Press Report 16th July 2021

At very long last, the final of the South Hams Chess Club’s Homan League has been played; when most members of the club have drifted off to their gardens and forgotten about chess for the summer. Steven Levy was kept waiting for playing dates to get the two game final played. Anyway his patience was all worthwhile, winning both games and giving him a comfortable 2-0 victory against David Archer. He retains the club championship which he has won for the past several years - a worthy champion, having not lost a game during the 10 months it has taken to play the competition.

A few members are now playing in the summer league of quicker games, 25 minutes plus 10 seconds per move, where both players play black & white. Again this competition is being played online and Steven Levy is topping the league, followed closely by Phil McConnell.

The South Hams club is very much looking forward to playing over the board games once again at the Regal Club, Kingsbridge in September when the club hopes to re-open. Covid 19 is throwing up problems as to whether this will happen and the club may have to continue online games. A final decision is hoping to be made late August. It’s a problem that all local clubs are having and each one is trying to come up with answers for allowing this to happen. Each club has different rules, which then throws up problems for Torbay League matches. Covid isn’t going away that’s for sure.

Phil McConnell and Ken Alexander were hoping to organise and play the popular Torbay Congress in November, but so many obstacles presented themselves. They, along with Tony Tatam, decided with much disappointment to put it back another year, when things hopefully are back to normal.