The guests from Salford’s twin towns of Lunen in Germany and St Ouen and Clermont-Ferrand were welcomed to Salford Civic Centre to take part in a friendly one day tournament of échecs or Schach.
Among their opponents were pint sized players Rebecca Correa aged eight and her brother Edward aged six, both from Bolton who gave some of the players a run for their money.
Councillor Derek Antrobus, assistant mayor for strategic planning, said:
“Town twinning began in the wake of the Second World War to rebuild friendships across Europe. Our communities in Salford have carried on the tradition ever since and organised this friendly tournament as another way of bringing people together. We were delighted to support them by letting them play in the Civic Centre.”
International referee Julian Clissold of the Greater Manchester Chess Federation which organised the tournament with Salford City Council, said it was a great chance for players to learn from each other.
“Every time visits take place between the twin towns our chess players enjoy taking part so Salford City Council asked us to organise a one day tournament,” he said.
“Each game was five minutes of rapid play with players making all their moves within 20 minutes and the age range ran from six to 68. Many of our junior players wanted to come and practice their French – and of course there was fierce international competition for the trophies!”
First place in the tournament went to Charly Rouler of Clermont Ferrand, second place to Robert Taylor of Manchester Manticores and Preston and third places to Marcel Flores of Eccles Chess Club and Adrien Marie of Clermont Ferrand. Clermont Ferrand players also took the team prize and the junior prize went to Jack Virgin of Worsley Chess Club.
Ceremonial Mayor Councillor Peter Dobbs presented the trophies.
Photo:Stuart Charlton of Worsley Chess Club taking on Lahiru Siriwardana of St Ouen Chess Club, who went on to win the game.
