The recent 6^th Yeovil Congress was successfully completed under the stewardship of Jack Rudd. The main prizewinners were as follows:

In 2003, the Exeter & District League commemorated its 50th year by organising a match between the clubs on the coast and those inland, nicknamed the coast v Country match.  This year's event, held recently at the Manor Hotel, Exmouth, involved 52 players and proved an easy win for the inlanders - 16½- 9½.

The season's trophies were also presented to the captains of the winning teams.  Division 1: Winners - Exmouth A (Captain: I Annetts).  Divisiion 2: Winners Sidmouth B (Captain:Tom Badlan)  Division 3: Winners - Sidmouth C (Captain: Peter Hills).  Division 4: Winners - Isca Juniors (Captain: Ray Hood).

Interestingly, the game on Board 4 paired the new champions of Exeter and Exmouth: (notes based on those by the winner).

See link above for games

Most other games from the match are available on the Devon website (http://www.chessdevon.co.uk/).

In last week's position, Michael Adams wisely refrained from taking either of the proffered pawns as this would have lost the rook to a knight fork.  Instead he played Kf4, getting off the square vulnerable to checks, while still attacking the two pawns.  Shirov resigned immediately.

In this week's position, from another Adams game in Elista, in the 1998 Olympiad, Rozentalis (White) now played 1.Bxf5, probably expecting Adams to retake, first on f5 and then queens, after which White gets a good game.  But what Cornish gem did he overlook?

Kalmykia, a small republic nestling between the Caspian and Black Seas, is remarkable for two things - it is Europe's only Buddhist state and its president, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, is a chess fan, with the ability to channel funds into organising prestigious events, like the current world championship cycle. Sixteen of the world's best players have gathered in the capital city of Elista to fight it out on a knockout basis, and the last man standing will be able to challenge the current champion, Vladimir Kramnik.

Devon met Middlesex in the Quarter-Final of the English U-175 Inter-County Championship at the foot of Old Sarum, outside Salisbury.

What can one do on a wet weekend in Frome? Fortunately, if you are a chessplayer, there was the 18^th Frome Congress last weekend which attracted 180 players. The main prizewinners were as follows:

   Here is a game from Round 1 which put paid to Tyson Mordue's chances of a prize.

This afternoon, Devon take on Middlesex at Salisbury, in the U-175 section of the Inter-Counties Championship. In spite of several strong absentees including their captain Brian Hewson, Devon are still fielding a strong enough team to give them cause for cautious optimism.

Cornwall's last match of the season was against Hampshire at Rockbeare. It was a close affair, finishing in a 7½ all draw, with each team defaulting one board. The three Cornish winners were Roger Grime (Helston), Philip Hutchings (Camborne) and Jeremy Kneebone (Penwith), and there were no less than 9 draws from Jeremy Menadue (Truro), Ian George (Camborne), Simon Bartlett (Newquay), V. Weetasinha (Truro), Edward Webb (St. Austell), Michael Hill (Liskeard), Ian Scott & Anton Barkhuysen (both Camborne) and Truro schoolgirl, Beth Hardwick.

This left the final table for the 1^st team trophy, the Harold Meek Cup as:- 1^st Devon (8 pts), 2^nd Gloucestershire (6), 3^rd Cornwall (3), 4^th Hants & 5^th Somerset (1). Devon also won the tournament for 2^nd teams (the Wayling Cup) with a maximum 6 points, followed by Hants (4) Somerset (2) and Dorset (0).

The Frome Congress is under way today at Selwood Middle School and finishes tomorrow afternoon.

Next Saturday Devon's Under-175 team take on Middlesex at Salisbury in the Quarter-Final of the English inter-County Championship, with hopes that they can get through to the Final for the third consecutive year.

Here is another of Grandmaster Matthew Turner's wins from the recent WECU Championship. In Round 3 he faced one of the Wiltshire juniors.

See link above for games

In last week's position, Alekhine won very prettily after 1…Qh1+ 2.Bg1 (forced) Bh4 3.Rh2 Qg2+ 4.Rxg2 Pxg2 mate.

This week's position is from a  game played in Brazil in 1937. How did  Black win in 2 moves?

Vic Cross of Torquay, former Rolle College student and Devon team captain, has in recent years devoted his energies to junior chess, to the point where he was recently appointed Team Manager for the England Under-11 Squad. In this capacity he takes teams to compete in tournaments at the highest junior level, both here and abroad.

Recently he took an England squad to the Czech Republic, where several players excelled, including Robert Thompson of Torquay Boys' Grammar School, who was the joint highest scorer in the U-14 section with 6/9. The next trip abroad is later this month when Victor takes an U-14 six board team to Poland, that will include Harry Mann, from the same school.

This weekend, Vic and his partner, Nancy Mortimer, will be accompanying a 4 girl team from Broadclyst Primary School, who will be competing in an East v West England Girls' U-11 match. The team comprises Christina Needs, Jordan Ricketts, Nicola Silliphant and Cassie Searle, who were all introduced to the game by their teacher Charles Warren, whose son Sam was a promising junior when he was at Budleigh Salterton a decade ago.

Next weekend, Vic will be accompanying his colleague Tim Onions and the Devon U-11 team to the National Inter-County finals at High Wycombe. It's certainly a busy life for junior chess organisers these days, as quick, cheap travel has opened up so many possibilities for matches with other countries.

Here is Robert Thompson's  4^th round game from the Czech Republic, the 3^rd of his 6 wins.

See link above for games

In last week's position, White finished off neatly with 1.Rxg7+ Rxg7 (forced) when 2.Nf6 gives mate as the Knight covers g8 as well.

This week's position is from one of Alekhine's early games (1908). How did he (Black) mate his opponent in 4 moves?

The 26^th rapidplay tournament, organised by the Teignmouth Club was successful in more ways than one. The weather and venue were superb and although the 85 competitors came from throughout the southwest, all but 2 of the 20 prizes went to local players.

There were a number of entertaining games at the recent West of England Congress in Exmouth. Two young prospects are the Hall brothers from Swindon, Daniel is 16 with a grade of 174 and Joshua is two years older and graded 153. In round 2 Joshua was paired against Alan Minnican, the Director of International Chess for Chess Scotland and joint 2^nd seed at this event. But the Scot was in for a bit of a shock.

See link above for games

This year's West of England Championship and Congress, which finished on Monday afternoon, was the 60th in the series, and surely everything that the event was intended to be; a long weekend of unbroken sunshine by the seaside, a splendid venue at the Royal Beacon Hotel, Exmouth, and the chance to indulge in some top class chess.

Last week I floated the possibility of Alekhine living and playing in Cornwall - true or false. Well, it's all true - or almost. In fact, it all relates to Mrs. Alekhine,  Alexander's widow.

He had married and divorced three women in just a few years early in his career, before meeting Grace, the widow of Archibald Freeman, a wealthy English tea planter, when she was among his opponents in a simultaneous match in Tokyo. They married in March 1934, with her maiden name of Wishard on the marriage certificate. She was an American-born British citizen, 13 years older than her husband and wealthy, with a magnificent chateau called Saint Aubin-le-Cauf, near Dieppe (still standing today and operating as a hotel) and an art studio in Paris. Both competed at Hastings in 1936/7 when he won the Premier and she won 3^rd prize in the 3^rd Class Morning A.

They both came to Plymouth in 1938 for the Golden Jubilee Congress,  where they attended a civic reception in their honour.

During the war, he was effectively exiled to Portugal while Grace elected to remain in France to monitor the welfare of her various properties at the mercy of the invaders. She even found time to compete in the Paris Championships of 1944 when she became the Ladies Champion.

In 1946, he died suddenly aged 53, amid rumours that he had been murdered in his hotel room in order to avoid a scandal, (fancy such a thing!), untrue as it turned out.

It is not clear whether Grace was simply an amateur artist or fancied herself as a patron, or both. Whatever her motivation, she would have naturally been drawn to the vibrant artists' colony in post-war St. Ives, which included Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson and many others. She had a house and lived there part of each year until her death in 1956 at the age of 80. She was a paid-up member of the West Penwith club, which then met on Friday evenings at Pentre, Lelant, and was the county's champion club for several seasons. Grace Alekhine would have been quite capable of giving her Cornish opponents plenty to think about over the board.

She was buried next to Alexander in the Cimitiere de Montparnasse, Paris, to where Alekhine's body had been transferred from Portugal after a long campaign she had led. Among her papers were found her husband's hand-written pro-Nazi articles that had created such a controversy in the war. Was he even aware Grace was Jewish? All very strange, but true.

 In last week's position, Yates beat Alekhine by playing 1.Bg1+ Kg3 2.Qf2+ 3.Kh3 3.Qh2 mate.

This week he's at his brilliant best. During a simultaneous match, Black has just played f5 and in a flash Alekhine spots a brilliancy that ends the game in 2 moves. How long will you take to find it?