Keverel Chess

The Paignton Congress, held each September at Oldway Mansion, is one of the oldest and most venerable events on the chess calendar. It was set up in 1951 by the Devon County Chess Association, partly to commemorate its Golden Jubilee while being its own contribution to the Festival of Britain.

Originally built as the home of multi-millionaire, Isaac Merritt Singer, Oldway was turned into a golf & country club by his son, Paris, and after his death in 1932 and the club folded in 1946, the local council purchased the estate for £45,000.

It was an early example of mutual self interest, as the Council, keen to extend the holiday season after the schools went back, reserved the Ballroom for the Congress rent free for several decades. Later, as their finances became more constrained, a rent was introduced, but it was still a relatively modest one.

In recent years, with its finances ever more restricted and the Oldway estate starting to fall into disrepair, Torbay Council were forced to sell it to property developers. As negotiations took place, there have been several years of uncertainty about the Congress’s future under a new regime.

This year’s event, the 62^nd is now fast approaching and over 70 entries have been received by Congress Secretary, Alan Crickmore. However, he has recently been informed that it will not be possible to hold the congress there in September 2013 as the builders will have moved in, converting the mansion into a high-class hotel. Beyond that, it is unclear how the event will be able to fit into its new environment. The Ballroom will remain but the hire charge may prove prohibitive.

The charm of the event down the years has been the venue, and radical changes to that must cast a cloud over the future of the congress. Without being too alarmist, one has to consider whether this year’s Paignton Congress will be the last.

Last week’s game ended when Stuart Conquest played 1.Bxg7! Qxg7 (the only move as all others allow 2.Nh6 mate) 2.NxQ RxN 3.Qe6+ leaving White with Q+P for N+B, more than enough for a Grandmaster to win comfortably.

This position is from a game earlier this year. Black is the exchange up with active pieces and may be entertaining thoughts of a win, but White had an immediate knockout blow. Can you spot it?