Keverel Chess

Posts Tagged ‘Exeter Chess Club’

It was time for another top level encounter between near neighbours on the Exe, Exeter & Exmouth.

Exmouth were without 2 of their top players, Stephens and Shaw, while Exeter had been able to beef up their team with 2 new acquisitions from the University. Matthew Best is a 2nd year economics student, while Chris Lowe is on the University staff, teaching English Grammar to anyone who needs it. However, although he has just arrived in Exeter this season after 20 years in Sussex, he is not new to Devon, having been part of the Paignton Palace crew in the early 1980s. This was situated in Paignton but distinct from the old town club, and was based in Palace Avenue. Its membership consisted mainly of older Juniors, centred around future IM, Gary Lane, and included players like Paul Aston, A. K. Swift, Brian Boomsma, the Hawthorne brothers et al. They won the Bremridge Cup in 1982, ‘83 and ‘86, so Lowe was no stranger to this tournament. As the teenagers grew up they went their separate ways and the club eventually broke up.

These changes made the teams very closely matched on every board, and the outcome impossibe to predict. The games ended in 2 rafts of three, the first batch being all draws. Firstly, the Regis-Martin game came to an agreeable end when neither player had any advantage. Abbott vs Lowe came down to a R&Ps ending in which neither player felt inclined to push too hard in case it collapsed against them, as can happen all too often. There was nothing placid about Body vs Wensley, in which White quickly got a strong kingside attack in a Scotch Game. However, White spent so much time looking for the killer blow, that he ran short of time and agreed a draw.

There was then a lull as the other 3 games played out. Pope vs Scott was eventually drawn in an even position, leaving the last 2 games which were definitely not even in any way. Underwood-Paulden had been a complex position from the start in which pieces were left en prise while Black probed for weakenesses all over the board. Eventually, White cracked, and attention then suddenly focussed on Gosling’s game. He had only c. 2 minutes left and was reduced to just ticking off his last few moves before move 40 was reached. He was a piece up but there were pieces and pawns all over the board. However, right at the death he found the far-from-obvious winning move that offered a piece back, but if taken would enable him to queen a pawn. A win and the match was saved. 3-3 was about what one would expect, the grades being what they were.

Exeter's Dave Regis (nearest) and Tim Paulden make their first moves.

Chris Lowe (facing) getting back to the Devon chess scene, against Mark Abbott.

Boards 4 (nearest) & 5.

Exeter's captain, Sean Pope in action.

Devon’s RapidPlay tournament, the Newman Cup, has in recent years been the preserve of the same three clubs, Exmouth, Tiverton and Seaton, with Seaton being very much the underdogs. However, under the driving force of their captain, Steve Dean, they have never been downcast or tempted to give it all up, and in fact this season has seen a big change. The difference is the return to the fold of Jonathan Underwood after an absence of several years in the US. He has returned to the Devon scene, refreshed and re-invigorated, turning out regularly for the Devon county team, for Exmouth in Devon’s 1st Division and Seaton.

On Wednesday evening he turned out on top board for Seaton against his other club, Exmouth, in the Devon RapidPlay League. With a RapidPlay grade of 196 and surely about to break the 200 barrier in the next list, he was too much of a handful for the home captain, Mark Abbott, and made it 4 wins to nil in the home and away matches this season. Similarly, on Bd. 3, Oliver Wensley’s attacking skills proved too much for Alan Dowse in both games, with knights seeming to do most damage . On Bd. 2, Chris Scott, nearing the time limit, made an illegal move which lost the 1st game, but got his revenge in the next game when his king became very active in a N+Ps endgame and managed to force one through to queen. On Bd. 4, Simon Blake got a winning advantage in the first game, but lost his way in the 2nd, and Hazel Welch took full advantage, as she is wont to do.

4-all was probably a fair result on the night, but not enough to give Exmouth any hope of retaining the title.

Nervous banter before the start of play.

.... then things get serious.

Simon Blake vs Hazel Welch.

Stephens vs Paulden on Bd. 1

The first game to finish was on Bd. 4 where Scott was trying to hold an endgame position with a rook each and bishops on opposite coloured squares. With best play it might have been possible to hang on, in view of the bishops, but the pressure told and he inadvertently allowed White’s bishop to fork K & R. 1-0 to Exeter.

Shaw then managed to convert his positional advantages into material gain, forcing a win to level the scores. Dave Regis then restored Exeter’s lead by applying constant pressure in the endgame. Shortly after, Oliver Wensley exploited the advantage a well-placed, attacking bishop pair vs two defending knights, and forced resignation, to make it 2-all.

Almost immediately Exeter drew ahead for the 3^rd time when Sean Pope made the most of a mistake by his opponent in allowing him back into the game. He won the exchange and then made equal swaps to snuff out any chance of a kingside attack.

This assured Exeter of avoiding a loss, but the win hung on the outcome of the top game, which went into extra time after Paulden ran down to the very last second on his digital clock before completing his 40^th move. He had delayed development of his queenside pieces until late in the game and was struggling to get them usefully deployed thereafter. White was the exchange up at this point and his pieces were better coordinated and were focussed on the enemy king. However, the win wasn’t immediately clear and he had a long think over his 41^st move before finding a knight pseudo-sacrifice that won immediately whether the knight was taken or not, making the final score 3-all.

If it was unusual to have a match at this level with no drawn games, it was even more so that every game was a White win, giving the final result sheet a certain symmetry.

Exmouth’s final match in this competition is against Teignmouth, while Exeter are due to play Newton Abbot.

Meyrick Shaw gets his game going.

Exeter captain, Simon Waters, starts with an English Opening.

Oliver Wensley against Tristram de Piro.

Sean Pope against Brian Gosling on Bd. 6

The League rules state that 1st division teams must not exceed a total grade of 640 (as distinct from Under-640, as in DCCA’s Div. 2). For this match, on Wednesday 13th February 2013, both captains were quietly pleased to have assembled a team of maximum strength, only revealed when team lists were exchanged. No pressure, then.

Exmouth won the toss and took white on Bd. 1. Shaw on Bd. 3 built up his position slowly at first, but opened it up with a couple of pawn captures and mated on move 24. This inevitably put pressure on the other Exeter players, but no clear advantages were perceptable for some time on the other boards. The Amos-Hodge game proceeded to a roughly equal B vs N endgame, but Hodge’s knight was eventually pushed to the back rank, while the king invaded his pawns and he had to resign - all square.

The Paulden-Abbott game proceeded to an endgame, without a clear advantage to either side, and as White’s time ran to the last minute of extra time, a draw was agreed.

In the top game, Black allowed his pieces to become constricted on the queenside, which allowed White to probe for openings on the undefended king’s wing. There was just enough time for the h-pawn to run through for a 2nd queen, forcing Black to give up a rook for it.

Stephens & Abbott (nearest) in action.

Meyrick Shaw (W) heading for a quick (-ish) win.

Amos vs Hodge amid the daffodils.

A release of tension amid post-match analysis.

George W. Cutler. (1845 - 1927)

George W. Cutler

Photograph by T. Arthur Goard, son-in-law, fellow member of Exeter Chess Club and Vice-President of Exeter Camera Club.

George Cutler was a tireless worker for the Devon County Chess Association for almost a quarter of a century from the time of its formation in 1901.

George William Cutler was born in Christchurch, Hampshire in August 1844. He first learned the game about 1868 and for about 10 years was his main recreation. Then his career in banking took over and he didn’t play for about 20 years. He retired as a Bankers’ Accountant and moved to Exeter in 1896 and finding himself with more leisure time returned to the game, joining the Exeter Club and playing most days.

The 1901 census records that he was a widower and lived with his daughter Matilda Ellen and her husband, Thomas Arthur Goard, a 35 year old dentist living at 7, Elm Grove Road, Exeter, with their 3 year old son Arthur. Goard was also a member of Exeter Chess Club and a keen photographer (see above)

When the Devon County Association was founded in 1901, although the Rev. Henry Bremridge was the hard-working figurehead, he had Cutler’s full and active support. At the Association’s 1905 A.G.M. Bremridge had determined to give up the posts of both Secretary and Treasurer. In the end, a compromise was reached when Cutler took over as Treasurer on condition that Bremridge remained as Secretary.

The BCM of January 1908 contained a very affectionate portrait of Henry Bremridge, written by Cutler, in which he stated that he was a regular visitor to Bremridge’s Winkleigh Vicarage. The Editor added the footnote, “The kindly sentiments expressed here show how close is the bond of friendship is between the two leading officials of the Association”.

Eventually, in 1909 Bremridge did resign as Secretary, and it wasn’t long before Cutler held both key posts himself. He held these posts as late as 1924, when he was still living at his son-in-law’s house in Elm Grove Road. According to the Exeter club minute books, Cutler attended their A.G.M.s but played no active role in the club’s administration, reserving his energies for the Devon Association.

He was a strong correspondence player, having played 9 games for Devon by 1906, winning 7 and drawing 1. In Rhoda Bowles’ postal tournaments in Womanhood, he played 25 games of which he won 17 and drew 5. He won 2nd prize in Section B of the 4^th Tournament and was awarded the Brilliancy Bronze medal.

In 1927, Goard died aged 61 (“one of the club’s oldest members”) and Cutler, then 82, left Exeter and moved to 3, Kingsdown Road, Epsom. He died there in November 1927 aged 83. There is no mention of his death in the Exeter Club’s minutes nor any obituary in other contemporary chess literature. He seems to have died a forgotten man, but someone who devoted himself to the first quarter century of the D.C.C.A. must be remembered as a true Pioneer.

© R. H. Jones 2010 All rights reserved.

Bibliography:

BCMs 1906 & 1908

Exeter club minute books.

1901 & 1911 census online.

Rendezvoused with Brian Hewson at the Devon & Exeter Institution in order to hand over the refreshment equipment I used at Salisbury in the Inter-County Quarter-Final, and needed by him for the Semi-Final against Warwickshire on Saturday. Also settled up financially.

The Institution is a wonderful haven of peace and tranquility in a busy world - to walk through a Cathedral Close packed with shoppers, tourists and assorted crusties, and enter their library is like stepping back 200 years, leaving all that mayhem behind.

In the 1960s and early 70s it used to be the venue for the Exeter Chess Club, when they had a small, cramped upper room for clubnights, but for weekend matches they could use the large tables in the Inner Library, where the furniture and shelves of ancient leather-bound tomes helped give the encounter an ambience of the 19th century.

His first match game was against A. R. B. Thomas, and I recall playing a former Exeter Champion (1956), the eccentric Pole Eddy Czerniawski, who appropriately enough played the Polish Opening.

Devon’s team for Saturday looks very competitive - it could go down to the wire again.