SNCL (Scottish National Chess League) Rounds 5 & 6 Report!
SNCL (Scottish National Chess League)
Sunday 19th March 23
Round 5 & 6
FORMAT
Divisions (Dundee City have 4 teams); 5 players per team; Time-Control: 90 minutes + 30 seconds increments. Home team (first named) has white on boards 1, 3 & 5.
Oh what a day, or should I say what a lead up to the day! Due to the SNCL being held on Mothers day, it caused us no end of problems and it looked like we were going to default our 4th team due to lack of players! In the end (last minute) we managed to get three players for the 4th team and in the end only defaulted the bottom board! But of course all of this had a knock on effect on the overall strength of our “B”, “C” & “D” teams!
Division One
Round 5 – 10am
Stepps (2052) 2 – 3 (2094) Dundee City A
This was a tough match and Dundee City A can probably count themselves a bit lucky to get the result! Mind you as they say, a good side always finishes in 2nd place, a good side with a bit of luck, finishes in 1st place! Let’s see if that holds true! We had wins for Ed Spencer and Andrew Wright, with David Findlay and Helge Magnussen drawing theirs, David’s against IM Douglas Bryson (2279)! The ever dependable Stephen Hogg had one of his rare defeats! Dundee City A have shown, they are not just a collection of good players, they are a collection of “TEAM” players and that is why they have been top of the heap for a while! All for one and one for all!
Division 2
Round 5 – 10am
Dundee City B (1729) 2 – 3(1435) Lenzie Basilisks
Dundee City B had a weaker team due to Mothers Day but still out graded their opponents by a big margin! Having said that, Lenzie Basilisks are full of juniors and up and coming players and their gradings do not reflect their real strength! Still it was a disappointing result in the end, but what can you say, when you face the “King of Serpents”, born from a chicken egg, hatched beneath a toad (Reference: Basilisks – Harry Potter universe)! Keith Emery is only winner, with Iain Sneddon and Leyton Hackney getting draws. Our 2 top boards, Andre Babin and Alastair Dawson found the going tough and lost this time.
Division 3
Round 5 – 10am
Corstorphine (1606) 3 – 2 (1451) Dundee City C
This was a hard fought battle, with every Dundee City player giving it their all! In all 3 of our players drew against stronger opposition (Ray Noble 1531 – 1699; Ray Flood 1475 – 1689; Bruce Wallace 1430 -1521), while Peter Selbie (Kirkcaldy), helping out Dundee City in their hour of need, drew against a 1202. Now that was a strange game as at one point Peter seemed to have an advantage, only to find himself in a losing position and then somehow, getting into a won position, only to play the wrong move in a king and pawn v King ending to draw! But it was the fair result as Peter had stopped writing down the moves after the 5 minute mark, but that is illegal in this competition as we have 30 second increments, you “MUST” keep writing down the moves until the game ends! All’s well, that ends well!
Forth Valley B (1579) 4½ – ½ (1146) Dundee City D
Dundee City D were hit badly player and grading wise due to Mothers Day and it showed in the results.
Unfortunately one of our players, missed his lift, but still made his way to the venue all be it too late for the first match! That put Dundee City D 2 – 0 down at the start, counting the bottom board default. On board one, Tom Wardlaw (1234) got a fantastic draw against a 1711! Afshin Alijani (UG) on board 3 fought hard against a 1621 before losing in the end. On board 4 we had Wull Swales stepping in to help us, but he was out graded and out gunned on the day!
Division One
Round 6 – 3pm
Dundee City A (2094) 3½ – 1½ (1957) Hamilton B
While no match is a sure thing; this was at least a convincing performance by Dundee City A! Wins for Helge Magnussen and Ed Spencer (his 2nd win!), plus draws from David Findlay, Andrew Wright and Stephen Hogg and no losses helped Dundee City A to a nice win.
Dundee City A, the defending champions sit top of the league table on 11 points, with one game to go! That will be against Edinburgh 1 who are a very strong side, but don’t always field their strongest side, except when they face Dundee City A! They have FM Neil Berry and FM Craig Thomson in their side, plus a few other handy players if they all turn up, which they might do for the quick-play event in the afternoon!
Division Two
Round 6 – 3pm
Edinburgh 2 (1619) 2 – 3 (1729) Dundee City B
Not as comfortable as it should have been, but very few matches are these days! A win is a win in the end no matter how you get there! Wins for Keith Emery (his 2nd) and Leyton Hackney (undefeated), plus another draw for Iain Sneddon and a 2nd defeat for Alastair Dawson (most unusual!), meant it all rested on the board one match between Michael Ridge (1870) and Andre Babin (1882). To be fair, Andre was on the wrong end of it and losing, but his opponent was in time trouble and Andre sacked a piece to complicate matters and somehow got the draw! Andre “Houdini” Babin? Has a nice ring about it! Well played every one!
Dundee City B sits in 3rd place on 6 points and is safe at least. Maybe with the full side, we might have had a chance at promotion, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles sometimes! Always next season!
Division Three
Round 6 – 3pm
Dundee City C (1451) 1 – 4 (1617) Oban
Well not a lot we can say here as we were well out graded and out gunned! Oban, were deserved winners and we will just need to lick our wounds, pick ourselves up and dust ourselves down for the last match! Congratulations to Peter Selbie (1263) on board 5 for a nice win and stopping the team whitewash! Peter had a good “Guest” tournament with one win and one draw! Glad to have you onboard Peter!
Dundee City C sits in 6th position and still in the danger zone for being relegated. Dundee C face Hamilton B in the last match and draw would be enough. The most important thing is it’s in our own hands! Mind you a little help from our team mates (Dundee D) who play Lenzie Dementors would not go a miss (Insurance policy!)!
Dundee City D (1146) 1½ – 3½ (1376) Hamilton B
Another hard game not helped by being a board down! Kam Wan (1075) on board 3 won his game against a 1390. Way to go Kam! Tom Wardlaw (1234) got another great draw on top board, this time against a 1685! Tom I think it’s safe to say, your grade for next season will be a lot higher that at present! Well played once again Tom!
Dundee City D sit bottom of the heap on zero points and are looking like being relegated. It all depends on a number of factors, but first things first; they need to win their last match against Lenzie Dementors to have any chance! Mind you, Dundee City C could only draw with Dementors!
Given the circumstances of Mothers Day, it went better than we could have hoped for! The Main thing is Dundee City A was not affected and stay on course to defend their division one title!
Thank you to all our players who supported us on the day, with special mention to Peter Selbie and Kam Wan (both Kirkcaldy) for stepping in, in our hour of need!
Last round (7) on Sunday 7th May 23, 10am!
For all the results and standings, click the link below.