Not quite a stroll in the park for title holders White Knights A but their 4-1 trouncing of Morriston A on the 5th Dec, while away at the Coopers Arms, was certainly convincing. If Morriston A had any thoughts of challenging for the title they must surely by now have evaporated. The battle for the Dr Hanson Trophy is most definitely between White Knights A and Nidum.

Nidum faced bottom of the table White Knights C on the Tuesday and although stiff resistance netted the Knights three draws, wins on boards 2 and 5 were enough to give Nidum the two match points and take them back to the top of the table.

The one remaining Division 1 fixture before Christmas features White Knights A against their C team and unless the C team produce the shock of the season then White Knights A will go into the Christmas break one point ahead of Nidum.

In Division 2 second from bottom team Morriston C just managed to defeat second from top Briton Ferry Giants 3-2 and as a consequence jump from sixth to third in the table. On the other hand top placed University had no trouble against bottom placed Merlins and notched up their seventh victory of the season 4-1. They are now clear leaders in this Division and the other teams will have a difficult time playing catch up.

The one match in Division 3 was between second placed Morriston E and third placed Tribunes. A board 4 default gave Morriston an edge going into the match but they were unable to take full advantage. Two wins and a draw over the boards that were played allowed Tribunes to go home with a draw and the one match point apiece means that the rankings in the table are unchanged.

West Wales Closed Championship

There was a poor turnout for the second round of the West Wales Championship at the Briton Ferry Chess Club and most of the scheduled games will now need to be rearranged by the players themselves. The third round is due to be played on the 8th February 2017 at the White Knights club so they will have until then to get themselves organised. The results of the three games that were played are as follows:

Bill Hewitt 1 v 0 Neil Stuart

Alan Bean 0 v 1 Andrew Smith

June Evans 0 v 1 Leighton Anthony

12/12/2016