Dunfermline Sharks 7-9 Stirling Bruce, 27/2/17

An excellent contest between two well-matched teams. For all that the
crucial round looks like it was r2, which Bruce won 3½-½, matters
really hinged on r3, where for a while it looked like Sharks were on
course to win all four games and snatch a dramatic lead. But as so
often in these allegro matches there were unexpected twists, with Tony
mating Peter with four seconds left on his clock, and Robert and I
both managing to draw. So the round was halved, the match stood at
7½-4½ and a couple of draws in the last round saw the Stirling team
home for their seventh straight win in this fixture - the last time
Sharks won was by the same 9-7 score in November 2009.

Dunfermline Sharks vs Stirling Bruce, 27/2/17

r1
Michael Roy 1624  0-1  Bill Cook 1567
Stuart Black 1596  1-0  Tony Pitson 1524
Stewart Brisbane 1484  0-1  Dave Hewitt (c) 1516
Peter Horne (c) 1449  1-0  Robert Leckie 1250
2-2

r2
Roy 0-1 Pitson
Black ½-½ Hewitt
Brisbane 0-1 Leckie
Horne 0-1 Cook
½-3½ / 2½-5½

r3
Roy ½-½ Hewitt
Black ½-½ Leckie
Brisbane 1-0 Cook
Horne 0-1 Pitson
2-2 / 4½-7½

r4
Roy 1-0 Leckie
Black ½-½ Cook
Brisbane ½-½ Pitson
Horne ½-½ Hewitt
2½-1½ / 7-9

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

Individual scores:
Sharks: Black 2½, Brisbane, Horne and Roy all 1½
Bruce: Cook, Hewitt and Pitson all 2½, Leckie 1½

This was the last Bruce fixture of what has been a fairly experimental
campaign, with two of the regulars (Paul and John) being out for the
season and another (Graham) unavailable since the turn of the year.
Two matches have been lost heavily, and two won, which feels like a
reasonable return in what was never likely to be a title-challenging
season. Sharks still have matches against Grangemouth Tigers and
Stirling Wallace to come.

Thanks to the Dunfermline club for hosting what was another
good-natured and competitive evening of chess.

Dunfermline A 3-2 Cumbernauld A 20/02/17

1. Ian Robertson ½ - ½ Steven Kelly
2. Michael Roy 0-1 Mark Monaghan
3. Jamie O’Connor ½ - ½ George Thomson
4. Calum Smith 1-0 Steven Monaghan
5. Stewart Brisbane 1-0 Steven Gentleman

An actual streak for Dunfermline as we win successive league games for the first time in two years.  Both teams were without a host of first team nominees which resulted in quite a level match. On top board Steven was better for a long time though in the latter stages could have lost.  This was the last game to finish and the draw gave Dunfermline the match.  On board 2 Mark’s Kings Indian Attack was really well played with Michael seemingly having little chance of any counterplay.  Jamie v George was a difficult game to predict with pawn structure issues for Jamie to resolve but with active pieces. Both players seemed happy with the outcome.  Calum had extra space and won convincingly at the end though Steven was quite solid for a long time.  Board 5 finished early. Stewart offered an exchange sacrifice which a more experienced opponent would probably have declined as it left Steven’s kingside too exposed and led to an unstoppable mate.      

Cumbernauld B vs Dunfermline B, 20 Jan 17

Calum SMITH (c)  ½-½  Derek MCATEER  (c)
Fred OSSOWSKI  1-0  Ulugbak ABDURAHMANOV
Stewart BRISBANE  1-0  Steven GENTLEMAN
Glynis GRANT  1-0 George FORD
Iain BEDFORD  1-0  Luke JOYCE

Cumbernauld B ½ - Dunfermline B  4 ½

Cumbernauld had white on the first and last two boards.

At 19 moves it was relatively short on paper, but a lot of thinking time was expended at the top board: I struggled to find a plan after around move three and was pleased to get a more or less equal position at last. The night’s results had gone Dunfermline’s way by then and a draw was agreed.

Fred went a bishop up in his game against Ulugbak and it proved to be too much for the second player's game. On board 3 Steven defended a Ruy Lopez but needed to castle before essaying the kingside pawns. Stewart was able to get ahead in piece development and quickly set about Black’s uncastled king.

Glynis was on fine attacking form playing the Sicilian Defence against George. On board 5 both sides were keen to attack but Iain managed to pin Luke’s queen on the same file as his king and shortly afterwards took the game.

Calum

Badgers Brook B vs Dunfermline B, 30/1/17

Graham Kerr (c) 0-1  Jamie O'Connor
David McGilvary 1-0  Calum Smith (c)
Mark Brown  1-0  Fred Ossowski
Dylan Gillies  0-1 Stewart Brisbane
Derek Raffan  ½-½  Peter Horne

Badgers Brook B  2½-2½ Dunfermline B

Badgers Brook had white on boards 3 and 5.

Jamie won material quite early at the top board and eventually overcame the problems Graham was nonetheless setting him. On board 2, although I felt I came out of the opening strongly and had a very promising middlegame with the advantages of space, a passed pawn and bishops v knights I didn't convert it and David found a way through to a winning endgame.

In time trouble Fred reversed his material advantage by losing his queen and Mark shortly afterwards took the game.

On board 4 Stewart prevailed against Dylan's Ruy Lopez, and on board 5 Derek and Peter drew. Derek probably had better chances, but less time.

Calum

Dunfermline 2 Stirling 0 - 13/02/17

Dunfermline A vs Stirling A, 13/2/17

Ian Robertson (c) 2024  1-0  Jim Shemilt 1756
John McBride 1788  ½-½  Steve Smith (c) 1676
Michael Roy 1662  1-0  Bill Cook 1657
Stuart Black 1647  ½-½  Dave Hewitt 1474
Peter Horne 1386  ½-½  Robert Leckie 1469

Dunfermline A  3½-1½  Stirling A

Stirling had white on boards 2, 4 and 5.

+++++++++++

Dunfermline B vs Stirling C, 13/2/17

Jamie O'Connor 1642  1-0  Brad Duthie 1449
Fred Ossowski 1536  1-0  Craig Manson 1387
Stewart Brisbane 1512  0-1  Kyle Kirkpatrick 1360
Douglas Rew 1490  0-1  Tom Wallace (c) 1243
Matt Harris u/g  1-0  Robert Togneri 1267

Dunfermline B  3-2  Stirling C

Stirling had white on boards 1, 4 and 5.

(I'm not sure who was captain of Dunfermline B.)

+++++++++++

Two good wins for Dunfermline. Curiously, all five of the A team games
finished before any of the games in the other match. Game of the night
was probably the Brisbane-Kirkpatrick clash which was a very sharp and
interesting affair. Other watchable games included Leckie-Horne (where
Peter did well to survive some sustained pressure) and Ossowski-Manson
(last game to finish, with Fred finding a very nice mating attack). By
contrast, the Hewitt-Black encounter was 17 moves of very drawish
stuff, with the handshake coming before 8pm. Special mention should be
made of Matt Harris's win in what I believe was his first competitive
game.

Minnows 11½-4½ Wallace 6/2/17

Grading-wise this was a pretty much expected scoreline but lack of playing time showed for the rusty Minnows duo of John and George resulting in a tight start which included an unusual flurry of draws in round 1.  However the round 3 whitewash put paid to Stirling’s hopes of an upset.  Stirling’s temporary guest from America (Brad) seemed to enjoy his debut and was a bit unlucky not to have scored more.

Round 1

Ian Robertson 1-0 Gordon Allcock

Calum Smith  ½ -½ Brad Duthie

John McBride ½ -½ Steve Smith

George Webb  ½ -½ Tom Wallace

2½ -1½

Round 2

Ian Robertson 1-0 Brad Duthie

Calum Smith 1-0 Steve Smith

John McBride 0-1 Tom Wallace

George Webb 0-1 Gordon Allcock

2-2

Round 3

Ian Robertson 1-0 Steve Smith

Calum Smith 1-0 Tom Wallace

John McBride 1-0 Gordon Allcock

George Webb 1-0 Brad Duthie

4-0

Round 4

Ian Robertson 1-0 Tom Wallace

Calum Smith 1-0 Gordon Allcock

John McBride 1-0 Brad Duthie

George Webb 0-1 Steve Smith

3-1