Firstly a reminder that the West Wales Closed Championship (E.J. Clarke Trophy) begins on Wednesday 25th October. The first round is at Upper Killay Chess Club and if you intend to enter let June Evans know as soon as possible. Entry fee is £5.

Just two matches in Division 1 in what was a double head to head between the White Knights and Briton Ferry Nidum clubs. The first match saw Nidum take on White Knights B at the Gnoll with a win needed if they hoped to resurrect their chances of retaining the championship title. White Knights obviously had other ideas and the resulting draw means that Nidum are currently sitting on just 3 points from 4 matches. Their chances of retaining the title do not look good.

The other match took place at Llanelli and was between White Knights A and the Briton Ferry second team All Blacks. Aside from draws on the top and bottom boards the match went the way of the Knights (4-1) and they are now sitting pretty with 5 wins from 5 matches, currently 4 points clear of Morriston A. Guess where the smart money is going!

A somewhat busier Division 2 saw four matches being played. On the Wednesday Upper Killay Merlins visited the White Knights club to play the D team and just avoided the whitewash thanks to a top board draw between Tomasz Miga and Richard Morgan.

On the same night BF Giants, theoretically at home, visited the University to play their B team. An off night for the Giants led to them being crushed 3½-1½ and going home with some serious head shaking and thinking of missed opportunities.

The other side of the coin saw last week’s “off team” the Emperors recover in style to defeat De la Beche A by 4-1. Chris Price made a welcome return to the League on board 1 for De la Beche and gained the sole point.

As might be expected the inter-club affair between Morriston D & B went the way of the stronger B team with John Ward saving the whitewash in a 4-1 defeat for the D team. Morriston B and Emperors currently share the lead in Division 2 but with a match in hand the Morriston team are in a stronger position.

Tribunes in Division 3 notched up their first win of the season thanks in part to the Harriers defaulting their bottom board. It was two wins each on the boards played but the default gave the Tribunes a 3-2 victory. There was a better result for Upper Killay’s third team the Hawks. They visited the Senior Citizen’s Pavilion in Glais (where lots of us must feel at home) to take on Morriston E. The 3-2 victory for the Hawks gave them their first points of the season and thanks to game points shoved them up to third from bottom.

A first reminder that this season sees the 50th anniversary of the West Wales Week-end Chess Congress and it is taking place on the week-end starting the 17th November. Forget all the others and make this one special! Les Philpin is waiting on your entry and can be contacted on newsilure@hotmail.com if you need more details beforehand.

21/10/2017