3 - 1

We seem to have exhausted all the possible variations on 2.5 - 1.5 and our victory against Cardigan B last night was by the nice round score of 3 -1, with wins for Rudy and David and hard-fought draws for Julie and me.

Cardigan B vs Aberystwyth 17/3/10 1 - 3

Rudy Van Kemenade - Caerwyn Owen 1-0

Howard Leah - Julie Van Kemenade 0.5-0.5

Matthew Francis - Awne Osinga 0.5-0.5

Roland Spencer - David Ferguson 0-1

1.5 - 2.5 (Shock!)

So we have lost our unbeaten record in the Dyfed League, but at least we managed our usual score, only the wrong way round. The winners were Carmarthen, courtesy of wins on the top two boards. Huw Morcom's win over Rudy was a fine piece of counterattacking play. On the positive side, David Ferguson has become a valuable specialist player - he only ever seems to play Paul Orton, and wins every time. Results as follows:

Aberystwyth vs Carmarthen 10/3/10 1.5 - 2.5

Gerry Heap - Mark Talbot 1-0

Rudy Van Kemenade - Huw Morcom 0-1

David Buttell - Julie Van Kemenade 0.5-0.5

David Ferguson - Paul Orton 1-0

Meanwhile, Aber was well represented at the Dyfed Congress on 26th-28th February. In the Minor section. Georgina Gray and Ian Finlay both finished on 3/5, a particularly good result for Georgina, whose rating went up nearly 40 points. I had a bye in the first round, and went on to score a just-acceptable 2.5/4 in the first Major section I have ever played in which all my opponents were lower-rated. In the Open, Rudy scored 3/5 and Julie scored 1/5 against strong opposition, improving her rating by one point. Games from the Open can be found on Paul Orton's site.