TAFCA 1/12/2025

TAFCA 1/12/2025

Dundee C  4-0  Dundee D

1. Keith Emery 1531  1-0  Daniel O'Connor

2. Katarina Tanzerova 1510  1-0  Robert Burnett 1292

3. Ansh Bhakta 1490  1-0  James Bouin

4. Ray Flood 1419  1-0  Andrew Collins 1111

These matches may seem obvious to predict, but there are plenty of pitfalls for the higher rated side. Last season, this fixture finished 2-2! There was also the slightly unknown quantity of the D Teams two ungraded players. Clearly not 'unknown' to us in terms of their ability, but judging estimated ratings can be a nightmare, and so it proves. As of today, James now has a live rating of 1460!

It started brightly enough for the C Team, as Robert fell into an early trap to lose in 7 moves to Kat. Andrew had me in all sorts of trouble early on, and I was left waiting for mistakes. Keith won a pawn early on and nursed it to hand Daniel his first competitive loss of the season, eight games in! We await his live rating any day now, and it's liable to be high. Captain James was left to try to save the whitewash, and he was one move away from doing it. A mistake on move 72 turned a clear draw into a loss. Unfortunate, but it's happened to us all.

This puts the C Team top of the division heading into the festive period, a point clear of Perth B with a game more played. Early January sees a crunch match between the two.