Castlehill D  1½ -2 ½  Dundee A

1 Cosmo Bobak 1547 ½-½ David Findlay 2150

2 Andrew Rowe 1518 0-1 Ed Spencer 2016

3 Baillie Armstrong 1490e D-1 Alastair Dawson 1734

4 Ognyan Dimchev Kolev 1481 1-0 James Anderson 1577

What looked on paper a straightforward task for the champions turned out anything but. A disappointing start as Alastair’s opponent failed to show. At least we were a point ahead, but Jim blundered horribly after a solid start to hand Oggy a free queen and level the scores.

There followed a strange sequence for us spectators as Ed’s game with Andy apparently ended in an extraordinarily tame 11 move draw, but more was to come on that. David struggled initially to make much inroads into Cosmo’s sicilian, but a misplayed middlegame allowed him to establish a clear and winning advantage. An uncommon slip dissipated much of that, but David still held a clear pawn plus and seemed certain to nurture it to a win. But with Cosmo defending stubbornly and David unable to find a clear plan, the game slid away into an eventual repetition. Apparently the match had ended in a shock draw.

But, at first unknown to your correspondent, Ed and Andy had resumed hostilities! It seemed they had initially been playing at the wrong time control. They drew/cancelled the original game, and after replaying the first 11 moves began proceedings anew. But though he established a small but clear edge from the early skirmishes, it seemed Ed was going to struggle to bring home the needed point. And then a big slip looked as though he had gifted Andy the win, which 38.Bc7 would surely have settled. Happily from a Dundee point of view, Andy missed his chance, and further endgame errors decided the contest in our favour.

A remarkable fight from Castlehill D, particularly after a default start, could easily have seen them score a real coupon buster. As it is, the champions live to continue their title defence, but they will hope there aren’t any scarier bumps in the road ahead!

Another busy week for the club with our three 2nd Division sides in action. The C team continue their fine start and are on course to challenge for promotion. Our D and E sides are giving a good account of themselves, and our new members are getting a great introduction to competitive chess.

 Division 2

Wed 17 Nov

                        Dundee C      4-0  Castlehill H

1. 1565 E Ross Bremner           1-0    Clement Prati 950e

2. 1561 John Robertson           1-0     Alexander Barron-Majerik 638

3. 1411 Ray Flood                     1-0     Ananthi Ramachandran u/g

4. 1352 Bruce Wallace             1-0      Judith Firth u/g

A fairly straightforward and expected result given the grading and experience difference. Ross didn’t actually get started till 8pm as his opponent was delayed, but he didn’t hang about once the game got started!

Dundee D 1-3 Uni of St Andrews D

1. 1164 Thibault Rosazza 1-0 Beilin Huang u/g

2. 1053 Max Whisson       0-1 Angus Michell B u/g

3 .985 Christine Sim         0-1   Stavros Michalovits    u/g

4 899 Norrie Carroll          0-1 Daniel Majerowicz u/g

Again perhaps a predictable loss against a good St Andrews side, but a fine win for Thibault who played solidly in the opening and took advantage of his opponent’s slips in the early middlegame before finishing with a snappy mating net. 

Thu, 18 Nov

                                          Castlehill G  1-3  Dundee E

1. 1132 Norman Waugh              1-0  Steven Knox 700e

2. 1018 Blair Marshall                  0-1  Scott McKenzie 649

3. u/g Ananthi Ramachandran   D-1  Lee Knox  0

4. u/g Judith Firth                          0-1  Camila Montenegro 0

A great win for the E team, though helped by the unfortunate technical problems which prevented Ananthi from making the match. The experienced Norman may have been expected to overcome Steven, but he was unlucky to get a bishop trapped early on – not obvious to see. From there Steven fell victim to several tactical shots. But an excellent competitive debut for our new member Camila. Solid play in the opening, and though the tactics in the middle were not completely sound, she got the better of them to establish a commanding material advantage. A slightly nervy finish perhaps, but she held on to record a fine result, and the experience will be invaluable. Scot turned in a good game. I hate to overuse the word, but solid play pays dividends at this level, and being able to take advantage of the opponents tactical oversights. Some of our more experienced players still have a tendency to value pawn play over development in the opening(!), but no matter here.  

1. Jacques Ophoff 2257  1-0    Sir Philip Cohen 1784
2. David Findlay 2150     ½–½   Alastair Dawson 1734
3. Ed Spencer 2016              1-0      James Anderson 1577
4. Alan Borwell 1883           0-1       Ross Bremner 1565e

2½-1½

Jim and Ed played a 30 move game in 15 minutes! Unheard of in over-the-board play, but it just shows the differences. Jim may be wishing he’d spent a bit more time, as his somewhat passive London play handed a clear initiative to Ed’s Modern Defence. Feeling the squeeze, Jim began dropping pawns all round. Three down and facing the loss of a fourth, he graciously conceded.

David has struggled against Alastair’s Caro Kann before, and again didn’t make much impression in the early running here. Alastair was happy to let David grab a pawn, and even Stockfish could find little better for either side than a draw by repetition, perpetually attacking the White Queen.

Phil and Jacques engaged in a heavyweight manoeuvring battle in the early stages, but Jacques space gaining on the kingside was paving the way to future benefits. Then a slip by Phil allowed Jacques to win a pawn and create a weakness around the white king for a clear edge. Further jockeying followed, till an under pressure Phil snatched a very poisoned pawn, allowing a neat mating attack finish.

There was a very sharp tussle on board 4. An inaccuracy by Alan lost a pawn early on. He was forced into an active assault on the black king, though it never quite seemed to have enough firepower. But both players missed chances in the melee, hardly surprising in such a sharp position in time pressure. Ross was never losing, but Alan might have snatched equality on a couple of occasions. A final slip by Alan allowed Ross to break through to Alan’s own weakened king to claim an impressive win.

Division Two

Dundee E  2-2  Dundee D

1. Henri Meadows 872  0-1  Andrew Robinson 1150e
2. Steven Knox 700e      0-1  Thibault Rosazza 1164
3. Max Wang 559            1-0  Peter Gibson 780
4. Keith Harvey               1-0  Scott McKenzie 649

You’d expect the higher team to beat the lower team, but with our new members still somewhat in the development stage, it’s not entirely certain which is the stronger.

Andrew won quickly as an out of touch Henri fell into tactical errors. Steven built up a powerful attack and a clearly winning advantage, but as in his previous game he drifted in trying to consolidate and finally simply gave away a bishop from which there was no way back. Peter started brightly and had Max’s king defenceless, but missed a mate in two! He still had a solid edge, and should have increased it, but missed several opportunities and again simply gave away material to fall into a lost ending. Keith blundered a piece early on, but hung in and Scott returned the favour! Keith had clearly benefited from the experience of his previous match, and played solidly to capitalise on Scott’s further mistakes to bring home the point.

A draw was a fair result overall, and our new players are settling in. All good experience.

Uni of St Andrews B  1-3  Dundee C

1. Conan Liptrott  1-0  John Robertson 1521
2. Hunter Webb     0-1  Ross Bremner 1565e
3. Cailan Bailes      0-1  Ray Flood 1411
4. Adam Brittain    0-1  Bruce Wallace 1352

An excellent result for the C team keeps us going along nicely, still unbeaten after three matches with 5 points.

A quick win for Bruce as his opponent dropped his queen early! All donations accepted. After an early edge, I kept doing my best to let my opponent back into it on several occasions. Don’t think I was ever actually worse though, and got there eventually. Ross’s opponent misplayed the opening to give our man a clear grip on the game which he never looked like losing, but he had us all on the edge with an extravagant finish which included a suspicious rook sac and a knight underpromotion before he brought home the point. I like to think he always knew what he was doing! John blundered a piece early on and was always struggling, but held on and looked as if he was back in it as his opponent went astray in John’s time trouble! Unfortunately John slipped up again and finally allowed a queen exchange into a lost ending.

A fine win against a team who would have to be considered among the favourites. Good start by the C team.

Thu 28 Oct. Division One

Uni of St Andrews A ½-3½ Dundee A

1. 1908 Sam Herring 0-1 Jacques Ophoff 2257

2. 1642 Stuart Ballantyne 0-1 David Findlay 2150

3. 1688 Alexandre Kings ½–½ Stephen Hogg 2027

4. u/g Ash Curry-Machado 0-1 Ed Spencer 2016

An apparently comfortable win and a fine scoreline for the defending champions, now on a quest for our own ‘nine in a row’! Not quite as comfortable as the scoreline suggests though.

Ed’s game was a complex affair, and Stockfish flags up a series of errors rather too subtle for most of us to discern. It was finally decided when Ed’s opponent fell into an elementary double attack to lose his rook, one that even I spotted!

David’s win was a bit more straightforward, as he sprung from his customary Philidor-esque cocoon to overwhelm his opponent with a decisive counterattack.

Jacques opponent’s pawn advances from his Dutch stronghold left just too many holes, and he broke through in impressive fashion with Queen, Rook and Pawn combining in a stirring attack.

A rash of middlegame complications left Stephen in quite a state, at one point three pawns down, and an opposing pawn on the 7^th.  It wasn’t looking good. But a staunch rearguard action eliminated the potential new Queen, and Stephen managed to get the deficit down to a single pawn, and then steer into a drawn ending. A fine rescue, and the history of this event has shown that every half can count.

The grading difference may have suggested that such a scoreline was on the cards, but delivering the result is a different matter. An excellent start to the title defence guys.

Division One

Dundee B 1½-2½ Perth

A tough one for the B Team. Jim found himself in a cramped position after the opening – something he usually doesn’t mind too much! This time though he was unable to unravel and his opponent gradually squeezed the life out of his game.

Alastair fought a heavy positional battle where he always seemed a little better, and indeed entered the ending a pawn up. But with the pawns all on the same side he was unable to make headway, even with the same coloured bishops.

Ross came through well in a difficult game where he was mostly better, but John did miss chances to at least draw. Ross seized on his mistake in the K&P ending and never let him back.

Phil was defending a scary looking king-side attack and seemed to be holding on, but a slight innacuracy let Martin crash through and emerge with a decisive material advantage for the ending.

Division Two

Dundee C  2-2  St Andrews D

For the second match running we found ourselves playing just three boards. Unfortunately this time it was us who defaulted when we were unable to reach Bruce.

I equalised comfortably from the opening, but misplayed things badly and stood worse when my opponent offered the draw.

Andrew found himself in all sorts of trouble on his debut – an exchange and two pawns down – but was fighting manfully in what still looked a hopeless ending. He gained a reward for his persistence when his opponent tragically (for him!) stumbled into a knight fork to lose his rook, and Andrew mopped up well.

We were looking good when Thibault built up a seemingly unassailable material advantage (+11 at one point!) but an extraordinary (for him) series of mistakes allowed the game to fade into a difficult ending, even two pawns up. Further errors let the advantage slip completely into a drawn end.

Could have been better, but a draw from a default start isn’t bad.

---

Hi all

The TAFCA league starts next week and the fixtures for the league are now on the web site at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_pvW41VxQZdsncSxR7VhRl8CJkNbScuQSd6_JQdc7dg/pubhtml#

Captains will be in touch soon. Some players have not replied to confirm that they are happy to play this year. If you do not wish to play please let me know immediately. Or if your name is not on the team list below and you wish to play let me know.

Regards

Jim Anderson

chessmad501@gmail.com

	First Name	Surename	Pnum	Grade	User Name Lichess
	Jacques	Ophoff	29574	2257	realpioneer	A
	David	Findlay	3919	2150	finlidor	A
	Stephen	Hogg	4365	2033	doash	A
	Ed	Spencer	6072	2016	hedgehog110	A
	Ross	Bremner	29492	1996		B
	Alan	Borwell	3239	1883	alibor	B
	Sir Philip	Cohen		1784	Phosphiophill	B
	Gary	Weir	6434	1758
	Alastair	Dawson	13697	1734	Terrydactil	B
	Frank	Stevenson	6107	1624	Paco1960
	James	Anderson	3051	1577	chessmad501	C
	John	Robertson	6807	1561	LocheeShuffle	C
	Ray	Flood	3951	1411	AlfyDoor	C
	Bruce	Wallace	7607	1352	Bruciebaby	C
	George G	Burton	7491	1308	WeeGeorgie	D
	Thibault	Rosazza	29391	1164	Pirneote	D
	Max	Whisson	27745	1053	Maximilian_Whisson	D
	Jean	Chalmers	3475	1005	TheDuchess1	D
	Christine	Sim	18987	985		E
	Norrie	Carroll	28213	899	Tiggy11	E
	Henri	Meadows	27916	872	HJMeadows	E
	Peter	Gibson	28212	780	PeterGib	E
	Scott	McKenzie	26931	649	macoinneach	E
	Max	Wang	28556	559	fairtugboat	E

Newport Knights B  4-0  Dundee E 

D Cairns 1391  1-0  H Meadows 870

S Finnie 1340  1-0  P Gibson 817

A Sneddon 1335 1-0  S Mckenzie 556

A Wallace 1074 1-0  M Wang 460

Doubt our lads could have expected much out of this encounter. They fought the good fight but were outplayed by their much more experienced opponents. Scott made Angus work harder for his win than he’d have anticipated, but the game and ending were always lost.

But the purpose of the E team is to blood new players, young and not-so, and for everyone to enjoy some competitive chess. Hopefully that’s the case, and the team will face easier opposition in the season.

Games will appear here later  http://tafca.co.uk/winter-league/