1971 (26th) West of England (WECU) Championship, Bristol, 8-12 April 1971

1971 West of England (WECU) Championship		Residence	1	2	3	4	5	6	Total	Sum of Opp
1	David A LeMoir	Bristol	w8+	w7=	b6+	w3=	b5=	b2=	4	22.5
2	Derek Maurice Wise	Bristol	b15=	w16+	b7=	w12+	b3=	w1=	4	19
3	Leon P Burnett	Weston-super-Mare	w19+	w17+	b12=	b1=	w2=	w4=	4	18.5
4	Peter Hugh Clarke	Holsworthy	b6=	w15+	b13=	w7=	w14+	b3=	4	18.5
5	Maurice J Staples	Bridgwater	b11+	w12=	b17=	w13+	w1=	b6=	4	17.5
6	Philip James Meade	Cheltenham	w4=	b9+	w1-	b8+	w7=	w5=	3½	22.5
7	Philip E Walker	Weston-super-Mare	w14+	b1=	w2=	b4=	b6=	w8=	3½	21.5
8	Robert H Northage	Bath	b1-	b10+	w11+	w6-	b12+	b7=	3½	20
9	Nigel J Holloway	Plymouth	b18=	w6-	b15=	b10=	w19+	w14+	3½	16
10	Stuart J Hutchings	Bristol	b12-	w8-	b18+	w9=	b17+	w13+	3½	16
11	Trefor F Thynne	Teignmouth	w5-	b20+	b8-	w15+	b13=	w12=	3
12	J Anderson	Weymouth	w10+	b5=	w3=	b2-	w8-	b11=	2½	22
13	Michael E Binks	Bristol	b16=	w18+	w4=	b5-	w11=	b10-	2½	19
14	James Macrae Aitken	Cheltenham	b7-	w19+	b16=	w17+	b4-	b9-	2½	17.5
15	R Martin	Bristol	w2=	b4-	w9=	b11-	w20=	b18+	2½	17.5
16	George W Wheeler	Plymouth	w13=	b2-	w14=	b19-	w18=	b20+	2½	14
17	John Francis Wheeler	Plymouth	w20+	b3-	w5=	b14-	w10-	b19=	2	17
18	John Crowle Cock	Cheltenham	w9=	b13-	w10-	b20+	b16=	w15-	2	15.5
19	(Henry) James Draisey	Bristol	b3-	b14-	w20=	w16+	b9-	w17=	2	15.5
20	Michael Edward Brigden	Bristol	b17-	w11-	b19=	w18-	b15=	w16-	1

BCM, May 1971, ppn 169-170

THE WEST OF ENGLAND CONGRESS by Peter H Clarke

It was Gloucestershire’s turn this year to hold the W.E.C.U. Congress (as usual, over the Easter weekend, April 8th to 12th), and excellent accommodation for the event was found at the Bristol Polytechnic. The total of 92 competitors, divided among 8 sections, was slightly disappointing, in that Bristol is as much the capital of the western counties for chess as it is for other affairs. Perhaps most players really do prefer to relax between games in the holiday atmosphere of a seaside resort.

Participation in the West of England Championship is confined to the 20 strongest entrants, which normally eliminates outsiders and makes the contest close. No better illustration of this could be desired than this latest tournament, where five players shared first place and where competitors of respectable stature were left well down the list. Thus, 9th in the final order was a member of the Cambridge University side; 10th was the winner of the West Wales Congress in January; 15th was a British master; 20th and last was a player who has competed in the British Championship.

I began the defence of my title with a long, back-to-the-wall draw with P. J. Meade, and it was not until the fifth round that I caught up with the leaders, D. LeMoir, D. M. Wise, L. P. Burnett and M. J. Staples. The situation was similar to that of last year, but then I was fortunate enough to win the final game and pull clear. This time all the top encounters were drawn, the quintuple tie remained and the title went to LeMoir, who had the highest sum of opponents’ scores.

It hardly need be said that I viewed the result a little sourly; for I did not feel I had lost the championship — the winner had neither scored more points nor beaten me (we had not even played). A play-off, though difficult to arrange, must be the fairest solution, Having aired my opinion, I ought to congratulate young LeMoir on his victory. There is no doubt that he met much stronger opposition than his main rivals, and he never seemed in any trouble.

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Other Sections

Challengers—(1) Christopher J Hutchings (Bristol) 5/6; (2-4) James R Boyce (Bristol), (Charles) Ambrose Scott Damant, Geoffrey Wolfarth 4½.

Reserves—(1) G E Nash 4½/6; (2-4) R Evans, M J Richardson, David G Woodruff 4

Open Championship— (1) E A Copeman (Worcester) 4/5; (2) C M Read (Lincoln) 3½; (3) Gerald Moore (Chalfont St Peter) 3; (4) Ivor B N Smith (Chelmsford) 2; (5-6) Harry Booth (Oxford), Paul F Habershon (Coleford) 1½. (Source: Bristol Evening Post, Saturday 17 April 1971. BCM, May 1971, p170 has some very different scores)

Junior (Under-18) Championship—(1-2) Ivan P Legg (Longlevens), D J Stone (N. Petherton) 4½; (3-4) Theodore P K Todman (Gloucester), Nicholas J Webber (Street) 4; (5) R Richardson (Bristol) 3½; (6-9) David Robert Bagshaw (Bristol), C Fletcher (Bristol), R A Humphreys (Berrow), Shaun M Taulbut (Marlborough) 3; (10) C Richards (Weston-super-Mare) 2½; (11-13) R D Foster (Bristol), D Neagle (Bristol), Hilary C Thomas 2; (14) M Dean (Keynsham) 0. (Source: Bristol Evening Post, Saturday 17 April 1971. BCM, May 1971, p170 has some results but with gaps and errors)

Minor (Under-15) Championship—(1-2) Ian C Furber (Bristol), A Rice (Gloucester) 6½/7; (3) M Cooke (Weston-super-Mare) 5; (4) John S Bunter (Sherborne) 3½; (5) R Lavington (Bristol) 3; (6) Andrew Furber (Bristol) 2½; (7) A Pillinger (Keynsham) 1; (8) B Clements (Axbridge) 0.

Girls Championship—(1) Margaret Winson (Totnes) 5/5; (2) Karen Junker (Taunton) 3½; (3) Sarah Allcock (Pill) 2½; (4) Philippa Miles (Plymouth) 2; (5-6) Francesca Blair (Bristol), Sheila Hancock (Bristol) 1.

All-Play-All—(1-2) Gilbert Leslie Pritchard (Southampton), Steadman Louis Russell (Romsey) 3½; (3) (Jerzy) Andrew Borkowski 3

The Ladies Championship, for which there was no separate event, was awarded to Mrs R O Powis (= Margaret I Powis, wife of Ronald Owen Powis).

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File Updated

Date

Notes

11 July 2023

Original upload of 20 games. The three main sources for West of England Championship (WECU-ch) games have been: (1) games submitted by David LeMoir, 31 January 2018, for which many thanks; (2) Dr. Aitken games collection; (3) collection of Alan Ashby games, Bristol & District Chess League website. I am also grateful to David LeMoir for sending an image of the crosstable, from which the above has been constructed.