BUDE Chess hosted the first Peter Clarke Memorial Tournament on Saturday, October 3, and they hope it will become an annual event at the club.

Peter Clarke’s widow and family had requested that a tournament be held in his honour after his death last December and it was decided that the 3rd Bude rapidplay would be ideal.

Peter spent part of his two years National Service in Bodmin training as a Russian linguist in the Intelligence Corps. In the 1970s he moved to Bush. Then in 1979 he settled at Chapel House in Shop, where he lived for the rest of his life.

Peter Clarke was a major contributor to English chess. He wrote biographies of Tal and Petrosian, as well as numerous other chess books. During the late 1950s and early 1960s he played board 2 for England, ahead of both C H O’D Alexander — who worked on the German Enigma machine at Bletchley Park during WWII — and H Golombek.

In 1966 he captained and played top board for England in the chess Olympiad in Havanna, Cuba. At the end of the tournament Fidel Castro, himself a keen chess player, presented the captains of each team with the chess table and set which had been used for the top boards in the tournament. This was the table which was used for board 1 in the Bude tournament. It had a number of unique features including a shelf to put a drink on and an ashtray on each side. The chess set was in a beautiful box in the form of a Cuban house.

Peter’s daughters, Salli Gosling and Pennie Channing played in the tournament, along with his grandson George Craddock. His widow Peggy gave a speech before the start of play and Salli presented the prizes.

Owen Hindle, now the sole surviving member of the 1966 England Olympiad team, visited the Bude congress with his wife, travelling all the way from Cromer in Norfolk. Peggy’s brother Philip Wood from Kenilworth came 2nd in the Open Section. That section was won by Stephen Piper from Salisbury who was taught chess many years ago by Peggy Clarke.

The grading prize was won by Steve Woolgar from Bristol. The Minor Section was won by Kelvin Hunter from Tiverton, with a tie for 2nd place between Bob Jones from Exmouth, Stephen Williams from Cwmbran, and Reece Whittington from Exeter.