Tuesday 27 March 2018

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

Wednesday 21 March 2018

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)