Positively Final Match of the Season

As Carmarthen had been given a couple of weeks' grace to catch up on their missed matches in the Dyfed League, Aberystwyth A played their last match of the season at the Emlyn Cafe, Tanygroes on Monday 14th May. Carmarthen fielded a full-strength side, while Aber were without top board Mark Talbot. That left old rivals Rudy van Kemenade and Gerry Heap to contest the Board 1 game, an English Opening, in which White had a fierce kingside attack, but Black had counterchances in a complex position. In the end it was Rudy who lost his way, allowing a White passed pawn to break through. My game against David Buttell had reached a level middlegame position when he allowed a simple tactic that exposed his king. After that I had the better chances, and clinched the win soon afterwards. Julie van Kemenade's Philidor Defence against Keith Downey resulted in a difficult queenless middlegame where White had doubled rooks on the seventh rank but Black had a counterattack. Later analysis showed that Julie could have broken through but she understandably took the draw that was available. On Board 4 James Cook dropped a pawn early against Huw Morcom's Najdorf and never managed to get back into the game; the extra pawn, on the kingside, proved a destructive weapon in breaking into the White position. The final score was 2½-1½ to Carmarthen. The top three places in the League remain unchanged: Cardigan A are Champions again, with Aberystwyth A second. Aberystwyth B finished fifth, behind Cardigan B and Carmarthen, and won the Iolo Jones trophy for the best results by players graded under 1700.

Gerry Heap - Rudy van Kemenade 1-0

Matthew Francis - David Buttell 1-0

Keith Downey - Julie van Kemenade ½-½

James Cook - Huw Morcom 0-1

Cardigan A Win Again

Cardigan A confirmed their domination of the Dyfed League on Monday 30th April with a sweeping home victory against nearest rivals Aberystwyth A. Aber's only success was on top board, where Mark Talbot, playing White, was never in trouble against FIDE master Howard Williams in an Alapin Sicilian, and achieved an early draw. Rudy van Kemenade tried to unbalance his game with an unorthodox formation of isolated and doubled pawns and an exchange sacrifice which Iolo Jones chose to decline. Black could reach equality in some lines, but never really had an attack, and White was able to regroup and exploit the weaknesses in his position. Julie van Kemenade played a King's Indian Attack type formation against Tony Haigh's Franco-Sicilian. The players ended up castled on opposite sides and her pawns eventually succumbed to Black's pressure. On Board 4 I was facing the King's Gambit for the first time. Howard Leah had a dangerous kingside attack, but I managed to get counterplay; with both players short of time, I baled out into an inferior ending instead of continuing to try for a win, and compounded the error with a blunder just after the time control. 3½-½ to Cardigan A. It is not quite clear at time of writing if the League has now finished for the year, or if Carmarthen will be able to catch up on at least some of their outstanding matches, but Cardigan A, with a record of twelve wins and only a single draw, are worthy champions again.

Mark Talbot - Howard Williams ½-½

Iolo Jones - Rudy van Kemenade 0-1

Julie van Kemenade - Tony Haigh 0-1

Howard Leah - Matthew Francis 1-0 1-0

Struggle on the Middle Boards

Aberystwyth A played their penultimate match in this season's Dyfed League against Gwyddbwyll.com at the St David's Club on Tuesday 24th April. Two of the games were clinched quickly for Aber. On top board Rudy van Kemenade won a piece in the opening against Iwan Griffith with an underestimated pawn thrust. Soon a clever tactic had transformed the material advantage into a whole rook, and there was no way back. On Board 4, Ian Finlay was much too strong for Emyr Llywelyn, who, finding he must lose a rook, gave away his queen instead and resigned in only thirteen moves - one of a number of miniatures for Aber this season. With just half a point needed for victory, however, the home players on the middle two boards were not having things their own way. I went wrong early against Owen Llywelyn's Caro-Kann, allowing him to win an exchange. Seeking compensation, I threw my minor pieces forward, and, while I didn't find the best attacking options, my show of aggression was enough to persuade him, first, to give the material back, then to offer a draw, in a position which later analysis showed was still winning. With the outcome decided, the players gathered round the Board 3 game, where Julie van Kemenade had given up a couple of pawns against the much lower rated Tegwyn Jones for an attack that didn't really seem to be there. With both sides down to queen, rook and pawns (always a volatile combination) she at last got the complications she was after, only to become uncharacteristically diffident in attack. White was able to exchange queens, and was still ahead in the ending, but with almost no time left on his clock. At this point, rather than take advantage of his inexperience in such tight situations, Julie sportingly made it clear she would take a draw, which was a fair result. The match finished 3-1 to Aberystwyth A.

Iwan Griffiths - Rudy van Kemenade 0-1

Matthew Francis - Owen Llywelyn ½-½

Tegwyn Jones - Julie van Kemenade ½-½

Ian Finlay - Emyr Llywelyn 1-0 1-0

Tony to the Rescue

With the season drawing to a close, Aberystwyth B had to face a rematch against league champions Cardigan A at the St David's Club on Tuesday 17th April. In the earlier fixture, the B team had managed a very creditable 1-3 defeat despite being heavily outgraded, and hoped to achieve something similar this time. On top board I had prepared a sharp line of the Leningrad Dutch against Howard Williams, who drew on his long experience to play an idea of his own invention involving a pawn sacrifice. I should probably have declined, when the position looked equal. Instead I took the gambit (also probably OK if played correctly) and soon found myself under pressure, leading to a lost ending. On Board 2, Julie van Kemenade was also trying out a risky opening, the Veresov. Unfortunately, she didn't castle in time, and Iolo Jones was able to counterattack strongly against her centre, mating in only 18 moves. On third board, James Cook was suffering from a bad cough and had to leave the room twice in his short game; it must have been this that distracted him, causing him to leave his queen en prise. He resigned immediately, an easy win for Tony Haigh. That left Tony Geraghty to try and salvage something on Board 4. He has become very proficient at the London System, and worked up a dangerous kingside attack, sacrificing a knight on g6. Howard Leah should have taken it, when play was unclear; instead he declined and Tony was able to force Black's king across the back rank, ending in mate. This was an outstanding win against a player graded around 300 points higher, and confirms Tony's recent improvement, as well as enabling the team to match their earlier result against Cardigan A, 3-1 to the champions.

Howard Williams - Matthew Francis 1-0

Julie van Kemenade - Iolo Jones 0-1

Tony Haigh - James Cook 1-0

Tony Geraghty - Howard Leah 1-0

Short and Sweet

Rudy has now kindly annotated the games below.

Aberystwyth B won a one-sided match against Haverfordwest B at the Emlyn Cafe, Tanygroes, on Monday 2nd April. The game on Board 3 seemed to be over almost before the players had sat down. John Basterfield played an orthodox Advance Variation against the French Defence, but Robbie Coles tried to undermine White's centre too early, leaving his king in the centre. The result was a devastating coup by John to win Black's queen after only fifteen moves. The game on Board 4 was equally drastic. Georgina Gray developed calmly against the inexperienced Margaret Baron, who was shuffling her pieces around aimlessly on the back rank. Nevertheless, White could have profited by an exchange combination at one point; instead, though, she dropped her queen in short order and allowed mate soon afterwards. On Board 1 for Aber I was faced with a sharp and unusual reply to my Vienna Opening, but steered it into a line closely resembling the Two Knights Defence, where both sides seemed to have chances. Scott Hammett then went wrong, losing a piece, and,instead of digging in, allowed me to open lines against the Black king. Another win of a piece followed, before Black succumbed to a mate in three. The night was still young, and only the Board 2 game was still in progress. Tony Geraghty played a French-type formation against Tim Kirby's Reti Opening, and soon had a superior position. He missed a chance to win material with a queen fork, but remained very comfortable, with an extra pawn and the two bishops, before White walked into two pins in succession, the first losing a piece, the second his queen and the game. 4-0 to Aberystwyth B.

Matthew Francis - Scott Hammett 1-0

Tim Kirby - Tony Geraghty 0-1

John Basterfield - Robbie Coles 1-0

Margaret Baron - Georgina Gray 0-1

European Senior Championship Round 9

Rudy's final report. I have added Rudy's games to some of the reports of earlier rounds. I have also now added his wild (Rudy's word) final round game. All the games of the Welsh team can be found on the Welsh Chess Union site. Congratulations to the Welsh team, and especially to Rudy, on an excellent performance.

The third time, draw with Bl, and win with Wh. The team strategy since after a tough preceding round we played one of three teams weaker than us, was to sit on the position and wait for someone to break through. It didn't quite work out like that.

First to finish was Richard. Playing against a solid London System various minor pieces were swapped on e4, and his opponent offered a draw. Unfortunately Richard wasn't at all sure what was happening in Rudy's game, so continued after ten minutes consideration. However, since things might have been drifting against him, he decided to offer a draw himself, which was accepted.

Rudy chose the Dutch Leningrad reversed again, since he had met the same opponent, Dr Jurgen Fritsch at the EU Seniors teams in Dresden two years ago, losing that one despite having established what should have been a winning central pawn mass. All the more so since Bl had gone down the same route in Round 1 of this tournament. Trying for activity with a pawn break on e5, this lost the B on standing on f5. Wh could have just won a pawn on the K side. but there are styles in chess, so Rudy chose a line where Wh gathered material for his Q. Those materialists in the team reckoned that Bl's Q plus 3 K side pawns were equal to Wh's R, B, & N. However Rudy had judged that the Q was inactive on the Q side, a R unable to contest an e file, a passive Bl N & B. While Bl gobbled up two more pawns, Wh won an exchange and then the four Wh pieces around the K forced mate (even, to the team's satisfaction, in lines not played)

John had a good position from that English that became more a Catalan.When piled up the pressure up against d5 and Bl's underdeveloped Q side, Bl succumbed as one does in an inferior position, dropping two pieces for a R. Coupled with a passed d pawn, Wh's R, B & N soon forced a decision against the two passive rooks, giving John a win.

Given the state of the match, Iolo settled for a draw when John had won. His usual Old Indian had lead to a rather blocked position, in which, however, Bl had a protected passed pawn on c5. This might have been enough to win in the long run, but it seemed not completely necessary since Iolo had scored a good draw the previous round.

Wales 3 Germany Freibauern Niedersachsen 1

Although we finished on 24, seemingly only four places above our initial ranking of 28, a closer inspection is worth doing. We finished with one match more than last year. We are 1 match point behind England 1, England 2, and Belgium. We are level with the best performing Dutch team Netherlands VAS from Amsterdam, and 1 match point above Scotland 1. Thanks to beating Austria 1 in Rd1 we played teams ranked Nos 5,7,9,15,17 & 21, which finished in places 6,7,14,16,21, 27. Colin could have won against Michael Yeo, who ended up ranked No2 on % points in the whole tournament. Rudy had the best overall performance of the Welsh team being ranked No36 on % points(a default not counting either for him or Michael Yeo of England1).


A special mention should be made of Russia 2, composed of women players who only narrowly lost to Russia St Petersburg in the last round.

The final ceremony took place in the Rogaska Cultural Centre in the presence of its Major and MEP.

Rudy van Kemenade - Jurgen Fritsch 1-0

European Senior Championship Round 8

Report by Rudy

A tricky round

Due to our draw yesterday we got to play a stronger team. Despite them being a player short they still presented a formidable challenge as 9th ranked team. (Dr Reinhard Zunker was forced to withdraw a couple of rounds ago due to ill health. Colin is also not that well, which makes his performance thus far even more impressive)

So, one game up to start with.

Iolo played surely and efficiently from a Reti with Closed Sicilian overtones to neutralise any chances his IM opponent might have by welltimed exchanges. And when all the Rs were coming off as well, Bl accepted the draw.

Richard played for a complex line against the Chigorin, that he had been analysing on behalf of Colin, but Georg Haubt had some previous experience with it, plus some helpful anaysis by GM Rustem Dautov, and headed for a line with only one exemplar. Richard then played an innovation,0-0, the move recommended by Fritz13,but after Qxh4, despite a longish think failed to find the Fritz13 follow-up of 18.Qa4! when Wh maintains some advantage.Instead Bl was able to finish off with a raging attack against the Wh K.(All this for one pawn, as Georg said in post game analysis). So no luck on this one.

Nor on the other. John got a decent position from a Reti/Queen's pawn game, but despite a potential Q side pawn majority, he had a N offside on a5, and a B on b7. Bit by bit his 2300+ opponent increased the pressure onto the weakened K side, leading eventually to the win first of one pawn, then another. When the last tactical chances proved to be of no use, John resigned.

Wales 1.5 Germany-Hessen 2.5.

The consolation was that a draw would have left us facing an even stronger team in the last round with a risk of losing, thus only gaining one match point. Whereas now we have a weaker team, with good prospects of a win to end with.(Keeping everything crossed).

Four people went for another walk up the hill trails behind our hotel, to enjoy the sunshine and the excellent Slovenian hospitality in a pub along the way.We would all like to say we very much appreciate that people here have gone out of their way to make it a memorable experience.