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Former member of the Exmouth Chess Club and Devon President, Dr. Roger Neat lost his wife to cancer last year, and was determined to commemorate her support for his, and his sons, chess efforts, with a special tournament. To give it its full title, The Mary Elizabeth Neat Memorial Seniors Invitation RapidPlay Tournament, Roger had decided it should be an 8-man American, with 20 minutes per player per game, with the invitees being players he had known in his Exmouth days.

To give it some edge, he was offering prizes of £100, £50 & £25 for the first 3 places, and was funding a splendid lunch. 

The Manor Hotel on Exmouth’s sea-front Beacon, was booked, and the 8 players duly assembled, together with local Arbiter John Ariss.

Front: Norman Tidy; Seated: John Ariss. Roger Neat, Brian Gosling. Standing: Ivor Annetts, Malcolm Belt, Greg Pond, Fred Hodge, Bob Jones.

After 3 rounds, only Brian Gosling had a maximum score, and everyone retired to the bar for drinks and a splendid repast, while considering the chances for the afternoon; e.g. could Brian be stopped? After lunch he continued in much the same vein, reaching 5/5, but then the wheels came off, trying the Polish Opening against a Polish veteran, Bob Jones. Going in to the final round, Gosling had Black against Neat, who was also having a good tournament, while Jones had White against Hodge. If Neat could hold Gosling and Jones could beat Hodge, the individual encounter between Gosling and Jones would determine the winner.

The first bit went according to plan, as Neat agreed a draw, but the second bit went sadly awry, as Jones not only failed to win, but came within a whisker of losing. So Brian Gosling got the £100 1st prize, while Neat and Jones, the only undefeated players, shared 2nd & 3rd.

All agreed it had been a splendid day, blessed by cloudless skies and a most agreeable venue.

 Winners in bold 

Rd. 2 gets under way: Tidy-Belt (nearest) & Annetts - Gosling.

Rd. 3: The desired Neat & Tidy game.

Rd. 3: Hodge v Annetts (nearest) & Gosling v Belt.

Break for lunch

Spoilt for choice

Jones & Neat congratulate each other and share 2nd & 3rd

Brian Gosling - clear 1st and £100 winner

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.

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.

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.

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:

Bd. 1 Smith 1-0 Berry. Bd. 2 Regis 0-1 McMichael

 

 

Stephen Berry lost the overall lead by losing to Andrew Smith, while McMichael joined Smith in the joint lead by ending Dave Regis’s fine run.  Stephens lost ground when he got into time trouble, and Shaw, 21st grade of the 24 remaining players, maintained a steady run of results. 

Bd.	Open -  Rd. 5
1	Smith , A.	(3)	1	0	Berry, S	(3½)
2	Regis, D	(3)	0	1	McMichael, R	(3)
3	Mackle, D	(2½)	1	0	Littlejohns, D	(2½)
4	Homer, S	(1½)	0	1	Krzyzanowski	(2½)
5	Stephens, J.	(2½)	0	1	Thompson, R	(2½)
6	De Coverley	(2)	0	1	Dilleigh, S	(2½)
7	Boyne, A	(2)	1	0	Cutmore, M	(2½)
8	Shaw, M	(2)	½	½	Bass, J.	(2)
9	Paulden, T	(2)	1	0	Cutmore, D	(1½)
10	Stephenson, D	(1½)	0	1	Brusey, A. W.	(1½)
11	Bartlett, S	(1)	½	½	Helbig, P	(1)
12	Czegeny, M	(½)	0	1	Medina, P	(1)

Round 6:

It was a case of a perfect Easter for Krzyzanowski, Thompson and Boyne, all chalking up 2 wins in the day, but a nightmare for Stephens,  Stephenson and Homer who drew blanks. With 1 round to go, the joint leaders are Krzyzanowski, McMichael and Thompson. while just a half point beind are Berry, Mackle, Boyne, Dilleigh and Smith – 8 players with the scent of blood in their nostrils. 

Bd.	Open -  Rd. 6
1	McMichael, R	(4)	½	½	Mackle, D	(3½)
2	Krzyzanowski	(3½)	1	0	Smith , A.	(4)
3	Berry, S	(3½)	½	½	Dilleigh, S	(3½)
4	Thompson, R	(3½)	1	0	D. Regis	(3)
5	Paulden, T	(3)	0	1	Boyne, A	(3)
6	Bass, J	(2½)	1	0	Stephens, J	(2½)
7	Littlejohns, D	(2½)	1	0	Homer, S. J	(2½)
8	Brusey, A	(2½)	0	1	Shaw, M	(2½)
9	Cutmore, M	(2)	½	½	De Coverley, R	(2)
10	Medina, P	(2)	1	0	Bartlett, S	(1½)
11	Helbig, P	(1½)	1	0	Stephenson, D	(1½)
12	Cutmore, M	(1½)	1	0	Czegeny, M	(½)

 

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.

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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.

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.

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.

 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.