Dunfermline 2½-4½ Grangemouth 6/3/17

A gallant effort by a heavily out-graded Dunfermline who were down on nearly every board by between 100 and 250 grading points.  Congratulations to Grangemough who made their extra strength count by playing pretty solidly throughout.

On board 1 an utter blunder in a level position gave Uby a fortunate win after I had been better for much of the game.  Sadly he is quite good at setting sneaky little problems but in this case I just assumed I would take a pawn (and I was already the exchange ahead) but only after he moved did I realise my queen was on the wrong diagonal!   

On board 2 John looked at least level for much of the time against an isolated queen pawn structure but a few aimless moves invited Alan to attack and then John’s pawns started to fall.  

Board 3 was first finished with Michael quite adventurous but once the ambitious attack was refuted his game collapsed.  

Stuart played very well to hold a minor piece ending a pawn down.  Having the 2 bishops gave him just enough control over the dark squares to prevent Doug making meaningful progress.  

Jamie looked a little cramped but with a sound position.  However Dave had the initiative and was able to swop down to the better ending after which the odd pawn or 2 became indefensible.  

Calum had a lucky escape.  Ian saw a ghost and failed to simply take Calum’s kingside apart.  After that good fortune Calum reacted strongly by coordinating his pieces very well and won with a convincing counterattack.  

Stewart was given a bit of a gift after Bill played some iffy and unnecessary defensive moves. One silly move gave away a pawn and when his next move lost 2 more it was time to resign.

1. Ian Robertson (w) 0-1 Uby Archibong
2. John McBride (w) 0-1 Alan Bell
3. Michael Roy (B) 0-1 Graeme Hamilton
4. Stuart Black (w) ½ - ½ Dougie Will
5. Jamie O’Connor (B) 0-1 David Wallace
6. Calum Smith (B) 1-0 Ian Mason
7. Stewart Brisbane (B) 1-0 Bill Gray