South Hams Chess Club
South Hams Chess Club

2022 Summer Chess in Dartmouth

After a Covid-induced hiatus in 2020 and 2021 the Club staged another outdoor Summer Blitz event in Dartmouth on Saturday 2nd 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.

Dartmouth Outdoor Chess
The start was delayed by about 15 minutes because of rain....
Tony Tatam pairings
but it only took a few minutes to set up 9 boards and get cracking.
 
Dartmouth Outdoor Chess
After that the weather was (mostly!) dry.
Tony Tatam pairings
Hot and cold drinks, biscuits and nibbles were available throughout.
 
Dartmouth Outdoor Chess
Chris Collins (B) v Nathan Mills (W) - a strong showing from the Brixham club.
Tony Tatam pairings
The Wheelhouse in Dartmouth provided the fish and chips bang on schedule.
 
Dartmouth Outdoor Chess
Fish is supposed to be good for the brain...
Tony Tatam pairings
... but beer probably isn't.
 
Dartmouth Outdoor Chess
After 6 rounds Steve Levy (here playing Mike Cuggy as white) pulled 1½ pts clear of the field.
Tony Tatam pairings
But in Round 7 David Archer (here playing Chris Willcox as white) beat Steve to open up the competition.
 
Dartmouth Outdoor Chess
Later in the afternoon we enjoyed sunny intervals.
Tony Tatam pairings
Trefor Thynne (W) v Steve Cawser (B).
 
Dartmouth Outdoor Chess
Tatam is prowling - watch out, chaps!
Tony Tatam pairings
In the still air the Ukraine flag was a little droopy.
 
Dartmouth Outdoor Chess
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!
Tony Tatam pairings
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.
 
Dartmouth Outdoor Chess
By the time the chess was finished it was a lovely evening.
Tony Tatam pairings
Tony was warmly thanked for his wizardry on the computer.
 
Dartmouth Outdoor Chess
The tournament prize came in liquid form. Many congratulations to Steve Levy.
Tony Tatam pairings
There was also some South Hams club business - David Archer received his trophy as joint Club Champion...
 
Dartmouth Outdoor Chess
... and Steve was presented with the Cookworthy Cup...
Tony Tatam pairings
... 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.