The Oban weekender is one of the most popular events on the Scotland chess circuit. The event has been superbly organised for many years by Duncan Campbell and his team. This years, as previous, the Congress was held in the Royal Hotel, Oban. The event was fully booked as usual – with four tournaments taking place, the prestigious Open, the Challengers (U-1900)  the Major (U-1600) and Minor (U-1350). This year, two players representing the Club competed in the Open, Euan and Alastair Dawson. Both scored creditably with 2.5/5 inclusive of a Friday evening Bye. Euan drew with Andrew Gillies, Alan Grant, with a very nice win over S K Tsang and a loss to C Bragg (overall TPR 1941). Alastair had draws with Ian Marks and Jake Sanger, a win against Michael Ridge and a loss to Stephen McQuillan (TPR 1895).  Andrew Greet, Board 1 in our Dundee City SNCL team, was the top seed and ran out deserved winner on 4.5/5 (TPR 2487). This is a wonderful weekend chess tournament, superbly organised with good playing conditions – and is highly recommended.

13th Nov: Dundee D versus Perth B

The D team were hosts to Perth B. Perth B turned up a player short giving the D team a point which meant that Norrie Carroll had to sit this one out. Max Whisson was first to finish but lost to John Shovlin after a good game. Then Alex Ramsey had a fine win against Andy Cowan. This left everything to play for on Board 1 with Dundee D just needing a draw to win the match. The game went right to the end with Laurenziu Archip getting the win against Ian Washington. This gave Dundee D a fine win of 3 – 1.

13th Nov: Dundee A versus Dundee B

This annual clash turned out to be a match of attrition with the last game going down to the wire. But in the end Dundee A came out convincingly on top. First to finish was Ed Spencer who overcame Gordon Robertson in their Board 2 clash. Then Alastair Dawson won a Queen in exchange for Rook and Knight in his match against Robert Burnett. Mating threats with Queen and an advanced pawn on f6 created too many problems for Robert and the game was soon over. On Board 3 there was a heavyweight clash between Ray Flood (White) and Alan Borwell (Black). Ray opened with a Grand Prix attack. When Ray played the critical 10. g4 to mount a Kingside attack, Alan countered with 10…f5. The resulting middlegame was more favourable for Black and a nice exchange sacrifice by Black on the Bishop on g2 ended matters. Last to finish was the game between David Findlay and Jim Anderson. With what looked like a lengthy Rook and Pawn endgame in prospect and with David having less than 2 minutes left on his clock, the outcome looked unclear. But David’s superior endgame technique told in the end and the game was won in Black’s favour. So the match result was 4-0 in favour of Dundee A but this score does not reflect how closely fought the respective matches were.

8th Nov: University of St Andrews versus Dundee D

This match was postponed by mutual agreement due to shortage of players available for Dundee D. It has been agreed by the match captains that this match will be rearranged for a future date.

5th Nov: Perth B versus Dundee C

Dundee C travelled to Perth on Monday but the match did not take place due to insufficient opposition players.

1st Nov: Castlehill B versus Dundee A

Castlehill B are one of the toughest teams in the league and Dundee A knew that their task of winning the match would be difficult. On the night, things turned out well. Alan Borwell was first to finish against Robert Jackson. His use of a b3 line and Queenside castling as White against Robert’s Caro Khan proved very successful. Soon afterwards, Ed Spencer scored a decisive win over Paul Shafi. Then Alastair Dawson arrived at a won middlegame position as Black against Andrew Rowe. The last game to finish was a tight affair between David Findlay and Darius Kosznik. The endgame saw David with an extra piece but defending against two actively placed passed pawns. However, with Darius short of time the match was soon resolved in David’s favour. So overall a convincing 4-0 victory although the match score does not reflect four very closely contested games of chess.

30th Oct Dundee D versus Dundee C

Dundee D played the D team and, as expected, they were outgraded on all boards.  Zdenek did not turn up so the C team got off to a good start with a default on Board 3. Then Alan Woodcock earned a point for the C team by beating young Max Whisson.  Later in the evening Laurenziu Archip had a fine win against the very experienced Robert Burnett  to make the score 2-1 in favour of the D team. The last game to finish was between Henri Meadows and Tommy Sutherland. It was a very closely contested game with both players even on material.  With Tommy attacking and Henri defending well the result could have gone either way. Then Tommy committed a basic error by not noticing Henri pining his Queen against his King with a rook. This win for Henri gave the D team an excellent win by 3 – 1 over their club rivals.

Click here for 2 games from the match.

23rd Oct Dundee C versus St Andrews University

Dundee C faced a very strong St Andrews University team last night and were heavily outgraded on all boards. But the team put a very good fight. Robert Burnett lost to Sam Herring, the latter having played very well in the Open at the Dundee Chess Congress. Zdenek also was defeated by Daniel Chambers. So with two matches to go, it looked like it was going to be a heavy defeat. However, both of the final matches went down to the wire. Alan Woodcock was unfortunate in losing late on against Guilluame Poss. But team pride won through in the end with a fine draw by Tommy Sutherland against Wilf Wheatley. So, overall the match score was 0.5-3.5 but score does not reflect what a fine performance the C team put on against the odds-on favourites to top Division 2.

10th Oct Newport knights B versus Dundee D.

Dundee D travelled across the water to Newport to play their first match of the 2018/2019 season.  The players were A Laurentiu, M Whisson, H Meadows, and A Ramsey.  Jean Chalmers was non-playing captain/chauffeuse.

One of Newport’s players had been delayed as there had been a derailment at Stonehaven and he was stuck on a train in Edinburgh.   Alex,playing on board 4, won his game very quickly so we were off to a good start.  The other 3 games were neck and neck for a while.  Max was a bishop down but had 7 pawns,  and was advancing one of his pawns.  However, the bishop was too strong and he eventually succumbed.  The game was lost but he had played very well.  Next was Henri who had also had a tight game.  We were now 2-1 down.  Lauria on Board 1 eventually wore his opponent down and we finished at 2-2.  Excellent result for the team’s first outing of the season.  Many thanks to Newport who created a friendly and welcoming atmosphere plying us with tea and coffee and the customary hot pies.  Very nice touch.

9th Oct Dundee A versus Kirkcaldy A.
Dundee A started the new season defence of the Championship by hosting Kirkcaldy A. All the matches were keenly contested. First to finish was Ed Spencer on Board 2 against Stuart Blyth. Then Alastair Dawson was next on Board 3 with a win over Terry Doherty. Then Jim Anderson overcame Euan Henderson who had earlier sacrificed the exchange to improve his position. The last game to finish was on Board 1 between David Findlay and Russell Kynoch. David ended up with a passed a-pawn and a bishop but since the bishop was not of the same colour as the queening square the game was drawn. So overall the match score was a win by 3.5-0.5.

8th Oct Perth A versus Dundee B.
Dundee B travelled to Perth tonight to play their first league game of the season. It was going to be a tough night as they were out-graded on all boards. Jim Anderson lost first to Martin Gourlay. Then Raymond Flood lost to Mike Roth. Gordon Robertson then had a fine win against Gwenole Le Feuvre. This left all to play for on board three Frank Stevenson against David Hall. Frank lost in a very good endgame.

The long-awaited World Chess Championship between Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana has started in London. The match is being played over 12 games. The match is being watched by billions of chess fans across the globe and there are dozens of websites to view. All games drawn so far but a lot of fighting chess.

For Game 1 DRAW click here

For Game 2 DRAW click here

For Game 3 DRAW click here

For Game 4 DRAW click here

For Game 5 DRAW click here

For game 6 DRAW click here

For Game 7 DRAW click here

For Game 8 DRAW click here

In this season’s Richardson Cup, the national knock out club competition, Dundee Chess Club have been drawn away to Phones (Glasgow). The big tie of the round is between Bon Accord and Glasgow Polytechnic. The remaining two matches are between Edinburgh and Bellshill and lastly Edinburgh West against Hamilton. The matches are scheduled to be played on the afternoon of Saturday 12th January 2019.

The first round of this season’s club championship took place last night. Accelerated pairings are being used for the first 2 of the 5 rounds. With only one match (Max Whisson versus Alan Woodcock) yet to be played, all of the matches yielded decisive outcomes. The standard of play was high and there were no surprises. Top seed Murad Abdulla overcame Alastair Dawson in a closely contested match. On the remaining top 6 boards there were wins for David Findlay over Jim Anderson, Declan Shafi against Frank Stevenson, Ed Spencer versus Pal Shafi, Alan Borwell over Ray Flood and Euan Dawson against Robert Burnett. Other wins came from Dean Ardian,Tommy Sutherland, Lauenziu Archip and Alex Ramsay.

Scottish National Chess League: 2018-19 – Rounds 1 and 2, November 4th, 2018, Dunfermline

The new 2018-19 SNCL chess season kicked off in Dunfermline yesterday. Dundee City have 4 teams registered this year. The A team start as reigning champions; the B team seeking promotion to Division 1 having come so close last season; the C team is trying to gain promotion to Division 3 while we have a new Junior team, also in Division 4.

Round 1 started with a surprise for the A team. Up against Stepps they suffered a loss when Andrew Greet lost to Douglas Bryson. But with Stephen Hogg winning well on Board 5 and draws from David Findlay, Declan and Andrew Wright, the match was drawn 2.5/2.5. In the afternoon, the A-team came into their own with a 4.5/0.5 win over Hamilton. Wins from Andrew, David, Declan and Stephen supplemented with a draw from Andrew led to a very convincing performance and a step towards their title defence. Special mention should go to Stephen for two straight wins.

In Division 2, the Dundee City B team started their campaign with a thumping win 5-0 over Dumfries and District A. The team has changed slightly from last year. Andrew Babin now takes up Board 2 with Carey Groves moving down to Board 4. Strength in depth is a feature of the team now, not only with Carey on Board 4 but also with Ben Volland on Board 3 and Euan Dawson on Board 5. The impressive nature of the 5-0 win was highlighted by Sam Gregory’s win on Board 1 over Michael Green (2076). The afternoon match proved to be much tougher. The team was up against Dunfermline Knights led by Ian Robertson (2045). Unfortunately both Sam and Andre lost their games but this was countered by win by Ben and Euan on Boards 3 and 5. A draw from Carey led to the match being drawn 2.5/2.5. Deserved credit goes to both Ben and Euan for winning both their matches.

There were both new and old faces in the Dundee City C team in Division 4 now composed of Alastair Dawson, Paul Shafi, Ray Flood, Keith Rose and Ed Walton. The first match was a whitewash 5-0 over Hidden Dragons. Special mention goes to Ray Flood who crushed his opponent in only 13 moves. Whereas the opponents in Round 1 were relatively inexperienced, the match in the afternoon was very much more difficult against Dumfries and District B. Again the team completed a 5-0 whitewash win with, again, Ray Flood being first to finish after only 35 minutes of play. Some of the matches were very tight indeed, particularly those of Alastair and Keith. Overall a great start to the promotion push and a rare 10-0 score for the day.

The first SNCL tournament day of the 2018-19 season was most special, however, for our Dundee City Junior (D) team. For all of them it was their second outing in weekend chess following the highly successful Dundee Congress in October. The prime objective for them all is to have fun and enjoy their chess and also gain valuable experience. In the morning they were hugely out graded against Corstorphine, typically in excess of a 500 point difference. There were losses on all boards except that of Rishabh Akula (608) who pulled off an amazing win over Angus Ruthven (1188) – a brilliant performance. So the match result was 1-4. In the afternoon the Junior team were again heavily out graded against CS BOS2. This time the grading differences were individually between 500-700 points and this time there was a 0-5 loss. The Junior team players performed exceptionally well during both the morning and afternoon sessions. In fact they played two of the strongest teams in the group and they surely will relish playing some of less strong teams in Rounds 3 and 4 on November 25th.

Undoubtedly, the performance of the day has to go to Rishabh Akula while special mention should also go to Stephen Hogg, Ben Volland and Euan Dawson in the A and B teams for 100% game scores.

For a complete list of results click here.

Alastair Dawson
5th November 2018

For our club members this is one of the busiest months of the season:

Thursday 1st November: Castlehill B – Dundee A

Saturday 3rd November: Chess Scotland Annual General Meeting, Novotel Hotel, Glasgow 12.00-19.00

Sunday 4th November: Scottish National Chess League, Carnegie Conference Centre, Dunfermline, Rounds 1 and 2, start of play 10.00 am.

Monday 5th November: Perth B – Dundee C

Tuesday 6th November: Dundee Chess Club Championship, Round 1, St Peters.

Thursday 8th November: University of St Andrews – Dundee D

Tuesday 13th November: Dundee A – Dundee B

Tuesday 13th November: Dundee D – Perth B

Friday 16th -Sunday 18th November: Oban Chess Congress, Royal Hotel, Oban (one of best weekend congresses on Scottish chess circuit).

Tuesday 20th November: TAFCA Knock Out Cup: Dundee A – Castlehill E (St Peters rearranged venue).

Sunday 25th November: Scottish National Chess League, Carnegie Conference Centre, Dunfermline, Rounds 3 and 4, start of play 10.00 am

Tuesday 27th November: Dundee B – Castlehill B

Thursday 29th November: 2nd TAFCA Allegro, Castlehill Chess Club

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The first of the new format TAFCA Allegro tournaments took place last night at Newport Knights Chess Club. There was an excellent turn out of 29 players from all of the clubs in Tayside and Fife. – 7 each from Castlehill, Dundee and Kirkcaldy chess clubs together with 8 from our hosts Newport Knights.  The format for these events is gruelling with each contestant playing 5 matches during the evening and with the clocks set at 15 mins per person per game to make all moves. All of the matches were tightly contested. Prior to the start of the final round only Euan Dawson and Alan Borwell remained on maximum points of 4/4. The final match between them was tightly contested. Alan slipped behind on time somewhat and as the time limit for all moves approached, Euan steered his way through the ending complications to become the outright winner of the tournament on maximum points on 5/5. Following close behind and tied in 2nd place on 4/5 were Alan Borwell, Paul Shafi, Alastair Dawson and Jim Anderson. This was the first of 5 Allegro events to take place this season and a huge debt of gratitude should go to Marcus Wylie and his team at Newport for so generously hosting such a successful event.

There were 9 players from the club playing in the Dundee congress this year. It was held in the Dundee University Chaplaincy with 136 players taken part from across Scotland and beyond. David Findlay, Stephen Hogg and Alistair Dawson were playing in the Open. Also competing was Declan Shafi who is a member of both Castlehill Chess Club and Dundee Chess Club. This was a strong tournament with 10 players with grades over 2000 including GM Jacob Aagaard, IM Andrew Greet (both tied for 1st place), FM Murad Abdulla (the Scottish Champion). as well as CM Paul Roberts. Declan scored an impressive 3/5 with David, Stephen and Alastair close behind on 2.5/5.

In the Major (Under-1800), Raymond Flood represented Dundee Chess Club as well as Euan Dawson who is a member of both clubs. Both Euan and Ray had good tournaments both finishing on 3.5/5.

In the Minor tournament (Under-1400) we had 6 players competing. Of these, 5 were playing in a congress for the first time including 13 year old Max Whisson. Max scored an excellent 2/5. Scott McKenzie scored a creditable 1/5. Alex Ramsay finished on 2/5 and considering that Alex missed round 1 he did really well for his first tournament.  Congratulations should go to Zdenek Swaczyna and Tommy Sutherland who both scored 3/5 in their first chess tournament. However, the best performance was by Laurenziu Archip who scored 4/5 and in joint 3rd place with 4 other players.

Max Whisson in his first Tournament.

Running a weekend chess tournament is exceptionally hard work for the organisers. After a year’s absence, the annual Dundee Chess Congress is back on the tournament calendar and in rude health. This year’s congress at Dundee University Chaplaincy Centre was an enormous success with the organisers having to close entries several days in advance of the tournament due to a surge in entries and limited space. The organising team, led by Keith Rose, is due a huge vote of thanks from all participants. The arbiting team of Fiona Petrie, Michael Roth, Jim Anderson and Ray Noble did a superb job in keeping the event running smoothly. Jean Chalmers and Louise should also be thanked, having worked tirelessly running the catering facilities.  To them all, we owe a big debt of gratitude. Roll on the next Dundee Congress in October 2019!!

Jim Anderson is now taking entries for this years club championship. Entries must be in by the  27th October. First round starts 6th November.

There is also a new tournament that can be played throughout the season. This is an allego event 30 minutes each player.  Its split into 2 Major and Minors. Please see Cross Table in competitions and events above or click here.