In Division 1 it was a good week for the White Knights Club but something of a disaster for the Morriston club. It started with Morriston C going down at home ½-4½ to CN Emperors and was followed the following night by Morriston B losing 3½-1½ away to White Knights B. Six lost games and just four draws - could it get any worse? Well worse it did get when Morriston A travelled to Llanelli to take on White Knights A in what was Morriston A’s last match of the season. Neither team had lost a match all season but with the better game point total Morriston A needed just a draw to retain the title and the pressure was on White Knights A to get the win. They responded by putting out their strongest possible side and with Morriston A missing Carl Strugnell the Morriston team were in trouble. Even the ever reliable Richard Cleveland, who had not lost a game all season, had an off night and Morriston found themselves on the receiving end of a 4-1 defeat and going home knowing that the chances of them retaining the title, while mathematically possible, had just taken a huge dive. All in all out of their 15 games played last week in the first division the Morriston club were hit with 9 losses and 6 draws. The results mean that White Knights A with just one match to play (against Morriston B) only need a draw for the title to return to Llanelli.

Fourth place could be settled when White Knights B visit CN Emperors in early April. Emperors will need to win while White Knights B can probably be happy with a draw. Theoretically Morriston B, who are sitting on a backlog of matches, could still finish fourth if they won all their remaining matches by respectable amounts but it is a big ask !

The only other match played in Division 1 turned out to be something of a milestone. De la Beche A who had not won or drawn a match all season played host to a much stronger BF Brunel and surprised their visitors by grabbing a share of the points. Wins on boards 3 & 4 coupled with a bottom board draw were enough to give De la Beche their first over the board match point of the year.

In Division 2 BF Brunel, away to White Knights D, had an unexpectedly comfortable 1-4 win over their opponents. It increases their buffer over club mates Giants and they must now be firm favourites to top this division. On the same night that Brunel were being entertained, UK Merlins visited Tonna to take on CN Tribunes. Only three games were played in a set-up that had the divisional controller asking questions about a Tribune default on top board at the same time as a Merlins default on bottom board. The result, nevertheless, was recorded as a 2½-2½ draw although the Tribune default takes their defaults to 6 and earns them an extra penalty point deduction. In the last match in Division 2 Morriston D travelled to Upper Killay to play bottom of the table Hawks. Arriving one player short Morriston dropped only a further half point with a board 2 draw and in spite of the default emerged 1½-3½ winners.

25/03/2016