Dunfermline Sharks 7-9 Stirling Bruce, 27/2/17

An excellent contest between two well-matched teams. For all that the
crucial round looks like it was r2, which Bruce won 3½-½, matters
really hinged on r3, where for a while it looked like Sharks were on
course to win all four games and snatch a dramatic lead. But as so
often in these allegro matches there were unexpected twists, with Tony
mating Peter with four seconds left on his clock, and Robert and I
both managing to draw. So the round was halved, the match stood at
7½-4½ and a couple of draws in the last round saw the Stirling team
home for their seventh straight win in this fixture - the last time
Sharks won was by the same 9-7 score in November 2009.

Dunfermline Sharks vs Stirling Bruce, 27/2/17

r1
Michael Roy 1624  0-1  Bill Cook 1567
Stuart Black 1596  1-0  Tony Pitson 1524
Stewart Brisbane 1484  0-1  Dave Hewitt (c) 1516
Peter Horne (c) 1449  1-0  Robert Leckie 1250
2-2

r2
Roy 0-1 Pitson
Black ½-½ Hewitt
Brisbane 0-1 Leckie
Horne 0-1 Cook
½-3½ / 2½-5½

r3
Roy ½-½ Hewitt
Black ½-½ Leckie
Brisbane 1-0 Cook
Horne 0-1 Pitson
2-2 / 4½-7½

r4
Roy 1-0 Leckie
Black ½-½ Cook
Brisbane ½-½ Pitson
Horne ½-½ Hewitt
2½-1½ / 7-9

Sharks won the toss and had white in rounds 1 and 3.

Individual scores:
Sharks: Black 2½, Brisbane, Horne and Roy all 1½
Bruce: Cook, Hewitt and Pitson all 2½, Leckie 1½

This was the last Bruce fixture of what has been a fairly experimental
campaign, with two of the regulars (Paul and John) being out for the
season and another (Graham) unavailable since the turn of the year.
Two matches have been lost heavily, and two won, which feels like a
reasonable return in what was never likely to be a title-challenging
season. Sharks still have matches against Grangemouth Tigers and
Stirling Wallace to come.

Thanks to the Dunfermline club for hosting what was another
good-natured and competitive evening of chess.