Sunday 17 June 2012

Summer Friendly

With the Dyfed League season over, a seven-board friendly match took place at the Emlyn Cafe, Tanygroes on Monday 11th June between a team representing North Dyfed and consisting entirely of Aberystwyth players, and a South Dyfed team drawn from members of the Haverfordwest and Gwyddbwyll.com clubs. On top board for North Dyfed, Rudy van Kemenade won a rook at a fairly early stage against Colin Denham, but had to negotiate a few complications before finally landing the point. Julie van Kemenade won a couple of pawns against Ron Wade, and kept up the pressure in a position with only major pieces left before clinching the win with a passed pawn. James Cook also had pressure, against Iwan Griffiths's split pawns, prompting his opponent into an unsound exchange sacrifice, after which the ending was comparatively easy. The next two boards were more difficult for North Dyfed. Tony Geraghty miscalculated Scott Hammett's intended exchange sacrifice, gifting him a piece, and soon afterwards allowed a fork which made the deficit a whole rook; he played on, but there was no way back. And Ian Finlay got a knight trapped against Tegwyn Jones, who came close to winning the ending but had to agree a draw as he was running out of time. On the bottom two boards, North Dyfed again dominated. John Basterfield sacrificed a knight to open up Emyr Llywelyn's king position, with mate inevitable soon afterwards. Finally, Georgina Gray had the easiest win of the evening, as Margaret Baron walked into a version of Scholar's Mate, losing in only five moves. The match finished 5½-1½ to North Dyfed.

Rudy van Kemenade 1-0

Ron Wade - Julie van Kemenade 0-1

James Cook - Iwan Griffiths 1-0

Scott Hammett - Tony Geraghty 1-0

Ian Finlay - Tegwyn Jones ½-½

Emyr Llywelyn - John Basterfield 0-1

Georgina Gray - Margaret Baron 1-0