Battle of intellect for the 2017 chess title

The Sir William Dupree & Phyllis Loe Chess Tournament 2017 will be taking place on Monday, April 10 and Tuesday, April 11, and will be hosted by Portsmouth High School.

The competition will be open to all young people living in Portsmouth and the surrounding area, so long as they are under the age of 21.

Entry criteria are as follows – competitors must either be born in Portsmouth, schooled in Portsmouth, play chess for Portsmouth, or the Portsmouth & District chess league or live in or be schooled on the Isle of Wight (Portsmouth includes the surrounding areas of Gosport, Fareham, Cosham, Havant and Waterlooville).

Lucinda Webb, director of communications at Portsmouth High School, explained the history behind the competition.

She said: ‘The tournament is named after Sir William Dupree and Phyllis Loe, both of whom were formerly the mayor of Portsmouth.

‘Sir William Thomas Dupree was previously also an English brewer. In the early 1890s, he became the manager of the Simonds Brewery in Portsmouth, before later leaving to set up his own business, Portsmouth United Breweries.

‘Sir William was made the mayor of Portsmouth twice, in the first few years of the 20th century.

‘Councillor Phyllis Loe was Lord Mayor of Portsmouth much more recently, in 1972.’

The aim of the tournament is to get more young people from the Portsmouth region involved in chess.

To sign up for the competition you can email Lucinda Webb at [email protected]

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