Friday 18 March 2011

Fishguard Round 1

As promised, here is the first of my reports on the recent Dyfed Congress at Fishguard. In Round 1, all three Aberystwyth players in the Minor section were successful. John Basterfield had the easiest game, quickly winning his opponent's queen. Ian Finlay won with a vigorous kingside attack. But the outstanding performance of the round came from Georgina Gray, up against the highest-rated player in the section. After struggling for a long time against a wave of Black pawns that threatened to engulf her on the kingside, she was able to take advantage of her opponent's inaccuracies and win a long ending. It was one of the last games of the round to finish, with spectators clustering round it, and set her up for an excellent tournament.

Meanwhile, in the Open section Rudy van Kemenade demonstrated to his lower-rated opponent the dangers of leaving your king in the centre. Julie van Kemenade positioned a knight badly in an Italian Game and allowed Jane Richmond to invade on the g-file. And I too found that positional misjudgements can quickly lead to a mating attack at this level.

John Basterfield - Roger Lockyer 1-0

Ian Finlay - Chris Smith 1-0

Georgina Gray - Howard James 1-0

Rudy van Kemenade - Mal Kingman 1-0

Julie van Kemenade - Jane Richmond 0-1

Robert Taylor - Matthew Francis 1-0

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