THE TEIGNMOUTH RAPIDPLAY

THE TEIGNMOUTH RAPIDPLAY

The Teignmouth Rapidplay Tournament has quickly become popular with players in the Southwest, attracting players from as far away as Bristol and Cambourne. Organised and run by the Teignmouth Chess Club and overseen under the sharp eye of Ray Chubb, the tournament has been held at the Trinity School, Buckeridge Road, Teignmouth each year since its inauguration. This is an ideal venue for the event as the spacious campus is available for some relaxation between rounds and as invariably fine weather seems to be the norm, these facilities can be enjoyed to the full.

Trinity School

Two Senior Tournaments are on the menu. An Open Section is available for players graded 120 and above and the Graded Section for players graded under 120. In addition a Junior Section is organised for players under 12 years and this is usually well attended.

Having six rounds of 30 minutes per player for each round, an early start is required and for those persons who find a 9:45 start a strain on their normal time of forsaking bed, breakfast can be obtained between rounds.

In the past the Open has been won by Jim Sherman and Andrew Greet so the quality of play can be rather demanding.

This year the event will be held on Saturday 4th April and prospective entrants are recommended to get entries in early in order to secure a place.

Entry forms are available as a download from the Home Page of Chess Devon.

28^th.Teignmouth Rapidplay Congress 2009.

Held at Trinity School, Teignmouth. Saturday 4th April 2009

Open:

1^st Ben Edgell Sedgemoor 5½ / 6 Winner of the Walker Cup & £50

Joint 2^nd= James T. Sherwin Bath 5 / 6 £15 each

               Graham Bolt Exeter

Best Score by a Junior under 16 years.

Robert Thomson Newton Abbot 4 / 6 £10

Grading Prizes:

Under 159 Robin Kneebone Penwith, Cornwall. 4 / 6 £10

Under 136 Joint Martyn Adams Sidmouth 3 / 6 £5 each

       Robert Barnes Plymouth

Major: (U-120)

1^st= Duncan McArthur Keysham, Bristol 5½ / 6 Winner the John Doidge Major Cup & £40

Joint 2^nd= George Darling Newton Abbot 5 / 6 £10 each

               Mike Cuggy Brixham

Grading Prizes:

Under 100 Joint. John Knowles Tiverton 4 / 6 £4 each

      Stephen Thorpe-Tracey Tiverton

      Richard Scholes Exeter

Under 76 Freddie Sugden Newton Abbot 4 / 6 £10

Junior Prizes:

Under 16 years. Alex Billings Newton Abbot 2 / 6 £7

Under 14 years. Frank Sabin Barnet Knights 3 / 6 £7

Team Prize:

There were 13, 3 player teams: Torquay Boys Grammer School; Newton Abbot (A), (B) and (C); Exeter (A) and (B); Teignmouth (A) and (B); Tiverton; Taunton; Brixham; Sedgemore; Weymouth.

Exeter A, comprising of Graham Bolt, Richard Scholes and Charles Keen scored 13½ / 18 to win the team prize of £15. Joint seconds were Brixham and Torquay B. G. School on 11½ / 18.

Junior Event:

Under 12 years Jointly 1^st Theo Slade Bude 5 / 6 Simon Priddle Broadclyst School

Tomas Trott Broadclyst School

Winners of the Ian Mason Mamorial Cup and 1st. place Trophies.

Best Under 11 years James Royle Broadclyst School Trophy winner

Adam Batten Broadclyst School

Best Under 9 years Rebecca Trott Broadclyst School Trophy winner

Best Girl: Lily Barnes Plymouth.

Score books were won by Ben McCall-Myers, Jack Searle and Joe Gabriel for better than 50% performance.

Team Prize:

Broadclyst School Team A. Comprising Joe Gabriel, Adam Batten and Tomas Trott. Winners of £9 team prize.

General Notes.

The Congress was again fortunate to be on a day of fine weather allowing competitors to relax between game rounds in the gardens and on the patio of Trinity School.

The Congress was opened by Graham Hesse’ President of the Teignmouth Chess Club. This was the 28^th Congress held at Trinity School, held by kind permission of Tim Waters, Headmaster, Trinity School. Teignmouth Chess Club organises and runs this very successful and popular event in the West Country chess calendar.

Open.

The Congress was pleased to have International Chess Master, James T. Sherwin, back at the event as a previous winner on a number of occasions. The defending Champion Ben Edgell did extremely well to retain his title against such a strong entry to the Open Section. The critical game was in round 4 when Graham Bolt (187), playing white, beat James Sherwin (198) in an excellent game. Ben Edgell (185) obtained a draw from Graham Bolt (187) in the final round, to win the Open Section and retain the Walker Cup.

Major.

Duncan MacArthur, beat Mathew Hains (Chard – 75); Michael Cuggy (Brixham – 97), John Knowles (Tiverton – 93), Frank Sabin (Barnet Knights – 113), Freddie Sugden (Newton Abbot – Junior) and in the 6^th. and final round drew with Chris Southall (Exeter – 116) to win the Major Section and win the John Doidge donated MajorTrophy.

Congress Organisation.

The Congress is an annual event run by the Teignmouth Chess Club.

Ray Chubb organises the event on behalf of the Club.

John Ariss from Torquay and a member of the Teignmouth Chess Club, is a fully qualified English Chess Federation Congress controller and ran both the Open and the Major events for the Congress.

The Junior section was run by Mrs Joe Frost from Bantham, North Devon.

The Teignmouth Chess Club meets on Tuesdays each week throughout the year, at the Alice Cross Centre, Teignmouth. Further information can be obtained from Ray Chubb, Secretary, 01626 888255 e-m: ray.chubb@care4free.net or the Chess Devon web site www.ChessDevon.co.uk

Ray Chubb

06 April 2009

PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF RAY CHUBB

Ben Edgell v Graham Bolt in the 5th Round

The Open Crosstable

The Major Crosstable (1)

The Major Crosstable (2)

Graham Hessé opens the tournament. Ray Chubb and John Arris are also on the stage,

A general view of the tournament room

Before the start of the first round

Graham Hessé with the junior winners. Jill Frost looks on.