The delayed Devon vs Cornwall match took place on Sunday at the Plymouth Bridge Club and resulted in a win for Devon by 12 points to 4. The details were as follows: (Devon names 1st in each pairing. 1.Dominic Mackle (196) 1-0 Jeremy Menadue (191). 2. Jonathan Underwood (191) ½-½ James Hooker (178). 3.John Stephens (189) 1-0 Lloyd Retallick (174). 4.Graham Bolt (188) 1-0 David Saqui (169). 5.John Wheeler (187) ½-½ Mark Hassall (168). 6.David Twine (182) 0-1 Robin Kneebone (164). 7. Brian Hewson (179) 1-0 Richard Stephens (160). 8. Chris Lowe (179) 1-0 Colin Sellwood (155). 9. Jos Haynes (176) 1-0 Richard Smith (153). 10.Paul Hampton (175) 1-0 Adam Hussain (145). 11.Dennis Cowley (175) 0-1 Gary Trudeau (148). 12. Trefor Thynne (174) ½-½ Jamie Morgan (146). 13 Vignesh Ramesh (164) 1-0 Jan Rodrigo (141). 14. Leif Hafstad (164) 1-0 Mick Hill (139) 15. Brian Gosling (160) ½-½ Toby Willis (135). 16. Mike Stinton-Brownbridge (158) 1-0 David Jenkins (121).
As reported, Toby Willis created great interest at the Cornish Congress recently by winning the Falmouth Cup with 5/5, only ever having learned to play via videos on YouTube. This was his first county match and he got a creditable draw against a highly experienced opponent.
Devon now go one to compete in the Minor Counties section of the National Stages and await to learn of their quarter-final opponents.
Here is one of the Cornish wins, with notes based on those by the winner. This and another game may be found on cornwallchess.org.uk.
White: G. Trudeau. Black: D. Cowley. Alekhine’s Defence [B02]
1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.Nc3 Nxc3 4.dxc3 Pawns usually seek to take towards the centre, but in this case after 4.bxc3 Black gets a comfortable game viz. 4…d6 5.Nf3 Bg4. 4…e6 More usual here is 4…d6 as it immediately asks a question. 5.Be3 b6 6.Nf3 Bb7 7.Be2 Be7 8.0–0 0–0 9.Qd2 d5 10.Rad1 c5 11.Ne1 preparing a kingside charge. 11…Qc7 12.f4 Nd7 13.Nf3 Rad8 14.Qe1 c4 15.Nd4 Nc5 16.Bf3 Qc8? 17.g4 f5? Black really needed to challenge White’s centre with 17…f6 18.gxf5 exf5 19.Qg3 Ne4 20.Bxe4 dxe4 21.Rd2 g6 22.Rfd1 Playable was 22.Rg2 in keeping with his plan for a kingside attack, but White preferred to watch and wait. 22…Bc5 23.h4 Kf7? 24.Qg5 Be7 25.Qh6 Rg8 setting a trap. e.g. 26.Qxh7+ Rg7 27.Qh6 Rh8 winning White’s queen. Easily seen, so 26.e6+ Kf6 27.Qg5+ Kg7 28.Qxe7+ Kh6 29.Qf6 Rdf8 30.Nxf5+ 1–0 It’s mate next move.
This weekend the West of England Championships are being held at the Manor Hotel, Exmouth, EX8 2AG, with rounds 3 and 4 taking place today, 5 & 6 are on Sunday and the final round is on Monday morning.
In last week’s position, Black could offer a pseudo sacrifice with 1…QxP+! And if 2.RxQ then Rc1+ is mate as the rook is pinned.
Here is a 2-mover by the pioneering composer and Westcountryman, John Brown (1827 – 1876), taken from Brian Gosling’s excellent biography.
