The first weekend for Division 3, with its three regional sections, was held on 20th-21st November, with Division 1/2 due to start the following weekend, when Gawain Jones is expected t head the Chessable White Rose 1 line-up. Four Yorkshire-based teams number among the Division 3 entries, all playing in Division 3 North, in which the first weekend was being held at the Holiday Inn, Doncaster. With only 8 teams, there were only 4 matches.

Although there were no Sheffield-based teams in the event, due to a historic link between Chesterfield and Atticus of Manchester, the “Spirit of Atticus” team fielded 4 Sheffield & District Chess Association players among its 6 players, namely Peter Ackley, Dave Latham, Andrew Mort and Geoff Brown.

In round 2, Spirit of Atticus-cum-Chesterfield played Chessable White Rose 3, captained by Jonathan Arnott, and containing some more familiar Sheffield players, namely Miles Edwards-Wright, Deji Jeje and Steve Gibbs. Match results were as follows:

		Chessable White Rose 3	2-4	Spirit of Atticus
	W	Sheng Liang Bernard Chan	½‑½	John J Carleton
	B	Miles D Edwards-Wright	0-1	Philip J Crocker
	W	Ayodeji Jeje	½-½	Peter J E Ackley
	B	Steve J Gibbs	0-1	David Latham
	W	Martina Flint	1-0	Andrew J Mort
FM	B	Rupert Jones	0-1	Geoffrey D Brown

Is this the first time Geoff Brown has beaten a FIDE Master, you might ask yourself. More to the point, how come Rupert Jones is a FIDE Master?

Rupert’s father was a clergyman who worked for some time as a missionary in Papua New Guinea, which is where Rupert was born. Much later in 2004, Rupert was at the Olympiad in Majorca, as head of the England squad, and since Papua New Guinea happened to be a player short they asked Rupert to play for them, which he did, managing to earn the FM title by scoring more than 66.66%. He has of course declined in strength since then, but he is still technically an FM.

Click here to play through the game Geoffrey D Brown 1-0 FM Rupert W Jones.