Quick, Quick, Slow, Slow

On Monday 6th February, Aberystwyth B played Haverfordwest A at the Emlyn Cafe, Tanygroes, a return match of the first fixture of the season, which Aber won by 2½-1½. this time Aber got off to the fastest possible start. Ian Finlay, playing White on Board 4, had too much fire-power for Robbie Coles and forced his king into the open board, winning in only fourteen moves. Not long afterwards I achieved a similar result when Ron Wade overpressed in the opening, got his attacking pieces into a compromising situation and ended up dropping his queen. Though the game lasted a slightly longer time than the first to finish, it was even shorter in moves played - only twelve. The middle two boards were much more leisurely. James Cook, playing the exchange variation against Colin Denham's French Defence, picked up a pawn early on and improved his position patiently to obtain a winning ending - a fine example of positional play. That left Tony Geraghty, also playing the French, against Jan Sendall. He had pressure against the king but couldn't find a way through, and he was concentrating so hard he lost track of time, allowing his flag to fall with a couple of moves still to make before the time control. The clock has caused Tony a few problems in recent games, and he lost in a similar way to the same opponent only a few months ago. The match finished 3-1 to Aber, a good result against evenly matched opponents.

Ron Wade - Matthew Francis 0-1

James Cook - Colin Denham 1-0

Jan Sendall - Tony Geraghty 1-0

Ian Finlay - Robbie Coles 1-0