Kirkcaldy Chess Club

23.3.17 IAN MARSHALL IS 2017 CLUB CHAMPION

John Kane was bound to shake of the rust and show his true form sooner or later. Unfortunately for Russell Kynoch it happened in the deciding match of this year’s club championship. Needing a win to secure another club championship or a draw to set up a play-off against long-time leader, Ian Marshall, Russell seemed to have all the winning chances in the middlegame. However, John dug in, swapped off pieces and made it really tough for his opponent to make any real headway. With each player left with rook and five pawns, Russell should probably accepted there was no more than a draw in the position. Instead, he went chasing a pawn – one which turned out to be poisoned, leaving his rook out of the game and John free to march a kingside pawn up the board for promotion. Commiserations to Russell and congratulation to Ian Marshall, Kirkcaldy Chess Club champion for 2017.

 

GRAYSON CUP LADDER

Following Wednesday’s excellent turnout the Grayson Cup ladder is led by Ian Marshall on 3½ points, with Stuart Blyth, Scott Deas and Matt Harris a ½point behind.

TAFCA update

Kirkcaldy A have now completed their fixtures for the 2016-17 season – unfortunately our final two games resulted in two 0-4 losses – the first a default loss away to Dundee A while last Wednesday saw a home loss to Castlehill A. The situation regarding relegation is not yet completely clear, but it seems likely that once the missing win against Dundee C is added (it is lost somewhere in the ether, it seems) we should just about be safe.

With one match left to play, the B-Team look like maintaining magnificent mid-table mediocrity.

 

Kirkcaldy Grayson Cup Ladder

With several rounds of the Grayson Ladder played, Scott Deas and Matt Harris now lead on 3 points each, with Ian Marshall half a point further back. There have been some interesting results in recent weeks, most notably Alan Kearns’ draw against Ian Marshall, Bryan Grant’s win against Scott Deas, Bob Carmichael’s surprise victory over Pete Selbie and Matt Harris’ point from Alan Kearns. See the Grayson Cup page for table.

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Club Championship - March 2017

Russell Kynoch defeated Alastair Wood to move within half a point of long-time leader, Ian Marshall. Russell now faces John Kane in a match that will decide the destination of this year’s club championship: a Kynoch win gives Russell the championship, should John Kane prevail then Ian Marshall will emerge victorious, while a draw would………………….?! :-)

See club championship page for details

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CLUB NEWS 9.2.17

Some interesting results from tonight’s well-attended club. Ian Marshall defeated John Kane to move further ahead of Russell Kynoch in the club championship – Russell must now defeat both John Kane and Ally Wood to secure the title. Alastair himself earned a very good draw against Branislav Sudjic – as well as his original approach to how soon and how far pawns should be pushed!! Stuart Blyth saw off the always-tricky Neil Taylor with a quick win in under twenty moves with the Black side of a Classical Dutch (though neither player’s play could be described as ‘classical’).

 

There was little activity in the Green Grayson Cup Pool, but a fair number of games were played in the pink version – Scott Deas and John Christie now lead, both on 4 ½ points.

 

We have decided to organise a knock-out competition with standard time controls to take us to the end of the season. The draw will take place next week.

 

CLUB NEWS 3.2.17

Neil Taylor’s slim chances of winning the club championship were ended as he lost to Branislav Sudjic. Ian Marshall still leads and the outcome hinges on the result of the match between second-placed Russell Kynoch and Alastair Wood: a Kynoch victory will give him the championship, a Wood victory will see Ian Marshall champion, while a draw would lead to a play-off match between Marshall and Kynoch as they would be level on points with a drawn head-to-head.

 

The first round of matches in this season’s Grayson Cup was played. The format for this season is two groups of all play all with the leaders going into play offs or finals.

 

TAFCA LEAGUE NEWS 3.2.17

It was never going to be easy – and it wasn’t! However, Kirkcaldy A managed to secure a narrow 2½ -1½ victory over fellow relegation prospects Dundee C – our place in Division One looks secure for another year.

Winning the match was barely half the story, however. With several A-Team regulars unable to make the trip to Dundee, Pete Selbie (again!) and John Christie stepped in to help us out. Thanks to a variety of factors – delayed text messages, wrong mobile numbers, roadworks – three of the team arrived exactly one half hour late for the start of the match – as we entered St Peter’s Free Church the bells struck eight – for whom they tolled we did not yet know, but certainly for someone. Fortunately, the clocks had only been started at 7.40pm, so any fears of losing by default due to arriving 30 minutes late were unfounded; nonetheless, Russell, Stuart and John all started their game with 20+ minutes of time already used up.

 

Russell won his game while John looked on the way to defeat. Stuart had appeared to be on the path to being checkmated early on against Robert Burnett, courtesy of completely ignoring the coming kingside queen and knight attack (how long has Blyth been playing the French? And he still imagines White can’t checkmate him on the kingside?). Somehow the tables were turned and Mr Blyth found himself in a winning position – but with only one minute 30 seconds on his clock. Fortunately for Kirkcaldy, Robert moved his opponent’s and not his own rook, upon which Stuart claimed an extra two minutes’ clock time– just enough to force victory.

 

All down to P. Selbie, then. Pete found himself a passed pawn up but (de rigeur for Kirkcaldy players) very short of time. Despite the match situation (Dundee needed to win this final game to manage a draw), Pete was offered a draw, which was quickly snapped up.

 

As always, Dundee were very generous and sporting hosts – always a pleasure to visit them.

 

26.1.17 NEW LEADER IN CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP

Ian Marshall has regained the lead following his win over Pete Selbie.  He now leads Russell Kynoch by half a point though Russel has a game in hand.  Neil Taylor's victory over Bransilav Sudjic means that he is not completely out of the running - with 5/6 he can still catch both Russell and Ian.  See the club championship page for more details.

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26.1.17 CRUNCH MATCH FOR A-TEAM NEXT WEEK

Next week's match away to Dundee C looks crucial.  With only games against much stronger opponents to follow, it seems like a must-win game if we are to avoid relegation.  Let's hope we can get our strongest team out for the match!

25.1.17

Not a great deal of action in the club championship since the turn of the year with only a few games played that will have no bearing on the destination of the trophy - everything still hangs on the results of Russell Kynoch's game against Alastair Wood and Ian Marshall's fixture with Pete Selbie.  Russell, leading by half a point must be strong favourite unless Alastair can upset the grading and do Ian a big favour.

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Membership has continute to increase with some new faces appearing every few weeks.

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A number of TAFCA fixtures have been played lately, by both teams. Currently the A team second bottom of Division One on three points from four games.  Highlight of the campaign so far is Alastair Wood's draw against the higher-graded (by some 600 points) Fegus Milne in the recent 2-2 draw against Castlehill B - some reward at least for stepping up to play for the A Team in our hour of need  and making the long, dark trip to Dundee.  Honourable mention should also go to Stuart Blyth for managing to get a half point of perennial  bogeymen, Frank Stevenson!

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The B Team lie  mid table in Divison Two on two  points after four games - it is a small table!

TAFCA tables and results at the following link:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MJn0RNzT9wE2-dYIgXWVNVQmxpDthFHH4Bz4SXenHVs/pubhtml#

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8.12.16 TAYLOR STITCHES UP THE MARSHALL

Neil Taylor's surprise victory over long-time leader, Ian Marshall, combined with Russell Kynoch's draw against Branislav Sudjic has opened up the title race.  Russell now leads Ian by a half point but Neil Taylor can still catch both of them if he wins his remaining games. 

Results were:

R. Kynoch 0.5 - 0.5 B. Sudjic

I. Marshall 0 - 1 N. Taylor

A. Wood 0.5  - 0.5 J. Christie

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TIGHT AT THE TOP 1.12.16

A great turn out at the club last night with lots of new and not-so-new members.  Russell Kynoch negotiated his game with the every-tricky John Christie to join Ian Marshall on top of the club championship.  It's proving to be a very exciting race as both players are on 5.5 points after playing six games each, including a drawn match against each other.  It looks like going to the wire.

The knockout team was well beaten by Dundee in the TAFCA quickplay handicap.  Stuart Blyth still can't beat Frank (surely it can't be right that they were given 30 minutes each!!!??), while Neil Taylor somehow managed to lose in six moves in his white game - a miniature miniature?

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26.11.16 Kynoch Creeps Closer

After last week's round of championship matches, Russell Kynoch has closed the gap on early leader, Ian Marshall. Russell's win over Stuart Blyth looked quite tight during the match - but Fritz begs to differ, suggesting that Russell never really had anything to worry about - Stuart's loss of an early pawn in an unorthodox French really was a blunder and not a pawn sacrifice - wishful, ex post facto thinking on Stuart's part that would have done Walter Pearson proud!

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​​10.11.16

TAFCA

A mixed start to the season for the A team with a nice home win against Castlehill C followed by a 4-0 loss to Perth A.  Russell Kynoch on top board blundered in an even position while Stuart Blyth fought back from a losing position to somehow find himself in a winning situation only to lose on time. The B team openend the season with a defeat against Dundee D.

 

In the club championship, Ian Marshall has maintained his early season form with a draw against top seed, Russell Kynoch. Russell offered a draw when he was a little short of time.  The match will appear on the website soon.

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In last evening's games, John Christie won against a still-rusty John Kane while the other match finished A. Wood 1-0 S. Deas.

 

​19.10.16 - MARSHALL MAINTAINS MOMENTUM

Ian Marshall maintains his 100% record and top spot in the club championship after his win over Branislav Sudjic.  Pete Selbie looked well on the way to demolishing Stuart Blyth's lacklustre King's Gambit before somehow contriving to fall victim to a White counter attack; Pete has achieved winning positions against the top two seeds in recent weeks only to come away empty handed on both occasions.  In this week's other match, John Christie and Scott Deas agreed to share the point in a position that looked far from drawn - time trouble may have been a factor in Scott's willingness to agree a draw.  See the Club Championship page for the full details.

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5.10.16

With two more championship games played, both Ian Marshall (3/3) and Russell Kynoch (2/2) maintain their 100% records.

TAFCA fixtures are now available: Team A play their first match, home to Castlehill C, while the second string must wait until November for their away match against Dundee D.

Fixtures available on the TAFCA page.