Archive for the ‘Exeter & District League’ Category

24 players foregathered at the Manor Hotel, Exmouth on Tuesday evening (12.06.2018) for their annual end-of-season prizegiving and rapidplay match. It wasn’t too much of a prizegiving as two of the four trophies had been won by new Exeter University teams and they were all either busy with exams or had already finished their academic year. However, judging by the photos (see below), the other two teams looked pleased enough to be there.

The final charts, as prepared by League Secretary, Tim Paulden, were as follows:

After a short break, during which two teams of 12 of approximately equal strength were sorted out from those present, one belonging to the League President, Brian Aldwin, and the other owing allegience to its Secretary, Tim Paulden, play got under way, with two games of 30 minutes per player. After all 24 games had finished, with the closest of wins for the Sccretary’s team, the table looked like this…..

Hazel Welch receives the Runner-Up trophy for the Premiership on behalf of Seaton

The Exeter team, winners of the Championship (Div. 2) received their trophy . l-r Will Marjoram; Brian Aldwin; Richard Scholes, Richard Player & Sean Pope at rear.

Pauls Hampton & O'Neill start their first game on Bd. 1

Bd. 5 (nearest) Alan Dean considers his reply to Sean Pope's previous move.

In the lower half, Player (W) and Thomson get under way.

The East Devon Congress got under way smoothly at 7 p.m. on Friday 24th February, with an entry of 137, somewhat down on last year when the bait of John Nunn’s entry lured in a number of players, but still a higher entry than the years before that. The Open Section numbered 50, of whom 19 were graded 180 or higher. Top seed Jack Rudd is well clear of the field, but who else will be taking home winners’ cheques is anyone’s guess.

Following the huge success of last year’s “Blitz at the Pits”, we’ll be running the event again this coming Friday (14 July 2017) at the Pit-Stop Cafe in Marsh Barton, Exeter.

Please see below for full details!

[Club captains / presidents / secretaries - please help spread the word about the event... thank you!]

(25 Marsh Green Road East, Marsh Barton, Exeter EX2 8PQ)

Full details on the night!
Games will not go for grading.

Entry fee?

Entry is free! You are encouraged to purchase refreshments from the venue

How to enter

All players from all Devon clubs (and beyond!) are welcome to come and play, but please notify Brian Aldwin in advance [by Thursday 13 July] if you’d like to participate!

Brian’s details are:
[email protected]

07435 317941

Transport?

Finally, if would like to offer a lift to/from the venue, or are in need of one, please mention this to Brian when you contact him.

We look forward to seeing you on Friday for what should be a very fun evening of chess!

* * * * * *

On Tuesday evening the local league held their annual end-of-term prizegiving and match at the Manor Hotel, Exmouth, by kind invitation of the new Management.

Proceedings started with the presentation of trophies by the League President, Brian Aldwin. Pictures may be found below, but in summary they were as follows:

Cup___________ For Winning_________ Team________Recipient

RapidPlay Cup: RapidPlay League Exmouth Eels Alan Dean

Cottew Cup: Div 1 Champions Sidmouth Scorpions Charlie Keen

Turner Cup Div. 1 Grading prize Exmouth Eagles Steve Murray

Polsloe Cup Div. 2 Champions Just Seaton Hazel Welsh

Mainstay Cup Div. 2 Grading prize Tiverton Thinkers Greg Fotheringham

This bit didn’t take long, and then it was time to sort out the 28 players present into two teams of roughly equal ability, ready for two rapidplay games of 30 minutes per player per game. This finished as follows.

The League’s prizegiving and end-of-term match has been held at the Manor Hotel, Exmouth, at the kind invitation of the management, for the past 12 years or more, and it was no different this time.

First, the presentations……

The match changed in format last year, due to the rise and rise of the Exeter Club’s membership and the decline in interest of the Tiverton and Sidmouth clubs. No blame is attached here - it’s just how clubs always gradually rise and fall, both in numbers and and strength over the years, and ’twill ever be so. However, one must adjust accordingly.

Therefore, this year the match took the form of an Exeter vs The Rest double round rapidplay. Last year’s match was drawn 9-9, but this year’s line-up looked to favour the city team, though it proved to be a little closer than expected.

Details were as follows: (Tim’s Team - named after League Secretary Tim Paulden - consisted of Exeter players on the top 16 boards. Bob’s Team - named after the League’s Jamboree team captain, Bob Jones).

The League’s annual prizegiving took place at its usual venue of the Manor Hotel, Exmouth, followed by a match.

The winners’ names were announced by League President, Brian Aldwin, and the presentation was made to a representative of the winning team concerned. (see photographs below). Details of the various sections can be summarised as follows:

The presentations were followed by a match between those present. In the past this has been between teams drawn from the 3 coastal clubs and those inland i.e Coast vs Country, but this formula has become somewhat redundant in recent years, with the arrival of Newton Abbot on the one side and the demise of Sidmouth on the other. Therefore it had been agreed to try a revival of an old formula, not used in Devon for over 20 years. That is a President’s vs Match Captain’s match, with teams drawn from whoever turned up on the night. The way it worked was as follows:

(a) Players likely to be presnt should submit their names beforehand.

(b) The players are the listed in grade order, top to bottom, and pairing cards made out.

(c) Once it is ascertained they are present in the room, Team A has the top-graded player. Then Team B is then allocated the next 2 top-graded players, and then Team A gets the next 2 - and so on to the bottom of the list. This guarantees two teams of approximately equal strength. The only slight adjustments that need to be made is where this formula pairs 2 players from the same club. It is unlikely that two players from Newton Abbot or Seaton would wish to travel a long distance only to play a club colleague they’d played in their club the night before.

(d) It had been decided to make it a rapidplay match - 30 minutes per player per game, with colours reversed for a 2nd game.

The evenness of the teams was demonstrated by the outcome. All the President’s men won the 1st round by 9-7, but lost the 2nd round by the same score, making it 16-all at the end. Details as follows:-

Eddy Palmer (Exeter Rooks) receives the Cottew Cup as League Champions, from Brian Aldwin and Tim Paulden.

Meyrick Shaw receives the Turner Cup from League President, Brian Aldwin, as the Grading Prize win for Exmouth Eagles.

Hazel Welch (Seaton) & Brian Gosling (East Budleigh) share the Div. 2 Mainstay Cup.

Steve Martin (Sidmouth) takes the Div. 2 Grading Prize.

Finally the fun stuff is over and it's down to the serious business of the evening.

After wins against Newton Abbot and Tiverton, and a streaky draw against Exeter, Exmouth went into their last match knowing that even a narrow loss would leave them 1st= on match points, while even a draw would make them champions again. As the teams assembled at Teignmouth’s venue, the Alice Cross Day Centre, there was nervous banter between the players, with some mention of the possible odds on a 6-0 win for Exmouth, but this was only gallows humour from some of the home team; Exmouth were taking nothing for granted.

The only presumption was to be taking a team photograph with the cup, but this was only because it was probably the only time the team would all be present in the same place at the same time. Naturally, it wouldn’t be used if Exmouth lost the match. To keep things even-handed, a team photo was taken of the Teignmouth team as well. (see below).

As the match got under way, a win seemed some way off, as Ingham & Underwood played a quick draw and went off to do other things, while Wensley, otherwise the in-form player, went a piece down against the dangerous Bramley, and there were no discernable advantages to Exmouth in the other 4 games - at that point. Nor could Gosling make any headway against Prior and a draw was agreed. So where was a won game, let alone a won match coming from? However, after 3+ hours play, games 3 to 5 all went the visitors’ way in rapid succession, as grades and experience told in the long run. Wensley recovered his piece and won with Q+R on the 7th rank. Martin was able to pick up pawns in the endgame and broke through, while Scott forced a series of errors from his opponent. With the match won, it left Stephens and Brusey playing for pride, neither willing to concede anything. They played an endgame right through to the last minutes of extra time, until Brusey’s flag fell in a losing position, while Stephens had about 3 minutes left.

A 5-1 result was about what one might expect, looking at the team sheets, but it was mighty hard work getting there.

The final table was as follows:-

The Teignmouth team: seated l-r:- Bill Ingham; Alan Brusey, Norman Tidy (Capt.). Standing: John Ariss; Graham Bramley & M. Prior.

The Exmouth team: seated l-r: Jonathan Underwood; John Stephens & Oliver Wensley. Standing: Chris Scott, Brian Gosling & Steve Martin.

General view; Ingham - Underwood nearest.

General view #2: Prior - Gosling nearest.

Bramley & Wensley in some post-game analysis.

The League’s annual prizegiving and Coast vs Country match took place on 3rd June at the Manor Hotel, Exmouth.

A number of factors led to the match being a very one-sided affair this year. Firstly, several of Exmouth’s top players were unavailable for one reason or another and the largest club, Sidmouth, failed to produce a single player, which meant that the Coast could only raise 12 players. These had to be supplemented by a number of players from Exeter and Newton Abbot in order to get even numbers.

Over the top 9 boards, the points were shared 4.5 each, but below that, the Coast could only muster 2 points, and one of them came from an on-loan Exeter player. The Coast were well-outgraded on 17 of the 19 boards, so perhaps did well to get 6.5 points. Perhaps the new Coast captain next year (whoever that might be) will be able to get a better response, otherwise some re-thinking might have to be done about the format. Perhaps a version of the DCCA’s old President vs Match Captain’s match, whereby teams are picked on the night from whoever turns up. First “picker” chooses one player while the next chooses two. Food for thought, anyway. The games will appear on the League website asap.

The details were:-

The match was preceded by the prizegiving, at which League President Brian Aldwin presented the five cups on display.

Andrew Kinder receives the Cottew Cup on behalf of Newton Abbot

Charles Keen receives the Premiership team Grading Prize.

Championship winners Exeter Gambits l-r Richard Scholes, Eddy Palmer, R. Player & Brian Aldwin.

Hazel Welch receives the Mainstay Cup as Seaton's team grading prize

Ivor Annetts receives the RapidPlay prize for the Tiverton Timebombs

Having lost at home to Tiverton in Rd. 1, a trip to Newton Abbot for our 2nd match on Feb 1st 2014, was not a prospect to be relished. With a grading ceiling of 639 both teams had opted to keep as close as possible to the average of 160 per player, rather than playing a 190+ player on Bd. 1 in the hope of a sure win, while hoping the 120+ on Bd. 4 might be able to scrape a result.

The first game to finish by a considerable margin was that involving the Ajerbaizani ex-pat, Rahimili, who seems to share with Jack Rudd the inability to play at a speed less than that of an express train throughout any game. His game lasted a little less than half of the allocated 4 hours, most of which ws taken up by his opponent. Scott blundered a piece away entering the endgame, yet within a few moves, Rahimili had blundered not only a piece back but most of his pawns as well, with no counterplay.

Brian Gosling won the exchange and maintained a strong grip on the position, managing to win further material and the game. 2-0 up but the other two faced strong opposition. Shaw blundered a piece in the endgame but hung on to see how his neighbour would fare in a very tight N+P endgame. When Wensley offered and got a draw when 2 pawns up, Shaw resigned immediately, as the match was won.

General view of the match - Taylor-Gosling nearest.

General view of ther match - Scott-Rahimili nearest.

Bd. 1 Shaw vs Fraser.

Bd. 2 - Brooks vs Wensley

Bd. 4 Taylor-Gosling

Having been the first of the 5 teams involved to have a bye, Exmouth’s first match in the Bremridge Cup (Div. 1) did not come till after Christmas, when they hosted Tiverton. The whole story was one of near disaster from beginning to end. The Tiverton team was already weakened when their Bd. 1 player, Dave Littlejohns, suddenly discovered there were no trains between Taunton and Exeter that day due to major works on the track and he wouldn’t be able to make alternative arrangements. Brian Hewson phoned back to offer a lift, but there was no reply from the land line and he had no mobile number. In the end he went to the house in the hope that Littlejohns would be there, which he was, and the pair arrived in Exmouth shortly before the 2.30 start, with jangling nerves.

Meanwhile, Bob Jones, ever-cautious, had arrived at the club room an hour early, only to find the usual playing room had been double-booked and a full scale lecture was going on. After going into panic mode for 5 minutes, he worked out that the match could be held in the day-room using arm chairs to sit in, with extra cushions if needed. It was a little cramped for space but was workable. Once play started it was utterly quiet and neither group impinged on the other.

As they were considerably under-full strength themselves Exmouth were surprised to find themselves the stronger on paper by 45 grading points. First game to finish was Underwood-Bartlett, when White miscalulated a long series of exchanges to find himself a piece down with no compensation or counter-play. On Bd. 4, Club President, Mark Abbott, found himself with the only queen and attacking opportunities, but failed to make the best of it and was forced to trade the queen back. He ended up with R vs R+B but with a pair of united central pawns keen to queen, and he managed to win when one of them could not be stopped. Score level at 1-1. Then Shaw sacrificed a pawn in the opening and offered a second, which was declined. Eventually his opponent’s gifted pawn proved the deciding factor in a tight endgame. 2-1 to the visitors. Chris Scott, playing his first game in the Bremridge, sneaked home in another tight ending. His bishop, the only piece on the board, managed to hold back a pawn storm, first blocking them, allowing the king to gobble them up. 2-2.

Brian Gosling had struggled on for some time a piece down, and was able to make threats with his active queen, but eventually had to concede the game to Keith Atkins. This left the Bd. 1 game to decide things. Reaching the late endgame with a blocked position, Littlejohns found his pieces hemmed in to one corner, and Stephens was able to get a rook to invade the position, get behind the white pawns and start picking them off. Stephens had only seconds left but played at lightning speed to move his king and pawns forward. His win brought the score to 3-3 with no drawn games.