Sidmouth B-Level Advanced

[<<] [>>] by Peter Nelson at Sidmouth
31st July (AC)

Following a flurry of late withdrawals a reduced field of ten players competed. Absentees missed the opportunity of playing in glorious weather in a beautiful seaside location.

The small entry precluded playing in blocks, in order to give players a reasonable number of games, a Swiss format was used. Two notional blocks were established, based on ranking, and only games played against opponents in the same block were used to determine the award of trophies.

Keith Ross, a regular visitor who travelled from his Pyrenean retreat, brought his flamboyant style and considerable skills to bear and appeared to be running away with block A who were competing for the Regency Salver. Playing against Philip Harris he missed an attempt to peg out his opponent. With victory only a couple of shots away over confidence got the better of him and he pegged out one of his balls This sealed his fate. This set up an intriguing climax in the last round with Keith, Philip or Chris Donovan as potential winners but with a three-way tie also possible. Keith having disposed of Peter Nelson with some ease, the tie looked probable, however Philip came from behind to snatch victory and win the Regency salver. Keith Ross being runner-up.

Block B competed for the Fortfield Cup. Robert Upton had a clean sweep in his group games and the outcome was resolved by the end of day two. Chris Crowcroft (3 wins) was the runner-up.