Round 2

.
Wales v Bulgaria
Bd1 FM Jones Richard S (2321).- GM Cheparinov Ivan (2667).....0-1
Bd2 FM Rees Ioan (2336).......- GM Delchev Aleksander (2635)..0-1
Bd3 Dineley Richard (2270)....- GM Iotov Valentin (2578)....1/2 - 1/2
Bd4 Bennett Alan (2108).......- GM Bojkov Dejan (2528)........1-0
.





Welsh team on left, nearest is Richard J, Ioan, Richard D & Alan

Games here

Report from Tim Kett

A new hero of Welsh Chess takes the stage !

Alan today recorded one of the biggest ever wins by a Welshman in an international shirt as he downed GM Dejan Bojkov (2528) and Wales almost pulled off the shock of the tournament so far against 4th seeded Bulgaria.

With Richard D always looking solid in his draw on board 3 it all came down to Ioan after Richard fell to the razor-sharp theory of Topalov's second, Ivan Cheparinov.

Ioan had looked lost in the early middlegame but staged a resourceful fightback and at one stage a draw was almost in touching distance. Sadly though his opponent retained just enough composure to clinch the point and win the match by the narrowest margin.

Although the match generally will put us all in even better frame of mind for the next rounds, tonight will be all about celebrating Alan's sensational debut. Admittedly there was a blunder by the GM (....Qc4??) but by then Alan had negotiated White's slight early pressure and had a fully equal endgame anyway. For his first ever match at this level a remarkably composed and solid performance.

One last thing .... something some Welsh players have complained about recently at these tournaments is how the top players are "roped off" / up on stage or otherwise "protected" from the rabble of ordinary players like us who can't get close to their boards to watch them in action. Well at least these guys still have to earn that status. Thanks to their bad results yesterday it was pretty amazing today for Wales to be seated inbetween Russia and the Ukraine ! Not only could we get up and look over the shoulder of Svidler, Morozevich and co but they enjoyed observing us in action too. The best bit of course were their double-takes when they stopped by Alan's board, had a quick glance, then suddenly looked again as they realised Black really was a piece up !!

Tim