6th Paignton Premier, 10-15 September 1956

1956 Paignton Premier		Residence	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total
1	Francis Ernest Appleyard Kitto	Exminster	&;	1	1	½	½	1	0	1	5
2	Hugh Edward Guy Courtney	Malvern	0	&;	0	1	1	1	1	½	4½
3	Theodore Henry Tylor	Oxford	0	1	&;	½	1	½	½	½	4
4	Andrew Rowland Benedick Thomas	Tiverton	½	0	½	&;	1	0	1	½	3½
5	Wolfgang Heidenfeld	South Africa	½	0	0	0	&;	1	½	1	3
6	Peter Fairbairn Copping	Swindon	0	0	½	1	0	&;	½	1	3
7	Brian J Moore	Birmingham	1	0	½	0	½	½	&;	0	2½
8	Richard Hilary Newman	London	0	½	½	½	0	0	1	&;	2½

1956 Paignton International Women's Tournament, 10-15 September

1956 Paignton Women's International		Residence	1	2	3	4	Total
1	Friedl Rinder	West Germany	&;	½½	10	11	4
2	Fenny Heemskerk	Netherlands	½½	&;	01	11	4
3	Rowena Mary Bruce (née Dew)	Great Britain	01	10	&;	½1	3½
4	Joan Frances Doulton1 (later Hay)	Great Britain	00	00	½0	&;	½

¹ Joan Frances Doulton (1913-1992) was joint British women's champion with Rowena Bruce in 1955.

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CHESS Magazine, October 1956, p14 - Vol.22 No.s 277-8 - report by John Edwin Jones

The sixth annual Devon C.A. congress, with ninety-eight participants, came very close to 1951’s record total of 100.

The special event this year was a quadrangular double-round international women’s tournament in which the ex-joint British lady champions Mrs. R. M. Bruce and Miss J. Doulton met the lady champions of Holland and West Germany, Mevrouw F. Heemskerk and Frau F. Rinder respectively. The latter, who played much the most incisive chess, led for most of the way, but as the senior competitor was apt to tire at the end of a long game. She thus allowed Mrs. Heemskerk to escape with two draws from lost positions, and on the last day was well beaten by Mrs. Bruce, so that Mrs. Heemskerk was able to tie with her for first place, with Mrs. Bruce half a point behind. Miss Doulton began most of her games well, but seemed to lack staying power.

In the premier tournament the incalculable F. E. A. Kitto of Exminster, who has played in this event every year and had finished in every position except first, this time reached the head of the table in the fourth round and never looked back. His game with T. H. Tylor in round 5 decided the tournament and was typical of his pregnant style: Tylor appeared to be just about to clinch matters on the queen's side when he found he had not adequately made allowance for what his wily opponent was preparing on the king’s side.

Tylor, who finished third, once again impressed by the Capablanca-like simplicity of his chess, and no one would have guessed that he was playing his first competitive games since the 1954 Paignton tournament. Hugh Courtney, aided by luck (Moore and Newman gave him at least one point between them) put up the best performance yet for a promoted winner of the previous year’s Reserves ‘A’, and finished second.

A. R. B. Thomas of Tiverton began well but had a period in the middle of the week when things went wrong in promising positions. W. Heidenfeld was definitely not at his best, but nineteen year old Brian Moore, although he only tied for bottom place, was worth at least a point more and was the only player to stop Kitto.

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BCM, October 1956, pps 287-289

THE SIXTH PAIGNTON CHESS CONGRESS

September 10th to 15th, 1956

As a wind-up to the summer season no finer place can be envisaged for chess congress devotees than Paignton in early September. The almost ideal playing conditions obtaining due in no small measure to the enthusiasm displayed by the Devonshire Chess Association in bringing about the whole-hearted co-operation of the Paignton Council have made it one of the highlights of the chess year calendar and this year was no exception. Even 1956 deigned to bless the event with a summery smile. It is not surprising then that the entry equalled the previous highest total of 100 competitors and this in spite of the absence of British and foreign masters at the Moscow Olympiad.

Of special interest this year was the double-round international ladies’ tournament in which the former British Lady Champion, Mrs. R. M. Bruce, of Plymouth, and Miss J. Doulton, of London, were joined by Frau F. Rinder, the West German Champion, and Mevrouw Heemskerk, the Dutch Champion. Right up to the last round Frau Rinder seemed a certain winner but she allowed Mrs. Heemskerk to get away with a draw in their second individual encounter and so these two charming ladies shared the first two prizes. The two British representatives were still feeling the strain of Blackpool, though Mrs. Bruce showed she was by no means outclassed by her wins over the Dutch Champion in the first round and the West German Champion in the sixth.

The premier tournament proved a triumph for the ingenuity and attacking power of F. E. A. Kitto, of Exminster, only the nineteen-year-old Warwickshire player, B. J. Moore, being able to penetrate his armour and bring about his downfall. Kitto’s defeat of the West of England Champion, P. F. Copping, in twenty-one moves, and the ingenious twist he gave to his games with A. R. B. Thomas and T. H. Tylor when having the inferior position showed he has lost none of the cunning that enabled him to tie for first place at Plymouth in 1948 with Dr. M. Euwe.

The Worcester County Champion, H. Courtney, who came second with 4½ points out of 7, also believed in attacking his opponents relentlessly as the best means of defending himself. Last year he won the Premier Reserves, Section “A,” and to come within ½ point of pulling off the Premier a year later is no small achievement.

The element of surprise was not lacking in this section as was evidenced in the stalemate brought off by P. Copping against Tylor after his Bishop and Queen sacrifice. Heidenfeld’s ending in the game given below against Newman was also a brilliant bit of play that will long be remembered.

In the Premier Reserves, Section “A," tourney the outstanding feature was the number of long drawn-out games, many of them unnecessarily so; these made for prolonged adjournment sittings so that the next round could be started on time. Thus J. B. Howson was in the playing room until midnight on the Friday finishing his game with J. C. Cock. His final round game went on from 9 a.m. on the last day until 4.40 p.m. without a break and the prize-giving was over before the result of this section was known.

In the other sections the prize-winners only are given [CHESS had fuller results for most sections - JS] but mention must be made of the only two competitors in the congress who scored 100 per cent: M. C. Jarvis, the eighteen-year-old Middlesex Boy Champion, who won his seven games outright in First Class Section "A,” and R. E. Hopkins, of Surrey, who won all his five games in the Second Class “A” Section.

The 10-seconds-a-move lightning tournament arranged to conclude a memorable week’s chess was won by B. J. Moore, who only lost one game—a creditable performance indeed for a teenager in such company.

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Premier Reserves A: (1) James B Howson (Welling) 5½/7; (2) Walter J. E. Yeeles (Gillingham) 5; (3-4) J. Rushton, I. T. Sifton 4; (5-6) R. A. Wagstaff, John Crowle Cock 3; (7) A. E. Nield 2½; (8) C. W. Marshall 1.

Premier Reserves B: (1) Richard Frank Holmes (Cambridge) 6½/7; (2-3) P. R. Kings (Sopley), I. F. Grix (Torquay) 4; (4) W. Church 3½; (5) Bertram Goulding-Brown 3; (6-7) A. C. Messenger, J. D. Mills 2½; (8) Edwin Breckon Chapman 2.

Premier Reserves C: (1-3) S. T. K. Wilkinson (Croydon), J. W. Cole (Plymouth), P. B. Sarson (Harrow) 5/7; (4) M. J. Reddie 4½; (5) J. H. Watts 3; (6) G. C. Walker 2½; (7-8) R. J. Potter, D. H. Reed 1.

Premier Reserves D: (1) N. Hammond (London) 6½/7; (2-4) G. Kaye (Coventry), Keith Edward Charles Budge (Plymouth), G. W. Henlen (Ashtead) 4½; (5-6) J. R. Rook, Ronald E Rushbrook 3; (7) B. K. Leary 1½; (8) A. H. W. Lorman ½.

Major A: 1-2. C. A. H. Russ (Sutton) and W. B. Haase (Enfield) 5; 3. D. M. Polley (Coggeshall) 4½; 4-6. H. Hoey, W. J. C. H. Burges and H. G. Betts 3½; 7-8. G/Capt. D. Hay¹ and R. Hammond 1½.

¹ the same D(avid) Hay who married Joan Doulton in 1963?

Major B: 1-3. R. E. Boxall and R. L. Owen (London) and Donald Gould (Leicester) 4½; 4. E. J. Seymour 4; 5-7. G. O. J. Melitus, D. W. A. Miller and A. F. Crooks 3; 8. T. S. Davies 1½.

First Class A: 1. M. C. Jarvis (London) 7; 2-4. A. C. Lewis (London), G. A. Thompson (Paignton) and Capt. K. Suszynski (Sunningdale) 4, etc.

First Class B: 1-2. E. J. Loveridge (Farnham) and R. K. Mos(e)ley (Torquay) 5½; 3. P. J. Holt (Hayes End) 5, etc.

First Class C: 1. R. W. Berry (Dunstable) 6; 2. G. Shearing (Halifax) 5; 3-4. H. W. S. Nichols (London) and Harold Edgar Druce (Richmond) 4½, etc.

Second Class A: 1. R. E. Hopkins (Ashtead) 5; 2. D. Visser (Netherlands) 4; 3. E. W. Wood (Teignmouth) 2½, etc.

Second Class B: 1. M. E. Hopkins (Ashtead) 6½; 2. D. Ward (Torquay) 6; 3. R. J. Broom (Harrow) 4½.

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File updated

Date	Notes
1997	28 games originally uploaded as a zipped PGN file.
12 May 2021	Uploaded with game viewer, crosstables and magazine reports. I've added one game from the women's international tournament which ran alongside.
17 May 2021	Ulrich Tamm sent me a second game from the women's international whch he found in a German chess publication: Fenny Heemskerk ½-½ Elfriede Rinder (Rd 2). Thanks, Ulrich.