Graham Stuart has been doing more historical digging and come up with a record of a 1967 match between the B&DCL and the Southampton League.
This match was a regular fixture until 1985 when it was replaced by the Bournemouth vs Poole two towns match.
Graham notes that whilst Bournemouth beat Southampton in this match, Hampshire beat Dorset 16.5 – 12.5 in a friendly the same year!
The match record was produced in the days of typewriters when it was hard to correct errors and we think there are a few typos. We believe:
- Board 5 should read M.J. Roth (Mike Roth)
- Board 6 should read M.E.R. Minvalla (Mike Minvalla)
- Board 27 should probably read H. Stay (Harry Stay)
- Board 30 should read R.A.G. Marples (Greville Marples)
- Board 41 should probably read R. Cleave (Bob Cleave)
- Board 46 should probably read R. Valentine (Reg Valentine).
There are a few players from that match who are still playing today. On the Southampton side there are John Wilkinson and Bob Cleave. On the Bournemouth side there are Mike Minvalla and Paul Errington.
Paul Errington, a very well known player in the B&DCL![/vc_column_text]
Regarding Mike Minvalla, Martin Simons writes “Mike went on to become the Dorset Chess Champion in 1968, that’s only 55 years ago! I had the pleasure of working with him for a number of years in the 1990s. He had given up chess then and has only recently come back to the game in his 80s! Fittingly, he played in the 2022 Two Towns Bournemouth v Poole match which took over from the annual Bournemouth v Southampton match in 1985.”
Mike Minvalla playing Florence Spirling in the 2022 Two Towns Match
