Chess set, commissioned by Castro, used in memorial tournament
Thursday, 19 September 2019 - Local People
by The Post
A CHESS set, commissioned by the former prime minister of Cuba was used on Saturday, September 14, during Bude Chess Club’s ‘Peter and Peggy Clarke Memorial Rapidplay Tournament’.
Players travelled from across England to play in the event.
Peter and Peggy lived in Morwenstow for many years and were both strong chess players.
Peter represented England in Chess Olympiads, held every two years, from 1954 to 1968.
In 1956 he won an individual silver medal at the event. In 1966 Peter played top board for England at the Olympiad in Cuba.
At the end of the tournament Fidel Castro gave each top board a specially commissioned chess set and chess table that had been used in the competition and paid for it to be shipped back to the respective countries.
The table and set are still in the family’s possession and they brought it down from Derbyshire to be used as the top board in this tournament.
The tournament was won by Grandmaster John Nunn, a member of Bude Chess Club, and at one time was one of the top ten chess players in the world. Another member of Bude Chess Club, Ian Rescorla, came second in his section.
