White Knights A - They Win the Stanley Fortt Memorial Cup and Complete the Double.

The KO Cup competitions reached their finale at the Morriston Chess Club on Monday 23rd May. Only three clubs were represented with White Knights competing in all three sections, Morriston in two and BF Nidum in one.

The Open section for the Stanley Fortt Memorial Cup was between White Knights A and Morriston A. Morriston, however, got off to a bad start when they found themselves defaulting board 2 and the toss of the coin left White Knights with white on boards 1 & 3. Boards 3 & 4 were level for a long time and just as the 2 hour mark arrived, Gerry Heap’s reversed Benko on board 1 was proving a success; he'd recovered his pawn and was a pawn up. He soon won a piece and Carl resigned. By going 0-2 down on the top two boards, Morriston would have lost on tie-break in the event of a 2-2 draw, so draws on the bottom boards were swiftly agreed. A 3-1 win for White Knights to complete a league & cup double for the Llanelli side!

White Knights B and Morriston B were competing for the Richard E Jones Cup (Under 1800 section) with the path to the final having been a struggle for both teams. White Knights drew both their previous matches and got through them after bottom board elimination while Morriston had to wait the result of a contested arbitration against Upper Killay before they were able to proceed. In the event the final match turned out to be just as close. Malcolm and Paul on board 4 called it a day after just 17 moves. On board 3 James's Morra gambit posed some trouble for Andrew who dropped his queen for 2 minor pieces. Andrew's pieces weren't working well either, and James won more material. On board 2 Mike seemed to have a big edge v Chris but Chris exchanged some pieces and another draw ensued. This left Ian on board 1 having to win to take the match for Morriston. Keith was doing fine but faltered at the end when Ian defended very well, emerging with a passed a-pawn. As the pawn advanced, Keith went down. A 2-2 score with Morriston only winning after bottom board elimination. Interestingly of the 7 matches played in this section 4 of them were draws! A close competition.

The final for the A.D. Nicholson shield (Under 1400 section) featured White Knights C and BF Nidum D. White Knights C had impressed in previous rounds by winning their matches 3-1 and 4-0 while BF Nidum had won both their matches 2½-1½. It had all the makings of a close final and so it proved. On board 1 Richie beat Colin in a sharp Sicilian after dropping a pawn while the other games all went past the time control. Chandon and Lyndon on board 3 drew an endgame and Ian on board 4 went down to Carl in a seemingly level ending. Carl had a slight pull and played it very well. This left Jonathan on board 2 having to win to take the match. The game was always very level and eventually the players agreed a draw in a rook ending where neither could play for much. A 2-2 score but this time it was White Knights who won on bottom board elimination.

All in all a good night for White Knights although no doubt they would have been happier to take all three trophies!

All the games have been transcribed by Bill Hewitt and they have been added to the KO Cup games that are available by following the links in the main menu.

They can also be accessed directly via http://chessmicrobase.com/microbases/5340?token=tb7jv8p0

or downloaded from http://westwaleschess.com/kogames2016.pgn

24/05/2016