morgan Nielsen played out a long draw to become joint winners.

In the Minor, the clear leader, Graham Mill-Wilson, drew with Norman Tidy to claim the Nat-West trophy, leaving the latter in a ties with Paul Errington and Rob Fursman for  2nd=. The grading prixes went to Ray Hood (U-113) and Peter Carrick U-101.

The prize list is as follows:-

A handshake gets the final round under way. Homer V de Coverly nearest.

Brusey V Helbig ahead of a mild contretemps near the end.

Abbott (B) on his was to a win and a Grading Prize.

Annetts & Woodruff, discover they were old Exmouth members and settle for a quick draw.

Mill-Wilson needed a draw to win the Minor Section - and got it.

Roger de Coverly clear winner of the Steve Boniface Trophy.

Graham Mill-Wilson, clear winner of the Minor Section.

The East Devon Congress finished on Sunday with the following among the prizewinners. Open Section: 1^st R. de Coverly (Bourne End). 2^nd= D. Mackle (Newton Abbot) & P. Helbig (Bristol). Grading prize (U-179) M. V. Abbott (Exmouth). (U-162) G. Jepps (Frome). Major: 1^st= C. Sellwood (Camborne) & J. Nielsen (Wimborne). Grading prizes: (U-140) D. Jenkins (Camborne) & C. Strong (Cardiff). (U-136) P. Brackner (Wimborne).

Minor: 1^st G. Mill-Wilson (Yate). 2^nd= N. Tidy (Teignmouth), P. Errington (Bournemouth) & R. Fursman. Grading prizes: (U-113) R. Hood (Exeter). (U-101) P. Carrick (Norton Radstock).

In the fifth and final round, de Coverly led by half a point, and local player, Steve Homer, needed to win to deny him 1^st place. At first, things seemed to be going well for him, until Black’s queenside pawns started to march forward. 

White: S. Homer (183). Black: R. de Coverly (184)

Ruy Lopez – Anti-Marshall Var. [C90]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0–0 8.d3 d6 9.c3 Na5 10.Bc2 c5 11.Nbd2 Re8 12.d4 Bf8 13.d5 g6 14.Nf1 Bg7 15.a4 inviting an exchange of pawns, but Black sidesteps the offer and the a-pawn later becomes vulnerable. 15…b4 16.Ne3 Rf8 17.Nd2 Ne8 18.cxb4 cxb4 19.Nec4 f5 20.Nxa5 Qxa5 21.Nb3 Qc7 22.Bd2 a5 23.Rc1 Qf7 24.Be3 Nf6 25.f3 fxe4 26.Bxe4 Bd7 27.Rc7 Qe8 28.Qd3 Nxe4 29.fxe4 Bxa4 Black wins the a-pawn which proves critical. 30.Rec1 Bb5 31.Qc2 Now the a-pawn is ready to advance. 31…a4 32.Nd2 a3 33.bxa3 bxa3 34.Bg5 a2 From now on, all White’s energies will be devoted to blocking the a-pawn, abandoning all thought of attack.  35.Ra1 Qb8 36.Kh1 Ba4 37.Qc3 Qb1+ 38.Qc1 If 38.Nxb1?? Rf1# 38…Qxc1+ 39.Rcxc1 Rfc8 40.Nf3 Bc2 41.Re1 Bb1 42.Nd2 Bd3 43.h3 h6 44.Be3 g5 45.Kh2 Bf6 46.Kg3 Bd8 47.Kg4 Kg7 48.h4 gxh4 49.Nf3 Rc2 50.Nd2 Ba5 White’s defences are rapidly unravelling. 51.Nf3 Rxg2+ 52.Kxh4 Bxe1+ 53.Nxe1 Re2 54.Nxd3 Rxe3 0–1 White must lose even more material.

Photographs of the prizewinners and other results may be found on keverelchess.com.

In last week’s position, Woodruff simply played 1.RxN and his own exposed queen cannot be taken because of 2.Re8 mate.

What part can the pawn play in mating Black in just two moves?

White to mate in 2

This was the key match in this year’s Newman Cup, Devon’s RapidPlay League. As last year, it was a 3-way tie between Tiverton, Exmouth and Seaton, with home and away matches. Earlier in the season, Exmouth, the current holders, drew 2-2 away to Tiverton, and needed a result in this home leg, to stand any chance of retaining the cup.

The visitors were a little shy of the maximum permitted team grade total of 599, Exmouth gambling on playing a low-graded player on Bd. 4 in order to fit in their best 3 players. In this respect, Grist’s two losses were the key to the eventual win.

Stephens, playing Black in Rd. 1. got his last pieces trapped behind his own pawns, and lost, but he hit back in the next game, forcing a mate in the corner. Shaw always seemed to have a solid position in both games, tempering the creation of threats with a solid defence. Wensley, also, was never seriously threatened by Aldwin, but was always behind on the clock and needed to be careful to keep time in hand.

The 5-3 win gives Exmouth a good chance of retaining the trophy, though they still have to play Seaton twice.

The match gets under way - Shaw vs Annetts nearest.

Grist VS Knowles nearest.

Hewson Vs Stephens (l) & Shaw Vs Annetts.

Alison is not interested in the match but is reading a chess book.

The final scheduled round of the Inter-County competition was held on Saturday. Devon managed to get out a strong side and cruised past Gloucestershire at West Buckland, winning 11½-4½. The details were as follows (Devon names first):-

1. D. Mackle 0-1 J. Stewart; 2. J. K. Stephens 1-0 D.Lambourne; 3. S. J. Homer 1-0 J. Waterfield; 4. D. Regis 1-0 J. Jenkins; 5. P. Medina 1-0 P. J. Meade; 6. J. Leung ½-½ P. Dodwell; 7. K. J. Hurst 1-0 P. Denison; 8. A. W. Brusey ½-½ A. N. Walker; 9. B.W. Hewson ½-½ M. J. Ashworth; 10. J. Underwood 1-0 B. Whitelaw; 11. M. V. Abbott 0-1 G. A. Brown; 12. O. Wensley 1-0 R. J. Dixon; 13. A. S. Kinder 1- 0 M. Claypole; 14. M. Shaw 1-0 A. Richards; 15. W. H. Ingham 0-1 P. Baker; 16. B. G. Gosling 1-0 P. R. Bending.

Meanwhile, knowing their opponents are capable of unexpected wins against any team that under-estimates them, Somerset took no chances against Cornwall and fielded a strong side at Exminster, eventually winning 9-3 over a 12 board match. The details were as follows (Cornish players 1^st):- 1. J. F. Menadue 0-1 J. Rudd. 2. M. I. Hassal 1-0 P. Krzyzanowski. 3. R. Kneebone ½-½ D. LIttlejohns. 4. S. Bartlett ½-½ A. V. Wong. 5. J. Wilman 0-1 P. Chaplin. 6. G. Trudeau 0-1 A. Footner. 7. C. Sellwood 0-1 D. Painter. 8. 8. D. J. Jenkins ½-½ C. Purry. 9. M. Hill 0-1 J. E. Fewkes. 10. D. R. Jenkins ½-½ N. Senior. 11. C. Long 0-1 G. N. Jepps. 12. P. Spargo ½-½ D. Peters.

Apparently, the Hants vs Dorset match was not played due to a misunderstanding over the start time – another disruption to this season’s carefully planned programme of matches.

(Since going to press, it’s emerged that the Dorset team turned up at the venue for a 1 p.m. start, as defined in an e-mail, by the Dorset captain. As no Hants players had shown by 2 p.m. Dorset left for home. 5 minutes later, Hants players started arriving for a 2.30 start. Sodd’s Law, once again demonstrating that if a thing can go wrong, it probably will.) 

The West of England Congress at Exmouth starts a week on Friday and the entry limit is almost reached. Enquiries about late entries to Alan Crickmore on 01752-768206 or e-mail plymouthchess@btinternet.com.

Last week’s problem was solved by under-promoting the pawn to a bishop, forcing Black’s king to d8 and then Rd4 is mate.

The British Solving Championship was held recently at Eton College, and was won by Colin McNab ahead of the usual winners, Nunn and Mestel. Paignton’s Jon Lawrence came a respectable 13^th out of 35 competitors. This one, by Charles Kemp, was one of the three 2-movers in the competition, worth 5 points each. It was first published in Plymouth’s Western Daily Mercury in 1919.

White to mate in 2.

Tiverton vs Exmouth – Mamhead Cup Div. 2  – 16.03.2012.

Saturday Afternoon At The Tomato doesn’t have quite the same ring about it as the mid-70s classic jazz-fused song “Midnight At The Oasis”, but there was at least a tiny bit of Tiverton chess history involved as it was their first match at this experimental venue. “Tomato” is the striking title of a tapas bar, near the town centre in Tiverton, with a spacious room upstairs, which the owner lets free of charge, provided all the refreshments are purchased at the bar downstairs.

This was Exmouth’s 7th match of the season, and were so far undefeated, but any temptation to say they wanted to squash their opponents was firmly resisted. Just as well, too, because any squashing was done by the home team.

It all started so well, too, as John Stephens ended with a pretty finish in a pawn ending. At the other end, Simon Blake was the exchange up going into the endgame – a rook + 2 minor pieces vs 3 minor pieces. However, these included two knights, and these can become very slippery if given half a chance, and a knight check won a bishop, and it was downhill from thereon in. But at least the other two games looked solid enough, giving reasonable expectations  of yet another drawn match. Gosling agreed a draw, which left Shaw wondering whether to also settle for a draw or try and for a win in order to win the match. But it was one of those positions in which whoever tries to push for win, usually ends up losing, and this is what happened, giving Tiverton the match.

The Exmouth line-up (Bd. 4 nearest)

Tiverton line-up with bovine backdrop.

Exmouth put themselves in pole position to retain Devon’s RapidPlay League, the Newman Cup, after a comfortable away win over Seaton, last evening.

Exmouth won the toss (for a change) and opted for white on the odd-numbered boards in Rd. 1.  It’s of less significance in a 2 round match like this, but if it helps to build a lead by half time, it can’t be too bad. In fact, Exmouth white players both recorded quick wins. Hazel Welch overlooked the fact that after an exchange of pieces her opponent could grab her b-pawn without any of the risks that usually attend the snaffling of a knight’s pawn, and it rather went downhill from then on. Simon Blake ran out of time, and Shaw was involved in a desperate finish in which he allowed his opponent counter-play. However, with seconds left, Alexander missed the best line and time ran out for him too. 3-1 at the break.

In Rd. 2, Stephens agreed a quick draw. The position in Jones’ game was much more blocked than in their first encounter, but he eventually found the space for his pieces (Q + 2R) while Hazel’s were trapped behind her own pawns, and he managed to break through. Blake, meanwhile, was having his game of the season so far, winning material left and right, and rightly giving some of it back in order to simplify out to a win. Ken Alexander showed his skill by beating his opponent, winner of the recent Kingsbridge RapidPlay.

It only remains for the return match to be played. Exmouth may be in pole position, but nothing will be, nor can be, taken for granted. This game has a nasty habit of biting you on the b-t-m. 

WECU Ladies Champion, Hazel Welch patiently waiting for the photographer to finish.

Seaton Captain, Steve Dean (W), on his way to an excellent draw in Rd. 2

Ken Alexander (B) on his way to an excellent win against Shaw.

Simon Blake (nearest) playing his game of the season, so far.

The brightest of Devon’s ten wins against Gloucestershire in their recent match was this one from Board 3.

White: S. J. Homer (183). Black: S. J. Waterfield (178).

Sicilian Defence – Dragon Variation [B72]

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c5 4.Nf3 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nc6 6.Nb3 Nf6 7.Be2 0–0 8.Be3 d6 Black has transposed into a classic Sicilian Dragon formation… 9.g4 … and White responds accordingly with a quick kingside attack. 9…Be6 10.g5 Nd7 11.h4 Nce5 12.h5 Nc4 13.Bxc4 Bxc4 14.Bd4 Ne5 15.f4 Bxb3 16.axb3 Nf3+ 17.Qxf3 Bxd4 18.0–0–0 Gaining a vital tempo, which allows White’s attack to continue. 18…Bg7 19.hxg6 fxg6 20.Qh3 Kf7 21.f5 Not 21.Qxh7?? which loses the queen to 21…Rh8. 21…Rh8 22.Rdf1 Ke8 23.fxg6 hxg6 24.Qxh8+! 1–0 Black resigned, as he would lose a piece after 24…Bxh8 25.Rxh8+ Kd7 26.Rxd8+ Rxd8.  Another attacking possibility would have been 24.Qe6 Rxh1 25.Rxh1 Bf8 26.Nd5 Qc8 27.Qxg6+ Kd7 28.Rh3 and White would again win material.

Today marks the half-way stage (the 7^th of 14 rounds) of the World Championship Candidates tournament currently being held at 2, Savoy Place, London, the strongest tournament of its kind in history. Eight of the world’s chess elite will play each of their opponents twice, the winner earning the right to challenge the World Champion, Vishi Anand of India.

The favourite is the former child prodigy, 22 year old Magnus Carlsen of Norway. Not only is he the highest rated of the contestants, he is the only one not from a former Soviet bloc country. It’s strange that neither China, India nor the Americas, with all their many millions of players, could produce just one person between them good enough to claim a place at this “high table”.

Today Carlsen is due to play Teimour Radjabov of Azerbaijan. The final round is on 1^st April, with the next day reserved for a possible play-off. Anand, for one, will be watching developments closely.

Last week’s 2-mover was solved by 1.Bf6! after which Black has 4 “tries”, each of which is answered with a different mate, viz 1…Ne3 2.Qxd6#. 1…Ne4 2.fxe4#. 1…Ne1 Rh4# and 1…Nc4 2.Qd4#.

This position is from an earlier game by Carlsen. How did he break through Black’s defences to record a win in 6 more moves?

White to play and win

Adrian Swayne Hollis (b. 02.08.1940 – d. Feb. 2013.)

Adrian Hollis, former West of England Champion, WECU Vice President and Grandmaster of Postal Chess, died recently at his home in Wells, Somerset after a long illness.

Hollis was the only child of Sir Roger Hollis and Evelyn Esme (née Swayne) whose families came from the North Somerset towns of Wells and Burnham-on-Sea respectively. At the time of Adrian’s greatest over-the-board activity, his father was Director-General of MI5 (1956 – 1965) a period that saw a string of controversial and high profile spy cases, including the Guy Burgess, Kim Philby, Anthony Blunt, George Blake and John Vassall affairs and the Profumo scandal. 

Adrian went to Eton and studied Classics at Christ Church, Oxford. He played in four Varsity matches from 1959 – ’62, the first three of which were drawn. He was an exact contemporary of future WECU President, Philip Meade, of Queen’s College, Cambridge, and the two played against each other on Board 1 in the 1961 match.  Adrian had learned the game at the age of 13 from a cousin and within 7 years had become the then youngest West of England Champion in 1961. He was also British Universities Champion and played in six Anglo-Dutch matches scoring 7½ / 12. Although the nature of his boarding education meant that he could take little part in Somerset’s domestic tournaments, he played in their correspondence teams from an early age. 

His first teaching post was at St. Andrews University before moving to Keble College, Oxford, where he lectured in Classics from 1967 until his retirement in 2008. He wrote books on the Roman poet Ovid and became a Fellow of his College. However, the twin calls of academic and family life (he had married Margaret and had daughters) soon led him to abandon any serious ambitions in over-the-board play and to concentrate instead on postal play from 1965. Ironically, his retirement from this stage of his chess career coincided with the award of International Master. 

However, he was destined for even greater recognition when he became England’s 6^th Grandmaster in 1976, for postal play, when he got his final GM norm in the Potter Memorial Tournament. 

After retirement he returned to his Somerset roots in Wells.

After a lot of hard work by a handful of volunteers and the inevitable, unforeseeable glitches, the 65th West of England Championship & Congress, finally got on the road at 10 a.m. precisely, in the Royal Beacon Hotel, Exmouth. In fact, after a half century of moving around the 7 counties that comprise the Union, it was decided to try and keep it in one spot for several years to see how it might affect the entry. The criteria was that it should (a) be near the sea, so that other family members could enjoy a seaside Easter break; (b) it should have good travel connections, by road, rail and bus; (c) should be reasonably near the centre of the area, and (d) should be a comfortable, cheap venue. Exmouth met all those wishes and 15 years on, it is still held there. 

The entry this year increased significantly to 94, close to the maximum the venue could hold, with 24 contesting the Open Section, and with the Major Section taking players up to a 174 grade, it made for a very competitve section, as there were no GMs to walk off with the top prizes. 

After a few welcoming words by Alan Crickmore, the joint Entry Secretary, clocks were started and battles commenced. 

Open: Nearest Brusey V Bass; Stephens V Medina - both White losses.

Bds. 1-3 in the Major: Hurst V Gosling: Hibbitt V Wensley & Thynne V Higgs.

Bds 13-15 in the Major: Slade V Hamilton; Worrall V Morgan & Nyman V Lawrence.

By the end of Rd. 1, the scores were:-

                                                                  Round 2. 

Gosling Vs Slade; Morgan Vs Annetts & Wensley Vs Sandercock.

Dilleigh Vs Bartlett; Homer Vs Shaw & Czegeny Vs Smith.

Saturday dawned with sunny skies and the air like a sparkling white wine - another way of saying freezing cold. This weekend has every prospect of being the coldest Easter Congress ever; beautiful to behold from behind glass, but with a constant biting wind sweeping in from the Russian steppes. Difficult to think the clocks go forward tonight and from then on we’re working to British Summer Time. 

Round 3:

In the Open, Megan Owens withdrew overnight, feeling unwell. Mackle sacrificed a pawn in return for activity in a Catalan-ish opening, but at the end of the day was simply a pawn down inthe endgame. Stephens continued his recovery after a bad start to the tournament with a winning attack against Alan Brusey, but his clubmate Meyrick Shaw lost ground, after being the exchange down in the endgame. 

In the Major, Gosling and Slade made up ground on the leaders, while all the others, bar one, could only draw. 

Rd. 3 starts - general view

Open Section - Rd. 3: Bds 3 - 7.

Top boards in the Major: With Black are Steve Dean, Oliver Wensley & Brian Gosling.

Top boards in the Minor Section.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()())()()())()()())()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()(

Life, like chess, has a habit of biting one on the b*m just when you thought things were going well. Having been a little smug yesterday about the virtues of Exmouth as a chess venue, last evening I went to book the hotel for 2014, only to be told there was a wedding booked for the Easter weekend, and they would be unable to host the congress next year. The first course of action is for me to approach the Town Council to see if they can come with the possibility of somewhere suitable in the town. Failing that, it’s back to the WECU Executive to devise a Plan B. So, a warning to the regulars – Don’t book any hotel rooms in Exmouth for 2014 just yet, as it may yet be held anywhere within the Union – from Penzance to Portsmouth to Cheltenham. Watch this space.

Meanwhile, the draw for Rd. 5 was as follows:

Easter Monday morning saw the 7th and final round of the Congress. Often this is the opportunity for many players, already exhausted and not in line for a prize, are only too happy to agree to a quick draw and get off home, but this was unlikely to feature in the Open Section as no less than 8 players were either in the lead or just a half point behind.

One exception featured two of the joint leaders, Thompson & McMichael. Keen to be in the mix for the Qualifying Place, Robert Thompson kept an eye on the adjacent board where Steve Dilleigh (W) was playing fellow leader Patryk Krzyzanowski, and reckoned that (a) the Pole had no discernable advantage and in any case his sum-of-opponents’ score was likely to be lower than his own, and (b) Dilleigh was a solid player, not liable to unforced errors or blunders. So he made a calculated gamble and offered a draw after just 16 moves, which was accepted. That left Kryzyzanowski to try for a win in order to become clear winner. And try he certainly did, but to no avail. The game went right down to the final minute of extra time, but there was nothing in the position for Patryk, in fact, in danger of over-pressing, he came close to losing. As the last game to finish in the hall, there was a crowd, four deep in places, pressing for a view of how it would turn out. The last moves were either indecipherable or they stopped recording, but as I recall it, when the last 2 pawns came off, they were left with a minor piece each, and a draw was agreed.

This left a 4-way tie for 1st place, between, Kryzyzanowski, McMichael, Mackle (who had caught up by winning his game against Smith) and Thompson. The cash prize was shared equally, each getting £155. The question of the British Championship Qualifying Place was to be determined and proved more complicated than in most years. It can only go to an eligible player, i.e. someone either born in, or resident in the one of the 7 counties that comprise the Union, Cornwall to Gloucestershire to Hampshire.

Richard McMichael told me afterwards he would dearly have loved to have qualified but had to confess he was a proud Lancastrian by birth. Kryzyzanowski lives in Yeovil but had the lowest Sum-of-Opponents’ score of the four, so he was out of the reckoning as well. That left Mackle and Thompson, Mackle with the better S-o-S.  There was some confusion as to whether Mackle had actually got a qualifying place at the Paignton Congress, as there were some anomalies surrounding it. It took a couple of days to ascertain that he had done so, and was thus pre-qualified, which left Robert Thompson the last man standing.

So Torbay  resident, Robert Thompson, has qualified for the Torquay British Championship, later in the year, and will receive a £100 bursary towards the entry fee.

Dominic Mackle, on the other hand, became West of England Champion.

At the end of the day, the complete prizelist looked like this. Special mention should be made of Graham Shepherd, the highest scorer and only clear section winner. The Major was even more closely contested that the Open, with no less than 10 players with the highest score or within a half point of it. Of the 6 who got a winner’s cheque, only Theo Slade qualified for the WECU Trophy (see below). 

Recently retired ECF Chief Executive, Andrew Farthing, kindly agreed to present the prizes, and the ceremony was moved forward to 2.30p.m. in the hope that more would stay for the prizegiving. In this respect it was a good move as about half the players clapped and cheered the winners as they stepped into the spotlight. The only hiccup was that there had not been time to identify which of the 4 Open winners should get the QP and which the Champion’s title. In fact, it took a further 3 days to do this, so it was, perhaps, just as well we didn’t wait.

The 2 top games; one very short - the other (nearest) very long.

Steve Dilleigh receiving top grading prize from Andrew Farthing.

Robert Thompson won the British Championship QP

Lancastrian Richard McMichael receives his winner's cheque.

Patryk Krzyzanowski made a brave shot at becoming clear winner, but had to be content with a quarter share

New WECU Champion, Dominic Mackle.

Hazel Welch retained her Ladies Championship.

Graham Shepherd, clear winner of the Minor with 6/7 points

The problem of Andrew Farthing presenting a cheque to himself was solved by Section Controller, John Arris.

Of the 6 Major Section cheque winners, only Theo Slade was eligible for the trophy.

The death occurred recently of former West of England Champion and Britain’s 6^th Grandmaster, A. S.  Hollis.  Born in 1940, Adrian Swayne Hollis was the only child of Sir Roger Hollis and Evelyn Esme (née Swayne) whose families came from Wells and Burnham-on-Sea respectively. At the time of Adrian’s greatest chess activity, his father was Director-General of MI5 (1956 – 1965) a period that saw a string of high profile spy cases, including the Burgess, Philby, Blunt, Blake and Vassall affairs and the Profumo scandal.

He went to Eton and read Classics at Oxford. He was a contemporary of future WECU President, Philip Meade, of Queen’s College, Cambridge, and the two played each other on Bd. 1 in the 1961 Varsity match.  Adrian had learned the game at 13 and within 7 years had become the then youngest West of England Champion at Weymouth in 1961. He was also British Universities Champion and played in six Anglo-Dutch matches scoring 7½ / 12.

His first teaching post was at St. Andrews University before moving to Keble College, Oxford, where he lectured in Classics from 1967 until his retirement in 2008. The twin demands of academic and family life led him to abandon any serious ambitions in over-the-board play and to concentrate instead on postal play from 1965. Ironically, his retirement from active chess coincided with the award of International Master. However, greater recognition came when he became England’s 6^th Grandmaster in 1976, for postal play. After retirement he returned to his roots in Wells.

Here is a lively win of his from the 1961 WECU Championship.

White:A. S. Hollis. Black: J. A. Henley.

 Queen’s Gambit Declined [D61]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Be7 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.e3 0–0 7.Qc2 h6 8.h4! c6 9.0–0–0 b5 10.cxb5 cxb5 11.Bxb5 Bb7 12.Kb1 hxg5 13.hxg5 Ne4 14.Nxe4 dxe4 15.Rh3 Bxg5 16.Nxg5 Qxg5 17.Rdh1 f5 18.Bxd7 Bd5 19.Qc7 Qe7 20.Bxe6+ 1–0 Mate cannot be avoided.

In last week’s position, Magnus Carlsen broke through after…1.Bxf7+! 2.Qf3+ Kg8 3.Rxh8+ Kxh8 4.Rh1+ Kg8 5.Qh5 Rf8 6.Bf6 and Black resigned in view 6…gxf6 7.exf6 Rxf6 8.Qh8+ Kf7 9.Rh7+ Kg6 10.Qg8+ Kf5 11.Rh5+ Ke4 12.Qg4+ Kd3 13.Qd1+ Ke4 14.Qe2#.

This 2-mover, resembling a mass brawl, was composed by Gerald Frank Anderson (1893-1983) and first appeared in the Western Daily Mercury in 1919.

White to mate in 2

The West of England Championship finished on Monday in Exmouth after the coldest Easter weekend since records began, but although it was bitter outside there was plenty of hot chess inside, with a very open Championship section. After 7 hard-fought rounds the winners were as follows (All scores out of 7):

Open: 1^st= Dominic Mackle (Newton Abbot); Richard McMichael (King’s Head); Robert Thompson (Bristol Uni.) & Patryk Krzyzanowski (Yeovil) all 5 points. Grading prizes: (U-188) Steve Dilleigh (Bristol) 4½. (U-180) Dave Littlejohns (Taunton) 4½.

Major Section: (U-175). 1^st= Yasser Tello (Wimbledon); David Razzell (King’s Head) & John Nyman (Sutton) all 5. C07Grading prizes: (U-158) Theo Slade (Barnstaple) & Joshua Higgs (Worth School) both 4½. (U-150) Andrew Farthing (Worcester) 4½.

Minor (U-140) 1^st Graham Shepherd (Church Stretton) 6. 2^nd= Dave Rogers (Exmouth) & Nathan Mills (Brixham) both 5½. Grading prizes: (U-124) John Dean (Plymouth) & Nigel Mills (Yeovil) both 4½. (U-109) Alan Fraser (Beckenham) 4.

The standard in the Open section was high and there were very few short draws, many games being long drawn out affairs. Going in to the last round, 8 players, a third of the section, were either in the lead or a half point off it.

Here is a sharp finish from round 7 by two non-prizewinners.

White: Steve Homer (183 – Newton Abbot). Black: Alan Brusey (171 – Teignmouth).

French Defence – Tarrasch Variation [C07]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 c5 4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.e5 Ne4 6.Nxe4 dxe4 7.Ng5 cxd4 8.Nxe4 Qa5+ 9.Bd2 Qxe5 A nice manoeuvre to win a pawn, but it leaves his queen in the centre, vulnerable to harassment. 10.Bd3 Nc6 11.0–0 Bd7 12.f4 Now, as the position opens up, Black’s tardy development proves fatal. 12…Qc7 13.Ng5 g6 14.f5 exf5 15.Bc4 Nd8 16.Qe2+ Ne6 17.Bxe6 Bxe6 18.Nxe6 fxe6 19.Qxe6+ Qe7 20.Qc4 Qc5 Now the Black king is really exposed. 21.Rae1+ Kd7 If 21…Be7?? 22.Qxc5. 22.Qe6+ Kc7 23.Bf4+ Bd6 24.Qe7+ Again, the bishop is pinned. Kc6 the least worst move. 25.Bxd6 Qxd6 26.Re6 the Black queen falls. 1–0

The key move in last week’s problem was 1.Nd6!

In this position, how can White mate in 2 while avoiding stalemate.

White to mate in 2

At the end of the recent West of England Championship, held over the Easter weekend, there was a four-way tie at the top of the Open Section and although the cash prize could easily be calculated (£155 each), there was some uncertainty about who should get the title of WECU Champion and the qualifying place for this year’s British Championship. Richard McMichael was the first to be eliminated under the eligibility rule as he has no connection to the West of England by birth or residence. Next to go was Patryk Krzyzanowski of Yeovil as he had the lowest sum-of-opponents’ scores, the next level of tie-break.  This left Dominic Mackle and Robert Thompson, both of the Newton Abbot Club, but it took 3 days to be absolutely sure that Mackle had already qualified for “the British” via his success at the Paignton Congress in September. Therefore this place went to Thompson. However, as Mackle had the superior sum-of-opponents’ score, he became the new West of England Champion.

Here is a game from Rd. 4 in which two players from Hull battled it out.

White: D. Stephenson (169). Black: T. Paulden (177).

Robatsch Defence [B06]

1.d4 g6 2.e4 Bg7 3.Nc3 a6 4.f4 d5 5.e5 h5 6.Be3 Bg4 7.Qd2 Nh6 8.h3 Bf5 9.Nf3 e6 10.0–0–0 White has built up a strong centre, but his castled position looks vulnerable to a quick pawn-storm – and here it comes. 10…b5 11.Be2 Nd7 12.Nh2 h4 13.Nf3 Bf8 14.Bf2 Be7 15.Ng5 Ng8 16.Bg4 Nb6 17.Bxf5 gxf5 18.b3 c6 19.Kb1 a5 As Black’s attack proceeds, White must try to some activity on the other wing. 20.g4 hxg3 21.Bxg3 a4 22.h4 Qb8 23.h5 Nh6 Developing a piece and blocking the h-pawn. 24.Ka1 Qa7 25.Nf3 White’s kingside ambitions are thwarted so he must attend to his defences. Bb4 26.Rc1 Qa5 27.Be1 Kd7 28.Ng1 Rhg8 29.Nge2 Rg2 30.Rh3 Ba3 31.Rb1 b4 32.Nd1 Qb5 33.Bf2 Ng4 34.Rg3 Rxf2! 35.Nxf2 Nxf2 36.Rg7 Ne4 37.Qe1 axb3 38.cxb3 Qd3 39.Rxf7+ White is trying to get some counterplay but  a single piece is not enough.  39…Ke8 40.Rb7 which brings us to this week’s position in which Black found a winning move before White could threaten mate himself with Qh4. Can you find it?

The solution to last week’s problem was 1.Rh3! Kf4 (forced) 2.Rf3 mate

Black to play and win

Under grey and lowering skies that deposited rain all day long, 69 players assembled at Trinity School,Teignmouth for their annual RapidPlay event. This number was a little down on average, probably due to the proximity on the calendar of other events. However, the faithful were treated to some rewarding activity.

There were 21 contesting the Open with some seriously strong players in the mix. In the event, Patryk Krzyzanowski, fresh from coming 1st= in the West of England Open a fortnight earlier, cruised through the first 5 rounds with a maximum score, enabling him to take a quick draw in the final round to be sure of clear 1st place, although he was given a stern examination in the penultimate round by local schoolboy,  John Fraser. John Stephens and Richard Webster were a point behind in joint 2nd.

If the Open was something of a procession, the same cannot be said of the Major, where a host of players fought it out in the final round for a share of 1st place. However, it was Clive Pemberton, who had started with a couple of draws and was thus off the pace throughout, who stole through with a win, as all the others could only draw, and took it by a half point.

The event was organised by Ray Chubb and the Arbiter was John Ariss.

The full prize list was as follows:

General view of the action

A tough test for Krzyzanowski (facing) against John Fraser in Rd. 5.

Final round gets under way.

Jt. Runner-up John Stephens (in red) starts his last game.

Top boards in the Major, but Pembleton overtook them all.

Krzyzanowski regains the Walker Cup and a new permanent one to keep.

Flaunting his two £5 notes, John Stephens was level with Richard Webster.

Clive Pemberton crept in on the blind side to win the Major.

Major runners-up: Macarthur; Derrick; Quinn; Tatam & Adams.

U-100 grading prize winner, V. Ramesh.

U-16 winner, Zoe Strong (Clevedon) with Organiser, Ray Chubb.

U-14 winner, Tom McLaren.

Originally scheduled for January, the Hants vs Devon match was postponed due to snow; not so much Devon’s problem, but a number of the Hants players could not only not get to the Wincanton venue, some couldn’t even get home from work on the Friday evening. Whatever date was chosen, re-scheduling would almost inevitably mean bumping into other planned events. In this case, Devon had the Teignmouth RapidPlay the prevous day, while there were other distractions for the Hants players.

The Devon captain managed to hang on to most of his players, but the Hants team was much below what would been expected on the original date. Not only in strength, but numbers too, as Hampshire could only raise 7 players for what was planned as a 12 board match, thus defaulting 5 boards. Nevertheless, in spite of the comfortable-looking scoreline,  many of the Hampshire players put up a brave fight, and seven 1st team Devonians failed to find a win against opponents c. 20 grading points lower.

The details were:

General view at St. Alfred's School, Wincanton.

General view of play.

4 games follow - all drawn. Ken Derrick vs Dominic Tunks.

Bd. 3: Fowler vs Stephens.

Former British Ladies Champion, Gillian Moore, earned a draw against Oliver Wensley.

Chris Bellers (W) vs John Wheeler.

The Newman Cup is DCCA’s RapidPlay trophy. As in recent years, the only entries were Exmouth, Tiverton and Seaton, playing each other at home and away. Last Wednesday evening was Exmouth’s last match, entertaining Seaton at their Age Concern Day Centre in New Street. Having beaten and drawn  against Tiverton, and beaten Seaton away, and knowing that Seaton had beaten Tiverton in their first encounter, the title was Exmouth’s to lose. Not that anything was to be taken for granted as Seaton were able to field a much stronger team for this 2nd match.

In fact, after losing the toss and having Black on Bds. 1 & 3 Seaton won the first round. With colours reversed the crucial moment came after Stephens and Wensley won on Bds 1 & 2. Jones was locked into a rook and pawn ending against the dangerous M. Adams (Martyn, not Mickey). With two minutes left each, the play was getting wild, and although Jones had what was probably a winning position – with best play -  anything could go wrong, and knowing that a draw would ensure at least a drawn match, and with it, the title, offered a draw which was quickly accepted. Another factor in his offer, was that Blake was winning on Bd. 4. but in the last few seconds the win evaporated, and the match was, in fact, drawn.

Exmouth thus finished this tournament with a win and draw against both opponents.

Last Saturday, Somerset beat Gloucestershire 11-5 and so win the West of England Championship.

This was one of Devon’s wins in their recent match against Hampshire.

White: Trefor Thynne (158). Black: Barry Kocan (140).

King’s Indian Defence  [E69]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 An immediate 4.Nc3 is commonest here with the top players. 4…0–0 5.Bg2 d6 6.0–0 Nbd7 7.Nc3 e5 8.e4 c6 9.h3 h6 10.Be3 Better here to continue developing with either Qc6, Qe7 or Re8. 10…Ne8 11.Qd2 g5 12.Rad1 f5 13.exf5 Rxf5 14.b3 Qe7 15.g4 Rf8 16.dxe5 Nxe5 17.Nd4 Bd7 18.f4 With all his pieces developed and nicely placed, White now contests the centre. 18…gxf4 19.Bxf4 Nf7 20.Rde1 Qd8 21.Ne6 Bxe6 22.Rxe6 Qh4 23.Ne4 Qd8 24.Ng3 merely a temporary retreat en route to f5 24…Qb6+? Losing a tempo, which helps White’s knight to join the attack. 25.Be3 Qc7 26.Nf5 Rd8 27.Ne7+ Kh8 28.Ng6+ winning the exchange. 28…Kg8 29.Nxf8 Kxf8 30.Bxh6! Kg8 If 30…Bxh6 31.Qxh6+ Ng7 (31…Kg8 32.Rg6+) 32.Qh8# 31.Bxg7 Nxg7 32.Rg6 Ne5 33.Rgf6 a5 34.Be4 b5 35.Qf4 Qe7 36.cxb5! White needs d5 for his bishop.  36…cxb5 37.Bd5+ 1-0 Black resigned, in view of 37…Nf7 (37…Kh8?? 38.Qh6#) 38.Rxf7 Qh4 39.Rf8+ Kh7 40.Be4+.

The 2^nd Bournemouth ‘Grand’ Congress started last evening at the Carrington House Hotel, with a £1,000 prize for the winner of the Open Section, and a total prize fund of over £3,000, which attracts a large entry. Last year’s winner was the 2009 British Champion, David Howell, with the help of this quick win against the 2010 West of England Champion.

White: Paul Helbig. Black: David Howell.

Scotch Game [C47]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.Nc3 Bb4 7.Bd3 0–0 8.0–0 Re8 9.Re1 d6 10.Bd2 Ng4 11.h3 Ne5 12.Bf1 Qf6 13.Na4 Bxd2 14.Qxd2 g5 15.Re3 Kh8 16.Rg3 Rg8 17.Be2 Be6 18.Rf1 Rg6 19.f4 gxf4 20.Rxf4 Qg7 21.Rxg6 Qxg6 22.Kh1 Rg8 23.Bg4 Bxg4 24.hxg4 Qh6+ 25.Kg1 Rxg4 0–1 White resigned in view of  26.Rf2 Nf3+ 27.Rxf3 Qxd2.

Last week’s game ended 1.PxP+ Kh8 2.Rf8+ Rg8 3.RxR+ KxR and the coup de grace is 4.Bc4 pinning the knight which cannot be defended.

This position arose in a game in the 1958 US Championship, between Larry Melvyn Evans and Arthur Bisguier. Both trailed in behind the first three, Fischer, Reshevsky and Sherwin, but Evans did have his moment of glory here. How did he (W) end the game at a stroke?

White to play and win immediately.