KO Cup Competitions

The first round of the KO Cup tournaments is now complete with the last of the matches played in the week just gone.

In the Open Section for the Stan Fortt Memorial Cup, De la Beche A visited Briton Ferry and played Nidum. Wins by Vlad Stejeroiu and Tom Winfield on boards 1 & 2 coupled with draws on boards 3 & 4 gave the Sketty team a 3-1 win and puts them into the semi-final. White Knights A were already through having beat Emperors 4-0 while Morriston A had a bye. With only 3 teams going into the semis one of them will get a bye and go straight through to the final. The other two teams will need to fight it out.

The Major section for the Richard E Jones Cup has been somewhat confused this season complicated by the fact that there were 9 teams entered. This should have resulted in 4 round 1 matches with one team getting a bye. However problems with agreeing match dates plus one team (Giants) dropping out at the last minute meant that only 2 matches were actually played. They were both close with the eventual winners of each only decided after the application of bottom board elimination. White Knights C had already gone through against Merlins while last week it was the turn of Morriston C to triumph over De la Beche B. The teams going into the next round are Brunel, Morriston C, Morriston D, Senators, White Knights B and White Knights C. At least it is an even number! There were 7 entries in the Minor Section for the A.D. Nicholson Shield and the first round was organised as 3 matches plus 1 team getting a bye. St Michael’s School had already beaten Harriers 2.5 -1.5 and De la Beche C had gone through against Morriston F after BBE. Last week it was the turn of Morriston E and Tribunes to face each other and yet again the winner was only determined after BBE with. With wins on the top 2 boards Morriston E took the spoils and go through into the next round. The teams going through are De la Beche C, De la Beche D (who had the bye), Morriston E and St Michael’s School.

League Competition

Two matches in Division 1 the first of which saw Morriston A go top of the table, if only for a meagre 24 hours. Their 3½-1½ victory over their B team brought them level on match points with White Knights A but with a marginally higher game point total it meant that they went top. The following evening, however, White Knights A managed, by the narrowest of margins, to get the 2 match points against the Emperors. With draws on 4 of the boards the Knights can be thankful that David Buttell achieved a win on board 4. Knights go back on top with a 2 point margin and a match in hand.

Two matches also in Division 2. With 3 of the boards drawn and a win apiece on the other 2 the match between Merlins and struggling Giants ended in a draw. The result boosted Merlins above Morriston C thanks to a higher game point score but Morriston have a couple of matches in hand. It was the same for Giants who go above White Knights D but the Knights in turn have a couple of matches in hand.

In the other match there was a surprising victory for Brunel away to Morriston D. The 4-1 score was, however, heavily influenced by the Morriston team having to play 2 boards short due to unforeseen circumstances. The result still leaves Brunel struggling second from bottom with bottom team De la Beche University sitting on 3 matches in hand.

Two matches in Division 3 with both being played on the Friday. Morriston E were away to St Michael’s School and struggled through to win 3-2. This result moves them into top spot above De la Beche B who have a match in hand. At the same time as this match was being played Morriston F hosted the Tribunes team in a match that was hard fought with no draws. The end result was a 3-2 victory for the Morriston team allowing them to leapfrog the Tribunes in the table, once again thanks to higher games points and having played more games.

25/02/2019