Monday 7 December 2015

Dunfermline A 1-4 Stirling A - 7/12/15

Oh dear. Dunfermline had out one of its stronger sides in the past couple of seasons and after the opening few moves it looked promising on all boards for the home side.  Alas first Ben’s sac of piece for several pawns backfired then with John’s position starting to look dubious and Stuart’s looking a bit messy and Michael showing no immediate progress, Ian felt obliged to turn down 2 draw offers only in time to allow Jim a mate in one!  John then fell thereby ending the match but not the entertainment.

Stuart by now had a queen for a couple of pieces but calmly left his queen hanging for nothing.  However Graham had no time left and lost when his flag fell taking the queen.  That left Michael to nurse home his extra pawn in a bishop v knight ending.  Sadly he allowed knight takes bishop exchange at the wrong moment and found himself in a lost pawn ending.  Some matches go for you and some against.  Just not Dunfermline’s evening.


  1. I Robertson 0-1 J Shemilt
  2. J McBride 0-1 N Irving
  3. M Roy 0-1 S Smith
  4. S Black 1-0 G Anderson
  5. B Volland 0-1 Bill Cook

Thursday 26 November 2015

Grangemouth Tigers 9-7 Stirling Bruce, 25/11/15

Congratulations to Grangemouth Tigers who won a tight and
well-contested match where, unusually, the lead changed hands between
half-time and the finish. Probably the two main factors in
Grangemouth's victory were Uby's fine 4/4 and me having the poorest
night scorewise that I've had for ages, only managing a single draw,
against Hugh in the last round.

It was the third time in four seasons that the Bruce team has lost to
the Tigers, and Ian, Uby and co now look nicely placed in the league,
with two wins out of two and Stirling Wallace and Dunfermline Minnows
as their remaining opponents. Bruce are still in the chase but
probably need to beat both Dunfermline teams and hope that Tigers lose
somewhere along the way.

Hugh Hanlon 1361  0-1  Bill Cook 1642
Bill Gray 1581  0-1  Graham Anderson 1630
Ian Mason (c) 1800  ½-½  John Blake 1596
Ubong Archibong 2224  1-0  Dave Hewitt (c) 1448
1½-2½

Archibong  1-0  Cook
Hanlon  0-1  Anderson
Gray  0-1  Blake
Mason  1-0  Hewitt
2-2 / 3½-4½

Mason  ½-½  Cook
Archibong  1-0  Anderson
Hanlon  0-1  Blake
Gray  1-0  Hewitt
2½-1½ / 6-6

Gray  ½-½  Cook
Mason  1-0  Anderson
Archibong  1-0  Blake
Hanlon  ½-½  Hewitt
3-1 / 9-7

Tigers won the toss and had white in rounds 1 and 3.


Tigers: Archibong 4, Mason 3, Gray 1½, Hanlon ½
Bruce: Blake 2½, Cook 2, Anderson 2, Hewitt ½

Tuesday 24 November 2015

Wallace V Minnows allegro match 23/11/15

Tonight's game between Wallace and Minnows brought the usual result,
but the 10-6 margin was more respectable than in many previous
encounters.

Round 1 1-3
Neil Irving 0-1 Ian Robertson
Mick Bloor 0-1 John McBride
Robert Togneri 0-1 Callum Smith
Steve Smith 1-0 Andy Forbes

Round 2 2-2 total 3-5
Steve Smith 0-1 Ian Robertson
Neil Irving 1-0 John McBride
Mick Bloor 0-1 Callum Smith
Robert Togneri 1-0 Andy Forbes

Round 3 1.5-2.5 total 4.5-7.5
Robert Togneri 0-1 Ian Robertson
Steve Smith 1/2 John McBride
Neil Irving 1-0 Callum Smith
Mick Bloor 0-1 Andy Forbes

Round 4 1.5-2.5 total 6-10
Mick Bloor 0-1 Ian Robertson
Robert Togneri 0-1 John McBride
Steve Smith 1/2 Callum Smith
Neil Irving 1-0 Andy Forbes

Tuesday 27 October 2015

Dunfermline 2-3 Grangemouth 26/10/15

1. Ian Robertson (2085) 0-1 Uby Archibong (2224)
2. Mike Roy (1679) 0-1 Alan Bell (1956)
3. Jim Webster (1677) 1/2-1/2 Doug Will (1946)
4. Stuart Black (1610) 1-0 John Smith (1737)
5. Fred Ossowski (1572) 1/2-1/2 Ian Mason (1719)

Woe is me. Curses and more curses.  I was an exchange and pawn up against Uby but contrived to lose.  All credit to Uby for finding enough decent squares and coordination for his remaining pieces to get me thinking too long and into a bit of time trouble which ultimately caused the blundering back of the material but to lose the resulting equal rook + pawns ending was just idiotic.  Have I already said curses?  I really feel I let my teammates down after their sterling efforts against a strong Grangemouth team.  

Michael fell early on when Alan produced a smart tactic netting the exchange.  Fred then played out a solid draw with Ian in a game where most of the material came off fairly quickly.  Stuart played a superb game gradually taking command against John and then smoothly converting his slight material gains.  Jim against Dougie could have gone either way and a draw was probably the fair result but initial (pub!) analysis had us all finding more wins than losses for Jim. Dougie had the final chance with an extra piece but his time trouble prevented him finding the most accurate moves to convert and he had to give the draw before time expired.  Last to finish was my nightmare ending.

All in all a good fight but probably already eliminates Dunfermline from the league title. Once more - curses.


SNCL Results 25/10/15

We were lucky

Round 1 Corstorphine 2.5 - 2.5 Dunfermline

George missed a win and then lost and Peter struggled before losing badly. My opponent was unlucky not to hold the position.  Stuart played a well controlled game to win but from what I saw Stewart seemed a bit fortunate to draw

Round 2 Oban 2-3 Dunfermline


Only won this match because my opponent lost on time at move 29 when he was winning after I mucked up a really good opening. Peter won nicely and Jim and Stuart played out solid draws.   George was better again but his opponent managed to get play from a horrible position and then it all turned round

Tuesday 22 September 2015

Minnows 10-6 Sharks allegro match 21/09/2015

A right toughie of a match.  Minnows got off to a great start but with John and George not having played for months and Ben still a bit hit or miss with his allegro play the end result was in serious doubt.  Minnows held on mainly due to Ben’s excellent win over Michael in round 3 and a fortunate win for John in the final round.

Ian Robertson (2174) 1-0 Michael Roy (1635)
John McBride (1809) 1-0 Stuart Black (1592)
Ben Volland (1483) 1-0 Peter Horne (1515)
George Webb (1497) 1/2-1/2 Stewart Brisbane 1469)

3.5-0.5

John McBride 0-1 Michael Roy
Ben Volland 1/2-1/2 Stuart Black
George Webb 0-1 Peter Horne
Ian Robertson 1-0 Stewart Brisbane

1.5-2.5 / 5-3

Ben Volland 1-0 Michael Roy
George Webb 1/2-1/2 Stuart Black
Ian Robertson 1-0 Peter Horne
John McBride 1/2-1/2 Stewart Brisbane

3-1 / 8-4

George Webb 0-1 Michael Roy
Ian Robertson 1-0 Stuart Black
John McBride 1-0 Peter Horne
Ben Volland 0-1 Stewart Brisbane


2-2 / 10-6

Thursday 14 May 2015

KO CUP FINAL-Dunfermline 3.5-3.5 Badgers Brook 11/05/2015

Dunfermline 3.5-3.5 Badgers Brook

  1. Ian Robertson 1-0 Kenny McGeoch
  2. Michael Roy 1-0 Mark Cooke
  3. Fred Ossowski 0-1 Fabio Biancalana
  4. Jim Webster 0-1 John Smith
  5. Stuart Black 1/2-1/2 Graham Kerr
  6. Stewart Brisbane 0-1 Dave McGilivray
  7. Matthew Stewart 1-0 Kenny Aiston

Dunfermline win on board count.

Dunfermline avenged last season’s cup final loss on board count against Badgers Brook winning this time around by the same method. It always looked like it would be a tight contest with Badgers higher rated on boards 2-5 and Dunfermline higher rated on 1, 6 & 7. 

There was plenty excitement and drama.  An early loss befell board 4 as Jim seemed to have left all his good moves in Greece.  It seemed Dunfermline would level quickly on board 7 after Matthew’s clever play stopped Kenny regaining material. It took longer than expected but the result was never in doubt.  Next on top board Ian beat the other Kenny in a lively Kings Gambit where neither player got castled but Kenny found his king chased to the d5 square where it surrendered.  On board 3 history repeated itself - the two players met with the same outcome the previous week. Fabio's steady pressure won first the exchange then pawns started to fall. On board 6 Stewart was slightly better throughout but let his time drift looking for a killing move. He then lost on time after failing to claim a draw in a completely level position.  On board 5 Stuart and Graham had a right ding-dong battle.  Only they know who was better in a wide open position with several pieces in a precarious situation. The spectators believed both protagonists were losing!  A draw by repetition had to be the correct result. That left board 2 with Dunfermline needing a win. It looked good for Mark but with time running low for both players he missed that he could play a simplifying QxR tactic and was punished as Michael kept an extra piece and then found an impressive tactical finish.


Finally a big thank you to Badgers for their sportsmanship.  Michael had arrived from work just as the clocks were starting and immediately sat down without switching off his phone.  Inevitably it rang a minute into the match - which incidentally sent several players from both sides scurrying for their pockets! Badgers sportingly shrugged off the disruption and all games continued. 

UPDATE FROM D HEWITT:

Congratulations to Dunfermline on the cup win, and commiserations to
Badgers Brook - it sounds like another very close and exciting match
in a season that seems to have been stuffed with them. So of the five
Central League trophies, two this season have gone to Dunfermline, two
to Stirling and one - the big one, the main league title - to Badgers.
Will be interesting to see how next season plays out, with Grangemouth
likely to be more in contention if they can retain their top four of
Uby, Dougie, Alan and Ian, and Cumbernauld perhaps recovering from
their recent dip in form. It's all very close and competitive across
the various competitions and formats, which has to be a good thing.

Oh, and the final division 1 match last night saw Stirling beat
Cumbernauld 3-2 to take third place. Stirling were in trouble on the
three lower boards despite a hefty grading advantage, so the result
looked to be heading the other way before various late swings saw the
home team take the points.

Stirling A vs Cumbernauld A, 11/5/15
Jim Shemilt 1787  ½-½  Ralph Stirrat 1737
Steve Smith 1782  ½-½  George Thomson 1593
Robin Hayles 1584  ½-½  Derek McAteer 1233
Bill Cook 1556  ½-½  Steven Monaghan 1124
David Brodie 1236  1-0  David Flaherty 1117

Stirling had white on boards 2 and 3.


UPDATE FROM G KERR:

Congratulations to Dunfermline, a close and hard fought match...
That ding-dong battle, i was sure i was winning until i hung a piece, just took my eye off it, and in the end was lucky to get out of it with a draw...



Wednesday 29 April 2015

Badgers Brook 2.5-2.5 Dunfermline A-27/04/2015 Very nearly but only second place

In their final league match of 2014-15 Dunfermline came so close to winning an unlikely Division One title.  Three and a half points were needed against the defending champs but the match ended in a tie after Fred turned down a draw but then lost in the last game to finish. A draw would have won the match for Dunfermline but also would have lost the title by a half game point.  Fred rightly chose to play on but ultimately could not fend off Fabio’s attack.  Many congratulations to Badgers Brook on their successful defence of the title.

In the earlier games a crushing win on top board was cancelled out by a careless loss on board 5 but Stuart then restored Dunfermline’s lead after John did not get sufficient compensation for the loss of a piece.  Alas no progress could be made on board 4 which started fairly blocked and continued that way thereafter and then came the gallant effort by Fred.

All in all a decent effort by Dunfermline who were missing a few of their higher rated players in several matches over the course of the season.

Badgers Brook 2.5-2.5 Dunfermline A




  1. Kenny McGeoch 0-1 Ian Robertson
  2. Fabio Biancalana 1-0 Fred Ossowski
  3. John Smith 0-1 Stuart Black
  4. Stuart Ward 1/2-1/2 Stewart Brisbane
  5. Graham Kerr 1-0 Douglas Rew  

Thursday 9 April 2015

Dunfermline 3.5 - 1.5 Cumbernauld 8/4/15

Dunfermline 3.5 - 1.5 Cumbernauld

  1. I Robertson 1/2 - 1/2 M Monaghan
  2. J Webster 1/2 - 1/2 R Stirrat
  3. S Brisbane 1/2 -1/2 G Thomson
  4. B O’Rourke 1- 0 S Monaghan
  5. win by default 1-0 loss by default


Sadly a late call-off left Cumbernauld short-handed.  Glynis now has 2/2 default wins after a similar situation against Cumbernauld in the KO a few weeks previously.  As for the games played it was a weakened and tired Dunfermline team who were rather gifted the points after Bryan grabbed an early piece and was always winning thereafter despite trying to keep Steven in the game for longer than he should have!  Then a surprising draw offer from George on board 4 was gladly accepted. George thought the position was a bit too blocked to make progress in the allegro finish but on further reflection it seems he was winning .  Ralph considered playing on after a fairly equal position arose following middle game exchanges but accepted a repetition.  On top board Ian won queen for rook and knight but Mark was able to set up a blockade where progress was problematic in the time left and a draw was agreed.     

Friday 27 March 2015

Minnows 14 - 2 Badgers 25/03/15

Both sides were weakened with Minnows George Webb being replaced by young Ben Volland and also using the rusty Andy Forbes again.  However Badgers also suffered by only having one A-team regular available this time.  Although there were the usual close encounters and plenty of frantic finishes it was Minnows who pulled out the victories.  The score was 9-0 before Badgers got their first win.  The final score might have gone even more in Minnows favour had Kenny not ground out a very equal ending against Ben in the final game to finish.

Minnows 14 - 2 Badgers

Round 1
Ian Robertson 1-0 Kenny McGeoch
Jim Webster 1-0 Dave McGillivray
Andy Forbes 1-0 Robert McCord
Ben Volland 1-0 Gordon Walker
Round 2
Ian Robertson 1-0 Gordon Walker
Jim Webster 1-0 Kenny McGeoch
Andy Forbes 1-0 Dave McGillivray
Ben Volland 1-0 Robert McCord
Round 3     

Ian Robertson 1-0 Robert McCord
Jim Webster 1-0 Gordon Walker
Andy Forbes 0-1 Kenny McGeoch
Ben Volland 1-0 Dave McGillivray
Round 4
Ian Robertson 1-0 Dave McGillivray
Jim Webster 1-0 Robert McCord
Andy Forbes 1-0 Gordon Walker
Ben Volland 0-1 Kenny McGeoch

Tuesday 24 March 2015

Stirling 3.5 - 3.5 Dunfermline 23/03/2015

Stirling 3.5 - 3.5 Dunfermline

S Murdochy 0-1 I Robertson
J Shemilt 1/2 F Ossowski
S Smith 1/2 J Webster
G Anderson 0-1 S Black
R Hayles 1/2 S Brisbane
J Blake 1-0 B O'Rourke
B Cook 1-0 P Horne

Dunfermline win on board count so face Badgers Brook in the final for the 3rd successive year.  Ian was in control most of the game but missed a win of the exchange - pointed out after by Jim.  However 2 pawns were won anyway which was enough to force resignation.  Boards 6 & 7 were lost after poor play by Bryan and Peter when they both surrendered better positions. Boards 2,3 & 5 were entertaining affairs where it was difficult to assess who was winning particularly on boards 2 and 5 as first one player then his opponent seemed to be better.  The major surprise was that all 3 games ended as draws.  The crucial game was board 4 where Stuart had rook & 4 pawns against bishop, knight and 4 pawns.  At first it looked good for Stirling but a small slip let Stuart push for a win which he achieved in a really tense finish with both players having less than I minute left on the clock.  

Thursday 12 March 2015

Grangemouth A 1.5 - 3.5 Dunfermline 11/03/2015

  1. D Will 0-1 I Robertson
  2. U Archibong 1-0 G Saxton
  3. I Mason 1/2 F Ossowski
  4. C Welsh 0-1 J Webster
  5. D Fowler 0-1 G Grant


Grangemouth have found a strong player from Nigeria and Mr Archibong was originally on the team sheet to play top board but as he had not appeared by start of play and Gavin had his own car team lists were switched as Gavin was happy to leave early.  However he appeared 15 minutes late and both players then produced a really exciting game with plenty of sacs before Gavin succumbed to a fierce counter attack.  Jim had an easy win after breaking through Crawford’s odd pawn structure while Glynis looked to make heavy weather of her position before David allowed mate. Fred was generous at the end as he seemed to have a dominating position but with the team only needing a half point offered a draw before time got too short.  Likewise on top board Ian also only needed to draw but Dougie lost a couple more pawns to go with the one he mislaid earlier and gave up

Thursday 19 February 2015

Dunfermline V Cumbernauld KO - 18/02/15

All the plaudits go to Cumbernauld but alas not the victory.  A board down before starting and heavily out-graded on the others this match went to the wire.  Although most of the games had some interest I can but give the really scary opening moves of board 6 which ended in perpetual check.

White: Bryan O’Rourke  Black: David Flanerty  1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. ed Nd5 6. Qh5 g6 7.Qf3 Qg5 8. Bd5 Nd4 9.Qf7+ Kd8 10. Be4 Be6 11. h4 Nc2+ 12. Bc2 Qg2 and a draw by perpetual a few moves later after black took the rook.  Entertaining stuff.

Dunfermline 4 - 3 Cumbernauld

  1. Ian Robertson  1-0 Mark Monaghan
  2. John McBride  1/2 Ralph Stirrat
  3. Gavin Saxton  1/2 George Thomson
  4. Fred Ossowski 1/2 Derek MacAteer
  5. Andy Forbes   0-1 Steven Monaghan
  6. Bryan O’Rourke 1/2 David Flanerty
  7. Win by Default 1-0 Loss by default     

Tuesday 10 February 2015

Stirling Bruce vs Dunfermline Minnows 9/2/15

Stirling Bruce beat Dunfermline Minnows tonight by 9½-6½, a margin
that fails to convey what a tight match it was. The first three cycles
all ended 2-2, and an 8-8 result looked distinctly possible before
Bruce unexpectedly galloped away on the final lap, with wins for John
and Paul securing at least a drawn match before Graham beat Ian to
clinch it. This was a very rare defeat for Ian against any Stirling
team (in fact I can't recall offhand when this last happened).
 
It was a fine match between two strong allegro teams. The result
throws the league wide open, with several teams now being in
contention. Minnows have played four and won three, Bruce have played
three and won two, and Badgers have drawn the one match they've played thus far
(against Tigers). (I believe their match against Sharks, scheduled for tonight, was postponed).
Even Grangemouth Tigers and Stirling Wallace are just about in the
mix, and could certainly influence the overall result - it's all very
tight and unclear (and exciting).
 
Stirling Bruce vs Dunfermline Minnows, 9/2/15
 
Paul Prescott 1775  0-1  Ian Robertson 2187
John Blake 1691  0-1  Kelechi Ohiaeri 1874
Bill Cook 1666  1-0  George Webb 1535
Graham Anderson 1610  1-0  Andy Forbes 1581
2-2
 
Prescott 1-0 Forbes
Blake 0-1 Robertson
Cook 0-1 Ohiaeri
Anderson 1-0 Webb
2-2 / 4-4
 
Prescott 1-0 Webb
Blake 1-0 Forbes
Cook 0-1 Robertson
Anderson 0-1 Ohiaeri
2-2 / 6-6
 
Prescott 1-0 Ohiaeri
Blake 1-0 Webb
Cook ½-½ Forbes
Anderson 1-0 Robertson
3½-½ / 9½-6½
 
Individual scores
Bruce: PP 3, GA 3, JB 2, BC 1½
Minnows: IR 3, KO 3, AF ½, GW 0
 
Bruce (for whom Dave Hewitt was non-playing captain and reserve) won

the toss and had white in rounds 1 and 3.

Thursday 29 January 2015

Dunfermline A 2-3 Stirling A - 28/01/15

  1. Ian Robertson 1/2-1/2 Shivan Murdochy
  2. Gavin Saxton 1/2-1/2 Jim Shemilt
  3. Fred Ossowski 1/2-1/2 Steve Smith
  4. Andy Forbes 1/2-1/2 Robin Hayles
  5. Glynis Grant 0 - 1 Bill Cook


Well worth Stirling taking the risk of travelling despite the weather warnings and inflicting Dunfermline’s first defeat of the season.  It all hinged on Bill’s sacrifice of piece for 2 pawns and though Glynis was doing well for a while eventually some inaccuracy let bill convert albeit with some very odd moves by both players.  Ian was fractionally better throughout without really being able to create anything decisive.  Once Gavin got out of his initial awkwardness he was better in a complicated game but mutual time trouble saw both players glad to shake hands.  Fred should have won a pawn against Steve but miscounted and the players simplified down to an even ending.  Andy took a pawn in the opening and kept it for a long time.  He thought he had simply blundered it back towards the end and after that disappointment he agreed a draw when material parity was restored but in fact Andy almost certainly still had a winning position.  Alas we have all done it rather than looking at the board afresh.