Black Wednesday

Eight days after Cardigan's victory over Aberystwyth B, the same team played Aber A, this time at home in Cardigan. On top board, Rudy van Kemenade got an excellent position against Howard Williams's Sicilian, but allowed the advantage to slip away. In the queen-and-rook game which followed, White was at a disadvantage with the more exposed king, and duly lost. Adam Watkin-Jones has a similar quiet style to that of Cardigan's Board 2, Iolo Jones, who finds the lower-graded player difficult to break down on the evidence of their games so far. The king-and-pawn ending was completely blocked. Julie van Kemenade should have lost a piece to a fork early on against Tony Haigh, who somehow missed it, an unusual lapse for both players. But Julie didn't seem to have the thread of the game, and soon began dropping pawns, resulting in a quick defeat. Adam Robinson got a strong attack against Howard Leah's Reti, almost from the opening moves, and dominated the position for a decisive win. 17th February proved to be Black Wednesday, as Black scored three wins and a draw. 2½-1½ to Cardigan.

Rudy van Kemenade - Howard Williams 0-1

Iolo Jones - Adam Watkin-Jones ½-½

Julie van Kemenade - Tony Haigh 0-1

Howard Leah - Adam Robinson 0-1

Two more club championship games:

Matthew Francis - Francis Headley 1-0

Sam Holman - Jamie Friel 0-1

And congratulations to Rudy, who achieved his first ever win against a Grandmaster, in an internet blitz game.

Igor Efimov - Rudy van Kemenade 0-1