by Ray Flood
TAFCA Knockout Final
Dundee B 3-5 St Andrews A
Joshua Crofts 0,0 - 1,1 Christian Hartogh
Jim Anderson 0,0 - 1,1 Sanjith Madhavan
Daniel O,Connor 0,1 - 1,0 Dimitri Ilin Fokin
Katarina Tanzerova 1,1 - 0,0 Eve Kenicer
A brave effort by our clear underdogs against a very strong St Andrews side. 3-1 down going into the second round of games, a tie would have seen us win on board count. The impossible seemed just about possible when Kat completed the double against Eve, and Daniel clinched an excellent win over Dimitri. It was asking a lot for Josh to overturn the odds against an opponent rated 2117 in Classical, even with the generous time handicap, and so it proved. So congratulations to St Andrews, completing the double by adding the KO to their 1st Division title!
TAFCA Division 1
Dundee A 2½-1½ Castlehill B
Ed Spencer 2046 0-1 Vlad Drabych 1711
Sven Stocklose 1994 1-0 Andy Rowe 1608
Sir Philip Cohen 1844 ½-½ Euan Murray 1606
Ansh Bhakta 1492 1-0 Ed Walton 1570
A league match that had almost nothing at stake with the A team stuck in 2nd place and Castlehill safe, but chessplayers are stubborn when it comes to playing for pride. Vlad sprung the big surprise with an excellent win over Ed, Sven too strong for Andy, Phil letting it slip against Euan, and Ansh taking advantage of Ed's error to finish a very impressive unbeaten league season, 13 games spread over three different teams!
Club Championship
Jacques Ophoff CM 2293 1-0 Adam Clark 1565
Club Intermediate
Steve Thomson 1334 1-0 Steven Leaburn 702
The Club Championship penultimate games were settled in expected fashion. In the clash of the Steves, both players ended with more time than they started!