Keverel Chess

Village halls do quite well out of inter-county chess matches; they provide a nice bit of trouble-free income for hard-pressed hall committees. They are usually spotlessly clean, well maintained, and possess all the necessary facilities - stacking tables & chairs and a kitchen for refreshments. Cornwall have been using Exminster for most of their matches for decades; West Buckland is a regular venue, and little Luppitt, high in the Blackdown Hills, has been the regular venue for this match for about a decade.

Not that this familiarity helped one Devon player who got lost in the country lanes driving to the venue. He arrived half an hour late, but when they sat down to play, a mere three moves were made before his opponent’s mobile phone went off. The game lasted all of 2 minutes, but it levelled the score as Devon had already defaulted on one board.

The match was for the 2nd division trophy, the Wayling Cup,with grades having to be under 160. The teams were reasonably evenly matched at the top, but Dorset’s strength tailed off relative to Devon’s in the lower reaches, and this told as the late results came in, the Devonians coming in 10 - 6 winners.

Bds. 9-16. J. Balam awaits his lost opponent.

Bds. 1- 16.

On Bd. 1 Billings (W) on his way to a win against Pittman.

Peter Halmkin (R) vs Warren Legg

WECU Life VP, Frank Kingdon, takes on Rob Wilby.

Bd. 8 Fallon vs Morrison & Bd. 7 Brackner vs Dobber.