1960 Paignton Premier, 5-10 September

1960 Paignton Premier		Residence	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Total
1	Cenek Kottnauer	London	◊ ½/7	♦ 1/11	◊ ½/13	♦ ½/4	♦ 1/6	◊ ½/5	◊ 1/8	5
2	Alfred William Bowen	Orpington	◊ ½/11	♦ 0/7	◊ 1/10	♦ ½/19	◊ 1/9	♦ 1/4	◊ 1/5	5
3	Clive F Girling	Gravesend	◊ 1/10	♦ ½/9	◊ ½/14	♦ 0/8	◊ 1/13	◊ 1/16	♦ 1/7	5
4	Peter A Harris	Birmingham	♦ 1/17	◊ 1/5	♦ ½/8	◊ ½/1	♦ ½/7	◊ 0/2	♦ 1/13	4½
5	Peter Hugh Clarke	Ilford	◊ 1/20	♦ 0/4	◊ 1/19	♦ 1/9	◊ 1/8	♦ ½/1	♦ 0/2	4½
6	Wilfred Henry Pratten	Fareham	◊ 0/8	◊ 1/17	♦ 1/16	♦ ½/13	◊ 0/1	♦ 1/10	◊ 1/14	4½
7	Leonard William Barden	London	♦ ½/1	◊ 1/2	◊ ½/9	♦ 1/14	◊ ½/4	♦ ½/8	◊ 0/3	4
8	Denis Victor Mardle	Cheltenham	♦ 1/6	♦ 1/19	◊ ½/4	◊ 1/3	♦ 0/5	◊ ½/7	♦ 0/1	4
9	(Philip) Stuart Milner-Barry	London	♦ 1/16	◊ ½/3	♦ ½/7	◊ 0/5	♦ 0/2	♦ ½/13	◊ 1/18	3½
10	David J Mabbs	Harrow	♦ 0/3	◊ 1/15	♦ 0/2	◊ ½/18	♦ 1/17	◊ 0/6	♦ 1/20	3½
11	Richard Frank Holmes	Cambridge	♦ ½/2	◊ 0/1	♦ 1/18	◊ 0/16	◊ 1/19	♦ ½/14	◊ ½/12	3½
12	Norman H S Lavers	St Albans	◊ ½/13	♦ 0/14	♦ ½/15	◊ 0/17	♦ 1/20	◊ 1/19	♦ ½/11	3½
13	Isaac Taylor Sifton	Bampton	♦ ½/12	◊ 1/18	♦ ½/1	◊ ½/6	♦ 0/3	◊ ½/9	◊ 0/4	3
14	Harry Gethin Thorp Matchett	Bexhill	♦ ½/18	◊ 1/12	♦ ½/3	◊ 0/7	♦ ½/16	◊ ½/11	♦ 0/6	3
15	William Ritson Morry	Birmingham	◊ 0/19	♦ 0/10	◊ ½/12	♦ 0/20	◊ ½/18	◊ 1/17	♦ 1/16	3
16	G Tanfield	London	◊ 0/9	♦ 1/20	◊ 0/6	♦ 1/11	◊ ½/14	♦ 0/3	◊ 0/15	2½
17	Roy A Wagstaff	London	◊ 0/4	♦ 0/6	◊ ½/20	♦ 1/12	◊ 0/10	♦ 0/15	♦ 1/19	2½
18	Walter James E Yeeles	Gillingham	◊ ½/14	♦ 0/13	◊ 0/11	♦ ½/10	♦ ½/15	◊ 1/20	♦ 0/9	2½
19	Eileen Betsy Tranmer	London	♦ 1/15	◊ 0/8	♦ 0/5	◊ ½/2	♦ 0/11	♦ 0/12	◊ 0/17	1½
20	Neil Leslie Freeman	London	♦ 0/5	◊ 0/16	♦ ½/17	◊ 1/15	◊ 0/12	♦ 0/18	◊ 0/10	1½

Premier Reserves A—(1) Mrs. Rowena M Bruce 5/7; (2) Harold Horace Watts 4½; (3) Michael R B Clarke 4; (4-5) Miss Joan Doulton, A. P. Bornell 3½; (6-7) Ernest George Exell, N. Hawkins 3; (8) Wilfred Evans 1½.

Premier Reserves B—(1) John R Cooke 5½/7; (2) Alan Edgar Nield 5; (3-4) R. F. Bradley, Geoffrey N Stokes 4½; (5) Michael A Stevenson 3½; (6) T. Harman 3; (7) Lionel James Dent 1½; (8) P. D. Ralph ½.

Premier Reserves C—(1) David W Anderton 4½; (2-4) John H Fellingham, A. Lester, P. G. Walton 4; (5) S. Rowe 3½; (6) Alex Niedzwiedzki 3; (7-8) Joseph Andrew Flood, John T Keable 2½.

Premier Reserves D—(1) Harry Booth 5/7; (2-3) J. Eyre, Jack Horrocks 4½; (4) Reginald J Potter 4; (5) A. C. Lewis 3½; (6-7) J. J. Griffiths, T. E. Waits 2½; (8) Anthony J Doherty 1½.

Premier Reserves E—(1) G. N. Reason 6/7; (2) D. J. Cornes 5; (3) P. Griffiths 4½; (4) Robert C Pentecost 4; (5) T. A. Blackler 3½; (6) R. C. Winter 3; (7) A. E. Coates 2; (8) Gregory Owen John Melitus 0.

Major A—(1) Herbert Arthur Melvin 5/6; (2) J. G. Andrews 3½; (3) G. H. Betts 3; (4-6) Harold Edward Druce, D. E. Hardcastle, R. F. Rowe 2½; (7) T. S. Davies 1½. (T. H. Wallis withdrew after three rounds.)

Major B—(1) B. G. Bell 6½/7; (2) Miss Jessie Passmore 4; (3-6) Mrs. J. D. Pentecost, D. Hay, D. Smith, G. Wood 3½; (7) A. Footner 2½; (8) D. A. Harper 1.

First Class—(1) C. P. Fisher 6½/7; (2) John R Cotterell 5½; (3) Rupert Aleck Selway 5; (4) L. Guard 4; (4) J. Hart 3½; (6) D. T. Fairbank 2½; (7) Miss Cicely Grace Snead 2; (8) Col. Frank (Francis) Moysey 0.

Second Class—(1) E Barry Sandercock 6½/7; (2-3) R. Davies, V. F. Fawcett 5; (4) E. G. Potter 3½; (5-6) J. L. Berry, P. Morrish 3; (7) H. Preston 2; (8) Mrs. Laura Ethel Amelia Start (née Whitehouse) 0.

Third Class (Swiss System)—(1) D. J. Finnie 6/7; (2) P. Byre 5½; (3) D. L. Jones 5; (4-6) F. Hammond, M. J. McCabe, D. Savage 4; (7) A. Lakin 3½; (8) W. A. Tipton 2; (9) E. Slingsby 1.

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[BCM, October 1960, p297-298 - report by PH Clarke] "A week of chess by the sunny sea—that is how I always think of this annual congress which is held every year in Oldway Mansion, Paignton. And evidently this view is shared by many other players, since for the second year running the entry topped the hundred mark. Regardless of their performances over the board, they must all have enjoyed the fine spell of holiday weather, a happy break in all-too dreary a summer.

"This was the tenth congress in the series, and the Devon County Chess Association decided to commemorate the achievement of reaching double figures by organizing a special event. The usual Premier tournament of eight was therefore replaced by a Swiss tournament of twenty players, with four generous prizes—£50, £30, £20, and £10—to attract the top names. Of these there were five, headed by international master Kottnauer, but a glance at the final table shows that they did not carry off the clean sweep they anticipated.

"I know that in all forms of competition the fall of a favourite and the consequent success of the outsider is immensely popular, so I hesitate to look for excuses for Barden and Mardle for not finishing in the prize-list. All the same, I will do so, for I cannot concede that they were less deserving than several who finished above them. They both made the running for much of the tournament, playing most of their rivals in the process (Mardle met everyone above him except Bowen), yet were passed at the post to become the latest victims of the Swiss System’s foibles.

"There can be no doubt that it really worked badly as far as reaching a just final result is concerned. Take the following points: the three winners did not play each other at all; Girling met none of the prize-winners at all; out of fifteen possible games among the first six only six actually took place. Since an extra round would have done very little to remedy this, one must assume that once the number of players passes a certain figure (less than twenty) something like ten rounds is the minimum to guarantee a reasonable tournament.

"So much for statistics, now let me consider the course of events and the play from a more personal angle. Briefly speaking, Mardle took the lead at first from Harris, Barden, Kottnauer, and myself; in the fifth round I displaced the leader by beating him, held my position by drawing with Kottnauer in the next and then went down to Bowen in the last. By defeating Mardle and Barden respectively, Kottnauer and Girling also reached 5 points.

"Of the top three Girling was blessed with more luck than one dare hope for, but Kottnauer and Bowen merited their placing. Kottnauer was not in form in the early rounds, getting into dire trouble against both Sifton and Harris yet surviving each time by the skin of his teeth. Gradually, however, he worked himself in and by the end was playing in the manner we expect him to. He alone remained undefeated. Bowen, whose chess is normally limited to the London League and perhaps one congress a year, also started tentatively but then settled into a fine run over the last three rounds. His win against me was certainly one of the very best in the tournament.

"Peter Harris, who has never lived up to the promise of a decade ago, had one of the best results of his career. He was in the thick of the battle throughout and by scoring 2½ out of 4 against the so-called favourites was the prime cause of their dispersal. Another to come up with a late rush was Pratten; he has a gay and carefree approach such as makes it impossible to forecast what will happen next—the ideal temperament for a Swiss. On the whole I was pleased with my own play; it was livelier and more imaginative than it has been for some time, and, just as welcome, I climbed out of the rut of draws that has dogged me for too long. I have already pointed out that Barden and Mardle deserved rather better, while of the others I must mention Milner-Barry; he seemed to lose his touch about the middle of the week and he never regained it—only a temporary loss, doubtless."

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File Updated

Date	Notes
30 July 2019	Uploaded for the first time. I had a handful of games from BCM, etc, but I stumbled across the complete games on ChessBase MegaBase 2017. Presumably they were input from a bulletin. There were numerous errors in the names given on ChessBase, which I have corrected, but the game scores and results seem reliable.
14 October 2020	Minor presentational amendments.