Bs Crushed

The B team's good start came to an abrupt end on Monday 1 November when they were crushed 4-0 by Haverfordwest. The trouble began when the team failed to meet up in the carpark at Aber because of a confusion caused by the clocks having changed over the weekend(!) After that it just got worse. Board 1 Julie van Kemenade was the first to resign when a tactical oversight cost her a piece against the league's most improved player, Colin Denham. On Board 2 against Jan Sendall, an opponent I have always found tricky, I dropped a pawn and had to defend against a strong attack. When the smoke cleared I was still a pawn down and resigned before the flag could fall. John Basterfield lost his queen for a rook in John Florence's spirited kingside attack. Finally new team member Cai Lewis was two pieces up at one stage against Robbie Coles but underestimated the power of a remote passed pawn and had to give up too much material to stop it.

Meanwhile the club was well represented the previous weekend at the Dyfed Closed Championship, with seven of our members taking part. Rudy van Kemenade retained the title he won last year, with the same perfect score of 5/5. Julie van Kemenade finished third, behind Carmarthen's Keith Downey, on 3.5. I scored 3, Ian Finlay 2, John Basterfield withdrew due to illness on 1.5/3, Tony Geraghty scored 1, and Cai Lewis, playing his first ever tournament, finished with 0.5. All the games can be found on Paul Orton's Dyfed Chess Association site.

Julie van Kemenade - Colin Denham 0-1

Jan Sendall - Matthew Francis 1-0

John Basterfield - John Florence 0-1

Robbie Coles - Cai Lewis 1-0