14 Apr 2002
Two of Barry Chess Club’s teams were involved in East Glamorgan league matches last Wednesday evening.
The Saracens have been enjoying something of an Indian Summer of late and members of the club’s fifth team recorded another good 4:1 victory when they travelled to play Llantwit Major Dragons in a division 4 encounter. Despite recent results, too much irreparable damage had been done earlier in the season for the team to hold a chance of promotion but, with very few matches remaining, it can at least now look forward to a fairly respectable finishing position in the division.
Developments in division 2 of the league have kept E-mail addresses and telephone lines busy all week. At the start of the season this division promised to be the most hotly contested and hardest to evaluate and it has lived up to all expectations.
Whether overconfident or slightly nervous, members of Barry’s third team, the Stauntons, should probably have gained more than 3½ points when they entertained a depleted Aberdare Snakes side in their midweek division 2 fixture although this score did increase their lead over Caerphilly Castles at the head of the division.
Several glasses were consequently raised to toast Peterston Super Ely on Thursday evening when news filtered through that they had beaten Caerphilly by 3½ :1½. Peterston and Aberdare both had a busy week with the West Cardiff team again emerging as winners, on this occasion by a 3:2 margin, of their Friday encounter.
Caerphilly were dealt a hammer blow on Friday evening when 2 game points were deducted from their total as it emerged that one of their stronger players had participated in a greater number of matches than is permitted under East Glamorgan rules and the team is now left with a mountain to climb if it is to win the division.
Bridgend A continued to creep quietly up the rails with what is anticipated will be a 3½ :1½ win over Porthcawl A and they and Penarth A still have a match in hand of Barry and Caerphilly.
Teams play 18 matches in the season each over 5 boards with a maximum of 5 points therefore available for each fixture. With very few matches remaining, the latest positions in a fascinating division 2 are as follows. The final column shows the number of games which are outstanding having been adjourned or referred for adjudication.
| Team | Pld | MPts | GPts | OS |
| Barry Stauntons | 17 | 11.0 | 51.5 | 1 |
| Caerphilly Castles | 17 | 11.0 | 47.5 | 1 |
| Bridgend A | 16 | 10.0 | 44.5 | 4 |
| Penarth A | 16 | 9.5 | 44.0 | 1 |
| Cardiff Pawns | 17 | 9.5 | 43.0 | 4 |
| Peterston Super Ely | 16 | 8.5 | 42.5 | 1 |
| Aberdare Snakes | 17 | 8.0 | 41.5 | 2 |
| Pentyrch A | 16 | 9.5 | 39.0 | 0 |
| Penarth Piers | 17 | 3.0 | 24.0 | 5 |
| Porthcawl A | 17 | 2.0 | 24.5 | 3 |
A few ‘worst case scenario’ calculations will reveal that, even at this eleventh hour of the 2001/2002 season the Stauntons, although currently leading division 2, could still be denied a top three promotion berth!
Barry Chess Club meets every Wednesday evening at 7:45 p.m. on the first floor of the Witchill Hotel, Barry Road while a variety of chess information including the latest club, league and cup match details can be obtained by visiting the club`s web site at www.barrychessclub.org.uk.
14th. April, 2002, Kevin J. Gandy