THE Old Chapel in Calstock fell silent as Cornwall's most promising young chess player, 13-year-old Theo Slade, came down from Bude to take on 14 opponents simul-taneously.

The event, organised by the Calstock Chess Club, saw Theo take on the youngest opponent, aged six and the eldest of more than 80. He beat all opponents, winning the contest 14-0.

This was not so surprising as Theo is a hardened England junior international, who recently came close to stopping in his tracks the American number one, world-ranked Hikaru Nakamura.