The first full week of the season is now behind us.

In Division 1 last season’s champions had a resounding 4½-½ victory over newly promoted Castell Nedd Emperors. The whitewash was averted by a board 1 draw between Bill Hewitt and Steve Smith. It was a similar result in the interclub clash between BF All Blacks and Nidum with the whitewash in this instance being averted by a board 3 draw between Mike Cleaves and Matthew Davies.

Division 2 got off the ground with the interclub match between Morriston C and D. Only one game point separated the teams with the nominally lower ranked D team taking the spoils 2-3. On the Wednesday Upper Killay Merlins were at home to De la Beche A. Exact details are not known but it appears that an unsuccessful attempt to claim a draw under the two minute quickplay rule was made by De la Beche on board 4. To claim a draw under this rule a player must have under 2 minutes left on their clock, be clearly winning and have made at least 60 moves so it appears that one or another of these conditions was probably not met. As a team, however, De la Beche proved the stronger and went away 3-2 winners. The third match in this division was the interclub match between newly promoted Brunel and club mates Giants. The match was arguably closer than the 4½-½ score line in favour of the Giants suggests but it was a lesson in reality for a Brunel team that last season had achieved a 100% record in division 3.

In division 3 the first match played was also an interclub affair; this time between De la Beche C and B. Both teams were a player short and the match was settled over 4 boards. No surprise that the spoils went to De la Beche B 3½-½. Defaults were the order of the week the following night when Upper Killay Harriers turned up against St Michael’s School with only 3 players. The results on the top two boards followed the ranking and these coupled with an against the odds win on board 3 were enough to give the Harriers the victory 3-2. The final match of the week was, yet again, an interclub battle; this time between newcomers Morriston G and the rather more established Morriston E players. It was a comfortable 4-1 win for the E team and the result moves them, for the moment at least, to the top spot.

18/09/2018