The Mayor of Pendle's

Chess Tournament

In 1987/88 the then Mayor, Councillor Ken Walton, introduced a Chess Tournament to encourage the residents of Pendle to play the game of Chess.  The first tournament was controlled by John Belbin from the Club and all subsequent tournaments have been both organised and controlled by him with help from other club members. The initial tournament was well supported and had about a 50-50 split between Chess Club members and non-members. Several of these were from a group playing at a local pub and the winner was one of them. In subsequent years the numbers from outside the Club dwindled so that the tournament virtually became the club championship and, as this was obviously not meeting Cllr Walton's objectives, it was decided to make the competition open to the Borough's schoolchildren rather than adults.

The (adult) winners of The Ken Walton Trophy for these first four years were:

1987      - J. Miller

1988/89 - D. Rothwell

1990      - D. Rothwell

1991      - D. Greenwood

For the next four years the tournament was open to all Secondary Schools and Nelson and Colne College.

The winners were

1992 -      P. Crabtree      - Mansfield High School

1993 -      G. Lonsdale     - Ss J. Fisher & T. More High School

1994 -      M. Crotty           - Ss J. Fisher & T. More High School

1995 -       D. French          - Ss J. Fisher & T. More High School

At this point the outgoing Mayor was Councillor Colin Waite and the incoming one John's wife Jo and it was decided to open the tournament to Primary Schools and to split the Secondary one between Seniors and Juniors with two new trophies - the Waite for Juniors and the Belbin for Primary. Whilst the original Waite Trophy goes to the Senior winner there have been very few entries for this so that, with one exception, the competition has been run as one tournament on the Swiss system. Without exception the overall winner has been from the Juniors and why, when they have progressed to Senior age, they have not been able to continue to win is one of chess's mysteries! The one winner for three years with exceptional talent - James McKiernan felt that he should not continue to monopolise the tournament when he reached senior age, whilst another strong junior, Martin Pope, gave up chess until he went to university but still plays the odd game when he is in Pendle.

The winners were

Some of the players in the 2005 Tournament.

In 2008 the Primary Schools Tournament is on Tuesday 11th March and the Secondary on Wednesday 12th March.

Return to Home Page

Go to the Pendle Individual Championship