The West Wales Closed Championship (E.J. Clarke Trophy) starts on the 16th October at the Upper Killay Chess Club. Start time 7:15 pm. As usual iIt is formatted as a travelling Swiss Tournament but this year with 6 rounds - each round taking place at a different venue. It is restricted to members of the West Wales Chess League and entry is free. Turn up on the night or let June Evans know if you are interested in entering. (june.evans2@yahoo.co.uk)

Meanwhile in Division 1 last season’s champions, White Knights A, had a boost to their chances of retaining the title. Last week their two most likely challengers, Nidum and Morriston A, played against each other at the Morriston Club. A win for Nidum would have kept them on a par with the Knights while Morriston were no doubt anxious to get off the mark having had a dismal start to the season. Draws on the middle order boards with a win apiece at each end meant, however, that the division had its first draw of the season. Morriston get the point they craved while Nidum fall a point behind White Knights and are now in catch up mode.

The other match in Division 1 was between Castell Nedd Emperors at home to White Knights B which the Knights won 3-2. Chris Daniel has sent in a detailed report which reads as follows:- “First game to finish was between Hywel and David Buttell. I thought David had lost as he was in a very worse Bishop and pawn ending and I was surprised to find some escapology had salvaged a draw; Keith having won a pawn in the opening wrapped up an early win against Michael Beck. I won a pawn against Louis with a king side attack before being handed a piece and liquidating to an endgame where Louis resigned. Tomasz and Anthony played out a draw where Tomasz was having the worse of it with a misplaced knight that could have led to a material loss. Last to finish Adam and Steve played down to the last 2 minutes each. A time scramble was avoided when, already 2 pawns down, Adam strolled into a mate. There has been some comment on the noise level at the match which was due to a combination of factors; the usual ambient noise from friendlies on adjacent boards, some noise from the bar and half way through the match a committee meeting being convened in the same room of the match. Any one in isolation in my opinion wouldn’t have been a problem but the combination did upset a couple of players.”

Three matches in Division 2. Morriston C fielded a relatively weak team when they welcomed a strong De la Beche B to their club. Although they held their own on the top two boards, losses on the bottom three gave the Sketty team a comfortable 4-1 victory.

An under strength Upper Killay Merlins made the trip to Llanelli where they were up against a stronger White Knights D. They did better than might have been expected with wins for the Merlins on boards 2 and 5 restricting the Knights victory to 3-2.

The final match in this division was between De la Beche C and BF Giants. De la Beche were outgraded on every board and it should, in theory, have been a comfortable victory for the Giants. In practice, however, they were restricted to draws on 4 of the boards and it all came down to the last to finish game on board 2. Steve Morgan competently simplified to a winning endgame and it was a 3-2 win for the Giants.

There were no matches in Division 3.

There have been a few members asking about this year’s list of nominated players. This list is now available and it has been added to the documents page. Also added are copies of the current Team Competition Rules and the Constitution.

13/10/2019