Stirling Wallace V Dunfermline Minnows 26/03/14

Minnows won after a strong start and finish while Wallace put in a good show in rounds 2 and 3.  Minnows finish the league in the runner-up position

Wallace	6 - 10	Minnows
J Shemilt	½ - ½	I Robertson
S Smith	0-1	J Webster
R Hayles	0-1	G Webb
D Brodie	0-1	B Volland
	½ - 3½
J Shemilt	1-0	B Volland
S Smith	0-1	I Robertson
R Hayles	½ - ½	J Webster
D Brodie	½ - ½	G Webb
	2 - 2
J Shemilt	1-0	G Webb
S Smith	1-0	B Volland
R Hayles	0-1	I Robertson
D Brodie	½ - ½	J Webster
	2½ - 1½
J Shemilt	0-1	J Webster
S Smith	0-1	G Webb
R Hayles	1-0	B Volland
D Brodie	0-1	I Robertson
	1 - 3

Badgers Brook vs Dunfermline 17/03/2014

A bit of a shock result and with a bit more fortune it could have been better as George was holding in a R+B+ 4 pawns each ending and Ian and Matthew both might have made more of their early opportunities.  Stuart’s opponent made the 1st time control with one second left in a very complex position.  However Peter was the star man allowing his higher rated opponent a second Q while Peter’s knights and queen closed in on the enemy king for a winning combination
	Badgers Brook			Team	Dunfermline
Board	Name	Grade		Result	Name	Grade		Colour
1	Mark Cooke	1942		½-½	Ian Robertson	2149
2	Fabio Biancalana	1927		½-½	Stuart Black	1607
3	Martin Clancy	1904		0-1	Peter Horne	1342
4	Kenny McGeoch	1776		1-0	George Webb	1321
5	Steven McHarg	1414		½-½	Matthew Stewart	1300
		TOTAL		2½-2½

An excellent result for Dunfermline who were massively outgraded, and in particular Peter's win against an opponent graded some 562 points higher.

Dunfermline A 2½ - 2½ Grangemouth A 19/02/2014

Dunfermline A	2 ½ - 2 ½	Grangemouth A
I Robertson (2149)	½ - ½	D Will (1913)
I Sneddon (1740)	½ - ½	J Smith (1739)
G Webb (1321)	½ - ½	I Mason (1733)
G Grant (1280)	0 – 1	W Gray (1496)
D Rodger (1239)	1 – 0	H Hanlon (1442)

Grangemouth had a hefty grading advantage on the bottom 3 boards and initially games developed in accord with grade.  

Board 4 was first finished when Bill’s steady pressure forced Glynis to an early collapse.  

Next finished was board 2 when Iain could not find a way to convert his earlier well won extra pawn and accepted a perpetual.  

Next to end was the strange board 3 game.  Neither player seemed to want open play. George lined up his 8 pawns on black squares and Ian set his 8 pawns on white squares.  The blocked position gave George the luxury to capture back a piece with his King on d2 at about move 10 and then walk his King back and forth along his own second rank while awaiting developments.  So much for the fallacy of Kings leading their armies into battle being a thing of the past! Credit is due to both players for plugging away for around 50 moves.  An excellent result for George against a player 400 points higher rated. 

Next finished was board 5.  Derek had kept his position solid but Hugh manoeuvred well to win a pawn and with more aggression with his rooks could have made it extremely difficult for Derek.  As it was Hugh got a bit negative and then a horror move cost him a whole rook which Derek converted with confidence.  

Final game to end was the see-saw battle on board 1.  Dougie’s early aggression should have cost him the game.  Ian had the option of capturing a sacrificed piece with King or Queen.  Taking with the King would not have won the piece outright but would have ended the game in Ian’s favour within a few moves.  Instead Ian chose to capture with the Queen after seeing a nice way to keep the piece but there was a flaw neither player had spotted which led to Dougie regaining the piece with advantage.  That advantage netted Dougie 2 pawns but active play gave Ian enough to set up a repetition.  The computer says initially that the final position was equal but after thinking a bit longer it suggests that even 2 pawns down in an ending Ian was a bit better.  However with only a few minutes left on the clock to play on would have been very risky and a draw was a fair reflection of both players’ efforts.            

Badgers v Minnows 17/02/2014

This was a close one!

After being demolished in round 1 Badgers nearly got back for the win. As usual with this format there were plenty of errors.  Mention should be made of 2 in particular both involving Badgers board 4.  In round 3 Iain S was ahead in a RvP ending.  Instead of pushing his potential passed pawn for a likely win Iain opted to walk into a help-mate in 2 moves.  Lucky David, unlucky Iain

In round 4 it was top v bottom when Ian R played David.  All was going as predicted with Ian well ahead on material till suddenly David produced a Knight move which forced mate – or at least it should have.  Ian had only one check which was played giving David a choice (always good to give opponents a choice!).  The options were either play to a square allowing at least another check or go to a ‘safe’ square with no more checks and apparently no saving moves.  The former was a win but David chose the latter allowing Ian to put a piece where it could be taken any of 3 ways but each capture allowed a fatal repercussion.  Lucky Ian, lucky Minnows.    

Badgers	7 ½ - 8 ½	Minnows
F Biancalana	0-1	I Robertson
K McGeoch	½ - ½	I Sneddon
D McGilvary	0-1	G Webb
D Marshall	0-1	T Doherty
	½ - 3 ½
F Biancalana	1-0	T Doherty
K McGeoch	1-0	I Robertson
D McGilvary	0-1	I Sneddon
D Marshall	0-1	G Webb
	2 - 2
F Biancalana	1-0	G Webb
K McGeoch	1-0	T Doherty
D McGilvary	0-1	I Robertson
D Marshall	1-0	I Sneddon
	3 - 1
F Biancalana	0-1	I Sneddon
K McGeoch	1-0	G Webb
D McGilvary	1-0	T Doherty
D Marshall	0-1	I Robertson
	2 - 2

Update for the game above. Below is a pic from near the end, the rook on a1 is actually on e1.

My next move was Rf7+ Kg6 and then I played Rxb7.  David then came up with the winning Ng3!  I played Bf7+ and David went wrong.

Dunfermline Minnows V Grangemouth Tigers 12/02/14

Minnows gave a debut to 10 year old Ben otherwise both teams had their regular players.  In round 1 Ben’s win on time helped give the home side a winning start with the 3-1 score repeated in the next 2 rounds through slightly greater consistency by Minnows (commonly known as having more luck!).  That determined the outcome of the match but Grangemouth did win the final round and this time it was Doug and Ian getting fortunate wins for Tigers.

Minnows	10-6	Tigers
Ian Robertson	1-0	Doug Will
John McBride	½ - ½	Ian Mason
George Webb	½ - ½	Bill Gray
Ben Volland	1-0	Hugh Hanlon
	3-1
Ian Robertson	1-0	Ian Mason
John McBride	1-0	Bill Gray
George Webb	1-0	Hugh Hanlon
Ben Volland	0-1	Doug Will
	3-1
Ian Robertson	1-0	Bill Gray
John McBride	1-0	Hugh Hanlon
George Webb	1-0	Doug Will
Ben Volland	0-1	Ian Mason
	3-1
Ian Robertson	1-0	Hugh Hanlon
John McBride	0-1	Doug Will
George Webb	0-1	Ian Mason
Ben Volland	0-1	Bill Gray
	1-3