After their mid-season break and a quiet start to 2002 members of Barry Chess Club were back up to speed last week with three East Glamorgan league encounters and a Welsh Knockout Cup match to contend with.
The Barry Gambits kicked the week off when they entertained Nelson on Monday evening. As both the Gambits and Nelson were promoted to division 3 at the end of last season but have seemed to find the going a little tough at this higher level the match presented a golden opportunity for one of the teams to increase its batting average and edge away from the relegation zone. With Barry outgrading their opponents on all boards they appeared reasonable favourites to win until their fate was sealed by a rash observation that “This one should be easy!” from an optimistic club member who should have learnt from previous, bitter experiences that such outbursts almost invariably prove to be the kiss of death!
With only two draws to their credit from four completed games the Gambits trailed their guests by 1 point to 3 at the conclusion of the evening. Barry could still win the one remaining, adjourned game in which Nelson have already offered a draw but, given the overall situation of the match and their standing within the division, it is debatable whether the long trek to the valleys is really worthwhile for a possible extra half point. All credit must be given to Nelson who fully deserved this victory although the Gambits’ performance left a lot to be desired and there is now very little hope of Barry’s fourth team avoiding a return to division 4.
Wednesday evening saw two matches take place at the Witchill Hotel.
Barry’s ‘A’ team in the Open section of the Welsh Knockout Cup played its first round match against Pontypridd and, without two of its regular players, put up a reasonable performance before finally succumbing by 1½ : 2½. The team will now attempt to recapture the Welsh Open Plate which it won in both 1999 and 2000. A division 2 fixture between the Stauntons and Pentyrch A was the other home fixture of the evening and although Barry’s third team had whitewashed their opponents by fielding some stronger players for the away leg earlier in the season there seemed to be very little chance of repeating that performance without such enhancement. Barry were pleasantly surprised to find themselves comfortable in most of the games and although draws were agreed on boards 1, 2 and 5, board 4 ultimately fell to the hosts. Pentyrch levelled the match when winning the last game of the evening on board 3 and both sides seemed fairly content with the 2½ all result.
A third match involving a team from Barry also took place on Wednesday when the Saracens, probably having passed Pontypridd’s cup team going in the opposite direction on the motorway, travelled to play Ponty Dau in division 4 of the league. Forced yet again to default a board, Barry’s fifth team maintained its rather meagre strike rate during this encounter and managed only two half points from the four contested boards to allow the opposition a good 4:1 win. Avoidance of the East Glamorgan Chess Association’s wooden spoon now seems to be the only realistic goal for the Saracens this season and unkind comments that the team could, with a little more effort, reduce itself to a level of incompetence with which it could finally acquire the one league trophy that Barry has never ‘won’ are treated with the disdain which they probably deserve by the team’s despondent captain.