South Hams Chess Club
South Hams Chess Club

Press Report 24th January 2020

It has been an extremely busy few weeks so here is a snapshot of the current standings in the internal leagues:-

In The Dunleavey League Denis Cowley and James Schofield sit at the top of the table on 6 points a piece. They have yet to play each other twice so that's two cracking games to come. David Archer sits in 3rd on 5.5 points, and he is closely followed by Phil McConnell and Alan Davies on 5 points each. Any of the top five players could reach the coveted top two slots by the end of the season. Then we have Roy Greenhalgh, Arthur Doble, Ken Ashby and Tony Collins chasing from behind.

In The Homan League it reads more like the current Barclays Premiership Table with Steve Levy playing the role of Liverpool way out in front with 11 points. Second in line is Steve Dickinson on a solid 7. After that we have Ben Wilkinson and James Fowler on 4 points a piece, Barry Sweetman and Richard Thomas on 3 points each, and Cliff Peach and Trevor Hurt on 2.5 points. So it looks like, barring a catastrophy, the two Steve's are looking good for the top two spots.

In the Cookworthy Cup we have our first Semi Finalist after David Archer outplayed a spirited Barry Sweetman.

And in the external leagues:-

In the DCCA Mamhead tournament South Hams embarked on the long round trip to Barnstaple and were rewarded by their efforts when they came away victorious with 2.5 points against 1.5.

On Jan 9th the Div 4 team continued their 100% win streak by beating Torquay Boys Grammar School 3.5 to 0.5 although the matches were closer than the result suggests. South Hams currently sit at the top of the Div 4 table.

On Jan 16th it was the same clubs again but this time in Div 3 with a different mix of players. This time the equality was fairly represented in the result and it was a 2-2 draw. South Hams also sit on the top of the Div 3 table.

In the other leagues South Hams sit at the top of Div 2, 2nd in the Rapidplay and 3rd in Div 1. It's early days yet but things are looking good. All eyes are currently waiting for the new January grades to be published by the ECF. Updates on that next week hopefully.