wavelength, swapping tales of their adventures.

The first congress to be organised was the Devon and Cornwall Tournament which was held in January 6th – 11th 1902, in Plymouth. This was not organised by the DCCA as such, but was a special one-man effort, C. T. Blanshard having done all the work. There were 14 entries, divided into 2 equal sections. Class I consisted of Rev. Henry Bremridge (Winkleigh), Charles Lambert (Exeter), Thomas Taylor (Plymouth), Rev. Arthur Baker (Teignmouth), Douglas Fawcett (Totnes), Clifford Kitchen and P. Motley. The games went mostly to form, with Fawcett out of the prizelist (1st Lambert; 2nd Taylor; 3rd Baker).

This was quickly followed by the D.C.C.A.’s own inaugural congress, held at the Barnfield Hall, Exeter, from 21st – 26th April 1902. The event wassat in an armchair with his back to the play. His regular habit was to call out something like “On Boards 5 and 11 P-Q4; on all the others P-K4″. He would then call out each board number and his move, and await the reply. He won ten games and conceded a draw to A. W. Peet of Newton Abbot. By way of an encore, in the evening Pillsbury took on 17 opponents simultaneously, allowing the first five to finish to start a second game, yet still winning all 22 games. Such was his memory that he could recall every game the next day and was happy to discuss individual mistakes and combinations from memory.

The following afternoon, Pillsbury took on 23 opponents simultaneously, including Fawcett, of which he