Review of the 2024-25 Season

The main internal club competitions were

• the Homan League - an "all play all twice" competition to determine the Club Champion
• the Coockworthy Cup - a knockout competition with the draw made at random.

Homan League

Ever since Steve Levy re-joined the Club in 2015, he has been the Club Champion (an honour which he shared with David Archer in 2021-22 and 2023-24). This year Steve didn't have it all his own way, and David Archer became the bookies' favourite after beating Steve with both the white and the black pieces. However James Schofield achieved a consistent set of victories and, on the last day of the season, overtook David to finish on a very impressive 18/20 and thereby become the Club Champion. Many congratulations to James.

Cookworthy Cup

A season without Steve winning silverware would be inconceivable, and Stave duly got his revenge on David by winning both legs of the Cookworthy Cup final. Many congratulations to Steve..

The trophies were presented by Alan Davies (Club Chairman) at the AGM on 29^th May.

Torbay Chess League

In the Torbay Chess League, South Hams finished second in Division 1, (pipped on "goal difference" by a very strong Totnes team). In Division 3, South Hams finished 4^th out of 7 teams, with Plymouth winning the title. In the Rapidplay, Newton Abbot won all four of their matches, with South Hams and Devonport High School winning one apiece. South Hams did not enter teams in Division 2 (won by Newton Abbot) or Division 4 (won by Torquay Boys' Grammar School). The final Torbay Chess League tables for the 2024-25 season can be viewed here.

In the Knockout competition, South Hams lost by 2½ - 3½ in the semi-finals to eventual winners Newton Abbot.

Full details are on the ECF League Management System.

Next Season

The 2025-26 season will start on Thursday 4^th September. Enquiries from prospective new members are most welcome.

The 2024 Dartmouth Summer Chess events for 2024 were originally scheduled for June, but bad weather meant they were deferred to Thursday 18 July (evening) and Saturday 20 July (day time).

Playing conditions for the Thursday event were lovely, with plenty of sunshine and a gentle breeze. Bad light stopped play after six rounds, and the outright winner was Trefor Thynne who was undefeated on 5/6. Alan Brusey was second on 4½, while Steve Levy and Andrew Kinder were joint third on 4. The full cross table for the Thursday event can be viewed here.

Relaxing between rounds

Charles Doidge 0 - 1 Mike Cuggy

Richard Thomas 0-1 Andrew Kinder

Chris Collins 0 - 1 Trefor Thynne

As usual, Tony Tatam was a wizard with the pairing software

Congratulations to Trefor Thynne, seen here with the trophy

Unfortunately the Saturday brought heavy rain. Rather than postponing the event twice, the decision was made to move indoors. The top four boads were set up in one room, while the remaing boards shared the Conservatory with the refreshments table. As has become traditional, a fish 'n' chips lunch for everyone was ordered from the Wheelhouse, Dartmouth.

Boards 1 - 4

Boards 5+

In the foreground: Les Barron 1 - 0 Mike Bender

Round 7 Boards 1 - 4

One loo for boards 1 - 4, another loo for the riff-raff

Ian Henry 1 - 0 Trevor Hurt

Steve Cawser

Charles Doidge

Mike Bender

Les Barron

After 9 rounds, the clear winner was Steve Levy who scored a very impressive 8½. Trefore Thynne came second with 7, while Chris Collins was third with 6½. The final cross table can be viewed in full here.

Luckily the rain stopped in time for the presentation of trophies to take place outdoors.

On 19 May 2023 local artist Miranda Housden launched an exhibition of her art in Plymouth featuring 32 paintings of chess pieces representing people who have had a significant impact on her life. A blitz chess competition of players from Devon and Cornwall took place on the opening night, and the winner was presented with a fantastic glass trophy made by internationally renowned glassmaker Gill Mannings Cox, commissioned by Miranda in memory of her grandfather Richard Kenber who taught her how to play chess. A video of the event can be viewed here. Miranda kindly agreed that each year this trophy should be presented to the winner of the "Saturday Dartmouth Chess" event. Miranda, accompanied by Gill, very kindly agreed to attend and present the trophy to this year's winner - Steve Levy.

Left-to-right: Gill Mannings Cox, Mike Cuggy, Barry Lippard, Chris Collins, Trevor Hurt, Gerard 't Hart, Charles Doidge.

Left-to-right: Les Barron, Alan Brusey, Trefor Thynne, Ian Henry, Miranda Housden, Mike Bender.

Miranda Housden describes the origins of the trophy...

... which she presented to Steve Levy. Left: Gill Mannings Cox.

Trefor Thynne kindly commissioned a wooden trophy (to keep permanently) for highest-finishing player with a rating of Under 1600. Congratulations to the winner of this trophy - Mike Cuggy.

Trefor Thynne introduces the trophy...

... which he presented to Mike Cuggy.

Thank you to everyone for making these occasions so enjoyable - despite the weather on the Saturday. A very special thank you to Tony Tatam in particular, whose fantastic organisation and efficiency kept the pairings and results under perfect control.

The second of two outdoor events for the summer of 2023 took place on 1st July, starting at 11am and finishing at 5pm with a fish & chip lunch break. The event included guests from the Brixham, Newton Abbot, Plymouth, Teignmouth and Totnes clubs. The time contols were 10 minutes plus 5 seconds per move and we managed to get nine rounds played. Many thanks to Tony Tatam for arbiting and sorting out the pairings.

Playing conditions were lovely, with plenty of sunshine and a moderate breeze.

After nine rounds, two players - Trefor Thynne and Steve Levy - shared top spot with 7½ points. As Trefor and Steve had drawn their game against one another, the tie-break was determined by Sonneborn–Berger scores and Steve pipped Trefor by 7 points to 6. David Archer and Alan Brusey Brusey shared third place with 6½ points out of 9. The full results can be viewed on the Swiss-Manager results website.

Steve and Trefor played in Round 3 and drew

Steve Cawser 0-1 Cliff Peach

Paul Brooks was the only winner against Steve Levy

Ben Wilkinson 1 - 0 Phil McConnell

Trefor Thynne 1-0 David Archer

Barry Lippard happy with his win over Alan Davies

Chris Collins 1-0 Graham Mill-Wilson

Mike Hussey enjoys views of the Dart estuary

Charles Howard 0-1 Trefor Thynne

Paul Books 0 - 1 Alan Brusey

Chris Collins 1-0 Mike Cuggy

Barry Lippard 0 - 1 Steve Cawser

David Archer 1-0 Alan Brusey (on time)

Charles Howard's hat 1 - 0 Paul Brooks' hat

Trevor Hurt 1-0 Barry Lippard

Graham Mill-Wilson 0 - 1 Charles Doidge

Tony Tatam organised the pairings

Tony Tatam presents the trophy to Steve Levy

Many congratulations to Steve, and thank you to everyone for making it a very enjoyable day.

The first of two planned outdoor events for the summer of 2023 took place on 15th June, from 6:30pm until bad light stopped play just before 10pm. The event included guests from the Brixham, Newton Abbot, Plymouth, Teignmouth and Totnes clubs. The time contols were 10 minutes plus 5 seconds per move. Many thanks to Tony Tatam for arbiting and sorting out the pairings.

The Weather Gods gave us a perfect summer's evening, and six rounds were played. Ben Wilkinson and Alan Brusey seemed to think there wouild be a prize for the loudest shirt!

The evening's winner was Trefor Thynne, who scored an impressive 5½. Alan Brusey (the only player who managed to take half a point off Trefor) came second on 5, and third place was a tie between Steve Levy, Chris Collins and Freddie Sugden on 4. The full results can be viewed on the Swiss-Manager results website.

Trevor Hurt 1 - 0 Richard Thomas

Lance Howarth 0 - 1 Roy Greenhalgh

Alan Crickmore 0 - 1 Charles Doidge

Roy Greenhalgh ½ - ½ Alan Davies

Paul Brooks ½-½ Alan Brusey

Cathy Black 1 - 0 Mike Cuggy

Chris Collins 0-1 Freddie Sugden

Ben Wilkinson ½ - ½ Cliff Peach

Freddie Sugden 0-1 Alan Brusey

Richard Thomas 1 - 0 Alan Davies

Alan Crickmore ½-½ Mike Hussey

Trefor Thynne 1 - 0 Charles Doidge

Paul Brooks 1-0 Cathy Black

Ben Wilkinson 0 - 1 Steve Levy

Chris Collins 1-0 Trevor Hurt

Lance Howarth 0 - 1 Roy Greenhalgh

With a cloudless sky, the shade was welcome

Tatiana the cat didn't think much of the chess

Tony Tatam presented the trophy to Trefor Thynne. Very well played, Trefor!

Thank you to everyone who participated - it was a very enjoyable evening. The next Dartmouth outdoor event will be on Saturday 1^st July.

Review of the 2022-23 Season

It was great to be playing "over-the-board" chess for the entire season - due to Covid-19, the last time this could be said was the 2018-19 season.

Homan League

Steve Levy won both the pre-Christmas and post-Christmas phases of the Homan League, and thus beecame Club Champion without having to go through any kind of playoff. Steve didn't have it all his own way, though - during the season James Schofield, Trevor Hurt and David Archer all denied him a 100% record, and there were several games when Steve looked as if he might draw or even lose until his strong end game play and time management saw himn through to victory.

Cookworthy Cup

The final of the Cookworthy Cup was fought between Club newcomer Cathy Black and Steve Levy. When Cathy won the first leg, it looked as if she might win the Cup outright. However it was not to be; Steve won the second leg and under Club rules the trophy was shared between Cathy and Steve.

The trophies were presented at the AGM on 25^th May. Many congratulatyions to Cathy and Steve.

Torbay Chess League

The Torbay Chess League ran

• three 4-player Standard Play leagues - Division 1 (no rating limits), Division 2 (under 6800) and Division 3 (under 6400)
• one 4-player Rapid Play league (under 7000)
• one 6-player Knockout competition (under 10,000)

South Hams won Division 1, Division 2 and the Rapid Play leagues, finished second to Plymouth in Division 3, and lost in the first round of the Knockout to eventual winners Newton Abbot. The final league tables can be viweed here. Full details are on the ECF League Management System.

Next Season

The 2023-24 season will start on Thursday 31^st August with a "simul" by Steve Levy, our Club Champion. The following Thursday will be a fun Rapid Play evening, and club competitions will kick off on Thursday 14^th September. Enquiries from prospective new members are most welcome.

After a Covid-induced hiatus in 2020 and 2021 the Club staged another outdoor Summer Blitz event in Dartmouth on Saturday 2^nd July 2022. 18 players played from 11am to 5:30pm, with an interruption for fish 'n' chips ordered from a Dartmouth chippy. The event included guests from the Brixham and Newton Abbot clubs. The time contols were 10 minutes plus 5 seconds per move. Many thanks to Tony Tatam for arbiting, sorting out the pairings, and even doing an ad-hoc talk on the arcane laws regarding "illegal moves"!

Tony is proposing to use different pairing software ("Swiss Manager") for the Torbay Congress this November, and he decided to put this software through its paces today. It all went swimmingly well - after each round it took Tony about 1 minute from receiving the last game result to posting the pairings for the next round - pretty impressive! The final results can be viewed on the Swiss-Manager results website.

The start was delayed by about 15 minutes because of rain....

but it only took a few minutes to set up 9 boards and get cracking.

After that the weather was (mostly!) dry.

Hot and cold drinks, biscuits and nibbles were available throughout.

Chris Collins (B) v Nathan Mills (W) - a strong showing from the Brixham club.

The Wheelhouse in Dartmouth provided the fish and chips bang on schedule.

Fish is supposed to be good for the brain...

... but beer probably isn't.

After 6 rounds Steve Levy (here playing Mike Cuggy as white) pulled 1½ pts clear of the field.

But in Round 7 David Archer (here playing Chris Willcox as white) beat Steve to open up the competition.

Later in the afternoon we enjoyed sunny intervals.

Trefor Thynne (W) v Steve Cawser (B).

Tatam is prowling - watch out, chaps!

In the still air the Ukraine flag was a little droopy.

In the last round, Steve Levy (B) needed to beat James Schofield (W) to win the event outright. It turned out to be a very tight game! So much so that James finished the game standing up!

Under desperate time pressure, James made an illegal move, so Tony added 2 mins to Steve's clock. Time was decisive, and in the end Steve got the win he needed.

By the time the chess was finished it was a lovely evening.

Tony was warmly thanked for his wizardry on the computer.

The tournament prize came in liquid form. Many congratulations to Steve Levy.

There was also some South Hams club business - David Archer received his trophy as joint Club Champion...

... and Steve was presented with the Cookworthy Cup...

... and trophies for the Cookworthy and joint Club Champion.

Thank you to everyone who participated - it was a very enjoyable day. We are hoping to run a similar event in 2023.

Friday 8^th October 2021

At a meeting on Wednesday 6^th October, it was decided that, after a Covid-induced hiatus, the Torbay Chess League will be resuming over-the-board competitons in the 2021-22 season. South Hams Chess Club will be participating in all the Torbay League Competitions.

Specifically, South Hams is fileding teams in Division A, Division B and the Knockout Competition. Games played in the TCL are submitted to the ECF rating database.

In TCL competitions, fixtures, results league tables and player stats for all teams are set out using the ECF League Management System. The South Hams fixtures and results are also set out on this website.

Competition rules and match result sheets can be viewed or downloaded here.

Friday 13^th August 2021

The Club has decided that there will be no Club meetings at the Regal in the 2020-21 season until January 2021 at the earliest. However:

• Games in the Club's competitions can be played online via the chess.com website.
• Thursday nights will be club nights, with lots of South Hams competitive games being played at the same time - so you can keep your eye on how other games are progressing while you play youir own game!
• The Homan League will operate primarily as an online competition from 1^st September to 24^th December 2020. A new league competition (details TBD) will be started in the New Year.
• Players can start playing their games in the Cookworthy Cup (the Club's knockout competition) online from 1^st September 2020. However first and second round games don't need to be played until 31^st January 2021, so members not wishing to play online can enter in the hope that over-the-board chess will resume in the New Year (and then withdraw if that doesn't happen).

If BOTH players agree to play a game in these competitions over-the-board rather than online, they may do so, using their own equipment and at a venue other than the Regal Club.

The Committee plan to meet in December 2021 to decide how the Coronavirus pandemic will affect the Club's plans for 2022.

Sunday 22 ^nd March 2020

Government announcements regarding Coronavirus over the last week mean that the prospect is receding of the Club meeting for face-to-face games in the near future. Cheer up, however, members can play online using the chess.com website!

With effect from 2pm on Sunday 22^nd March, we are allowing the outstanding games in the 2019-20 Homan League, Dunleavy League and Cookworthy Cup to be played online. There is no change to the time controls. Note that results of games played online will not be submitted to the ECF for grading; apart from that, the results of online games will be treated exactly the same as the results of face-to-face games.

In addition, we have created two new online all-play-all leagues for club members to enjoy: the Corona Standard Play League and the Corona RapidPlay League. While two members are playing one another, it is possible for other members to watch the game in "real time". Any member may choose to participate or not in the "Corona" leagues - it is entirely optional - but we believe they will be a lot of fun and will give us all our "fix" of playing plenty of chess while the Coronavirus crisis prevents the Club from physically meeting.

Members can click here for guidance on how to how to set up an account on chess.com, and how to arrange and play their online games.

Please contact the Club Secretary (Phil McConnell) if you have any queries.

Monday 16 ^thMarch 2020

As the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) makes headline news around the world, the Committee of South Hams Chess Club has decided to suspend all activities with immediate effect. The background and rationale for this decision is as follows.

1. The ECF has issued the following guidance on Coronavirus:
   The ECF has been considering the operation of evening league chess during the continuing coronavirus pandemic.

   It is for individual leagues to decide on their own policy and the ECF cannot make decisions for those organisations. Our suggestion is that play is suspended for a period. A sensible period to allow for the progress of the virus to be monitored and reviewed in line with developments in Government policy might be for the next three weeks, with the policy being reconsidered at the end of that period.
 
2. The Committee considers that this is sensible advice. The UK Chief Medical Officer has stated that you are likely to be infected if you are within two metres of an infected person for more than 15 minutes - he really could not have described the conditions of a chess match much better! Furthermore, a substantial number of Club members are in the over-60 or at-risk categories, and the health and safety of our members must be paramount.

The Committee has therefore decided to follow the ECF guidance. Club nights - at both Kingsbridge and Dartmouth - are cancelled with immediate effect until further notice. All South Hams matches in the Torbay Chess League and DCCA competitions are postponed until further notice. Of course we cannot prevent members playing one another outside the auspices of the club (with their own equipment), but we do not encourage this.

No decisions have yet been taken you on how, whether or when this season's competitions (internal, TCL and DCCA) will be completed.

The South Hams Chess Club Committee will review the situation in three weeks' time (6^th April). We have not yet decided whether to hold the AGM on the current date of 21^st May 2020.

Please contact the Club Secretary (Phil McConnell) if you would like clarification or discussion on these decisions.