Minnows 8-8 Tigers - 26/03/18

Dave thought the narrow win for Dunfermline in the Bruce v Sharks match was tight but we trumped it!  

As always there were the usual shoogly positions and mighty blunders including me reversing 2 moves and thereby setting up a mate in one for Graham – which he then missed!  The strangest position I noticed out the corner of my eye was in the Jamie v Bill game with Jamie’s King getting mated on e5 with what looked like nearly every piece still on the board.  I must remind Jamie that the days of the King leading his troops into battle are gone.  That position however is in itself worthy of 2 exclamation marks!!

It was a really enjoyable match with everyone in jovial mood with Grangemouth turning up relaxed and happy after what seems the first time in ages getting to travel on a nice bright sunny evening and Dunfermline also full of good cheer after winning the SNCL Division 3 title the previous day.

I believe the result means that Tigers can win the Allegro league if they beat Stirling Wallace by any margin in their final match.  All the best to both sides.

Round 1

Gonzalo Forero 0-1 Graham Hamilton

Jamie O’Connor 0-1 Dougie Will

Ian Robertson 1-0 Ian Mason

Calum Smith 1-0 Bill Gray

2-2

Round 2

Gonzalo 0-1 Dougie

Jamie ½-½ Ian M

Ian R 1-0 Bill

Calum 0-1 Graham

1½-2½/3½-4½

Round 3

Gonzalo ½-½ Ian M

Jamie 0-1 Bill

Ian R 1-0 Graham

Calum 1-0 Dougie

2½-1½/6-6

Round 4

Gonzalo 1-0 Bill

Jamie 0-1 Graham

Ian R 1-0 Dougie

Calum 0-1 Ian M

2-2/8-8

Individual Scores

Minnows: Ian R 4, Calum 2, Gonzalo 1½, Jamie ½

Tigers: Graham 3, Dougie 2, Ian M 2, Bill 1

	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	Game Points	Match Points
Grangemouth Tigers	4	3	1	0	44.5	7
Dunfermline Minnows	5	4	1	0	49	9
Stirling Bruce	5	2	0	3	4.5	4
Dunfermline Sharks	4	2	0	2	25.5	4
Cumbernauld	3	0	0	3	16	0
Stirling Wallace	3	0	0	2	16.5	0

Stirling Bruce 7½-8½ Dunfermline Sharks - 26/03/18

A very tight match in which three of the four rounds were drawn, the

difference ultimately being round 3 in which three games were drawn

but Michael beat Brad. Lots of close games throughout as might be

imagined, and there was very little in it - an exciting match where

Sharks held on to win in a final round that saw four long games. For

the Bruce team, Bill and I were like synchronised swimmers, scoring

exactly the same in each round: loss-win-draw-draw.

Stirling Bruce vs Dunfermline Sharks, 26/3/18

round 1

Bill Cook 1601  0-1  Stuart Black 1614

Graham Anderson 1595  1-0  Michael Roy 1604

Dave Hewitt (c) 1558  0-1  Stewart Brisbane (c) 1441

Brad Duthie 1316  1-0  Peter Horne 1373

2-2

round 2

Cook  1-0  Horne

Anderson  0-1  Black

Hewitt  1-0  Roy

Duthie  0-1  Brisbane

2-2 / 4-4

round 3

Cook  ½-½  Brisbane

Anderson  ½-½  Horne

Hewitt  ½-½  Black

Duthie  0-1  Roy

1½-2½ / 5½-6½

round 4

Cook  ½-½  Roy

Anderson  1-0  Brisbane

Hewitt  ½-½  Horne

Duthie  0-1  Black

2-2 / 7½-8½

Sharks had white in rounds 2 and 4.

Individual scores:

Bruce: Anderson 2½, Cook and Hewitt both 2, Duthie 1

Sharks: Black 3½, Brisbane 2½, Roy 1½, Horne 1

Dunfermline A 3-2 Badgers Brook A 19/03/18

Ian Robertson (1919) 1-0 Kenny McGeoch (2054)

Stuart Black (1675)  ½-½  Fabio Biancalana (1746)

Jamie O’Connor (1661)  ½-½ Graham Kerr (1562)

Michael Roy (1660) 0-1 Dave McGilvary (1430)

Gonzalo Forero (u/g) 1-0 Dylan Gillies (1361)

Dunfermline were white on boards 2 and 5

On top board black’s accidental drop of an exchange surprisingly led to me getting a very active and slightly better of the position.  Some frantic time trouble antics eventually led to Kenny getting 3 pieces for queen but with his knight stuck in the corner and a repetition on offer he probably should have settled for the draw.  He went for mate instead and got to within one move but alas it was not his turn and it was Ian who downed the white king first.  The Stuart and Fabio game was pretty uneventful with any early initiative Stuart had quickly petering out. Although Fabio later declined a draw progress was not possible.  Jamie probably should have won having accumulated several extra pawns but all credit to Graham for creating the one chance that led to Jamie’s time dwindling (again!) and a draw was agreed.  Dave did well matching Michael’s solid middle game play and eventually gaining an outside passed pawn.  After avoiding late cheap tricks Dave was going to convert when Mike’s flag fell saving him the trouble.  Gonzalo played a lovely attack getting all his pieces aiming at his opponents semi-exposed king and sacrificing a rook to crash through.

Badgers were unlucky with the scheduling of this match as both Cooke’s were missing from the line-up due to other commitments.  The result makes it more likely that Grangemouth with retain the league title.

Ian

Dunfermline B 4-1 Stirling B 19/03/18

Dunfermline B vs Stirling B, 19/3/18

Calum Smith 1581  ½-½  Dave Hewitt (c) 1584

Andy Forbes 1541  ½-½  Richard Warcup e1500

Fred Ossowski 1553  1-0  Tony Pitson 1469

Peter Horne (c) 1370  1-0  Craig Manson 1455

Douglas Rew 1452  1-0  Brad Duthie 1428

Dunfermline B 4-1 Stirling B

Stirling had white on boards 1, 4 and 5.

Congratulations to Dunfermline B, who clinched division 2 for the

third season in a row and for the eighth season in the last ten with a

convincing 4-1 win over their nearest rivals. Dunfermline take the

title with a match to spare, being three points ahead of Stirling

after a very solid season which has seen them win eight of their nine

matches and lose just one.

There was a bit of rejigging at the start tonight as Stewart Brisbane

didn't appear for Dunfermline and after a few minutes Ian Robertson

checked his phone and found a text from Stewart saying he was in

hospital. Calum and I paused our clock and I joined Ian, Peter and

Craig outside in the corridor to work out what to do, and of course

given the circumstances it was no problem to slot in a replacement. So

Peter (who had intended being the non-playing captain) took over on

board 4 with a ten-minute deficit which didn't seem to hinder him as

he won an interesting game in due course.

Things had looked quite good for Stirling for a while (a win on the

night would have seen them travel to Badgers in April needing a draw

for the title), with Brad in particular having launched a huge early

attack which flushed out Doug's K and made for a very strange and

exciting-looking position. Brad was probably winning but then had a

calamity: he played a Q check where the Q was under threat from a

pinned N, and once Doug moved his K out of the pin Brad forgot that

his Q wasn't now immune and left it there, allowing Doug to lop it off

with the N for free. Craig went a piece down versus Peter soon after

that, with Peter's pieces swarming all around his K, so that was

another win for Dunfermline. I'd already declined a draw offer from

Calum but with our position fairly blocked and the match effectively

gone (neither of the other two boards looked like turning into wins

for Stirling), I offered a draw back which Calum accepted. The other

games went on for quite a while but Tony eventually lost a pawn-down

ending against Fred, after which Richard and Andy shook hands on a

draw with Andy having a promising-looking K-side attack with heavy

pieces and an advanced pawn.

Well played Dunfermline - an excellent performance throughout the

season from a good group of players well captained by Peter. Here's to

next season's campaign - and here's hoping that Stewart is out of

hospital and playing again soon.

(I believe it was not too serious and that Stewart is now out of hospital)