Division 1

Two matches in Division 1 with both being played on the Thursday night. Nidum A, having drawn their previous two matches, were back in top form against Morriston B. With Morriston putting out 3 teams on the same night they had difficulty fielding a full B team and defaulted board 3. It did not make much difference in the end and Nidum achieved their most impressive result to date. The 5-0 victory moves them to within 1 point of White Knights A and opens up the title race. They face an uphill struggle, however, with their next two matches being against White Knights B and then White Knights A.

The other match in the division was between the unbeaten White Knights C and their compatriots in the B team. Chris Daniel, who captains both teams, sent in the following report: “ The C v B match always causes me problems, with only 10 players declaring themselves available the late withdrawal of Mike Richards put the C team a point up on board 5 with a default win for Ian. After a draw between myself and Nigel it was looking like the C team would continue their remarkable run. However, that door was promptly slammed shut with a win for Keith against Malcolm as a pawn won in the opening was enough to literally push for the point. David Guy survived an uncomfortable evening when Tomasz instead of slow playing his advantage went for a speculative sacrifice which David rebuffed to win. In the last game to finish Bill was winning against David Buttell and went for a quick knock-out blow which worked when David went wrong and lost; final analysis revealed David missed a winning queen sacrifice!” A 3½-1½ victory for the B team with the result allowing them to join their C team in joint 3rd place.

Division 2

In Division 2 White Knights D, defending a 100 % record put out a strong team against De la Beche C. Once again Chris sent in a report: “The 4 – 1 score line does not reflect the closeness of the match. All boards were competitive with board 5 first to finish; not surprisingly as Paul Bevan launched his usual rapid kitchen sink onslaught which Mike Richards ducked. As is the norm it gets to the point where Paul reaches for the final piece to complete his mating attack only to find he had sacrificed it several moves earlier! Mike got to the endgame with a material advantage and the win. On board 1 Nigel slowly turned around a poor position against Lawrence winning with just over a minute left on his clock. Malcolm failed to convert a winning endgame against Vaughan and James was thwarted by an impenetrable defensive structure set up by Ken to return two draws on 3 & 4. Last to finish was my game against John Strange. Having obtained a slight advantage after a lot of manoeuvring I finally won a piece after trapping John’s Knight on the edge of the board with my bishop pair. As we were both short of time John played out as long as he could before it was clear the clock could not save him and he resigned.
The possibility of the D team being promoted is a concern as we are having to play stronger teams than we would normally do due to the regular unavailability of what we would call the D team squad (Tony, James, Guto Ll, Chandon and Ian). Rather than default Nigel and I are having to fill boards. It is hoped the regulars will return shortly before “too much damage” is done !”

In the other top of the table match De la Beche B took on Morriston D. With the De la Beche team being the stronger they looked like winners from the start and so it proved; 3½-1½ to the Sketty team. The only real surprise was on bottom board where Leighton Anthony overcame a 270 point difference in rating to take away the win.

De la Beche have welcomed a recent arrival in Thomas Wells, rated at 1763. As well as boosting their A and B teams this has allowed them to revamp their nominations list with the result that Neil Stuart can now play for the C team, Peter Smith for the D team and Lawrence Chisesa for the E. As we all know the introduction of one stronger player into a team can sometimes make all the difference.

Division 3

In Division 3 every team was in action. First up was the Harriers v De la Beche E, a match that on paper could have gone either way. The score, however, suggests that it was all one way and the Harriers were perhaps a bit surprised to win with a comfortable 4½-½ victory.

The following night it was the turn of De la Beche D to face third placed Morriston F. With draws on the top two boards the Morriston team scraped through 3-2 thanks to wins on boards 3 and 5. The De la Beche consolation was a win by last season’s player of the year Derek Bellamy on board 4.

On the same night top of the table Brunel were at home to second placed Tribunes. Tribunes’ cause was not helped when their board 5 was a no show but the other games were all hard fought. Draws on boards 1 and 2 together with wins on 3 and 4, however, gave Brunel an unlikely 4-1 victory and a 2 point buffer at the top of the table. The highlight of the evening, coupled with a few smiles, occurred when Byron Jones got the draw through a stalemate when holding a lonely King v King and Queen.

The final match of the week was between Morriston G and St Michael’s School. Morriston G appear to be struggling for players and for the fifth time defaulted a board. Although Morriston won the remaining games by 2½-1½ the overall score was 2½ each, a result that gave St Michael’s their first point of the season.

10/11/2019