Press Report 19th March 2021

The online South Hams Chess Club continues to be busy with Homan League and Cookworthy Cup games being played most days of the week, with Tuesdays and Thursdays being the main club nights.

A massive upset occurred in the Cookworthy Cup quarter final, when David Archer, playing his first game for five weeks, convincingly beat Steve Levy. With the black pieces, he outplayed Steve throughout the game to inflict Steve’s first defeat in 2021, after a run of fifteen unbeaten games. Although David is 2nd favourite in the Cookworthy, this was a surprise result. He now plays Quentin Thwaites in the semi-finals. The other semi- final will see Tony Tatam v Alan Davies.

A big result in the Homan League saw Arthur Doble win his game against Phil McConnell putting Arthur back in with chances for a place in the club championship places.

Two days earlier Phil beat Tony Tatam; both these games were important for the top places in the Homan League, although Steve Levy is the runaway leader as things stand.

Other results saw Clifford Peach draw both his games against Ken Ashby and Alan Davies, James Fowler lose both his games against James Schofield and Quentin Thwaites, while Trevor Hurt drew against Ken Ashby and was gifted a win by Alan Davies. This followed a loss for Alan against Arthur Doble. In the remaining game Tony Tatam and Quentin Thwaites drew. In their 4NCL league match Plymouth Chess Club lost against Hereford 3-1, with Tony Tatam and Clifford Peach being players in the Plymouth team. It was Clifford’s turn to stand down in order to give all players a chance to play, but it was Tony who won the point for Plymouth, a great win in a tough game; this was Plymouth’s first defeat.