South Hams Chess Club
South Hams Chess Club

AGM and Simul Held on 30th April 2015

The first part of the evening was taken up with the AGM. It was a very positive meeting, with lots of useful discussion. Further details, and minutes, will be published on this website in due course.

Presentation of Trophies

Trophy winners for the 2014-15 season were

  • Phil McConnell, Club Champion (as winner of the Homan League)
  • Barclay Best and James Fowler, joint winners of the Cookworthy Cup - the club knockout competition
  • Roy Greenhalgh, Match Player of the Year (Roy scored 6 points from his 8 Torbay League matches)
  • Anderson McCammont, winner of the Challengers League.

Roy was unable to attend for family reasons, and Anderson was busy (we hope!) revising for his A-Levels, so just two presentations were made on the night.

Clifford Peach presents the Master Cup to Phil McConnell
Clifford Peach presents the Master Cup to Phil McConnell
Clifford Peach presents James Fowler and Barclay Best with the Cookworthy Cup
Cliff presents James Fowler and Barclay Best with the Cookworthy Cup
 

Simul Event - Seven Levy 7½, Rest of South Hams 3½

Steve Levy kindly agreed to conduct a "simul" against the rest of the club. The tables were arranged in a circle, and Steve walked clockwise from board to board. Each player was expected to move immediately when Steve arrived (though he was relaxed about allowing opponents to "pass" more than once). Arrayed against Steve were Derek Drake, Phil McConnell, Dennis Russell, Tony Collins, Ken Ashby, Barclay Best, Ben Wilkinson, David Archer, James Fowler, Barabra (a welcome visitor) and Clifford Peach.

Steve had the white pieces throughout, and showed his versatility by playing a different opening on every board! In a remarkable display of skill, concentration and calmness, Steven won on 7 of the 11 boards. There were wins for Dennis, David and Cliff, while Ben offered a draw which Steve accepted (perhaps fatigue starting to set in?).

A bottle of wine was presented to the player whom Steve considered to have played the best game against him. Congratulations to David Archer, who took the bottle home with him.

Many thanks to Cliff for organising another successful evening, and especially to Steven for putting himself through the wringer to entertain us all.

Summer Season

The club will remain open on Thursday evenings during the summer, and several players have indicated that they would like to play chess (at least some of the time) rather than enjoy those long summer evenings in the beautiful South Hams. All members are warmly invited to come along (and non-members too) - we suggest that before turning up you check with Cliff (or with David Archer) to make sure that there will be "critical mass" on the evening in question.

2015-16 Season

Next season will start on Thursday 3rd September - please put the date in your diary now before you forget. The intention is to start internal club league games on the first day of the season. The composition of the leagues will be announced beforehand on this website, so you will be able to pre-arrange your game for the 3rd September. Watch this space!

Have a great summer, everybody.