Keverel Chess

Devon League Matches. (In chronological order – most recent first).

Newman Cup: Exmouth v Exeter: Our team was unchanged from the away match in Exeter, though Exeter had made some changes. The 1^st round was drawn 2-2, after Jones managed to perpetrate the most outrageous swindle of the evening – if not the year so far, but Keen extracted revenge in the return game which gave the visitors the match by the same score as before.

Bremridge Cup: Exmouth v Newton Abbot: This was the big one, for in spite of having only drawn our 2 matches so far, we could still retain this trophy provided we beat the visitors by 4-2 or better. However, it wasn’t long before Jamieson and Abbott were under severe pressure, and assuming Mackle was unlikely to actually lose his game, a 4 – 2 win was clearly a remote hope from early on. Jamieson succumbed to a sacrificial attack though Abbott found defensive resources. Stephens had early pressure but was unable to find a winning line. Hewson coped well with the middlegame but Mackle managed to win a pawn late on which was enough to win. Toms was the last to finish and although he felt he could have ground out a win, there seemed little point in keeping everyone waiting when the match was already lost, so a draw was agreed.

So a small pice of chess history was made this day with Newton Abbot getting their name on Devon’s premier team trophy for the first time in its 109 year history. We can’t deny them that – well done!

The Exmouth team, holders of the Bremridge Cup for a few more minutes:

Seated (l-r) John Stephens, Mark Abbott, Dr. David Toms.

Standing: Brian Hewson, Ian Jamieson, Brian Gosling.

The Newton Abbot team getting the feel of things before start of play.

Seated (l-r) Stephen Schofield; Trefor Thynne; John Allen.

Standing: Dominic Mackle; Andrew Kinder; Charlie Howard.

The match in progress.

Nearest camera: Bd. 1. Mackle v Hewson; Bd. 2. Thynne v Stephens; Bd. 3 Schofield v Jamieson.

Back row (l-r) Bd. 6. Allen v Gosling; Bd. 5. Howard v Toms; Bd. 4. Kinder v Abbott.

Newman Cup: Exeter v Exmouth: We edged the 1^st round thanks to a draw by Fred Hodge against a more highly rated opponent. As is his habit, Body played half his moves in the last 2 minutes on his clock, but with the help of being the exchange up, Jones managed to keep things together until flag-fall, though he had only 30 seconds left himself. His second game followed a very similar fashion, but 3 losses on the other boards gave the match to Exeter by the narrowest of margins. Waters, particularly, conducted a fine kingside attack to win his game.

Mamhead Cup: Exmouth v Tiverton: The final score in this match did not reflect the closeness of the games throughout. Abbott was materially down, but had advanced pawns by way of compensation and was able to utilise these to secure a winning position. Toms achieved something of a crushing position against his opponent’s exposed King. Jones went a pawn down and was in danger of losing more, but Knowles took one with the wrong piece and lost the exchange with no compensation. Gosling went to the last few seconds of his extra time and had a long series of checks with his 2^nd Queen. His opponent made an illegal move in trying to evade them and offered a draw as the best solution.

Bremridge Cup: Teignmouth v Exmouth: With John Stephens suddenly unavailable, Fred Hodge was drafted in to replace him, and this moved most of the team up a board with resultingly tougher opponents. Toms came badly unstuck against the always aggressive Halmkin and Hewson mishandled an otherwise drawn ending. Hodge again did sterling work on bottom board. Eventually it came down to Doidge v Jones rapidly reaching the end of extra time, with us needing a win to draw the match. After being almost swamped, Jones just managed to get an edge in the final minutes and Doidge’s electronic clock finally ran down 10 – 9 – 8 – 7… down to 0 and the match was saved.

Bremridge Cup: Exmouth v Exeter: Stephens’ game came to a swift conclusion to get the side off to a good start, later off-set by Hewson’s loss to Bolt. Jones avoided all traps to hold the dangerous Pope, while the Bd. 6 game finished in a time scramble in which both players stopped notating. Hodge thought his opponent had not made the 40 moves before his flag fell, but couldn’t prove it with a reconstruction as both players had stopped notating, so agreed to a draw. Had he been able to do so, the match might have been won. Jamieson and Gosling’s games finished together with a win for Jamieson but Gosling, involved in another time scramble, didn’t have time to spot the correct continuation that would have forced a perpetual check

Newman Cup: Exmouth v Tiverton: A good come-back within a few days of an indifferent result. Fred Hodge did well to hold 2 positions against an opponent almost 40 points stronger. Stephens drifted into an inferior position from a winning one, and lost the 1^st game, but made no mistake given a 2^nd chance. Gosling was at his sharpest, and Jones continued a wining streak against Keith Atkins to complete a good score.

Mamhead – Newton Abbot v Exmouth: Not a good start to the season for us, as Wilf Taylor and 3 schoolboys came close to deposing a maximum strength side, keen to defend their title in this division. Hewson got his opening move order mixed up and was happy to settle for a quick draw. Toms got a crushing attack and Jones was left at the end trying to save the half point that would win the match. After defending a strong attack, Jones developed an attack of his own, and swapped his queen for 2 rooks, but it was not enough and he had to concede defeat to his young opponent.

Exeter League Matches.

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