Keverel Chess

The previous round of WECU’s Inter-County Championship was beset by the cold snap and matches had to be postponed. This weekend’s round had an added dimension in that the e2e4 organisation had arranged a congress in Torquay for the same weekend. It seems they had checked that no other congresses were to be held in the area that weekend, but were unable to avoid the clash with the county match cycle. to which many of the region’s top players were already committed.

Naturally, these players felt torn, many wishing to play in both, but not seeing how they could be in Torquay and Taunton on the same day. There were way rounds it - one Devon player, for example, took a double bye in Torquay for Saturday. Another arranged to play his county game in Torquay. This was the top game, where Dominic Mackle knew he was Devon’s top-graded player and would be on Bd. 1 facing Jack Rudd, who was controlling the e2e4 event. Thus the two agreed to play at the Imperial Hotel, Torquay, allowing Mackle to play in the Congress as well.

Unusual, maybe, but by no means the first occurance of this happening. A similar thing happened in the early 1900s when the Devon-born, London resident, Samuel Passmore, played his Board 1 game for the county in London, while the rest of his team were playing elsewhere.

This latest encounter took place at Norton Fitzwarren Village Hall, where Somerset edged out their neighbours by 9-7. Somerset took the top 4 games with their higher-graded players, a difference that Devon’s higher-graded lower could not quite make up.

1st team games available here ↓

http://www.chessdevon.co.uk/HTML/games/current/dcca/base.html

It was a different story in the 2nd team match where Devon won by 4 wins to 1, with the rest drawn.

2nd team games available here ↓

http://www.chessdevon.co.uk/HTML/games/current/wecu/base.html

Meanwhile, the two furthest-apart counties, Cornwall and Hampshire, met at a new venue in the village of Gittisham, near Honiton. Simon Bartlett showed his commitment to both events by taking a bye in the e2e4 event, while driving from Torqauy to Honiton to do his best for Cornwall; indeed, he proved to be their only winner. Cornwall held their own over the top 5 boards, but from thereon gained but 2 draws.