This year’s AGM will take place on the 22nd May 7:30pm at St Peters free church. For last year’s AGM minutes see main menu.

DUNDEE CHESS CLUB AGM

AGENDA 2018

1. Apologies for absence

2. Approval of Minutes

3. Matters Arising

4. President’s remarks

5. Treasurer’s Report

6. Election of Office Bearers

7. AOCB

There was 2 club championship matches tonight. Lewis MacDonald beat Frank Stevenson and Declan Shafi beat Dominic O’Rourke. See games below.

Last night saw the start of the last round of the club championship. There was 5 matches played. peter Gibson beat Jack Gibson, Robert Burnett beat Max Whisson, Alan Borwell beat Jean Chalmers and Euan Dawson beat Jim Anderson. On board 1 we had the match to decide this years champion. Ed Spencer against David Findlay. David came out on top and is this years champion see game below.

There is still the under 1500 trophy to play for we have Alan woodcock on 2.5 and 4 players on 2.

Round 7(March 25th 2018)

So the big day finally arrived. Dundee City A team had to face Edinburgh 1 in the final round (7) of the SNCL on March 25th 2018. They needed a draw to secure the national championship but as it turned out they emerged with a convincing 4-1 win. So many congratulations, after many years of near misses, Dundee City A-team are Champions of the Scottish National Chess League! At the start of the round Dundee City lined up with David Findlay (1), Andrew Wright (2), Ed Spencer (3), Declan Shafi (4) and Stephen Hogg (5). First to finish was Ed against Hugh Brechin. It happened early on when what looked like an evenly balanced position shifted drastically to an outright and sudden win for Ed. This gave the team a much-needed boost knowing that , thanks to Ed, they now just needed another 1.5 points. It took quite a long time for the remaining games to finish. David was always equal against FM Sergio Adan Bermudez and so also was Andrew Wight against FM Neil Berry. Both matches finished in draws which left Declan and Stephen to battle it out. Declan came into the ending comfortably ahead in an N and P endgame which he duly converted. He was followed soon after by Stephen who converted a win over Raj Bhopal. So, in the end a great 4-1 win and celebrations all round.

In Divison 2, Dundee City needed at least a draw over Kilmarnock to secure promotion to Division 1. Kilmarnock turned up with a weaker team than we all expected but like their football team at the moment their chess team was in very good form! On Board 1, Carey was up against Chukwuka Allor, Sam was on 2 against Kenny Malkin, Dominic faced Jim Kleboe, Alastair played David Congalton and Euan played John McNicoll. It all started so well since after half an hour Euan had made a simple winning B sacrifice and mated Black very quickly. But things went pear-shaped thereafter – Carey succumbed on Board 1 to Chukwuka, Sam lost to a sacrifice by Kenny Malkin and Dominic was ground down by an inspired Jim Kleboe. All three lost and despite a win from Alastair on Board 4 the team went down in flames 2-3. So a sad end to the season and our promotion push will have to wait for next season!

The Dundee City C team faced Corstorphine in Division 4. Keith Rose lost to Richard Dowling, Robert Burnett despite feeling unwell fought out a brave draw the exchange down against Analben Mehta. But Ray Flood overcame David Watson and Subhayu Banerjee produced a great win over Ernesto Salvatore and Josh Cargill-Brown battled hard against James Crerar but succumbed in the end. So a 2-3 loss but a brave performance by all and the team lives to fight another day. Maybe next year – promotion to Division 3 is overdue!

Overall, it has been an okay season by the Dundee City teams with one golden performance. Pride of place and congratulations go of course goes to Dundee A-team, new national champions! Scores for individual players were Andrew Greet 4/4, David Findlay 3/7, Ed Spencer 5.5/7, Declan Shafi 5.5/7, Stephen Hogg 4.5/7 and Andrew Wright 1.5/2. For Dundee City B scores were Carey 1/7, Sam Gregory 3/5, Alastair 5/7, Euan 4/7, Ben Volland 4/4, Dominic 1.5/3 and Keith Rose 1/2. In the C team the scores were – Joshua Crofts 1.5/2, Robert Jackson ½, Keith Rose 2/3, Agnijo Banerjee 2/4, Ray Flood 6/7, Ben Volland ½, Subhayu Banerjee 3/5, Ray Noble 2/2, Robert Burnett 0.5/3, Josh Cargill Brown 1/3 and Jack Gibson 0.5/2.

Alastair Dawson

Here is Euan Dawson’s game against Alan Borwell in round 4 of the club Championship. The game has been annotated.

The B team had their last game at home in the TAFCA league against Kirkcaldy A tonight. Robert Burnett was first to finish with a fine win against John Kane. Then Frank Stevenson drew with Stuart Blyth. Jim Anderson somehow managed a draw against Russell Kynoch. Russell was a pawn up but with time running out he agreed to the draw. This left Lewis MacDonald against Peter Selbie. In a Pawn and rooks end game Peter came out on top with a fine win. Overall score 2-2.

There was also a club championship match Ed Spencer beat Alan Woodcock.

Two  of our Dundee City players represent Scotland in ‘Team Alba’ within Division 1 of the 4NCL. This is the strongest league within the UK and we are honoured to have two of Dundee City’s own players in the team – David Findlay and Declan Shafi. On Saturday in the Midlands they had a very tough set of matches – we give David’s game below where he nearly pulled off a spectacular win against one of England’s top players. Unfortunately two extra pawns in the ending was not enough and the game was agreed drawn.

There is 1 TAFCA match on tomorrow night Dundee D versus Castlehill F. The match with Dundee A versus Castlehill C is cancelled until the 27th March. If you are not playing in a match could you please play your club championship match or let Jim Anderson no when you have arranged to play it.

Round 4 of the club championship has started and games must be played by the 28th March. After round 3 there is 4 players in contention for the championship David Findlay on 3, Ed Spencer, Dominic O’Rourke and Alan Woodcock all on 2.5. Alan is also the highest player in the under 1500 section.