Dunfermline Minnows vs Stirling Bruce, 27/11/13

No luck for the other Minnows as Ian used up all their good fortune to survive 3 really poor positions.  Minnows had the chances to hold the match in the final round but it was not to be against the defending champions. 

Dunfermline Minnows 7 Stirling Bruce 9

Minnows won the toss and took white in the even rounds

round 1

Jim Webster 1553  0-1  Paul Prescott 1802

Ian Robertson 2189  1-0  John Blake 1657

Iain Sneddon 1715  ½-½  Graham Anderson 1593

Terry Doherty 1407  0-1  Dave Hewitt 1502

1½-2½

round 2

Terry 1-0  Paul-Was this the game with a colourful interlude? ;)

Jim  ½-½  John

Ian  1-0  Graham

Iain  0-1  Dave

2½-1½  /  4-4

round 3

Iain  1-0  Paul

Terry  0-1  John

Jim  0-1  Graham

Ian  1-0  Dave

2-2  /  6-6

round 4

Ian  1-0  Paul

Iain  0-1  John

Terry  0-1  Graham

Jim  0-1  Dave

1-3  /  7-9

Individual scores

Minnows: Ian 4, Iain 1½, Terry 1, Jim ½

Bruce: Dave 3, Graham 2½, John 2½, Paul 1

Dunfermline A 2-3 Badgers Brook 13/11/2013

Ian Robertson (B) (2149)      1/2      Mark Cooke (W) (1942)  

John McBride (W) (1785)     1/2      Fabio Biancalona (B) (1927)    
Iain Sneddon (B) (1740)        0-1     Kenny McGeoch (W) (1776)       
Bryan O'Rourke (B) (1474)    0-1     Graham Kerr (W) (1629) 
Matthew Stewart (W) (1300) 1-0     Kenny Aiston (B) (1448)

The league table closed up again as Dunfermline dropped its first points.

On top board the computer says it was a fairly accurately played game till move 25 with Ian snatching a pawn and should later have done more with it.  That should have been academic however as, in the rush to the first time control, both players overlooked that Ian could have won a piece on move 28 by advancing his Q one square further along the diagonal.  

Board 2 was fairly closed throughout but John missed an interesting possibility of giving up Kt and B for R + 2 pawns which looked good.  

According to Kenny he thought Iain played too passively and ended up dropping a pawn or two.  Bryan's last move before the time control was a spectacular trapping of his own Q which was unfortunate as otherwise he still had a pretty tenable position.  

Matthew played very solid and took the pawns on offer while his opponent activated his pieces.   Matthew refused to return the material and instead he escorted the soldiers forward for a neat win.

SNCL round 2 at the Glen Pavilion in Dunfermline 27/10/2013

Dunfermline Sharks V the Dunfermline Minnows allegro match 07/10/2013

Home Team				Away Team
Dunfermline Sharks				Dunfermline Minnows
Name	Colour	Score	Score	Name	Colour
Stuart Black	B	-	1.0	Iain Sneddon	W
Francis Ossowski	B	1.0	-	George Webb	W
Stewart Brisbane	B	-	1.0	Ian Robertson	W
Peter Horne	B	-	1.0	Terry Doherty	W
Round 1 Score		1.0	3.0
Name	Colour	Score	Score	Name	Colour
Stuart Black	W	1.0	-	George Webb	B
Francis Ossowski	W	-	1.0	Ian Robertson	B
Stewart Brisbane	W	1.0	-	Terry Doherty	B
Peter Horne	W	-	1.0	Iain Sneddon	B
Round 2 Score		2.0	2.0
Name	Colour	Score	Score	Name	Colour
Stuart Black	B	-	1.0	Ian Robertson	W
Francis Ossowski	B	0.5	0.5	Terry Doherty	W
Stewart Brisbane	B	-	1.0	Iain Sneddon	W
Peter Horne	B	0.5	0.5	George Webb	W
Round 3 Score		1.0	3.0
Name	Colour	Score	Score	Name	Colour
Stuart Black	W	0.5	0.5	Terry Doherty	B
Francis Ossowski	W	-	1.0	Iain Sneddon	B
Stewart Brisbane	W	1.0	-	George Webb	B
Peter Horne	W	-	1.0	Ian Robertson	B
Round 4 Score		1.5	2.5
Final Score		5.5	10.5

Grangemouth A 1.5-3.5 Dunfermline A 23/10/2013

An unlucky Grangemouth made a good fight of this despite the handicap of a default.  Dougie lost on time when only a pawn down.  On board 2 Dunfermline were doing well but a mistake let Ian take the initiative and he probably would have won if he had a bit more time left.  On board 3 Bill come out the opening really well but lost his way (and 3 pawns) before Fred gifted his queen.  On board 4 Stewart's experience in tactical play gained him an early extra piece.  Bryan was happy at getting a free night.

Grangemouth A   1.5-3.5 Dunfermline A  
Dougie Will     0-1     Ian Robertson  
Ian Mason       Draw    Iain Sneddon   
Bill Gray       1-0     Fred Ossowski  
David Fowler    0-1     Stewart Brisbane       
Default 0-1     Bryan O'Rourke 

Dunfermline A's 1st match of the season (The ex champs V the current champs)

Dunfermline A   3-2     Cumbernauld A  

Ian Robertson   1-0     Steven Kelly   
Iain Sneddon    Draw    Mark Monaghan  
Fred Ossowski   0-1     Ralph Stirrat  
Stuart Black    Draw    George Thomson 
Bryan O'Rourke  1-0     Paul Hendry    

Top board was like a game from the 1970's which was the last time I played a main line Najdorf  open Sicilian.  It was a good choice as my opponent had been booking up all day in anticipation of me playing 3Bb5 lines.  Fortunately B-team captain Jim Webster had given me a right doing in several 5-minute games against this last week so I thought it was time to change.  Thank you Jim!  Steven still knew all the theory of the Najdorf but was most confused when a quiet pawn move ended his Q-side play freeing me to line up all sorts of piece sacs.  A simple but nice tactic was duly played on move 17 destroying Blacks k-side and netting a couple of pawns, an exchange and a continuing attack when Black's flag fell on move 26.   Iain demonstrated some lovely tactics on board 2 in a very modern looking Kings Indian Defence.  A careless move (b6) and a follow up inaccuracy let Mark snatch a temporary pawn but Iain then found the correct active sequence to regain the material to bring about a balanced ending.  Fred seemed to be doing ok in a quiet Italian opening but lost the initiative in the middle game giving Ralph the chance to exchange down to a Knight v Bishop ending.  White looked to be doing very well at this stage but Fred was disappointed not to have found a more accurate defence which may have held the position.  Unusually for Stuart he found himself with a position with broken pawns.  Normally he keeps them very neat!  The broken structure meant it was difficult for him to generate much initiative but with Queens and other pieces coming off early George did not have much to chase at either and a fairly quick draw was agreed.  The team were astounded by some of Bryan's manoeuvres in a weird hybrid English/Queens Indian set-up.  However patient defence, a careless h3 move by Paul and a brave but strong f5 by Bryan swung the initiative.  Paul was confused by the change of events and with his position coming under pressure blundered his Queen.  A good start for Dunfermline against last seasons champions.   

Central League Knock-out Cup 06/05/2013

Tonight's result which looked like it would go Dunfermline's way from early on but we gave ourselves some late scares before confirming the win. It was particularly unlucky for Jonathan who was obliged to turn down the draw in a desperate attempt to salvage the match.

Dunfermline have salvaged something from the season and we have won some silverware.

Badgers Brook 2.5-4.5 Dunfermline 
Mark Cooke Draw Ian Robertson 
Kenny McGeoch Draw John McBride 
Jonathan Rowney 0-1 Iain Sneddon 
Andrew McHarg 1-0 Gavin Saxton 
Steven McHarg 0-1 Michael Roy 
Dave McGilivray 0-1 Fred Ossowski 
Kenny Aiston Draw Bryan O'Rourke 

Dunfermline V Cumbernauld 24/04/2013

Dunfermline never got in this match despite having most of their stronger bodies taking part.

After board one succumbed early the pressure was on the others to try and rescue the situation. A number of draw offers had to be declined contributing to the one-sided score-line as some 'all or nothing' moves were tried. Bravely played but the match was beyond saving. 

Cumbernauld will now fight for the title in their final winner takes all match with Badgers Brook.

Dunfermline 1 - 4 Cumbernauld 
I Robertson 0-1 E Bamber 
I Sneddon 0-1 I Marks
G Saxton Draw D Bonella 
M Roy 0-1 G Thomson 
F Ossowski Draw D Johnstone    

SNCL League Final tables and grading

Kingdom Knights are div 3 champions and the final tables and grading can be found at the following link.

http://www.chessscotland.com/event2013/SNCL_Division_3.html

http://www.chessscotland.com/event2013/SNCL_Division_1.html

http://www.chessscotland.com/event2013/SNCL_Division_2.html

http://www.chessscotland.com/event2013/SNCL_Division_4.html

Knockout Cup Semi Final Grangemouth V Dunfermline 17/04/2013

With several Dunfermline top rated players missing I thought we would get thumped but Grangemouth were also missing a main man so a close match ensued.

On boards 1, 2, 3 and 5 the winners always seemed to be better. Board 6 should have been a draw. Dunfermline probably should probably have won board 4 and clearly should have won on 7 having an extra piece and an overwhelming position

Grangemouth 3.5-3.5 Dunfermline 
D Will 0-1 I Robertson 
I Mason 0-1 G Saxton 
J Smith 1-0 F Ossowski 
M Monaghan 1-0 B O'Rourke 
W Gray 1-0 G Webb 
H Hanlon 0-1 J Owens
R Heenan Draw P Horne