WELLINGTON Chess Club held their annual simultaneous chess competition last week where the club’s top player, Alex Conway, took on the rest of the members in separate games all at the same time.

There were one or two absences among his potential challengers but 12 opponents lined up against him all anxious to try to take advantage of any slip on Alex’s part.

Club captain, Simon Pickard, was unable to join the list of opponents, thus making Alex’s task much easier as he tried to defeat all 12 opponents.

One of the club juniors, Jeremiah Pickard, from St John’s School, was the first to lose and he was quickly followed by Ollie Sells who played with typical aggression but was comfortably beaten.

The rest of the opponents provided tough opposition and it was a considerable time later that the third match finished when Court Fields student Patrik Ademiec was forced to resign. He was swiftly followed by David Smith and Rupert Sells, two of the club’s experienced senior players.

All this time the youngest player Isaac Pickard had been putting up sterner resistance than some of his elders but he eventually became Alex’s victim number six but not until he had put up a fine performance. Recent new recruit Alan Brinkley became victim number seven followed by Robert Harris whose cautious approach was of no use against Alex’s strong play.

This left four matches undecided and another Court Fields student, Adrian Adamiec, did very well to hold out while so many others were losing until he became victim number nine.

John Jeremiah played his usual well constructed game but Alex eventually got the better of him. Victim number 11 was Tony Smith who had been in a losing position for some considerable time but had battled on determinedly.

The only person left was Alan Stonebridge who had beaten Alex in last year’s competition and while all were falling around him he played an excellent game and eventually gained a win to spoil Alex’s 100% record this year.

Both players were given a round of applause at the end of an enjoyable competition.