Press Report 28th January 2024
This month's South Hams Chess Club internal “Homan” league has seen notable results such as, Lance gaining his 2nd scoring game, with a draw against Tony Tatam, “didn’t he do well”. Arthur Doble took another point beating Cathy Black “what do points make?”, Trevor Hurt beat Phil McConnell “nice to win one, to win one nice” and read below for David Archer v Alan Davies,“good game, good game”.
This leaves the “scores on the doors” for our internal Homan League with Steve Levy ahead on 13 ½ points, following on behind a tight group of 4 (Phil McConnell, Cathy Black, David Archer and Arthur Doble) with around 8 points each, and a tight group of 3 (Trevor Hurt, Mike Bender and Alan Davies) on around 5 points each, with Tony Tatam on 2 points and Lance Howarth bringing up the rear with a respectable 1½ points.
This month's game in focus sees David Archer as white play Alan Davies. After 1. d4 Nf6, David played Bg5, this is known as the Trompowsky Attack, named after a Brazilian chess player Octávio Figueira Trompowsky de Almeida (1897 – 1984). After Davids 5th move, according to our internal database of games, this was the second time David was in this exact position. He was previously at this point in Nov 2021 and went on to win, his opponent resigning after just 19 moves. Would he have it all his own way on this occasion also?
The turning point in this game came at move #37 (see diagram).
David, having just played Pawn to f7, allowed Alan to play a well spotted and excellent skewer. Placing his Bishop on the same diagonal as Davids King and Queen with check, so forcing the exchange of a Queen for a Bishop. A hugely fortuitous side benefit was that after taking the Queen with the Rook that was covering the Bishop, this also prevented David's 7th rank pawn from Queening. The game continued very nervously for Alan, being down to under a minute of time left on his clock, David very graciously resigned after 48 moves.
Our internal knockout competition, the Cookworthy Cup, sees last years joint winner, Steve Levy reaching the final, he will play the winner of Phil McConnell v Tony Tatam.
In the Torbay Chess League (TCL) we have had mixed results, our division 1 team beat Teignmouth and lost to Totnes, leaving South Hams equal 3rd in the league with 2 games remaining. Our Div4 team beat Torquay Boys Grammar School, then 5 days later lost to them, then drew with Newton Abbot. This leaves this league tensely positioned with South Hams joint top alongside Devonport Boys High School, those teams meet at the next match, possibly the season decider. In the rapid-play, we lost to Newton Abbot, still leaving us joint leaders, with 1 game left to play. Our 6 person team in the TCL knockout had a closely contested battle beating Newton Abbot to reach the final which will be played against Plymouth.
In general Devon Chess news, March 23rd marks the inaugural Chess Weekender at Wickham Hall, Bovey Tracey with a Swiss tournament of 6 rounds of 20 minute games. The competition is split into two groups separating the “Maestros” from the “Improvers”. Good luck to the organisers on this new event and we look forward to the advertised “lovely home-made lunch”
This year's 47th East Devon Chess Congress, takes place at the Exeter Corn Exchange on April 13 & 14, the format is a 5-round Swiss tournament with 3.5 hour play sessions. This competition is split into three sections, the “Open” aimed at outstanding chess players, possesses solid knowledge of chess openings and end games, the “Major” for very good chess player who make just a few mistakes and has reached a level of mastery that most Chess players will never reach, and the “Minor” for players who will be generally proficient. Each section has a top prize of £250 and third prize of £90. (Swiss tournaments are such that no one is eliminated after each round, players will be paired with an opponent with the same record as them based upon the previous rounds results, players do not play each other twice.)
And finally, last week as I sat at the local cafe, next to my chess set awaiting my next opponent, who should walk in and sit opposite me? None other than life long chess player, former Mr Universe, actor and governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger himself! I offered him the choice of colour, in his thick Austrian accent he replied "I'll be Black".
Anyone wanting further information about the club check out our website at www.southhamschessclub.com or ring Phil McConnell on 01803834135.
The club meets every Thursday at the Regal Club, Kingsbridge at 7pm. Feel free to pop in to say "hi" and see what we look like.