Last year, Seaton improved their chances by bringing in Steve Martin, and this year added Dr. Jonathan Underwood, which tipped the balance altogether. Seaton won both rounds 2.5 – 1.5  and finished 5-3 winners. Chris Scott maintained his continuing improvement by winning his individual encounter against Martin, while Jones managed to stem early aggression from Adams and may have had very slight advantages in both games but with time running out offered draws, which  Adams was minded to accept. But Underwood was clearly fired up after winning 6 Blitz games eight days earlier and the combination of his endgame technique and speed of move proved too much for the Exmouth captain. Blake had a won position in Rd. 1 but ran very low on time and Dowse kindly offered a draw when he could have won on time.

Exmouth have started with a loss several times before in this competition, but managed to make up lost ground. In this case, this seems less likely than hitherto, and Seaton must be considered serious contenders for the title.

Seaton players facing camera: Underwood, Martin (shaking hands), Adams (purple shirt) and Dowse.

Martin (l) vs Scott (nearest) & Underwood vs Abbott.

The new President of the English Chess Federation is Dominic Lawson, former Editor of the Sunday Telegraph, son of former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nigel Lawson and brother to Nigella. He is a strong and active player who is likely to use his professional contacts to raise the profile of the game in the national consciousness. To this end he has, all this week, been involved in a second series on Radio 4 in which, while playing a game with them, he talks to a number of diverse public figures for whom chess has played a part in their lives. On Monday it was the World Champion Magnus Carlsen and on Thursday it was Sol Campbell, former Arsenal and England footballer. He did a 1^st series earlier this year which included boxing champion Lennox Lewis. All ten broadcasts will remain available on the BBC website for at least a year.

By way of introduction, writing in the Radio Times, Lawson links this with the film The Imitation Game, shortly due for UK release, with Benedict Cumberbatch in the part of the mathematician Alan Turing. It concentrates on Turing’s work at Bletchley Park cracking the “unbreakable” Nazi codes, where his line managers included British Chess Champion Hugh Alexander and Sir Stuart Milner-Barry.

Turing was not in their league as a player but left an even greater legacy to the chess world when, in 1952, he developed the first chess program, which he called “Turochamp”. It took half an hour to execute the instructions for each move but it worked, and 45 years later its direct descendant “Deeper Blue” defeated Kasparov himself.

This begs the question as to whether the silicon algorithms have taken over and are killing human creativity. While there is no substitute for human vs human competition, the best players will always be those that harness the computer to help develop their innate skills; to be its master rather than its slave.

Here is the 1997 game in which a computer defeats a world champion in a match for the first time.

White: Deeper Blue. Black G. Kasparov Caro-Kann Defence – Steinitz Var. [B17]

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Ng5 Ngf6 6.Bd3 e6 7.N1f3 h6?? The blunder that sealed the human’s fate as it allows a known winning sacrifice 8.Nxe6! Qe7 9.0–0 fxe6 10.Bg6+ Kd8 11.Bf4 b5 12.a4 Bb7 13.Re1 Nd5 14.Bg3 Kc8 15.axb5 cxb5 16.Qd3 Bc6 17.Bf5 exf5 18.Rxe7 Bxe7 19.c4 1–0

Last week’s short game ended with 1.Bxf7+ Should Black take the bishop and try to hang on – or not? Black chooses the former 1…Kxf7?? 2.Ng5+ Ke8 and 3.Ne6 traps the queen, a move that Black clearly overlooked. But even if 1…Kf8 2.Ng5 Ndf6 3.Bb3 Nh6 etc. his position is a mess.

In this position from 1882, how does White win in two moves?

White to mate in 2

Players started to assemble in the playing hall all morning, firstly those staying at the hotel, then those staying in accommodation nearby and later on those having to travel, sometimes considerable distances in difficult weather conditions.

At 1 o’clock there were the usual welcoming words to all entrants, followed by a few words about former regulars, Heinz Herschmann and John Gorodi, who had passed away earlier in the year. As this was Ewart Smith’s 10th Seniors and last event he would control, and presentation was made to him of a framed photograph of him in action at his previous event, in Bournemouth, taken by and organised by Brendan O’Gorman.

A few last-minute alterations had had to be done to the accellerated Swiss draw, due to a few unexpected arrivals and delays, but play started a few minutes after 1 o’clock with no-one without a game, no forced byes. Most games went with grading, though there were a few surprises.

General view of the playing area.

General view of the action.

Exouth player, Dave Rogers (W) faces top seed Alan Brown on Bd. 1 of the "Juniors" Section.

Brian Gosling vs Andrew Footner - game drawn.

McAllan vs Sheppard - game drawn.

J. Reinhardt (W) of Dresden on his way to a winning start vs John Footner.

The draw for Rd. 2 worked out well in that everyone got a game as there were no byes.  Details of the schedule for prizes that were not already on the entry form were worked out before play started and announced at the start of play. There is something to play at all levels of play.

Bd. 1 in the "Juniors" - Brown vs Dilleigh.

Thynne vs Wells & Bartlett vs Dean

Top boards in the Seniors: Openshaw vs Adaway & Barton vs Reinhardt.

Before play started, the announcements included a summary of the outcome of the World Seniors Championship that finished in Greece the evening before. Keith Arkell had finished 1st= on points (8/11) but had to wait until the very last game finished until the tie-break could be determined, and it went against Keith who had to settle for the Silver medal. The entire gathering broke into spontaneous applause at Arkell’s valiant efforts, and not forgetting Nunn who got the Bronze.

Play the proceeded and ended as follows:

One of the players, David Openshaw, was introduced at the start of play, as he is on the ECF Board representing the interests of both International chess and Seniors. He invited anyone who had ideas or observations about the state of seniors’ chess in England to have a chat with him in the bar or anywhere in the hotel.

Then the Controller, Ewart Smith, reminded everyone about the 10 a.m. start in the morning, and play got under way.

Steve Dilleigh (W) overturns the clear leader, Jonathan Wells.

Seniors' top table: Page vs Adaway & Price vs Andrew Footner.

Bds. 5 & 6: John Footner vs Ivor Annetts & David Toms vs Alan Fraser.

Before play started there were the usual opening remarks, and on this occasion the focus was on our Controller, Ewart Smith, whose last event this was. Ten years ago, he had come in at short notice when the event’s orinator, Steve Boniface, had died about 2 weeks before the 6th Seniors was due to start. Ewart has since done the last 10 events, in additon to the Paignton, Torbay, Dorset and other congresses around the westcountry. He had spent a couple of years gradually cutting down on this workload, and this the final curtain. When asked to show their appreciation the players all gave him a fulsome round of applause that was clearly genuinely felt. He responded modestly before saying, for what we estimated was about the 500th time, “Start White’s clock”, and the final round was off. It finished as follows:- 

 It was Heppell, who had a win/win finish to draw ahead of a distinguished pack. Local player Steve Dean did well to thwart Steve Dilleigh who had had a good season to date. Ian Blencowe, who was the whipping boy last year (not that he minded that one bit) he was clearly building up experience for the future, and he came away declaring this was his best congress result ever, and he plays a lot of congresses.

In the seniors section, it was Bill Adaway who took the honours. He retired to Dorset from the Home Counties 2 years ago, not having even thought about the game of his youth for 40 years. Then one day he walked past a hotel in Bridport High St. and by chance his eye caught sight of a notice beside the entrance saying the chess club met there. He was thus lured inside, and that was it -the chess virus was re-vitalised, and he has clearly lost little of his former skill. He admits his openings are rusty and several times he reached the middle game in difficulties, but then his old abilities kicked in. Local player David Toms has undergone a series of illnesses in recent years, but is now back to a reasonable state of health, and this showed itself in his 4 wins. 

 Prizes were awarded to 30 of the 58 players, as follows:-

Prize List

Seniors 65+ :

  1^st     William Adaway        186     Bridport          4½/5

  2^nd     Robert Everson        164     Dartford         4

Grading prizes:

U-155:  1^st      Dr. David Toms        151     Sidmouth       4

U-140:  1^st=   Philip Gordon            118     Braille CA

                       Barry Sandercock     130     Chalfont

                       Richard Smith           127     Barnstaple all 3 pts.

 U-115: 1^st=    Mike Kaye                   91     Weymouth

                       Kevin Langmaid        112     Yateboth        2½ pts.

 Slow starter (0/2)

            `          Peter Carrick               94     Bath

                       Peter Lucas                96     Sussex

                       Norman Tidy             135     Teignmouth all 2 pts 

Special book prizes were awarded to everyone reaching 3 points or more, yet not qualifying for the above list. 

 “Juniors” 50 – 64:

1^st                   Ian Heppell                174                 Wimbledon    4 pts

2^nd=                Steve Dilleigh            182                 Horfield both 3½

Ray Wynarczyk         173                 Newcastle upon Tyne

 Grading prize:

U-165:                       T. F. Thynne              161                 Newton Abbot 3pts 

Slow starter (½/0)     Ian Cross                   147                 Harrow           3 pts 

Book prizes to :         Alan Brown                185                 Northampton

Steve Dean                167                 Seaton 

Bd. J1: Steve Dean (W) did well to draw with Steve Dilleigh who would have been fancying reaching 4 pts.

Ian Heppell (about to move) finished Win Win to emerge from a pack on 2/3 pts to come clear 1st. In the background Simn Bartlett is about to blunder in the opening, losing quickly.

Rogers vs Sheppard (nearest) and McAllan vs Roberts.

Bd. S1 The joint leaders, Adaway (W) and Price, meet in the top Seniors game.

Two White wins in prospect here for Gosling and Everson.

Footner, A vs Gamble and Annetts vs Langmaid.

General view of the Seniors section - Reinhardt vs Sherriff nearest.

Norman Tidy will need more books than that to get up to Reg Cox's height, but at least they were level on points (2/5).

Newspapers all over the country, if not the whole world, are struggling to adapt to the challenges brought about by the new media – multiple channels of 24 hour rolling news - twitface – etc. etc.  Added to that, the printed media’s lifeblood, advertising income, has been depressed throughout the banking and general financial crisis of recent years.

The Western Morning News cannot be immune to these factors, and must adapt to survive. One thing it has done is to sell off its award-winning flagship offices, built in the shape of a galleon, and move to premises near the docks.  Another idea was the addition of a Sunday edition. However, circulation figures are not as predicted, as folk are probably already locked in to their favourite Sunday titles, and loth to either switch or add another paper to the already heavy bundle the paper boy delivers. But the experiment was committed until the end of January 2015 when it will be assessed. Until then, economies have to be made and the cutting in half of the Westcountry Life supplement on a Saturday is one of them.

With it went the chess column.  That is the reason it has not appeared since October. In answer to the several enquirers I’ve already had, I am not too ill to write, or dead – far from it. Not yet, anyway.

The WMN chess column is one of the oldest provincial columns in the country. It started in 1891 under the editorship of Carslake Winter-Wood, writing under the nom de plume “Queen’s Knight”, in contrast to the contemporary Exeter columnist “King’s Knight”.  In March 1906 the column switched to the Illustrated Western Weeky News.   A. R. Cooper ran it from 1927 – 1939. Writing in the March 1939 issue of Chess, the eminent problemist, C. S. Kipping, observed that “the three British columns which have international reputations for their composing tourneys are (1) the Grantham Journal,  (2) the Falkirk Herald and (3) the Western Morning News”. After the war it was taken on by former British Champion, R. J. Broadbent (1948 & 1950) but it was mostly devoted to problems. That is, until the arrival from Lichfield of J. E. Jones in 1956, who took the paper to task and insisted there should be real local news, so a chess column appeared twice a week, one by Broadbest and a new one by Jones (no relation).

However, Jones ran his column on the same lines as Howard Staunton ran his, a century earlier – that is, as a pulpit  from which he would admonish any chess official who could not live up to his own high standards. In 1963 Jones moved away and when Ken Bloodworth took over he was quietly advised to keep it all low key. Which, of course, he did for the next 35 years. When he was approaching his late 80s, he wished to retire, but was keen that there should be no break to give the management an opportunity to end the sequence, and he recommended me to them, and the switch was smoothly made. I have now written 812 weekly columns.

There is now a hiatus until the end of January 2015 when further decisions will be made. If you wish to convey your personal opinion on the future of the column, I’m sure the decision-makers would listen attentively. 

Their address is: Western Morning News, Studio 5-11,  Millbay Road, Plymouth. PL1 3LF.

Exmouth’s first match in the Devon Leagues involved the longest trip of the season, to Barnstaple, where they expected to be facing a team headed up by IM Jack Rudd or Theo Slade – or both. As it turned out, neither was available, for reasons that will become apparent. So the home team’s strength was somewhat below what was expected.

The Barnstaple captain, Steve Clarke, got into terrible trouble in the opening and faced with two ways of losing material, he prevented both with a move that allowed mate on move 13. That’s the problem with being a playing home captain - one’s head is full of potential problems e.g. is the premises going to be unlocked; is everyone going to turn up; are the refreshments organised etc. So much so that once play starts one’s head is elsewhere.

In the Scott-Oughton game, a lot of material came off the board early on, and with no discernable advantage to either side a draw was agreed. On Board 3, team captain Oliver Wensley secured Black’s d- and e-pawns and was able to force the issue down those central files with his extra pawn, backed by rooks, advancing with unanswerable threats. Malcolm Belt, usually a buccaneering cut & thrust merchant, found himself in a long attritional game in which, python-like, he gradually deprived his opponent of the oxygen of space, and kept him restricted to his back 2 ranks until the win was secured.

It may have been a relief not to be facing Rudd and/or Slade, but the reason for their absence was that, aparently, they were playing for Tiverton in the Bremridge Cup Div. 1, which is not such good news for Exmouth’s 1st team later in the season. Tiverton’s team list that day can only be wondered at.

The Chipping Sodbury RapidPlay was held recently at the Old Grammar School. The winners were as follows:

Open Section: 1^st James Cobb (228) Bristol& Clifton 5/6 pts. 2^nd= Chris Beaumont (214) Bristol & Clifton & Jerry Humphries Downend & Fishponds 4½.

Major Section (U-155): 1^st= Andrew Munn (150) & David Tipper (143) both Downend & Fishponds, and David Dugdale (151) Thornbury all 4½.

Minor Section: Dorota Pacion (117) S. Bristol 5½. 2^nd=  Jack Walpole (90) & Richard Port (113)  both University and Kevin Langmaid (112) Yate & Sodbury all 4 pts. Dorota Pacian was the only female player in the tournament.

While the 15^th Beacon Seniors tournament was played out during the week, the World Seniors Championship was due to finish on Wednesday at Katerini, Greece. Millionaire chess player, Terry Chapman, had organised a team of four English players, himself incuded, to have a concerted effort for one of them to win the title.

This was the 8^th round game between two of the contingent.

White: Keith Arkell (2450). Black: Mark Hebden (2540).

King’s Indian Defence [E62]

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.d4 0–0 5.g3 d6 6.Bg2 Nc6 7.0–0 Rb8 8.b3 a6 9.Nd5 Nh5 10.Bb2 e6 11.Nc3 b5 12.d5 Ne7 13.dxe6 fxe6 14.c5 dxc5 15.Qc2 Nc6 16.Rad1 Nd4 17.Nxd4 cxd4 18.e3 e5 19.exd4 exd4 20.Nd5 d3 21.Qc1 Bf5 22.Bxg7 Nxg7 23.Qxc7 Qxc7 24.Nxc7 White has now won a pawn and has a distinct advantage considering Black’s isolated pawn and inferior piece placement. 24…a5 25.Nd5 Rf7 26.Ne3 Rd7 27.Rd2 a4 28.Nxf5 Nxf5 29.Rfd1 axb3 30.axb3 Black must lose at least one of his 2 queenside pawns. 30…Rbd8 31.Bc6 Rd4 32.Bxb5 Now the other must fall as well. 32…g5 33.Rxd3 Kg7 34.Kg2 R8d6 35.Rxd4 Nxd4 36.Bc4 Kf6 37.b4 Ke5 38.Re1+ Kf6 39.b5 Nf5 40.Rb1 Rb6 41.Bd3 Nd6 42.Rb4 h6 43.h4 Nf7 44.Ra4 Ke5 45.hxg5 hxg5 46.Ra6 Rb8 47.Rg6 Kd4 48.Be2 Ke5 49.Bc4 1–0. Now Black’s last pawn must go, leaving him in a hopeless position. Arkell won again in the next round, putting him in the joint lead with 2 games to play, and Hebden and Nunn just behind. The chances of having an English World Seniors Champion look good.

In last week’s miniature problem White wins by 1.Qg7! from where it can go to either a7 or a1 to give mate, depending on which way the Black king goes.

This position comes at the end of a blitz game earlier this year. White is 2 pawns down but might have winning chances; if only he had more than a few seconds to think about it…

White to mate in 2

NB: This report is still being added to, until further notice.

The 48th Torbay Congress went back to one of its earlier venues, the Toorak Hotel, Torquay, just over the road from its home of recent years, the Riviera Centre. It took place in awful, wet weather, but was well-supported, with 149 players distributed throughout the four sections.

The Open had no GMs this year and was, perhaps, former Devon Champion Dominic Mackle’s best chance to take 1st place. Ali Jaunooby being the only higher graded player, gave Mackle the chance to start and finish with the white pieces. Also in his favour was the fact that his opponent, Graham Bolt, had barely recovered from a nerve-shredding finish against John Stephens in the morning round, and Mackle was able to create a crushing position early on, to finish up clear winner. (photo below)

In joint 2nd place, both Menadue and Wheeler went through without losing, but perhaps the more impressive performance was by Shaw who was the only player in the section to finish with 3 wins, and move up the field from half a point from 2.

General view of the playing area - Atkins vs Wilby nearest camera.

General view of the Minor Section

Steve Homer waiting for Simon Bartlett to make a move in Rd. 1

Drawn together in Rd. 2, but destined for top and bottom places - Vesanta vs Mackle.

Rd. 3: Top game in the Major - O'Gorman vs Body.

Rd. 3: Jaunooby (205 ) vs Abbott (173) - game drawn. John Stephens looks on with interest.

Rd. 4: Joint leaders de Coverly and Mackle meet in a key game.

Rd. 5: Mackle has his 3rd white against Bolt who is still recovering after a tense finish 60 minutes earlier.

The bookstall's noticeboard.

A happy Mackle receives the Torbay League cup from arbiter Ray Chubb.

Mike Stinton-Brownbridge was the only one of the joint winners of the Major to qualify for the League trophy, here presented by his clubmate and arbiter, Tony Tatam (l).

As you might have realised by now, Western Morning News has, as from 1st November 2014, been forced to cut in half the Westcountry Life supplement in its Saturday edition, and with it has gone the chess column. They are due to monitor the situation in January, when further decisions will be made on future developments. In the meantime, the editorial staff will welcome views on the future of the column. Letters should be addressed to:- The Editor, Western Morning News, 3rd Floor, Studio 5-11. Millbay Road, Plymouth PL1 3LF.  During that interim period, I’ll be posting a weekly column in the WMN slot on this website, even though it will not appear in the paper itself.  The code number (812) refers to the number of columns I’ve written since starting about 17 years ago. If the WMN column is not restored in January, I may have to reconsider.

So, here goes……

The new President of the English Chess Federation is Dominic Lawson, former Editor of the Sunday Telegraph, son of former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nigel Lawson and brother to Nigella. He is a strong and active player who is likely to use his professional contacts to raise the profile of the game in the national consciousness. To this end he has, all this week, been involved in a second series on Radio 4 in which, while playing a game with them, he talks to a number of diverse public figures for whom chess has played a part in their lives. On Monday it was the World Champion Magnus Carlsen and on Thursday it was Sol Campbell, former Arsenal and England footballer. He did a 1^st series earlier this year which included boxing champion Lennox Lewis. All ten broadcasts will remain available on the BBC website for at least a year.

By way of introduction, writing in the Radio Times, Lawson links this with the film The Imitation Game, shortly due for UK release, with Benedict Cumberbatch in the part of the mathematician Alan Turing. It concentrates on Turing’s work at Bletchley Park cracking the “unbreakable” Nazi codes, where his line managers included British Chess Champion Hugh Alexander and Sir Stuart Milner-Barry.

Turing was not in their league as a player but left an even greater legacy to the chess world when, in 1952, he developed the first chess program, which he called “Turochamp”. It took half an hour to execute the instructions for each move but it worked, and 45 years later its direct descendant “Deeper Blue” defeated Kasparov himself.

This begs the question as to whether the silicon algorithms have taken over and are killing human creativity. While there is no substitute for human vs human competition, the best players will always be those that harness the computer to help develop their innate skills; to be its master rather than its slave.

Here is the 1997 game in which a computer defeats a world champion in a match for the first time.

White: Deeper Blue. Black G. Kasparov Caro-Kann Defence – Steinitz Var. [B17]

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Ng5 Ngf6 6.Bd3 e6 7.N1f3 h6?? The blunder that sealed the human’s fate as it allows a known winning sacrifice 8.Nxe6! Qe7 9.0–0 fxe6 10.Bg6+ Kd8 11.Bf4 b5 12.a4 Bb7 13.Re1 Nd5 14.Bg3 Kc8 15.axb5 cxb5 16.Qd3 Bc6 17.Bf5 exf5 18.Rxe7 Bxe7 19.c4 1–0

Last week’s short game ended with 1.Bxf7+ Should Black take the bishop and try to hang on – or not? Black chooses the former 1…Kxf7?? 2.Ng5+ Ke8 and 3.Ne6 traps the queen, a move that Black clearly overlooked. But even if 1…Kf8 2.Ng5 Ndf6 3.Bb3 Nh6 etc. his position is a mess.

In this position from 1882, how does White win in two moves?

White to play and mate in 2

The Chipping Sodbury RapidPlay was held recently at the Old Grammar School. The winners were as follows:

Open Section: 1^st James Cobb (228) Bristol& Clifton 5/6 pts. 2^nd= Chris Beaumont (214) Bristol & Clifton & Jerry Humphries Downend & Fishponds 4½.

Major Section (U-155): 1^st= Andrew Munn (150) & David Tipper (143) both Downend & Fishponds, and David Dugdale (151) Thornbury all 4½.

Minor Section: Dorota Pacion (117) S. Bristol 5½. 2^nd=  Jack Walpole (90) & Richard Port (113)  both University and Kevin Langmaid (112) Yate & Sodbury all 4 pts. Dorota Pacian was the only female player in the tournament.

While the 15^th Beacon Seniors tournament was played out during the week, the World Seniors Championship was due to finish on Wednesday at Katerini, Greece. Millionaire chess player, Terry Chapman, had organised a team of four English players, himself incuded, to have a concerted effort for one of them to win the title.

This was the 8^th round game between two of the contingent.

White: Keith Arkell (2450). Black: Mark Hebden (2540).

King’s Indian Defence [E62]

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.d4 0–0 5.g3 d6 6.Bg2 Nc6 7.0–0 Rb8 8.b3 a6 9.Nd5 Nh5 10.Bb2 e6 11.Nc3 b5 12.d5 Ne7 13.dxe6 fxe6 14.c5 dxc5 15.Qc2 Nc6 16.Rad1 Nd4 17.Nxd4 cxd4 18.e3 e5 19.exd4 exd4 20.Nd5 d3 21.Qc1 Bf5 22.Bxg7 Nxg7 23.Qxc7 Qxc7 24.Nxc7 White has now won a pawn and has a distinct advantage considering Black’s isolated pawn and inferior piece placement. 24…a5 25.Nd5 Rf7 26.Ne3 Rd7 27.Rd2 a4 28.Nxf5 Nxf5 29.Rfd1 axb3 30.axb3 Black must lose at least one of his 2 queenside pawns. 30…Rbd8 31.Bc6 Rd4 32.Bxb5 Now the other must fall as well. 32…g5 33.Rxd3 Kg7 34.Kg2 R8d6 35.Rxd4 Nxd4 36.Bc4 Kf6 37.b4 Ke5 38.Re1+ Kf6 39.b5 Nf5 40.Rb1 Rb6 41.Bd3 Nd6 42.Rb4 h6 43.h4 Nf7 44.Ra4 Ke5 45.hxg5 hxg5 46.Ra6 Rb8 47.Rg6 Kd4 48.Be2 Ke5 49.Bc4 1–0. Now Black’s last pawn must go, leaving him in a hopeless position. Arkell won again in the next round, putting him in the joint lead with 2 games to play, and Hebden and Nunn just behind. The chances of having an English World Seniors Champion look good.

In last week’s miniature problem White wins by 1.Qg7! from where it can go to either a7 or a1 to give mate, depending on which way the Black king goes.

This position comes at the end of a blitz game earlier this year. White is 2 pawns down but might have winning chances; if only he had more than a few seconds to think about it…

White to play and win.

Exmouth had their first home match of the season when they entertained old rivals Teignmouth to the town. It was not quite a home match as the Club’s new base, the Royal Beacon Hotel, had a Christmas party booked. But the Manor Hotel, just down the road, on the Beacon, came to the rescue and offered their small “Writing Room” as a suitable area. They also had a function booked, the annual meeting of the local Euchre League (don’t ask – it’s a strange American card game that has survived in Exmouth for generations). But both activities were ‘low maintenance’ and didn’t interfere with each other. It must be said that over the past 2 decades the managements of both hotels have been very good to the chess community, both local and national, and it is hoped will continue as it’s of mutual benefit.

After c. 90 minutes play, the match seemed to be going the visitors’ way, as Boards 1 and 4 were definitely looking bad for Exmouth, but two blunders in those games came to the rescue and turned what could have been a 3-1 defeat into a 3-1 victory.

Two turning points from the match:

Stephens vs Ingham

Above: Black has just played …h5, possibly expecting the g-pawn to move, but  f5! wins immediately as Black can’t prevent a passed pawn being created.

Below: White has been asking all the questions so far in the game, and has just played Rd7, threatening Black’s f-pawn and possibly with thoughts of doubling his rooks on the open file at some point. But …Bc8 wins a piece and Black’s bishop pair boss the game from then on.

Position after Rd7

Exmouth now have to face Tiverton (A) and Newton Abbot (H) in this league in the New Year.

Home captain, Oliver Wensley, makes his move, with Tidy vs Blake in the background.

John Stephens vs Bill Ingham (nearest) and Dr. Jonathan Underwood vs Alan Brusey.

The Somerset captain reports on their match against Hampshire at Mere on Saturday. The final score of 12 – 4 to Somerset looks like a crushing defeat for Hants, but it was far from that, apparently, as many games were keenly contested until late on. However, the fact that Somerset out-graded their opponents by, on average, 11 points on every board, made it likely that the stronger team on paper would pull through.

The details were as follows: 

The noted chess player, organiser and author of chess books, Peter Clarke, died suddenly on 11th December at his home near Morwenstow in North Cornwall. He was 81.

He first came to prominence as a player at the Ilford Club, and his playing summit was probably captaining the England team at the 1966 Olympiad in Havana. His record there tells us something of his strengths and weakness as a top player: Played 13: Won 2: Drawn 10: Lost 1. Hartston at the time felt “Clarke’s score on top board is creditable. He is often criticised for his drawish tendencies, but a solid score such as this is a fine achievement against such opposition. It is remarkably difficult to score wins without suffering losses as well, as Lee and Littlewood found to their cost!”

This solidity as a player helped him to a splendid record in the British Championship, without ever actually winning the ultimate title, having to be content with being, uniquely, runner-up five times. But he didn’t seem to mind this at all, as he was often edged out by his best friend, Jonathan Penrose. 

Jonathan had been Peter’s Best Man in July 1962 when he married Margaret (“Peggy”) Wood, who was given away by her father B. H. Wood.  

Peter & Peggy Clarke

His reputation as a writer came to equal, if not overtake, that of a player, with titles that were not only highly-regarded at the time of publication, but have stood the test of time.  His subjects included Tal (1961) and Petrosian (1964) two more different players one can cannot imagine. He translated and edited Smyslov’s Best Games (1958) and 100 Soviet Chess Miniatures (1963). First editions of these books published by Bell in their distinctive dustwrappers, can still take pride of place in anyone’s chess library. Another title he worked on was Foldeak’s Chess Olympiads (2nd enlarged ed. 1969).  This was a highly productive period for him.

In 1971 the world in general was agog at the prospect of the Fischer-Spassky match, and Britain in particular was on the brink of a chess explosion. An expression of this was the response to his first organised event, the 1st Barnstaple Congress. It had been put on by Clarke and a group of 5 local friends, called The Hexagon. There were 70 entries, all lumped together in one large Swiss, 22 of whom were graded between 180 – 226. Grandees like Golombek and Wood were joined by young Turks like Botterill, Bellin, Gerald Bennett and Danny Wright. In the event it was won by a local schoolboy, Peter Waters, who played none of the above, except Golombek. The following year the entry rocketed to 164, and its continuing success was assured.

For a time, he ran bookstalls at local congresses, notably Paignton, Exeter and Frome and was happy to chat to grassroots players. He found that postal chess was better suited to a slower life-style and he competed at the highest level, winning the Grandmaster title for postal chess.

Eventually he withdrew from active participation following a cerebral haemmorrhage in the 1980s.

He was the most modest of men, with no discernible vanities or conceits, and a most hospitable host when entertaining visitors to his vast collection of chess  books. 

He leaves his wife, Peggy, and 3 daughters.

R.I.P.

Out of the blue, this week, shone a shaft of light on the earliest history of the Devon County Chess Association. It came in the shape of an innocent enquiry from Howard Stead from York, who was sorting out his late father’s belongings when he came across a very nice, boxed Jaques chess set, and was curious as to its origins.

The box

The tell-tale label

As can be seen, the label gives away most of the story, but perhaps some context is required…

In the beginning, the Devon County Chess Association was founded on September 24th 1901, in a blaze of publicity and enthusiasm, in an effort to formalise and foster inter-club chess throughout the county. Its very first congress was a week-long affair held in Barnfield Hall, Exeter, starting on Monday April 21st. At this time the Association had 212 members belonging to 13 affiliated clubs. They make a strange-sounding list to our 21st century ears: Broadclyst, Dartmouth, Devonport YMCA, Exeter, Hatherleigh, Newton Abbot, Plymouth, Teignmouth, Tiverton YMCA, Torridge, Torquay, Totnes and Winkleigh.

The star attraction throughout the week was the American super-star, Harry Pillsbury, who put on a series of demonstrations of his mental powers; standard simultaneous displays, one match against 14 chessplayers and 5 draughts players, followed by demonstrations of “knights’ tours”.

There were two main sections for Devon players – the Championship Tourney and the Second Tourney. There were 16 entries in this lower section, namely, Miss Hunt and Miss M. Hunt (Barstaple); Miss Pigg (Exeter); Rev. G. P. Blomefield (Bickington); Major Rawlins (Bath); Major Sherwell (Honiton); A. Phillips (Appledore); J. Cottle Green (Exeter); Spencer Cox (Honiton); G. F. Pollard (Totnes); G. W. Cutler (Exeter); H. Taylor (Exeter); F. J. Backhouse (Taunton); L. Illingworth; H. E. Bell and W. H. Gundry (both Exeter).

As we can see, Pollard won the section, dropping only a point in the process, half a point ahead of Illingworth.

George Frederick Pollard was born in 1879 to Frederick (33) and Katherine (25) nee Haig, an Edinburgh Scot. At that time they lived at 1, Richmond Terrace, Everton, and George was christened at St. Saviour’s Church, Everton. His father had been born in Taunton and was listed as a physician. By 1881, the family had moved to 52, Rodney St, Liverpool. The 1901 Census records that the family had moved to 21, St. Nicholas Rd, Streathan in London where the father listed as a “medical practitioner”. But George was not with them as by this time he had qualified as a teacher, and had moved to a hostel attached to Totnes Grammar School, at 36 Fore Street. The housemaster was Charles Rea (37) and George Pollard was his assistant, looking after a collection of 14 & 15 year old boarders.

After this, he rather falls off the radar. There is no evidence that he ever married. There is a death of a George Frederick Pollard recorded in Rotherham in March in 1965 aged 84. It would be easy to conclude that this was our George, but there was another person with the same name and age, but that one was a coal miner and married with several children. I can’t tell which one this death refers to.

Mr. Stead didn’t know his father owned this set or how he came by it. There were both arm chair players, playing en famille but not belonging to any club. So how the set came to end up in York may remain a mystery for some time yet. More work necessary.

I heard officially today that the Western Morning News’s chess column is to be re-started, according to the Editor, “by popular demand”. He says he’s “been inundated with inquiries about the whereabouts of the column”.

So thanks to everyone who so “demanded” its return. It will continue to be on a Saturday but will be on a different page, as the Westcountry Life supplement has had to be radically restructured. The first column will appear this  Saturday, the 17th January 2015.

The Western Morning News chess column was suspended at the end of October last year, with a promise that the situation would be reviewed in January. Such has been the reaction of readers, via letters to the Editor, that he has been persuaded to re-introduce it without delay. A phrase used by a spokesman for the paper was “Back by popular demand”, so many thanks to all those who conveyed their views through the right channels, and brought about this change of heart.

If you cancelled your order for the paper’s Saturday edition, you can now renew it. If you are outside the delivery area, here follows the text of the first column of the new era…..

The noted chess player and author of chess books, Peter Clarke, died on 11^th December, aged 81, after a long illness, bravely borne.

He was taught to play chess at the age of 6 by his father, and won the London Boys’ Championship in 1950 and 1951, and the SCCU Boys’ Championship in 1950. He attended the university on his doorstep, Queen Mary College, in the Mile End Road. But the call for a career in science was nowhere as strong as his love of chess, and that is the road he chose to go down. But first, National Service could not be avoided and he spent this 2 year interlude in Bodmin training as a Russian linguist. This re-ignited his love for north Cornwall, as he had spent family holidays there.

By 1959 he was a regular writer for the British Chess Magazine, reporting at length on prestigious events and analysing games and openings. He played in 8 Olympiads between 1954 and 1968, losing only 15 of the 96 games played.

After marriage to Peggy Wood in 1966, he returned to the westcountry, eventually settling at Chapel House in the hamlet of Shop near Morwenstow.  In 1971, he and a group of 5 local friends, calling themselves the Hexagon put on the 1^st Barnstaple Congress. The group functioned for about 10 years until Peter suffered a stroke in 1983, forcing him to give up such intensive activity.

He found that postal chess was better suited to a slower life-style, eventually winning the Grandmaster title. He also became a leading expert at solving chess problems.

He was the most modest of men, with no vanities or conceits. A much fuller account of his career may be found in the blog section of this site.

Here is one of his wins from the 1957 British Championship in York. This Rd. 5 game against Cheltonian, Denis Mardle, shows Peter at his sharpest.

White: D. V. Mardle. Black: P. H. Clarke.  Sicilian Defence – Paulsen Variation [B42].

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Nc6 6.Ne2 Nf6 7.Nbc3 b5 8.0–0 Bb7 9.b3 Bc5 10.Bb2 0–0 11.Qd2 Qc7 12.Rae1 Rac8 Adding potential pressure down the c-file 13.Kh1 Nb4 14.Qg5 Be7 15.f4 d6 16.e5 dxe5 17.fxe5 Ne4 18.Qg4 Nxd3 19.cxd3 Nxc3 20.Nxc3 Rfd8 21.Re3 Bf8 22.Ne4 Threatening to join the attack. 22…Bxe4 23.Qxe4 Qc2 24.Bd4 Rd7 25.Rh3 h6 26.Qg4 Qd2 27.a4 Rc1 28.Kg1 Rxf1+ 29.Kxf1 Rc7 30.Qe2 Rc1+ 31.Kf2 Qf4+ Forking king and bishop. 0–1.

This position, which also featured in this month’s copy of Chess magazine, arose during the last Exmouth Seniors Congress in November. Former Hexagon member Richard Smith (Black) found a winning move against Peter Lucas. Can you spot it?

Black to play and win.

Four teams of 12 players from the four corners of the county contested Devon’s annual Inter-Area Jamboree, hosted this year by the East, at the Isca Centre in Exeter. There is a total grading limit of 1,650 for each team, which means the county’s middle strength players feature most. The formula for pairing means that each team has 6 Whites and 6 Blacks, and that 3 X 4 players from any team will face other other teams (complicated to explain, but, if unsure, check the charts below).

The playing room was large, with well-spaced individual tables for each game, and was warm, well-lit and totally quiet. The teams were so closely matched that every game would clearly have a bearing on the final result.

Even though they lost their top 3 games, it was the West team (Plymouth) that edged out as winners, a point ahead of East and North. Ben Wilkinson, as Captain of the West team,  received the trophy from DCCA President, Paul Brooks.

The games will appear on the chessdevon website in due course.

General view of the playing area

Bd. 1 game: Tim Paulden vs Brian Hewson.

Former TV presenter, Adam Hart-Davis vs former British U-16 hopeful, Chris Scott.

Wilf Taylor vs Oliver Wensley nearest.

Norman Tidy vs Jon Duckham

West Captain, Ben Wilkinson, receives the trophy from Devon President, Paul Brooks.