Press Report 15th September 2017

In the week long Paignton Chess Congress played last week, three players from the South Hams Chess Club took part. All three - Alan Davies, Ken Ashby and Clifford Peach came away with cash prizes in different categories; both Alan Davies and Clifford Peach remained unbeaten in different sections which was no mean feat. Both faced higher opposition in every round so the Kingsbridge based club really put themselves on the map early in the season.

While at the chess club, there was the biggest shock result for the past 3 seasons at least when 12 year old Oliver Zaffiro beat Torbay League Division two match captain Phil McConnell. This was certainly the best result by any junior member of the club at any time with Phil rated nearly 70 points higher than Oliver! This result sent shockwaves through the club and fluke or luck played no part. Oliver outplayed his opponent from move 1 till the final 50th move. Now let’s hope Oliver can keep this form up.

In other club games Steve Levy beat Vignesh Ramesh in the Devon Club Champions of Champions Cup, Barry Sweetman beat Tony Collins and Ken Ashby beat Zac Zaffiro.

The club is looking forward to a competitive season especially when all members have returned from the club’s summer break.