We won our match against Bank of Scotland 2 Thursday night 5 – 1, This means that we still have a chance of being promoted to Division 1 and, possibly, even winning Division 2 this year. We will need a win in our next match in order to do that!
Full board results:
McGillivray 0.5-0.5 Stewart
Reiland 1-0 Russell
Brejter 1-0 Forbes
Whittaker 0.5-0.5 Murray
Sinha 1-0 Prestage
Robertson 1-0 Powell
[Report by Calum McGillivray, team captain]
Edinburgh 1 have retained the Premier Division title! A 5-1 victory against Badgers Brook on Monday clinched victory with a match to spare, with a record of played 9, won 8 drawn 1 (against Edinburgh 2!).
The squad this season was Adam Bremner, Petros Wallden, Neil Berry, Paul Roberts, Hugh Brechin, David Sime, Graeme Kafka, Willie Rutherford and Andre Antunes.
The club had a full house the previous week when both the fourth and fifth teams were playing at home in Division 2 of the Edinburgh League.
Edinburgh 4 were playing Musselburgh 1 and, whilst top and bottom boards lost, the middle order eventually pulling through to just come ahead scoring 3.5 to 2.5. This result placed Edinburgh 4 on top of Musselburgh in the division – with both having 9 match points yet Edinburgh 4 is ahead by 25 v 23 on board points!
A strong Corstorphine 1 only just managed an away win against an outgraded Edinburgh 5 with a score of 3.5 to 2.5. Paul Robertson held Chris Sykes to a draw on top board despite a grading difference of 326 points …..
Edinburgh 4 vs Muselburgh 1
1 1631 McGillivray, Calum 0 – 1 Ash, Michael 1764
2 1591 Reiland, Indrek 1 – 0 McKinnon, Douglas 1572
3 1571 Brejter, Martin 1 – 0 Hameed, Shahul 0
4 1557 Whittaker, Ian P 1 – 0 Hope, Iain D 1383
5 1500 Sinha, Anup ½ – ½ Kelly, Maurice P 1360
6 1327 Cubitt, David 0 – 1 Galbraith, David 1162
Edinburgh 5 vs Corstorphine 1
1 1451 Robertson, Paul ½ – ½ Sykes, Chris 1777
2 1453 Anderson, Dennis R B 0 – 1 MacNaughton, Alistair K J 1756
3 1413 McIntosh, Gregor 0 – 1 Gourlay, Brian 1604
4 1314 Scholes, Alex 1 – 0 May, Douglas J 1616
5 1287 Buchan, Allan W ½ – ½ Dowling, Richard K 1545
6 1265 Platts, William G C ½ – ½ Burns, David 1456
Dear Club Member,
The next club event, on Tuesday 18 February, will help prepare for our bi-centenary. We will be going over the history of the club with a view to improving our understanding, especially in the later years.
David Archibald will introduce the proceedings for about half an hour. After that, we will invite listeners to share their knowledge and stories. We will then discuss how we bring our historical document up-to-date. Ian Whittaker will produce audio recording of the evening so we don’t miss anything.
If you are free, please come along to share and learn about the club’s rich history. Arrive at 7.30 for a 7.45 start as usual.
Best wishes,
Neil
[Neil Berry, Club President]
Despite the imminent arrival of Storm Ciara a squadron of members migrated north for the Perth Congress last weekend.
A well-attended congress, with over 130 chess-players, in the pleasant surroundings of the Salutation Hotel, it was extremely well managed by the organising team of Andy Howie, John McNicol, David Congleton et al. Technology reigned with the top boards from each tournament being shown live online (games from the top boards in each tournament round-by-round are here)
There were three Swiss tournaments in the congress: an Open (with 46 players including 4 titled players), Major (U1800 with 51 players) and Minor (U1400 with 43 players), together with an evening’s social Blitz organised for those staying over on the Saturday.
Winner of the Open was FM Abdulla Murad with a 100% score of 5/5 ahead of the club’s CM Andrew Green on 4/5. Father and son team Mike and Ben Ridge were competing head-to-head throughout the Open before Mike finally drew ahead in the final rounds.
Despite bids by both Calum McGillivray and Keith Aitchison on the two top boards in the final round, the Major was won by Stephen Robinson with a score of 4.5/5.
The Minor was won jointly by Freel Lawrence and our own David Cubitt (who was leading all the way before agreeing a draw in the final round) each on 4.5/5.
Club performance were (and apologies for any omissions/errors):
Open
CM Andrew Green (4/5)
Mike Ridge (3/5)
Ben Ridge (2.5/5)
William Rutherford (0.5/5)
Major
Calum McGillivray (3.5/5)
Keith Aitchison (3/5)
Ian Whittaker (3/5)
Robert Kane (3/5)
Allan Buchan (1/5)
Minor
David Cubitt (4.5/5) 1=
Full results can be found here and on the Chess Scotland web-site.
[Report and photos by Ian Whittaker}
The odds competition which took place on 21 January was enjoyed by 16 players, forming two teams. The team of stronger players considerably outgraded the team of less strong players.
Last year, the less strong players lost by a narrow margin. This year, however, the stronger team won by 10-6. So, revenge has been taken!
We did, however, learned that even the equivalent of 7 pawns is not enough to win and next year we will probably match players so that the grading differences not more than 500.
The highlight of the evening, however, was to see so many of the juniors participating in this event, many of them having their first opportunity to play against stronger, senior players.
Raj (Raj Bhopal)