There were just two matches in Division 1 with both taking place on the Wednesday. Not surprisingly the inter-club match between White Knights A and White Knights C was a bit one-sided with only a board 2 draw between Alan Young and Tomasz Miga saving the whitewash. The 4½-½ win takes White Knights A five points clear of nearest rival Nidum and keeps them on track to regain the Dr Hanson Trophy.

The second match was between Swansea University A and BF All Blacks. Yet again the All blacks just failed to grab a point and in a close encounter went down 3-2 in a match that had no over the board draws. With 9 losses from 9 matches it will now take a major miracle to stop the All Blacks from getting relegated.

The two top teams in Division 2 were in action last week. Swansea University B took on top of the table Morriston B while Giants were visited by second place Emperors.

It was a month to the day since Morriston had last played and suffered their only defeat (to the Emperors). However with wins on the top three boards and draws on the bottom two they got themselves back into winning ways. The 1-4 result in favour of Morriston keeps them at the top of the table with 7 wins from 8 matches.

The following day Emperors capitalised on careless play from their opponents and went home the comfortable winners: Giants-1½, Emperors-3½. They are now on the same match point total as Morriston B with 7 wins from 9 matches. It is beginning to look as if the race to the Division title is a three horse race between Morriston B, Emperors and White Knights D.

In division 3, Tribunes, at home, were matched against Morriston E. Although Morriston E won on the top two boards the Tribunes proved too strong on the bottom three and they emerged with a 3-2 win.

De la Beche B travelled up the road to Upper Killay and took on the Hawks. Wins on three of the five boards gave De la Beche the victory and keeps them firmly in second place with a match in hand. Leaders Brunel have yet to play De la Beche B and it could be that their forthcoming encounter at the beginning of January will be critical.

The following night the Harriers from Upper Killay travelled in the opposite direction to play De la Beche C at the Poppy Lounge in Sketty. A reversal in fortunes as well as the direction travelled with the Harriers looking comfortable with a 1½-3½ victory. The result boosts them into third place on the same match points as Tribunes and Morriston E. All three, however, are some way behind the top two.

Finally there are two new documents on the site. Nidum and Morriston have both had to amend their nomination list due to the unavailability of a player and the new nomination list has now been posted. The second document is a copy of the amended FIDE “Rules of Chess” which come into play on the 1st January. You will probably need to be an arbiter to spot the differences!

08/12/2017