Local Press Archives - September 26th 2007
KNIGHTS OFF TO A FLYER
09:00 - 26 September 2007
The division one campaign in the West Wales Chess League got under way this week with Morriston A entertaining White Knights A at the Visteon Club, Treboeth.Unfortunately it was not the best start for the home side. Ian Jones held Alan Young on top board and Andrew Thomas made a winning return to the division with a win against Craig Evans.
Ian Eustis held his own against Keith Downey on 3, but it all went wrong on the bottom two boards where Adrian Davies was outplayed by David Guy and Les Philpin lost out to Dave Buttell.
Neath made no mistake at home to Rhyddings A, no doubt buoyed up by another Chris Howells special, a win conjured up against Yao Yao Zhu on top board.
Pat Parkes could not find a way past Peter Thomas on 2 and that game ended all square. Alan Williams's win against Gary Harber on 3 put Neath in the driving seat, and although Ken Huntley pulled a point back for the Brynmill boys with a win over Kristian Smith on 4, it only took a draw between Kelvin Haines and Lee Godfrey on bottom board to guarantee Rhyddings both points.
One bizarre feature of the new fixture list has already emerged. Reigning champions Nidum A do not play their first fixture until October 23!
This is partly due to their own request for a gap in the list to accommodate their participation in the European Club Championship in mid-October, but why no fixtures in September? What about Nidum B? Why have they been held back just as long?
One thing is for sure, the lack of competitive match practice will not do Nidum any favours when they go on their travels.
White Knights C provided the first shock of the new season in division two by defeating Upper Killay Falcons.
David Buttell gained his third win in three days to dispose of Fred Clough, the latter losing on time after a fairly even game. On board 2 Aled George succumbed to Ralph Cook's probing queen, while on 3 Jeff Jones gave a good account of himself against Bill Flew before falling to defeat.
It was the Carmarthen boys, though, that forced the issue, with substitute skipper Guto Llewelyn gaining the exchange and a won end game against Cecil Rowland on board 4, and Richie Williams making no mistake against Janet Evans on 5 after achieving a two-pawn advantage.
White Knights B team disposed of Morriston C in their opening division two match.
Aled George was first to finish on board 4, quickly going a rook up against Morriston's summer signing Paul Bevan and following it through to victory.
Steve Edwards then agreed a draw after a quiet QGD Exchange against Adam Davies on 2. Malcolm Probert, making a welcome return to league chess, looked to have a strong attack going on 3 against Dave Conway, but it petered out into a draw.
David Buttell also seemed to have a drawn position against Andrew Smith on board 1, but a small indiscretion by his opponent in the endgame allowed him to grind out an unlikely win to round up the team victory.
Adam Jones on 5 also looked to have a small advantage against Andrew Fraser-Cole but that game too ended in a draw.
SV Capablanca made a solid start at home to UK Kestrels.
John Trevelyan took the first point against Cecil Rowland on top board. Albert Easton followed up with a win against Ken James on 3.
Joe Spooner was under the cosh on bottom board against June Evans but managed to turn the tables and with his win the two points were secure.
Richard Jones had to contend with stubborn resistance by Alan Xiao on 2; even when Xiao had to give up his queen for two pieces to avoid mate, he still found some threats and Jones had to play carefully to finish it off.
Tony Goodchild rode his luck against June Evans on 4. At one point he was down by two exchanges, but he still managed to conjure a draw out of a lost position.
In division three, CN Senators travelled to Upper Killay to take on the Harriers and a solid performance left them at the top of the first table.
Wayne Prescott beat Nick Hale on top board. On 2, Harriers' newcomer Daniel Anantharj found Steve Smith too much of a handful. Sietse Los scored Killay's only win against James Silk on 3.
John Dawes and John Davies wrapped it up on the bottom boards against Roshan Daniel and Janet Evans.
Rhyddings B moved into second place after a home win against SV Dynamos.
Tony Goodchild got the Dynamos off to a good start with a win against Tony Scanes on 1. Roy Morgan dismantled Emrys Davies's Latvian Gambit on 2 and Lee Godfrey got the better of Joe Spooner on 3.
John Porter made it three wins in a row for Rhyddings with a win against Andy Hulling on 4, but Karanjeet Arora held Clive Gosling to a draw on bottom board.
BV Rooks won away to White Knights D in spite of going down on the top boards where Ivan Remot and Sam Pritchard lost to Jeff Jones and Martin Hayward Samuel. Luc Francis, Phillipe Rodgers and Daniel Wilmot put things right with wins against Graham Daniels, Jonathan Jones and Edwyn Williams.
The Minor League featured three whitewashes in its second week. First to suffer were CN Barbarians, wiped out at home by UK Hobbies. For the Hobbies, Minshi Yuan, Eva Los, Joram Los and Stephen Wu did the damage, with James Ridgeway, Daniel Dowling, Reuben Morgan Williams and Dafydd James on the receiving end.
It was a derby game between BV Friars and BV Squires, but the Squires took no prisoners, with Martin Watt, Daniel Wilmot, Corey Edwards and Ryan Kent cleaning up against Aeron Johansen, Rhian Johansen and Daniel Huxtable and aided by a Friars default on bottom board.
Briton Ferry Giants wielded the brush away to UK Kites. Colin Chambers, Alyn Morris, Aaron Lloyd Thorne and Brian Morris proved too good for Joram Los, Morgan Taylor, Jerry Zhou and Stephen Wu.
By contrast, BV Monks and BV Abbots ended up all square. Nicholas Hughes lost to Sam Grigg on board 1, but Kynan Eastwood pulled a point back against Jack Brenton on 2. Gabriel Cura went down to Abuzar Arjomandnis on 3, and Ian Remot restored the balance with victory over Michael Cura on 4.
WEST WALES CHESS LEAGUE
Results: Div 1: Morriston A 2 White Knights A 3, Neath 3 Rhyddings A 2.
Div 2: White Knights B 3? Morriston C 1?, SV Capablanca 4? UK Kestrels ?, UK Falcons 2 White Knights C 3.
Div 3: White Knights D 2 BV Rooks 3, UK Harriers 1 CN Senators 4, Rhyddings B 3? SV Dynamos 1?.
Minor League: CN Barbarians 0 UK Hobbies 4, BV Monks 2 BV Abbots 2, UK Kites 0 BF Giants 4, BV Friars 0 BV Squires 4.Article Submitted by Richard Jones
| |
 | Next :: September 19th 2007 » |