got through to the final of the Montague –Jones Cup, competed for by the rural shires of the S.C.C.U. The Cup winner would meet the winner of other section involving the metropolitan counties. On Saturday 25th May, 1946, at the Great Western Hotel, Swindon, they met a Cambridgeshire team, led by F. E. A. Kitto, then shortly to be demobbed from the RAF before moving to Devon. Rowena was one of Devon’s two winners that day, as they lost 5 – 6, one of the scheduled 12 games being unplayed.

About 4 weeks later, on 19th June she was involved in the Anglo-Soviet Radio Chess match. It was a daunting prospect, as the Soviet team comprised twelve legends, (in order) Botvinnik, Keres, Smyslov, Boleslavsky, Flohr, Kotov, Bronstein, Bondarevsky, Lilienthaland Ragosin, and with Vera Byelova and Ludmila Rudenko as the two lady players. Rowena’s lady partner was Eileen Tranmer, principal clarinettist at Sadlers’ Wells.

(Photos: right – Planet News. Left – Central Press Photos).

Eileen Tranmer & Rowena in action at the Radio Match v Russia 1946.

The event had a high profile nationally, with generous financial backing from the Greyhound Racing Association and Cable & Wireless.

Tranmer lost both of her games against Bykova as did Rowena against Rudenko. A clue to the quality of their opposition was that Bykova was shortly to beat Rudenko 8-6 in the first post war Ladies World Championship final in 1953. The British team as a whole went down 6 – 18, though this was better than the U.S.A. had achieved in an earlier