The New Place tournament just outside Southampton was the third event held in association with De Vere Venues. A Grade I listed mansion in the Hampshire countryside saw twenty-eight players competing 15 games over two days in three closely matched divisions.

Div A

With ten players all rated from 178-163 this was always going to be a tight contest but not even the players could have predicted how close it would actually be. Gary Oliver was undefeated after four games but Ed Rossiter and Cecil Muscat were close behind. The lead changed hands after almost every round; Gareth Williams lost the first four games but was leading after twelve rounds. To everyone's amazement, halfway through the second day the top five of ten players were all 7-4 and separated by less than 200pts of spread. In the end two large wins for Steve Perry against Gareth Williams and Ed Rossiter sealed his victory, the latter claiming the runner up spot. All agreed it had been an excellent close competition.

Div B

Stephen Wintle ran away with this group and finished 11.5-3.5, three clear wins ahead of Maureen Chamberlain and David Shenkin. Geoff Cooper was the lowest rated player in the group but put in a respectable showing and his rating showed the reward.

Div C

An incredible performance by Isle of Wight resident Wendy Tiley meant that this group was only ever a battle for second place. Wendy lost the third round to Marjorie Smith but was otherwise unbeaten after the first day; incredibly, she continued to whitewash the field on the second day and finished 14-1. Second place went to newcomer Lyn Allcock after beating her higher-rated partner Colin Kendall in the final round. I wouldn't fancy being in that car on the way home.

Amidst spot prizes for naughty words and Simpsons themed words (to coincidence with the movie release that weekend), the best offerings seen on challenge slips included ADUKI, AETHERIC, ARREEDE, BESPATE, BOONG, CREWEL, DYELINE, ENURESES, EQUIPAGE, FOOZLING, FUNGOID, HALFLING, HIRAGANA, JETFOILS, JUPATI, NONUSER, PAVLOVAS, PYCNITES and UPTILTS.

Statistics usually show that approximately 1 in 180 games will end with a draw; the fact that 5 of the 210 games this weekend were draws is an indication how closely matched every division was.