SNOCL – Scottish National Online Chess League Sun 28 Feb 21
SNOCL – Scottish National Online Chess League
Sunday 28th February 21 – Rounds 3 & 4 – chess.com
Report
Dundee City teams are a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
Who would be an organiser of teams or a big competition like the SNOCL! It was hard going this time with some players having problems either challenging, seeing a challenge, or a new one this time, chess.con not allowing you to challenge because the two players grades are too far apart! Not only that, but some teams not putting their team selection in on time and a last minute withdraw! (They are coming to take me away ha, ha!) Still I think in the end all matches were played with lot of phone calls, texts and emails flying around. One match had to be played on lichess, while another started 45 minutes late! “Oh wow is me” is the cry! Now who said that and in what TV program? Are any of you old enough to remember!
ROUND 3 – 11am
Division one
Bon Accord 2½, Dundee City A 2½
These two sides are old adversaries and very strong teams. All 5 matches ended in draws with all players neutralising the other and no risk takers! Still this would be classed a good result by both sides.
TEAM: Andrew Greet IM; Richard Polaczek IM; David Findlay; Declan Shafi & Stephen Hogg
Result/Pairings
CSBOS 1 3, Dundee City B 2
Dundee City 2 put out a stronger side this time but still lost, all be it a lot closer! CSBOS 1 are a strong side, but Dundee City B while happy to put up a better fight, might be a little disappointed not to get at least a draw in this one! Graham Mooney won, Richard Kynoch and Sam Gregory drew, while Michael Grove, Ed Spencer both lost.
Results/Pairings
Division two
Stepps 2, Dundee City C 3
This time with a stronger side than last month, Dundee City C got their just rewards with a close shave win! Top boards James Anderson and John Robertson Jnr both lost, but Martin Chalmers, Roberts Jackson and Euan Murray both won!
Results/Pairings
Division four
CSBOS 2 1½, Dundee City D 3½
Very good win for Dundee City D against Stepps! Rishi Vijayakumar J9 won on top board, ably supported by Conor Kelly, Kit McEvoy Gould (both wins) and Ana Belen Seijas Otero (draw). Ray Flood was the unlucky player this time!
Results/Pairings
Division five
Lenzie 3 1½, Dundee City E 3½
Favourites to win due to grades brings it’s own pressures, but nothing Dundee E could not handle as they won in fine style! Trevor Harley just out of hospital but wanting to help when we ended up a player down won, along with Cosmo Bobak and Max Whisson J15. Henri Meadows drew his game, while Alexander Barron-Majerik lost.
Results/Pairings
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ROUND Four – 2pm
Dundee City A 2½, Edinburgh 1 2½
Another big match, but one maybe Dundee City A will feels they should have won. It`s the sort of result that might come back to haunt them! Andrew Greet IM won, but this was countered by Declan Shafi losing and the rest all drawing (Richard Polaczek IM, David Findaly (drew both his matches!) and Stephen Hogg.
This leaves Dundee City still unbeaten, but a half point behind Bon Accord in the table with one match left!
Results/Pairings
Dundee City B 1½, Bon Accord 3½
With this win, Bon Accord took top spot in the league with one match to go! Dundee City B put up a good show to just narrowly miss snatching something from the match! Michael Grove on board one drew with Murad Abdulla (amazing result!) and Sam Gregory on board 3 beat a 2000+ player. Ed Spencer lost for the second time, something you don’t see happen too often! Richard Kynoch and Graham Mooney also both lost.
This leaves Dundee City B in 5th position on 4 points with one game left.
Results/Pairings
Division Two
Dundee City C 2, Prestwick 3
Oh so close, yet so far! James Anderson and John Robertson both lost for the second time (Just one of those days!). This was countered by Robert Jackson and Euan Murray who both won for the second time and a perfect score! That meant it was all down to the last match, Martin Chalmers v Gary McPheator, which was running 40 minutes late due to technical issues! It was a cracker with Martin looking to have secured the win, but ending up committing hari-kari, or in chess terms getting checkmated while walking the walk! Another day and…well you should not cry over spilled milk!
This leaves Dundee City in 6th place (Bottom) in division 2!
Results/Pairings
Division four
Dundee City D 2½, Hamilton 2½
It’s a match that on paper could have gone either way, but instead stayed in the middle! A draw was a fair result. On board one Rishi Vijayakumar J9 found his 1800 opponent too strong and on board 3 was a very disappointed Ana Belen Seijas Otero on losing her match! Not sure why as she has played 4 matches and this is the first loss! New kids on the block, Conor Kelly and Kit McEvoy Gould made it a perfect day as they both won their second matches as well! Promising, promising!
Dundee City D sit in third place and within striking distance of the leader, but need a lot of luck!
Results/Pairings
Division five
Dundee City E 3, Edinburgh Uni 2
Dundee City E makes it two wins in a row and a perfect Sunday morning and afternoon! Alexander Barron-Majerik J9 found the going tough losing both his matches. Max Whisson also lost, but Henri Meadows won his first match of this campaign. For the second time we have two new kids on the block in Darren Cruickshank and Cosmo Bobak who won both their matches to make it a “Perfect Day”!
Dundee City E sits in 4th place with a slim chance of finishing runner-up, but would need help from others!
Results/Pairings
A big, big thank you to all our teams and players for making Castlehill & Dundee, (A.K.A. Dundee City) very proud indeed! Also thank you to the tireless efforts of our captains; David Findlay (A); Graham Mooney (B); James Anderson (C); Robert Jackson (D) and Ray Noble (E). Without their quick thinking and professionalism, we would not be where we are!
Last but not least a big thank you to the guys who have a thankless task in organising such a big and complicated event. They say don’t work with children and animals. You could add chess players to that list!
We have one more round left (Round 5) which takes place at 11am on Sun 28th March 21. I believe there may be a team or individual quick-play tournament in the afternoon if interested! (TBC)