For many years, Cornwall played their county matches in the Victory Hall, Exminster, but have recently transferred to Shillingford Village Hall, on the other side of the M5, where they played Gloucestershire recently. The result was a crushing 12-4 win for the Cornish, helped by defaults as four of the visitors failed to turn up. Even so, it was still an 8-4 win on games played. The details were as follows (Cornish names 1st in each pairing). 1.Jeremy Menadue (191) ½-½ M. Ashworth (192). 2.James Hooker (178) 1-0 C. Mattos (190). 3.Lloyd Retallick (174) 0-1 J. Jenkins (185). 4.David Saqui (169) ½-½ P. J. Meade (178). 5.Mark Hassall (168) 0-1 P. Masters (175). 6.Robin Kneebone (164) 1-0 M. Roberts (167). 7.Richard Stephens (160) 1-0 J. Ashworth (161). 8.Colin Sellwood (155) 0-1 M. Taylor (144). 9.Gary Trudeau (148) 1-0 A. Richards (133). 10 .Jamie Morgan (146) 1-0 D. Walton (109). 11.Percy Gill (144) 1-0 R. Jones (108). 12.Mick Hill (139) 1-0 J. Jones (61). 13. Richard Smith (153) 1-0 d/f. 14.Adam Hussain (145) 1-0 d/f. 15.Jan Rodrigo (141) 1-0 d/f.16.Jeff Nicholas (140) 1-0 d/f.
Most of the Cornish wins were long affairs, but not this one.
White: Chris Mattos (Stroud – 190). Black: John Hooker (Camborne – 178)
1.d4 d6 The Pillsbury Defence, named after the great American Harry Nelson Pillsbury (1872 – 1906) who died young but played in Devon on several occasions. 2.Nf3 Nd7 3.Bf4 Ngf6 4.h3 g6 5.e3 Bg7 6.Bc4 0–0 7.0–0 c5 8.c3 d5 9.Bd3 Qb6 Asking the first of several questions: i.e. attacking White’s b-pawn 10.b3 Ne4 11.Nfd2 f5 12.f3 Nxd2 13.Qxd2 e5 14.dxe5 Nxe5 15.Kh1 Be6 16.Bg3 Rad8 17.Bf2 c4 18.Bc2 Qa6 19.b4 Nc6 A 2nd question is posed. 20.a4? Not the right answer as it overlooks… 20…Nxb4 21.Na3 Nxc2 22.Nxc2 Qd6 23.Rfb1 Rd7 24.a5 g5 25.Nd4 g4 26.Nb5 Qe5 27.f4 Qf6 28.h4 Re8 29.g3 Bf7 30.Ra3 Qe7! And finally, threatening to lay a trap for both rooks: e.g. 31…a6 would attack one rook’s sole defender. 31.Ra2?? White sees that threat but not the more serious one. 31…Qe4+ Forking king and rook. 0–1
The Camborne Club are organising their annual Christmas RapidPlay tournament next Friday at their venue, the Bickford Smith Bowling Club, Tuckingmill. There’s no need to enter in advance but entrants should arrive by 7 p.m. for a 7.15 start. The competition will consist of a 5 round Swiss with 12 minutes each on the clock. The games will not be graded. There will be a vast quantity of prizes to give out afterwards. It is intended that play will end at 10.15 p.m with the prizegiving following immediately. Seasonal refreshments after round 2 with tea, coffee, biscuits, etc. available throughout. They hope to welcome a large entry from around the county to this popular event.
Last week’s 2-mover was supposed to be a little more difficult than usual, but not to the point of impossibility, as the white pawn on b4 was inadvertently omitted. Here it has been corrected, so should now still be difficult, but at least possible. Apologies for the error.
