Updated: 01/05/24 – 11:03 hrs
SEASON 2023-24
4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 30th April 24 – 7:30pm
Season 9 – Final play-off`
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams is a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
Div 1 – Division One final
Dundee City A (2259) 2½ – 1½ (2109) Wessex Some Stars A
Congratulations to Dundee City A on once again becoming the 4NCL Online Division One Champions! This is their second title in 3 years, amazing!
Commiserations to our friends, Wessex Some Stars A who put up one hell of a battle, and came so close to the upset result they were looking for!
But Dundee City A, held firm and were in the face of adversity, Scotland the Brave!! Fantastic performances from all players (Richard Polaczek IM, Ian McDonald, Rishi Vijayakumar & Scottish Champion, Ed Spencer)!
After 7 qualifying rounds, a semi-final mad-house against our own Dundee City B and now this final win, it`s been a long road! Great captaincy by David Findlay, who also played in the qualifying rounds!
It is always hard to win your first title, but as Dundee City A found out, to win the second one is even harder, but much sweeter!
You guys have done yourselves proud! The City of Dundee proud! Castlehill CC & Dundee CC proud, and Scotland proud! The division one 4NCL online title is on it`s way up from down south, via “The roads and miles to Dundee City”!
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 23rd April 24 – 7:30pm
Season 9 – Sem-Final play-off`s
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams is a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
Div 1 – Play-off
Dundee City A (2259) 2 – 2 (1970) Dundee City B
What a match! It was never going to be a walk in the park for our “A” team against their team mates, but this was more dramatic than they wanted! Our “B” team playrd out of their skins to take the fight to their elite brothers in arms to get this fighting draw and almost scupper Dundee City A team’s mission to get their title back! A little birdy told me, Wessex Some Stars A were routing for our “B” team! It has yet to be confirmed by the 4NCL organisers (Fair-Play checks), but under the tie-break rules, Dundee City A team should sneak through by the seat of their pants to make the final again (TBC)!
All credit to all players from both sides, but I think it`s only right to give our “B” team players a special mention after that performance. Stephen Hogg (Brd 1); Iain Sneddon (Brd 2); Andre Babin (Brd 3) & Theodoros Vasiliadis (Brd 4), you put in everything and had nothing left at the end, you can ask no more than that, and on another day…
Having said that, Dundee City A team are once again back where they rightfully belong, in the division one final play-off (TBC)! Well, done, Richard Polaczek IM (Brd 1); Ian McDonald (Brd 2); Rishi Vijayakumar (Brd 3) & Ed Spencer (Brd 4)!
Div – 2 Play-off
Oxford 2 (1902) 3½ – ½ (1845) Dundee City C
Congratulations to Oxford 2 on an outstanding performance on the night, to beat our Dundee City C team. I feel given the matches, the score line was a bit flattering, but none the less deserved! Our players have had an incredible season 9 campaign, and while they will be disappointed not to reach the final, they have been nothing short of amazing this season. Well, done Dariusz Kosznik (Brd 1); Joshua Crofts (Brd 2); Richard Kynoch (Brd 3) & Gary Weir (Brd 4)! I would also like to give praise and credit to their stand-in captain Graham Mooney (he has played as well), who has been an inspiration to all players. Thank you to Alan Borwell and Alastair Dawson, who have also played a couple of matches for our “C” team.
Good luck to Dundee City A against Wessex Some Stars A in the final (yet to be officially confirmed).
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Tues 16th April 24 – 7:30pm
Season 9 – Round 7
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams is a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
RESULTS
Div 1 – Group A
Guildford 1 (1861) 2 – 2 (2266 Dundee City A
Well not the perfect way to finish the qualifying rounds off, but if you are going to have a bad day at the office, this is the time to do it! Dundee City A had already finished top of their table, so the result was not important. Now they face our own, Dundee City B team in the semi-final play-off`s! At least it guarantees a Dundee City team in the final!
Div 1 – Group B
Dundee City B (2023) ½ – 3½ (2099) Streatham A
Dundee City B along with Streatham A had already qualified for the play-offs, so nothing to play for but bragging rights! They went the way of Streatham A who were just too strong on the night! Streatham A finished 1st on 14 points, while Dundee City B were 2nd on 10 points and face their team mates in the play-off’s! Bring it on!
Div 2 – Group A
Dundee City C (1868) 2½ – 1½ (1725) Shropshire & Friends 2
Congratulations to Dundee City C on a hard-fought win, to make it to the play-off`s! Our friends at Shropshire made us work for it, but in the end, we just sneaked it! Well, played team!
Dundee City C finished as runners-up on 9 points and face Oxford 2 in the semi-final play-off`s!
Div 2 – Group B
Trelawny`s Army (1647) 2½ – 1½ (1760) Dundee City D
Unfortunately, Dundee City D, could not do the same, in their relegation battle with Trelawny`s Army, narrowly losing a close fought match! It was hard to take, but we will be back! Dundee City D finish in 7th place on 4 points and unless something happens regards entries to season 10, we should be playing in division 3.
Div 3 – Group B
Dundee City E (1577) 1½ – 2½ (1669) War & Piece Overlord
For a team that is already relegated, Dundee City E put up one hell of a fight against their stronger opponents, before going down 2½-1½! Well, played everyone!
Dundee City E, finish in 7th place on 3 points and will either move down to group B or division 4?
Div 4 – Group B
Dundee City F (1555) 0 – 4 (1905) Worcester Wolfpack A
Talk about a grading difference! It was more like a penknife against ten tanks and a fighter jet! Who said chess is a fair fight! None the less our players as always did us proud right to the bitter end!
Dundee City F finish in 4th place on 7 points, so a very good campaign me thinks! Well, done!
Div 5 (Swiss)
Devana Corieltauvorum (1589) 1½ – 2½ (1350) Dundee City G
Well, the result of the night has to go to Dundee City G team! What a brilliant team effort against all the odds to beat a very strong team in this division! Conor Kelly, Tom Wardlaw, Ana Belen Otero Seijas & Judith Firth, superstars! Remember, it`s not about individual`s, but a team, and you proved to be one hell of a team!
Dundee City G finish in 5th place on ten points, only one point behind the winners! Depending on team entries for season 10, Dundee City G team should be promoted, but will need to wait and see!
Great campaign!
Once again, congratulations to Dundee A, B & C for reaching the play-off`s and good luck, which take place this Tuesday 23rd April 24, 7:30pm!
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JUNIOR 4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Season 9 – Rounds 6 & 7
Division Three – Group B
A joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
Thurs 28th March 24 – 6pm
Div 3 – Round 6
Dundee City Juniors (954) 5 – 3 (927) Warwickshire Bears F
A deserved win for Dundee City Juniors, with Matthew Hunter (Brd 1) winning both his games, and Josh Dickson (Brd 2) and Haoqi Liu (Brd 4), both winning one each, and drawing one each. Noah Dickson (Brd 3), often the hero this season, lost both his games this time. But the most important thing is, it`s a team game and the team won! Well, played everybody!
Thurs 11th April 24 – 6pm
Div 3 – Round 7
Robin Hoods (1265) 5½ – 2½ (954) Dundee City Juniors
Up against a strong team, Dundee City Juniors, put up a brave fight, but it was not to be. With Noah Dickson (Brd 3) out graded and out gunned, losing both his games. Josh Dickson (Brd 2) and Haoqi Liu (Brd 4) out graded, but both managing a win each, which was outstanding! It all rested on Matthew Hunter, the backbone and high flyer of the team. For once, it was not to be this time, as Matthew only managed a draw in two games. His opponent played very, very well!
Well that ends the Junior 4NCL campaign, with Dundee City Juniors finishing in 5th place on 6 points and safe for another season! Well, played “EVERYBODY”!
You have done Dundee City and yourselves proud, and it`s been an honour being your captain this season!
Bring on season 10!
For all the results and final standings, checkout the Junior 4NCL tab!
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 2nd April 24 – 7:30pm
Season 9 – Round 6
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams is a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
A tough night online for Dundee City teams: Win 2; Draws 2: losses 3! The main thing to remember is:
“Tough times never last, but tough chess players do”!
RESULTS
Div 1 – Group A
Dundee City A (2266) 3 – 1 (1921) Morpeth
Nothing ever comes easy at this level, but in the end Dundee City A got the result they needed against Morpeth. Rish Vijayakumar (Bd3) and David Findlay (Bd4) both won, while Richard Polaczek IM (Bd1) and Ian McDonald (Bd2), both drew! Ian had trouble getting logged in and had to use another account, but got there in the end!
Its congratulations to Dundee City A as this win means they have qualified for the play-off`s once again! They can`t be caught and will finish top of group A with one match to spare! Way to go lads!
Div 1 – Group B
Jurassic Coast (2046) 2 – 2 (2032) Dundee City B
This was a match and a half! To get a draw against strong opponents was a great achievement and keeps the play-off`s firmly in Dundee City B`s sights! Ed Spencer (Bd1) lost against a 2336, Stephen Hogg (Bd2) and Iain Sneddon (Bd3) both drew, which left Mr dependable, Andre Babin (Bd4) to secure the match draw with a win! To be fair, given the grading parings for each board, it was a predictable and fair result. Yes, the two middle boards could have gone either way, but could have, would have!
This result keeps Dundee City B in the hunt for the play-offs, sitting in 2nd place on 9 points. Streatham A will finish top, and Dundee Ciity B face them in the last round! Oxford 1 are in 3rd place on 7 points, so can tie with us if they win and we lose. Then the board points come into play. But there is another scenario? There was an outstanding adjudication in one match involving Dundee City B, which has now been upheld in Dundee City B`s favour and should lead to Dundee getting the win (½ point penalty), instead of the draw, which would give us an automatic play-off spot! We will just have to wait for the 4NCL arbiters to get back to us!
Div 2 – Group A
Hebden Bridge 2 (1723) 2½ – 1½ (1867) Dundee City C
This was a tough one to take, but sometimes, things just do not go your way! A draw would have been a fair result, but to be fair, things have gone the other way for us in the past, so we can`t complain! Well played and unlucky everyone.
This result leaves Dundee City C in joint 2nd place on 7 points, with Wessex Some Stars C. It`s Squeaky bum time in round 7 (last)! Should be a cracking last round!
Div 2 – Group B
Dundee City D (1705) ½ – 3½ (2018) Wessex Some Stars B
Talk about trying to push a boulder up Mount Everet. Dundee City D were out graded and out-classed by an awesome Wessex Some Stars C team, which we had no answer too! Well, played, but also well fought by our players against the odds!
Dundee City D sit in 6th place on 4 points, just a point above the relegation zone. The good news is, Dundee City D face the team in 7th place, Trelawny`s Arms, in the last round, so it`s in their own hand at least. A draw or win will do!
Div 3 – Group B
Beckenham (1640) ½ – 3½ (1557) Dundee City E
Another tough match for Dundee City E, in what is a tough group! Beckenham seem to have a hold over Dundee City teams, and this match was no exception! The one bright moment was Stuart Duff`s (1591) draw against an 1826 on board one! Well, played Stuart and unlucky Sir Philip Cohen, Trevor Harley & John Robertson! It just does not get any easier, does it!
Unfortunately, this result leaves Dundee City E in 7th place on 3 points and relegated. But failure is not permanent; it is an opportunity to learn and grow.
“We may be down now, but we will rise again“!
Div 4 – Group B
The Hemel`s Gambit (1302) 1 – 3 (1563) Dundee City F
This match was full of swings and roundabouts, with a couple of banana skins thrown in! With Euan Murray (Bd2) losing quickly, then Robert Jackson (Bd1) doing a captain’s job with a good win, and young gun, Matthew Hunter J15 (Bd3) winning, it was all down to Mr Noble on board 4! For a while it looked like Ray`s opponent had the upper-hand, but Ray did mange to get into a position where he could force a draw. But Ray, being Ray, decided to take a risk and went for the risky win. Ray`s opponent did not handle this change of tact and made a couple of errors in time trouble, which allowed Ray to take full advantage to get the win and the match win!
This win puts Dundee City F on 7 points, in 4th place and safe in the middle of the group! Job done!
Div 5 (Swiss)
Colchester JFF A (1561) 2 – 2 (1141) Dundee City G
What a result and performance by Dundee City G team against the team sitting 2nd in the table! Out graded and on paper, outclassed, this was true grit! While Norman Waugh (Bd3) and Judith Firth (Bd4) found it hard going, Moritz Bogs (Bd2) and Ana Belen Otero Seijas (Bd1) were on fire! Moritz of course is better than his grade, but this was still an outstanding result. As for Ana, she is in a rich vein of form at the moment, and to be honest, this result was on the cards. Ana you are a diamond, full of sparkle and worth a fortune!
This outstanding result puts Dundee City G team in with a chance of promotion! As it`s a Swiss league, I have no idea who they will play, but it will be one of the leaders! “It’s Never Over ’till it’s over! Never Give Up! Never.”
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 19th March 24 – 7:30pm
Season 9 – Round 5
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams is a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
Seven matches, six wins and one draw, what an out of this world Dundee City performance. A lot of “Enterprise” and “Endeavor”, worthy of getting a Space Shuttle named after them!
Something like Dundee the City of “Discovery”!
RESULTS
Div 1 – Group A
East Kilbride A (1702) 0 – 4 (2266) Dundee City A
These types of matches are always a real-life banana skin, but this time no slip ups! All players comfortably took care of business to keep their title campaign on track.
Dundee City A sit top of group A, 2 points clear and on course for the play-offs!
Div 1 – Group B
Dundee City B (1996) 2½ – 1½ (1958) Hebden Bridge 1
Wow, this was a close match between two evenly graded teams with some squeaky bum time moments! Dundee City B as a team, were tremendous, with steady Stephen Hogg getting a draw and our two bottom boards (Andre Babin & Theo Vasiliadis) both winning. Ed Spencer was the unlucky player this time, but as I say, a “TEAM” performance!
This puts Dundee City B in 2nd place in group B, a point ahead of the 3rd placed team. Still all in their own hands!
Div 2 – Group A
Barnet Knights B (1474) 0 – 4 (1863) Dundee City C
Like our “A” team, this was a banana skin match for Dundee City C team. But like our “A” team, Dundee City C were not for slipping up! Great performance from all 4 players!
This leaves Dundee City in 2nd place on the same points as Wessex Some Stars C. It all rests on the last two matches for paly-offs!
Div 2 – Group B
Stroud All Play (1723) 1 – 3 (1643) Dundee City D
At first, it looked like a default win for Dundee City D as Stroud had forgotten to put a team in! They did get in at the last moment, but maybe wished they had not as Dundee City D team took them apart! Our board one player, Ross Brennan was the sacrificial lamb, playing against a 2303 player! All-in-all a good night’s work!
Dundee City D sit in 4th place on 4 points. Still not clear of the relegation danger zone, but have given themselves a big boost and kept it in their own hands!
Div 3 – Group B
Watford (1513) 1½ – 2½ (1559) Dundee City E
This was a fighting performance from all players and a well-deserved and much needed win keeps their chances of avoiding relegation in their own hands! There were some very good matches to watch, especially from our junior, Matthew Hunter who finished his game under time pressure like a professional chess player!
Dundee City are in 7th place on 3 points, just one behind 6th placed team, Wessex Some Stars D.
Div 4 – Group B
Dundee City F (1504) 2 – 2 (1775) Farnham B
Out graded, but not out played! What a result which to be honest feels more like a win rather than a draw! All our players (Robert, Euan, Ed & Cosmo) deserve a slap on the back (not to hard!) for the way they battled.
Dundee City F are in 4th place on 5 points, and just need a point or two to be safe!
Div 5 (Swiss)
Dundee City G (1141) 2½ – 1½ (1508) Wessex Some Stars G
Well out graded on paper, but I think our top two boards are at least on an even level with their opponents and so it proved! Ana Belen Otero Seijas on board one is as the song goes “This girl is on fire”! Nothing else to say! Moritz Bogs on board who survived a “Greek Sacrifice”, to take the points, in a wonderful game to watch. But for me the performance of the team or night, has to be our board 3, Norman Waugh (992) against an opponent who was over 400 points higher than Norman. It was a fighting draw, with Norman the player who had the winning chances! At this level, you were just waiting for the big mistake, but Norman held his nerve all the way to the end to get the draw that won the match. Brilliant Norman!
This outstanding win pushes Dundee City G to 4th place on 7 points, just 2 points below the leaders! Promotion is on the cards, if they can keep this form up!
Dundee City H – bye
Unfortunately, no game for Dundee City H team as we could not field a team this time around. Disappointing as like our “G” team they had promotion ambitions!
Next round (6) Tuesday 2nd April 24!
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JUNIOR 4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Thurs 14th March 24 – 6:00pm
Season 9 – Round 5
Division Three – Group B
A joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
RESULT
Dundee City Juniors (954) 6 – 2 (1024) Hilsmark Juniors 2
A good result against an evenly matched team! This result also gives Dundee City Juniors a chance of staying in division 3!
Matthew Hunter on board one is the king-pin of the team and once again he proved why that is, with another great two games of chess, to win both matches! Matthew does like to use “ALL” his time allocation!
Josh Dickson on board two, along with his brother, Noah on board 3, are the backbone of the side. Josh and his opponent, did not have one of their best days, but Josh got away with one win, which is all that counts on the day!
Noah Dickson on board three is beginning to look like the real deal now! His first game was a comedy of errors by both juniors, with Noah just taking it! Noah`s second game was a completely different story and showed us all his potential for chess if he puts his mind to it! Brilliant game!
Haoqi Liu on board 4 is probably the most exciting player to watch as you just never know which Haoqi is going to show up on the day! This was no exception and was indeed a tale of two matches which ended in a win a piece for both players! Never a dull moment when watching Haoqi`s games, but not good for my hair!
This fine win, puts Dundee City Juniors in 5th place on 4 points, with 2 matches left! Still all in their own hands!
Next round (6) on Thursday 28th March 24, 6pm.
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 5th March 24 – 7:30pm
Season 9 – Round 4
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams is a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
It never gets any easier playing chess, and boy what a night! Dundee City manged 4 wins, 3 draws and just one loss. Not a bad night’s work at all!
RESULTS
Div 1 – Group A
Dundee City A (2260) 2 -2 (2122) Wessex Some Stars A
Two fairly evenly matched teams at this level, with a draw, not to bad a result for either team, given the rest of the results in division one, group A! Of course, given the high standards, Dundee City A try to maintain, they may have felt a little disappointed at the time, but given the other results, happy days! Having Rishi back in the team was a bonus and he proved why he is there! Not to be upstaged, Ian McDonald was our other winner! It`s a team game, so well-done Dundee City A!
Dundee City A are clear at the top of group A on 7 points with 3 rounds to go!
Div 1 – Group B
Spirit of Atticus (2024) 2 -2 (2017) Dundee City B
Another closely matched battle, which like the “A” team ended in a draw! Ed Spencer on board one, did something unusual, he lost! Not often that happens! With Stephen Hogg and Theo Vasiliadis drawing, it was down to Iain Sneddon on board 3 playing his first match this season for us in the 4NCL online. He did not disappoint, with a fine win!
Dundee City B sit in 3rd place on 6 points, just a half board point behind the 2nd placed side. With 3 rounds left, Dundee City B are in perfect position to strike for gold!
Div 2 – Group A
Dundee City C (1863) 3½ – ½ (1645) Oxford 3
Dundee City C welcomed back Gary Weir to the Dundee City team and it was worth the wait as he took the points on board 4! Graham Mooney and Dariusz Kosznik backed him up with wins, while Joshua Crofts got a hard-fought draw, and I mean a hard-fought draw, to make it a convincing win for our “C” team!
Dundee City C have 5 points and sit in 3rd place on board points behind leaders, Heffalump Hunters and Wessex Some Stars C, who are on the same 5 points! Of course, Dundee City C should have been in division one this time, but for a rule we did not know about. Hopefully that will change and they can again take their rightful place at the top of the table!
Div 2 – Group B
Dundee City D (1705) 3½ – ½(1593) Shropshire & Friends 3
Our “D” team faced our old friends, Shropshire & Friends 3, but showed no mercy on the night! Shropshire & Friends did not help themselves by defaulting the bottom board (it happens to us all), then a miracle happened? James Anderson on board 3 won his game in style! Richard Kynoch on board one was just himself as was the resulting win! Ross Brennan on board two drew his match, but was disappointed with his early play, but made up for it, getting the draw a pawn down!
Dundee City D find themselves in the relegation zone in 6th place, but this win should give them confidence to get themselves out of the danger zone! They are too good to be relegated!
Div 3 – Group B
Dundee City E (1567) 2 – 2 (1733) Charlton Cobras B
Dundee City E were out graded on all boards and the match in general, but produced a performance that, yes, got the draw, but was worthy of a win! Alisdair McLeod and Trevor Harley both lost, but Stuart Duff on board 2, played what at times, looked like a rear-guard action, but then came out on top after a couple of errors from his opponent in time-trouble! Great win! But in my humble option, the performance of the night has to go to board 3, Sir Philip Cohen who turned back the hands of time with this performance. Fantastic battling chess under intense pressure and then to finish it off. The interesting thing is, his opponent was making notes to himself in the spectator bit (his opponent can`t see this until end of game) and that is worth a read if you checkout the game! Oh, what a rollercoaster and well played everybody!
Dundee City E despite drawing with the top team are in for a relegation battle, sitting in 7th place, 3 points behind the 6th placed team. “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”.
Div 4 – Group B
Atticus (1836) 2½ – 1½ (1555) Dundee City F
Dundee City teams only lost one match, this one, but given the grading difference, Dundee City F team should have been slaughtered, but instead almost caused an upset! While every loss is disappointing, there are too many positives out of this game to feel that way! What a fighting performance by John Robertson, Robert Jackson, Matthew Hunter and Euan Murray, who got a great win on board 3! Just sometimes a team produces a performance that deserves to get something out of it! Superbly played against all the odds!
Dundee City F are on 4 points and in the middle of the table battling for promotion and to avoid relegation!
Squeaky bum time with 3 round to go!
Div 5 (Swiss)
Dartford Knightmares B (1173) v (1457) Dundee City G
Sometimes you cannot trust the official gradings from both sides, and this was no exception as the Lichess grades were very different from the official gradings! Still, what a performance by all the Dundee City G team, who gave Dartford their own “KNIGHTMARES”!
This win puts Dundee City G on 5 points and 7th place, just two points behind the leaders, with 3 rounds to go. Nothing better than a late charge to put it up them!
Lenzie Dementors (1108) v (1120) Dundee City H
Grading wise an equal game, mind you Lichess gradings maybe say something different! Great win for Judith Firth on board 4, with some nice play! Judith was backed up by Francesco Polignano and Moritz Bogs to make sure of the win. Norman Waugh on board 3 lost, but he has been on some hot form just lately! Chess, you will never get to the bottom of it! Really nice win for our “H” team!
Our “H” team despite defaulting a match are also on 5 points and in 14th place! Time for some “Strike-Back”!
Checkout all the results and standings on the 4NCL tab!
Next round Tuesday 19th March 24!
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JUNIOR 4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Thurs 29th Feb 24 – 6:00pm
Season 9 – Round 4
Division Three – Group A
A joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
RESULT
Chess Rising Stars 2 (1204) 5 – 3 (954) Dundee City Juniors
As usual, Dundee City Juniors were out graded on all but one board, and by 210 points team wise! The score line was close, but the better team deserved to win the match, but not without our juniors making them work for it.
When you see all of the juniors Lichess grades, they bear no reflection on the published grades used in the 4NCL Online! While the chess from Dundee Juniors did not match the last time they played, they were up against a higher standard of juniors which made it a lot tougher!
Board 1: Matthew Hunter is improving in leaps and bounds, but not only the way he plays his chess, but more importantly the way he is thinking about his chess and the fact he is excellent at time-management!
Fantastic performance and a deserved 2-0 win!
Board 2: Josh Dickson, won one, and lost one this time. Josh has improved a lot over the last year, but is still a little bit inconsistent. He also plays a bit too fast, but he has the talent to move up the grades, once he slows down (time-management), thinks about the whole board, including his own plans, and his opponents plans, then he will be on Matthew’s level.
Board 3: Noah Dickson, to be fair, did not have his best night and lost both matches, but that`s not the whole picture! Noah, despite not really showing a great interest in chess until recently, has shown, especially OTB, he has what it takes to move up the levels and be a very good chess player if he wants to. If Noah does put in the work and has the drive, Josh, better watch his back as his younger brother, just might wave to him as he shoots past him! Only saying?
Board 4: Haoqi Liu, has played better (lost 2-0), but it was, as it will always be, the Haoqi way! The strange thing is, after this, Haoqi played in the OTB George Pyrich later that night at Castlehill and was outstanding, getting some great results against good players! Haoqi can play chess, but only the Haoqi way!
Tough night at the office against very good opponents! Still, there were a lot of pluses to take out of this, and we move forward to our next match. Congratulations to Chess Rising Stars 2 and we wish them well for the rest of the tournament!
Round 5 on Thursday 14th March 24
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 20th Feb 24 – 7:30pm
Season 9 – Round 3
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams is a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
RESULTS
Div 1 – Group A
Hertford 1 (1932) 1 – 3 (2232) Dundee City A
No match is ever comfortable, regardless of grading, and so it proved as Hertford 1 were up for the fight! The two middle boards drew their matches, but Dundee City A had two “Super Hero`s” on boards 1 & 4 with an IM and a Scottish Champion! Job done!
Dundee City A sit proudly at the top of Group A on the full 6 points!
Div 1 – Group B
Dundee City B (1931) 2½ – 1½ (2032) Oxford 1
Once again, Dundee City B prove they are not out of their depth in division one, with a superb win against Oxford 1! Stephen Hogg on board one, always performs miracles for his team and did so again! Theodoros Vasiliadis draw was really a winning performance, while what the hell can you say about Dariusz Kosznik, but, masterly performance! Another great win!
Dundee City B in Group B, are in 2nd place on 5 points, alongside, Shropshire & Friends 1. Amazing!
Div 2 – Group A
Heffalump Hunters (1823) 3 – 1 (1857) Dundee City C
The Heffalump Hunter have been quickly moving towards division one since they arrived on the scene. Dundee City C did put up a battle, and on another day, you just never know.
Dundee City C, in Group A are on 3 points and 5th place, but still in striking distance of those teams above them!
Div 2 – Group B
Ashfield Anonymous A (1912) 3 – 1 (1654) Dundee City D
Ashfield Anonymous A were deserved winners, with Dundee City D, out graded and out played, but not without showing they were no pushovers! Ross Brennan on board one, and James Anderson deserve all the plaudits after getting draws against very, very, very, very, very strong players!
Dundee City D are finding it tough, but given the opposition, it`s no surprise! Bottom at the moment, but top in fighting spirit and heart!
Div 3 – Group B
Streatham B (1682) 2½ – 1½ (1557) Dundee City E
Oh, so near, but just out of reach! What a performance by Dundee City E, especially from Trevor Harley and Sir Philip Cohen! The difference was the top two boards, with Dundee City players out graded by 300+ points! As I have said before already, on another day…
Dundee City E, like Dundee City D, are having a hard time of it! But the performances deserved more and if they keep it up, I am sure they will move up the group table.
Div 4 – Group B
Cozy Tomatoes (1620) 3 – 1 (1528) Dundee City F
Conor Kelly, on board 2, once again proved what a chess player he is becoming with a great win! Our other players were not so lucky, but that`s chess sometimes!
This was Dundee City F teams first loss, and leave them in 5th place, but only 2 points behind the leaders. They just need to keep playing the way the have and they can still reach the play-off`s!
Div 5 (Swiss)
Dundee City G (1341) 1½ – 2½ (1661) North Norfolk Dolphins
Well, not sure how, but Dundee City G team nearly pulled off one of the shocks of the tournament with a sublime performance against a side that out ranked them by a county mile! Cosmo Bobak and Ed Walton against 1700+ players, put in a shift and a half to get two “oxymorons” with two draws, but winning performances! Tom Wardlaw just had one of those night`s we all get, playing well, but just missing one move!
But, while the plaudits normally go to our top players for good reason, the performance of the night in my humble opinion, has to go to Norman Waugh (992), up against a 1455 player on board 4. Norman played nothing like a 992 player, more like a 1550 player on the night! It was an outstanding performance at this level and more than worthy of all the praise he deserves! Yes, I think Norman did have the winning chances near the end and lost it a bit in the end game, but Norman is a 992 graded player! It was a performance worthy of more than a draw! Norman Waugh, I award you, “the game of the night”!
Dundee City H (N/A) L – W (1552) Colchester JFF A
This was disappointing as we did not have enough players to field a team and had to default. Eight teams are a lot to cover, but we do have enough players in the squad to fill 9 teams, but not to be on this night due to one thing or another! Hopefully, this was a one off.
Dundee City G & H teams sit 13th & 21st respectively on 3 points. Still a long way to go and both teams still in with a chance to make the promotion places!
Bring on round 4!
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JUNIOR 4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Thurs 15th Feb 24 – 6:00pm
Season 9 – Round 3
Division Three – Group A
A joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
Apologies for late report, but I just did not have enough time to do it, this time. Still, better late than never!
RESULT
Dundee City Juniors (954) 5½ – 2½ (849) Surrey Kings 3
It makes a change to play a team who match our grades! Our juniors did us proud on the night with some sublime chess and to be honest, some great escapes!
Matthew Hunter on board one took his time and was just far too strong for his opponent (2-0)! Matthew is an emerging junior talent, and I look forward to seeing him
improve on his chess adventure!
Josh Dickson on board 2 was magnific in game one and, well, let’s say, not so magnific in his second game after trapping his own King, and his opponent delivering
a smothered mate in 9 moves! Talk about blowing hot and cold!
Noah Dickson on board 3 looked like he was copying his brother, Josh with a magnific first game, and a not so magnific second game, but with the one difference,
Noah has “Houdini” talents, and preformed a great escape! Noah an exchange down in his second game, kept the pressure up on his opponent and got his rewards
with a knight fork to go a piece up and win the game. Such tenacity is good to see, just slow down a bit please! (2-0)
Haoqi Liu on board 4, well was, Haoqi! The first game Haoqi had the advantage, but got his King & Rook forked and that was that! In game two,
Haoqi was in trouble and went a piece down, but managed to escape with a “Threefold repetition” draw! It`s always a journey when you watch Haoqi
play and never dull!
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 6th Feb 24 – 7:30pm
Season 9 – Round 2
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams is a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
No report this week, but Dundee City teams had 3 wins, 3 draws & 2 losses!
For all the results and links to the games and standings after 2 rounds, click the 4NCL tab!
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JUNIOR 4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Thurs 1st Feb 24 – 6:00pm
Season 9 – Round 2
Division Three – Group A
A joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
RESULT
Chess Challengers A (1273) 5½ – 2½ (954) Dundee City Juniors
Another tough match and once again, well out graded by our opponents! But there were some good battles and some very good chess (some not so good)!
Board One – Mathew Hunter
Both Matthews games were good games, with Matthew playing a blinder in the first game (nice finish), but just getting caught out in a mating net on the queenside in his second game while under time-pressure! Well played Matthew!
Score: 1 – 1
Board Two – Josh Dickson
In his first game with white, Josh played the opening well, but just made an error at the start of the middle game which not only cost him a piece, but opened up his King to attack. His opponent took full advantage to win the game.
With Black, Josh again started well, but made an early error to give his opponent a slight lead. This must have spurred Josh on as he played the middle game well, then played the move of the game with 27…Qf6!! Josh then followed that up with a missed opportunity on move 30, when he should have played the winning Qxe4! Josh deserved the win, but did miss a few chances, one involving missing a queening opportunity! Well played Josh!
Score: 1 – 1
Board Three – Noah Dickson
Noah needs to slow down, but like his brother, he started in the opening okay, only to made a tactical error which opened up his King to attack and checkmate. In his 2nd game with white, Noah manged to open up his opponents Kings defence, only to fall for a checkmate combination! Noah has the ability. All he needs is some belief in himself, slow down a bit and maybe more interest/love in playing chess?
Score: 0 -2
Board Four – Haoqi Liu
Now as we know, Haoqi has a unique style, but this time we seem to have a theme here as Haoqi also played the opening faze well, but then drifted a bit and then made a couple of bad moves (not seeing the whole board), and his King position fell apart, checkmate!
With black, Haoqi once again started off okay, then fell away a bit, only for his opponent to make a mistake and Haoqi went the exchange up! Haoqi did not capitalize on it, and got himself in a bit of a pickle with his opponent’s pawns (loads of them!) heading for the promotion squares! I have to say, having got himself into trouble, Haoqi showed us all what a chess talent he is, when he puts his mind to it, with a superb defensive rear-guard action to secure the draw (insufficient material)! Play like that all the time and you will be a force to be reckoned with, Haoqi!
Score: ½ – 1½
There was a lot to of positives from our players, as well as somethings to improve on, but that`s junior chess for you! In general, I would say we have four good juniors who have the potential to improve in leaps and bounds over the next year!
Congratulations to Chess Challengers A, who were the stronger side and deserved winners on the night!
Round 3, Thursday 15th Feb 24: We face Surrey Kings 3 (993) who are nearer our level grading wise and have also lost their two matches, so something has to give!
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 23rd Jan 24 – 7:30pm
Season 9 – Round 1
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams is a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
Well here we go again with season 9 now! Not a bad start at all for Dundee City with 5 winners, one draw and just two losses! Not only that, but some absolutely outstanding chess, fighting spirit and checkmate combinations!
RESULTS
Div 1 – Group A
Barnet Knights A (1780) 0 – 4 (2232) Dundee City A
On paper, Dundee City A had a softer start than most, but you just never know! Barnet Knights A were heavily out graded, but did put up a decent fight, but met a brick wall in Dundee City A! Nice start to the campaign to win back their title! Their next match against Farnham A will be a little bit harder!
Well played, Richard Polaczek IM; Ian McDonald; David Findlay & Ed Spencer!
Div 1 – Group B
Dundee City B (1931) 2½ – 1½ (2082) Charlton Cobras A
The result of the night has to go to Dundee City B who grading wise were below their normal level, but player wise they were “The Fantastic four”, a “Marvel”, with nothing “Comic” about their chess!
Up against the Champions two season ago Charlton Cobras A, it was looking like a rear-guard action, but boy what a result! They had all the powers of the “Fantastic Four” and their opponents did not see this coming (Invisibility)! Their opponents hit a brick wall (The Thing)! Then they got their pawns burnt (Torch)! Charlton Cobras got pulled one way, then the other way (stretched)! Also, Theo`s checkmate finish was sublime!
Well played, Stephen Hogg; Andre Babin, Theodoros Vasilliadis & Dariusz Kosznik!
Div 2 – Group A
Ashfield Anonymous B (1724) 2 – 2 (1878) Dundee City C
A close fought match with not much separating them. It turned out to be a match of two halves with Dundee City`s bottom two players winning, and our top two players losing. It was in the end a good result for round one, but our top two players as always were annoyed with themselves and maybe a little too critical of aspects of their game, which goes to show how committed they are to the team!
Well played, Graham Mooney; Alan Borwell, Alastair Dawson & Joshua Crofts!
Div 2 – Group B
Warwickshire Bears A (1642) 2½ – 1½ (1654) Dundee City D
This was another close battle, but this time Dundee City D just lost out too a Bear hug! Leyton involved in the last match to finish, tried everything in the book (and more!) to get a win, but it was not to be. Indeed, in trying to win, he took risks and his opponent I think missed the winning move on move 52! It ended in a threefold repetition, a fair result for both players, but just not in our favour this time!
Well played Ross Brennan; James Anderson, Leyton Hackney & Alisdair McLeod!
Div 3 – Group B
Wessex Some Stars D (1731) 3½ – ½ (1572) Dundee City E
Sometimes you just know you are in for a hard time! Dundee City E found themselves up against Some Stars from Wessex standing on a steep hill, while Dundee City players were trying to knock them off it! All our players were out graded, but put up a battle and a half! In the end our whitewash hero was John Robertson Jnr on board one, with a great draw! Talk about being hung, drawn and quartered! Still two weeks to lick our wounds, take antibiotics, maybe some steroids and take it out on our next opponents!
Well played John Robertson; Stuart Duff; Matthew Hunter (J15) & Trevor Harley!
Div 4 – Group B
Chess Challengers A (1475) 1½ – 2½ (1520) Dundee City F
Not a lot in it grading wise and Dundee City F certainly found their opponents a “Challenge”! We quickly lost the first match, but with some determination, true grit and a slice of luck, Dundee City prevailed with captain Robert Jackson striking the last hammer-blow to sneak home as winners. Phew! Great start to the campaign and something to build on in round two!
Well played, Robert Jackson; Euan Murray; Subhayu Banerjee & Sir Philip Cohen!
Div 5 (Swiss)
Dundee City G (1441) 3 – 1 (1030) Lenzie Dementors
It`s never easy playing juniors who`s published grades rarely match their real strength over the chess board. Even worse if they are “Dementors” ready to suck the happiness and joy out of you! Thankfully our players are made of strong stuff and then throw in the “Patronus Charm” and hey presto, or as Tommy Cooper said, “Just like that”! Nice start to the campaign lads!
Well played, Cosmo Bobak, Ed Walton, Tom Wardlaw & David Ewing!
Dundee City H (1267) 2½ – 1½ (1278) 5 Towns Castleford B
Another equal grading match battle, but this time Dundee City H faced 5 towns! Castleford was the named town, but could also include players from Pontefract, Knottingley, Featherstone and Normanton (maybe South Kirby as well?)! The chess played was exciting to watch, with Chris Moore on board one and Francesco Polognano on board 3 both winning (both had white) and giving us at least a draw, with one match to go! This time Judith Firth was the unlucky player, but is getting better and better! The last match to finish was on board 2, was a corker with our Jonathan Kinnell! Jonathan had a Rook + the bishop pair against a single Queen + 1 pawn. It was a fascinating game to watch! Two battles were raging, with the queen versus three pieces and could Jonathan`s opponent promote the pawn! Jonathan battled hard and, in the end, got his reward when his opponent did queen his pawn but the resulting exchanges ended in, Insufficient Material – draw! Wow what a fight and finish Jonathan! Great way to end a match and secure the win!
Well played, Chris Moore, Jonathan Kinnell, Francesco Polignano & Judith Firth!
BRING ON ROUND TWO!
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 12th Dec 23 – 7:30pm
Season 8 – Play-Offs – Semi-Finals
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams is a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
They think it`s all over, it is now! All 3 Dundee City teams went out at the semi-final stage after a fantastic season 8 campaign which saw 3 teams get promoted (TBC)! It was a hard night`s chess, and everybody gave it their all, including two players from their sick beds!
RESULTS
Division Two
Dundee City C (1875) 1½ – 2½ (1657) East Kilbride A
The battle of Scotland went to East Kilbride A, who deserved the victory on their performance. Their grading is nowhere near their true ability which they have showed in every round of season 8! Dundee City congratulate them and wish them all the best in the final.
Come on Scotland!
Division Three
Heffalump Hunters (1943) 3 – 1 (1723) Dundee City D
This was always going to be an uphill struggle against a very strong side. All credit to our players, especially Johua Crofts & Ross Brennan, with both getting two very good draws. I think the Heffalumps are destained for greater things!
Division Four
Dundee City E (1615) 1 – 3 (1703) Beckenham
After a late reshuffle of the board order, the match went to the form book with a strong Beckenham proving too much for Dundee City E! Like the “D” team, Dundee City players, Leyton Hackney & Trevor Harley got two very good draws on the night!
That ends season 8, but what a season for Dundee City teams. Dundee City A just missed out on defending their division one title, but Dundee City B, managed to stay in division one! Joining both A & B teams, is Dundee City C, making it 3 Dundee City teams in division one! They should also be joined by another Scottish side, East Kilbride A!
Not too shabby at all!
Dundee City D also got promoted to division 2, and Dundee City E are promoted to division 3. Outstanding performance by both teams (Still to be confirmed)!
Dundee City F, could not escape relegation to division 5, joining Dundee City G & H teams.
With 8 teams, it was at times a nail-biting experience as an organiser, but Dundee City are always came up trumps, thanks to it`s captains & players! It has been a pleasure working with all the captains and our players in season 8 and I thank you all for your support, because without that, Dundee City would not be as successful as we have been!
I look forward to your continued support for season 9 starting in January 24. with an even more successful campaign!
Players and captains, enjoy your rest and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year when it comes. We will be in touch again soon for season 9!
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 12th Dec 23 – 7:30pm
Season 8 – Play-Offs – Semi-Finals
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams is a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
Division Two
Dundee City C v East Kilbride A
An all-Scottish battle!
Division Three
Heffalump Hunters v Dundee City D
Division Four
Dundee City E v Beckenham
Congratulations to all 3 Dundee City teams for reaching the play-offs and getting promoted, now it`s down too who will finish top of each division!
It`s going to be a tough night for all 3 Dundee City teams and the matches kick-off at 7:30pm tonight. To watch the matches as they unfold, click the link below and choose what to watch, or have them all on and flick through them! All matches are played on Lichess.org.
COME ON DUNDEE CITY!
4NCL
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 5st Dec 23 – 7:30pm
Season 8 – Round 7
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams is a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
Round 7 was a tense affair with a lot at stake. It was a mixture of euphoria, relief and heartache!
The season is over for 5 of our teams, but three of our teams have reached the play-off`s and march on!
RESULTS
Div 1 – Group A
Morpeth (1961) 2 – 2 (2276) Dundee City A
Dundee City A, are defending champions no more after drawing their last match and finishing their campaign in 3rd place on 10 points. It was a rocky road campaign, but not helped by a bit of bad luck with an unfortunate power-cut at the start of a match which caused major problems. None the less a valiant defence and they will be back fighting in season 9 to get back the trophy they have loaned out! Well played IM Richard Polaczek, Ian McDonald, Rishi Vijayakumar (J13) & David Findlay!
Div 1 – Group B
Streatham A (2076) 2 – 2 (2062) Dundee City B
Dundee City B needed a win to guarantee division one status, but were up against a really strong side. With Jacques Ophoff back in the saddle on board one, Dundee City B may not have won, but pulled off a battling draw which was enough to keep them in division one! What a result and what an achievement! Well played, Jacques Ophoff, Ed Spencer, Stephen Hogg & Alan Borwell!
Dundee City B finished in 5th place on 6 points.
Div 2 – Group B
Warwickshire Bears A (1462) 1 – 3 (1889) Dundee City C
Another result, another fantastic performance by Dundee City C who cemented their place at the top of their group in division 2 on 14 points. All being well, they should be playing in division one in season 9 along with Dundee City A & B! What an achievement for Dundee City C and the Dundee City squad, 3 teams in the top division! Well played Andre Babin, Graham Mooney, Dariusz Kosznik & Ross Bremner!
First up is the matter of the play-off`s in which Dundee City C should face an all-Scottish clash in the semi-finals against East Kilbride A!
Div 3 – Group A
Watford (1451) ½ – 3½ (1744) Dundee City D
Dundee City D needed a win to guarantee promotion and reaching the play-off`s! They did not disappoint with a convincing win against Watford to finish in 2nd place on 11 points. If all goes as it should, Dundee City D will be playing in division two in season 9! In the semi-final play-off`s they will meet Heffalump Hunters for a place in the final! Well played Richard Kynoch, Joshua Crofts, Ross Brennan & Ray Flood!
Div 4 – Group B
Bishop Trojans (1474) 1 – 3 (1615) Dundee City E
It seems Dundee City E can do no wrong and finish their group qualifying campaign with another win! They have been outstanding in division four this season and finish top of their group and hopefully promotion to division 3! They will play the very strong, Beckenham in the semi-final play-off`s and on this form, you would not put it passed them to win! Well played James Anderson, Leyton Hackney, Cosmo Bobak & Trevor Harley!
Div 4 – Group A
Dundee City F (1564) 0 – 4 (1648) Charlton Cobras C
While other Dundee City teams were enjoying success, Dundee City F team ended up going for a swim in the sea of heartache! Needing a win against the Charlton Cobras C, Dundee City F team bolstered their side with Alisdair McLeod, but it turned out that so did Charlton Cobras with their strongest side of the season! It was a brutal fight with our players giving it their all, only to lose 4 – 0 to the better side on the night. This meant Dundee City F finished in 7th place on 3 points in a very tough division and if all goes as it should, will be relegated to the hell that is division 5! Despite this, well played Alisdair McLeod, Robert Jackson, Sir Philip Cohen & John Robertson Jnr!
Div 5 (Swiss)
Devana Corieltauvorum (1614) 1 – 3 (1521) Dundee City G
After last minute changes to the Devana team, all went smoothly in more ways than one! This was a great performance from Dundee City G against a stronger side! It was a nice way to finish their campaign and they finished in 9th place on 8 points. I think this is maybe a place short for the promotion places, but we will wait and see. Well played, Stuart Duff, Euan Murray, Conor Kelly & Matthew Hunter!
Colchester JFF B (1187) 1½ – 2½ (1234) Dundee City H
Dundee City H team finished their campaign with a nice win, which should probably have been more convincing, but for an internet issue which meant our board four player unfortunately defaulted.
Dundee City H team finished in 18th place on 7 points. Well played Ed Walton, Jonathan Kinnell, Moritz Bogs & Judith Firth!
That`s the qualifying 7 rounds over with, and Dundee City teams overall having a good campaign! Congratulations to our play-off teams, Dundee City “C”, “D” & “E” and promotion all being well!
The semi-finals are on Tues 12th Dec 23, 7:30pm.
COME ON DUNDEE CITY!!
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JUNIOR 4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Thurs 30th Nov 23 – 6:00pm
Season 8 – Round 7
Division Three – Group A
A joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
RESULT
Dorset Juniors (1515) 6 – 2 (1554) Dundee City Juniors
Well, they think it`s all over, it is now! Dundee City Juniors put out their 4 strongest players for their last match, but came up against one of the strongest sides in the league in Dorset Juniors 1!
Rishi Vijayakumar playing his last match for us was as usual in super form winning both his matches, but was given a run for his money by Dorset`s number one!
On boards 2,3 & 4, Matthew Hunter, Leonardo Devisme and Josh Dickson all did us proud as normal, but were over whelmed by the very strong Dorset Juniors who should be given all the plaudits for a magnificent performance in winning all six games!
Congratulations to Dorset Juniors 1 who finish 2nd in the group and I think are promoted to division 2!
Dundee City Juniors finished in a respectable 5th place on 6 points in a very strong group. Indeed, one might say they punched above their weight!
Congratulations to all our juniors in the Dundee City Juniors squad, Rishi, Matthew, Leo, Josh, Alexander, Noah & Haoqi. You did us proud again!
Season 9 starts in January 2024 and we need to find a couple more juniors for the team after losing Rish.
Once again thank you to you all for your support and myself and Castlehill CC are looking forward to working with you again in the 4NCL in Jan 24!
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 21st Nov 23 – 7:30pm
Season 8 – Round 6
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams is a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
Dundee City teams make it 4 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses. We have two teams in the play-offs and gaining promotion, with another on the cusp of the play-off`s and promotion, and one trying to defend their title! We also have two teams fighting off relegation!
Just another day in the office for Dundee City!
RESULTS
Div 1 – Group A
Dundee City A (2303) 3 – 1 (1988) Hebden Bridge 1
Another hard battle and another good win for Dundee City A, putting them in 3rd place on 9 points with one round left. Shropshire & Friends 1, lead on 10 points, with Wessex Some Stars A on 9 points in 2nd place. Dundee City A will need a little help with other results to once again reach the play-offs. They have a better game point difference from Wessex Some Stars A and a win would normally guarantee a play-off spot but for the unfortunate default Dundee City A suffered due to a power-cut! The number of defaults is the first tie-breaker! Miracles can happen, but it would be a cruel way to go out!
Well played, Richard Polaczek IM, Declan Shafi, Ian McDonald & Rishi Vijayakumar J13!
Div 1 – Group B
Dundee City B (2054) ½ – 3½ (2125) Farnham A
Dundee City B were up against it with their backs to the wall against a very strong Farnham A. As expected, it was an up-hill struggle, with Ed Spencer, Stephen Hogg & Alastair Dawson all losing, and draw master, David Findlay on board one getting the expected draw!
This leaves Dundee City B in 6th place on 5 points, just above the relegation spot on game points! With only one round left, a win for Dundee City B would guarantee division one status! Anything else, and it`s in the lap of the Gods with many permutations!
Div 2 – Group B
Dundee City C (1875) 2½ – 1½ (1627) Oxford 3
Congratulations to Dundee City C on another great result which guarantees them a play-off spot and promotion to division 1! This sets up the possibility of three Dundee City teams in division one! Now that would be something else! They are also on a 100% record with one round to go!
Well played Graham Mooney, Dariusz Kosznik, Ross Bremner & Theodoros Vasilliadis!
Div 3 – Group A
Dundee City D (1733) 2 – 2 (1551) Streatham B
Dundee City D made hard work of it, but in the end, not only got a good draw, but they have given themselves a fantastic opportunity to reach the play-offs and promotion to division two! Dundee City D sit in 3rd place on 9 points, with two teams above them on ten points. But those two team’s face-off against each other, leaving the door ajar for Dundee City to pip one of them to the play-offs, if Dundee City can win against bottom side Watford! Dundee City D also have the a “Get out of Jail” free card if the two top teams draw and Dundee City D win, leaving all three teams on 11 points, but Dundee would be guaranteed a play-off spot on game points!
Well played Richard Kynoch, Joshua Crofts, Ross Brennan & Cosmo Bobak!!
Div 4 – Group B
Dundee City E (1611) 3 – 1 (1444) The Hemel`s Gambit
Talk about punching hard in a tough division as Dundee City E just keep doing the business with another outstanding win! Congratulations to Dundee City E, siting top of their group on 11 points and reaching the play-offs and promotion to division 3! Honestly, well played James Anderson, Leyton Hackney, Alisdair McLeod & Trevor Harley! I do not have superlatives left to do you justice!
Div 4 – Group A
Beckenham (1728) 2 – 2 (1579) Dundee City F
It was a draw, but this draw was more like a win for Dundee City F against a very strong Beckenham! Out graded on all boards, it was a diamond performance from Robert Jackson, John Robertson, Sir Philip Cohen and the amazing, Ray Flood! This draw has given Dundee City F an outside chance of avoiding the drop sitting in 7th place on 3 points. They “MUST” win their last match against Charlton Cobras C, who sit above them on 4 points which means it`s in their own hands! You can`t ask for better than that!
Div 5 (Swiss)
Dundee City G (1461) 1½ – 2½ (1446) Irish Jazz
Both teams were evenly matched, but the “Irish” just had more “Jazz” on the night, and maybe the luck of the Irish as well! On another night it could have gone Dundee City G`s way, but not this time! Dundee City G sit in 13th place on 6 points and 15 game points. Well played Euan Murray, Matthew Hunter, Ed Walton and Ana Belen Otero Seijas!
Dundee City H (1139) 2½ – 1½ (847) Colchester JFF C
Congratulations to Dundee City H on a good win against Colchester JFF C! This puts them on 5 points and still with an outside change of finishing above Dundee City G in the table and bragging rights!
Well played Chris Moore, Leonardo Devisme, Judith Firth and newbie Moritz Bogs!
Judith was left fuming with herself after allowing a stalemate in a won game! Hoppen’s to us all, especially when we are just starting our chess journey!
Round 7 (last qualifying round) on Tuesday 5th December 23, 7:30pm
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JUNIOR 4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Thurs 16th Nov 23 – 6:00pm
Season 8 – Round 6
Division Three – Group A
A joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
Congratulations to Dundee City Juniors, Rishi, Matthew, Josh & Noah on an outstanding win! They traded blows with their opponents, and at times it was like a “Rocky” movie! I am sure I could hear the tune “Eye of the Tiger” in the background!
RESULT
Dundee City Juniors (1464) 5 – 3 (1326) Chess Challenger’s A
What an amazing result from our juniors! As a team, we had the higher grade, but that was down to Rishi Vijayakumar`s big, big grade of 2269! Matthew Hunter on board 2 also out graded his opponent, but Josh & Noah Dickson on the two bottom boards were massively out graded!
If I am honest, I was hoping for a draw at least, with Rishi and Matthew winning their matches giving us the draw, with an outside chance of a win, if either Josh or Noah could sneak something!
Well, it all worked out better than I could have hoped for, but not the way I had thought it would!
On board one, Rishi Vijayakumar J13 (2269) did what Rishi does best, winning both matches (2-0), but credit to his opponent (1366) who did not make it easy for Rishi (well, as far as “I” know)!
Part one of the plan completed!
On board two, Matthew Hunter J15 (1535) in his first game, seemed to be in trouble against his opponent (1351), but a few exchanges later and he wins a piece, or would have done, but for his opponent resigning! Matthew`s second game went a bit more smoothly to make it 2-0! Matthew has been a breath of fresh air since joining Dundee City Juniors
That`s the draw plan made! But now this is where all hell broke out and the unbelievable happened!
On board four, Noah Dickson J11 (675) against a 1300 was outplayed in his first game, losing a piece on move 9. Noah kept fighting, but to no avail. Then in Noah`s second game, he was again outplayed and to be honest, getting pulverised, hammered, beaten up, crushed, out-classed, etc, etc, with his opponent having 5 pieces to 3, plus exchange up, then 5 pieces to 2, plus 5 pawns to 2.
There was no way back from this, was there?
Then from nowhere, just like a fantasy film, the unbelievable happened. Noah still fighting, gave a harmless looking check, but this led to his opponent picking the only escape square that lost to a forced 2 move checkmate! Noah must have nearly knocked himself out, after hitting his head on the celling, jumping for joy, while his opponent must have been spewing all over the place in disbelief! You can`t make this up!
Credit to Noah for not giving up, and seeing the two-move checkmate! Noah! Noah!
That unexpected win meant no matter how Josh on board 3 did, we had won the match!
On board 3, Josh Dickson J13 (983) was playing well against a 1277, only for him to sack two pieces (Bishop & Knight) for a rook and pawn, which turned-out to be a mistake. That extra piece made all the difference in the end for his opponent!
In the second game, Josh played even better and got into a drawn ending with both players having a King and two pawns. Josh seemed to have got and understood the “Opposition” side of things, but has still to learn the art of “Triangulation”! This cost him the draw, which was a shame because Josh had played well, fought hard, but in the end got nothing for it! Well, I suppose that`s not really true, as he learnt a valuable lesson which will make Josh a much better player!
We wish Chess Challengers A all the best for round 7. Dundee City Juniors now sit in 5th place on 6 points (two other teams are also on six points), with one match left.
It will be a tough last match against one of the league favourites, but we have the talent, drive and at the moment a bit of luck, so you never know!
I have nothing but praise and admiration for all 4 juniors (and the ones that missed out this time) and am so proud of how they played and the way they never give up against the odds, and are always full of enthusiasm for playing chess! We really are a lucky chess club and I am sure there will be more to come in the future! Well played and thank you for being part of Castlehill Chess Club and Dundee City Juniors in the 4NCL online!
COME ON DUNDEE CITY JUNIORS!
Round 7 (Last) Thurs 30th Nov 23, 6pm
**Triangulation is also called losing a tempo or losing a move. Triangulation occurs most commonly in endgames with only kings and pawns when one king can manoeuvre on three adjacent squares in the shape of a triangle and maintain the basic position while the opposing king only has two such squares.
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 7th Nov 23 – 7:30pm
Season 8 – Round 5
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams is a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
It was a superb night for Dundee City teams, winning 7 of the 8 matches and so close to a clean sweep! Our “H” team lost, but were massively out graded!
RESULTS
Div 1 – Group A
Spirit of Atticus (2046) 1 – 3 (2265) Dundee City A
This was another good result for Dundee City A who sit in 4th place on 7 points, with 2 rounds to go. There are 3 teams on 7 points (one on eight), and even if Dundee City A win their last two matches, they will still need either Shropshire & Friends 1 or Wessex Some Stars A to drop points (or have a default game) to reach the play-offs and keep their title defence on-course! We have the miracle players (Richard Polaczek IM, Declan Shafi, Ian McDonald and Rishi Vijayakumar), all we need is the miracle results!
Div 1 – Group B
Dundee City B (1984) 3½ – ½ (1938) Guildford 1
Another good performance from our “B” team, especially from our two stand-in players, Alan Borwell & Alastair Dawson, both winners, and ably supported by Ed Spencer & Stephen Hogg!
Dundee City B sit in 4th place on 5 points and still have an outside change of reaching the play-offs, and the bonus of it still being in their own hands! It will not be easy and they will be the underdog, but they are good enough!
Div 2 – Group B
Ashfield Anonymous A (1927) 1½ – 2½ (1888) Dundee City C
This was a very tight match grading wise, but Dundee City C are putting in some shift in season 8 so far and this match was no different! Not to lose a match against a team of this calibre is amazing and deserving of the victory. Well played Andre Babin, Graham Mooney, Dariusz Kosznik & Ross Bremner!
Dundee City C have a 100% record and sit in second place on 10 points, just 1½ game points behind Oxford 3 also with a 100% record! Both teams only need 1 point in two matches to make the play-offs, and guess what? They play each other in the next round (6)! Should be a cracker!
Div 3 – Group A
Stroud Oldies (1501) 1 – 3 (1733) Dundee City D
Dundee City D are having a great campaign so far and carried on in round 5, with Richard Kynoch, Joshua Crofts, Ross Brennan & Cosmo Bobak all playing their part in swiping Stroud`s Zimmer’s from them, and sending them back to their residential home in Stroud. It was tough love, but no oldies were hurt during this match (I hope?)!
This leaves Dundee City D in 1st place on 8 points, with 2 other teams (Hebden Bridge 2 & Wessex Some Stars E) also on 8 points. If Dundee City D win their last 2 games (Streatham B & Watford), they will make the play-offs under their own steam! The bonus, or is that an insurance policy, Wessex Some Stars E & Hebden Bridge 2 meet in the last round!
Div 4 – Group B
Worcestershire Wolfpack B (1568) ½ – 3½ (1611) Dundee City E
Dundee City E can seem to do no wrong! Another outstanding, performance as Dundee City E sent the “WOLF`S” “PACKING” all the back to Worcestershire! Well done James Anderson, Leyton Hackney, Alisdair McLeod & Trevor Harley who had plenty “Sauce” left!
Dundee City E only need a ½ point from their last two matches to reach the play-offs! They sit top of the table on 9 points
Div 4 – Group A
Dundee City F (1551) 3 – 0 (1370) Shropshire & Friends 4
Dundee City F get their first win in what turned out to be a dramatic match with lots going on, hence the score-line! Sir Philip Cohen and Conor Kelly both won, while John Robertson won by default (No show). This left board one match with Captain Robert Jackson up against a junior. Unfortunately, it did not go to plan, as the game was not rated, and we could not resolve the issue for one reason or another and the match was declared a 0 – 0 by the arbiter as per 4NCL rules! You can`t make this stuff up!
Dundee City F sit in 7th place on 2 points and still have time to at least move up the table and avoid relegation!
Div 5 (Swiss)
Wessex Some Stars G (1456) 1½ – 2½ (1482) Dundee City G
Dundee City G once again battled hard for their win. It`s not been an easy campaign, but they still have a chance of getting promoted! Euan Murray, Stuart Duff, Ed Walton & Matthew Hunter all played their part and with two rounds to go, it will be all hands-on deck to secure the promotion place!
They sit in 8th place on 6 points.
Chess Challengers B (1346) 4 – 0 (1119) Dundee City H
Grading wise, and I suspect experience wise, our “H” team were out of their depth! On the other hand, this is the team where we give less experienced players a chance to play in events like this which can only help their chess development! In the team this round was newbie, Jonathan Kinnell J18, Chris Moore, Leonardo Devisme J13 & David Ewing. Unfortunately, Leonardo did not play due to forgetting all about it! While this did not help, it had no baring on the final result!
Dundee City H sit in 25th place on 3 points.
Round 6 on Tuesday 7th November 23, 7:30pm
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JUNIOR 4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Thurs 2nd Nov 23 – 6:00pm
Season 8 – Round 5
Division Three – Group A
A joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
RESULT
Dundee City Juniors (980) 6½ – 1½ (976) Hilsmark Juniors 2
What a fantastic result by our juniors against a decent junior side. The overall team gradings looked close, but the reality was, we massively out graded the Hilsmark board one, but equally, Dundee City Juniors were out graded on the rest of the boards, especially boards 3 & 4!
We also had a bit of luck on the night which would not have stopped us winning, but would have made the score a bit closer! Of course winning the first 4 matches was a big bonus and was the difference in the end!
Board One: Matthew Hunter (1535) was just too strong for his opponent (995) and won both well, although he did take it to the edge time wise in the first game!
Board Two: Josh Dickson (983) won his first game, but found himself in trouble in his second game, and indeed was in a lost position, only for his opponent (1082) to keep checking Josh`s King instead of pushing his pawns to queen and ended in a threefold repetition (Lichess automatically apply that), which must have come as a shock to both players! Does not matter how you get the points as long as you get them!
Board Three: Noah Dickson (675) Like Josh, Noah won his first game, but in his second game he was a Queen down for a rook and in a lost position! Unbelievably, like his brother, Josh, Noah drew by threefold repetition! His opponent (944) and Noah, must have fallen off their chair`s when that happened!
But Josh & Noah, has nothing on Master Haoqi Lui, Mister, never give in no matter what!
Board Four: Haoqi Lui (474). Just like his team mates, Haoqi won his first game, and like Josh & Noah, he was losing in his second game (Understatement)! Haoqi only had his King, while his opponent (795) a King, 2 rooks and 5 pawns! After a few checks by his opponent and with Haoqi`s King trapped in his opponent’s camp on the queenside, finally his opponent started pushing his pawn for a queen. The only problem was they queened leaving Haoqi with no legal moves, so “STALEMATE”!
You can`t make this up, nobody would believe you!
What a match! Easy street in the first four singles, and a hell of a lot of madness and luck in the last 4 singles to take the match! Dundee City wish Hilsmark Juniors all the best for the last two rounds!
Well played Matthew, Josh, Noah and Haoqi!
Dundee City Juniors move into 5th place on 4 points, with 2 rounds left.
In the title of an Osmond’s song, this match was “CRAZY HORSES”!
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 24th Oct 23 – 7:30pm
Season 8 – Round 4
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams is a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
With 5 wins, one draw and two losses, it could be considered a good nights work!
RESULTS
Div 1 – Group A
Dundee City A (2301) 3½ – ½ (1910) Hertford 1
Dundee City A get back to winning ways after their shock default last week! Richard Polaczek IM and Ian McDonald won, while Declan Shafi drew his match, giving our “A” team the win with one match to go. The last match on board 4 was a humdinger of a match, with twists & turns, even snakes & ladders! Everything changed on move 30 when Rishi Vijayakumar, sacked a piece for an attack, but went a piece down, but the exchange up. At one point Rishi was down to 1 second, while his opponents had 10 minutes! It was a fascinating game to watch and how Rishi with the clock always threatening to time-out manged to out manoeuvre his opponent and get the win, I will never know! Phew, what a game!
Dundee City A sit in 5th place on 5 points, just one point behind the leaders, so still in the mix with 3 rounds to go!
Div 1 – Group B
Charlton Cobras A (2062) 3 – 1 (2065) Dundee City B
An evenly matched game grading wise, Charlton Cobras A just seemed to hold the edge over our “B” team. Stephen Hogg arrived late into the action, but managed to secure a draw, as did Scottish Champion, Ed Spencer. David Findlay on board one and up against an FM, fought hard, but had to concede in the end. That left Alan Borwell, playing on board 4 with the winner taking the spoils, or a draw sharing the points. This time, Charlton Cobras A team that took the honours and the match!
Dundee City B sit in 6th place on 3 points, with the leaders on 7 points, so a bit of work to do!
Div 2 – Group B
Dundee City C (1871) 3 – 1 (1362) Cornish Choughs
Dundee City C teams campaign just goes from strength to strength, with a comfortable win against Cornish Choughs, who took their medicine well, no more choughs! Graham Mooney, Alastair Dawson and Dariusz Kosznik all won, with Ross Bremner being the only one to lose.
Dundee City C sit proudly at the top of the able on the full 8 points! It`s theirs to win or lose!
Div 3 – Group A
Dundee City D (1704) 4 – 0 (1717) Wessex Some Stars E
Once again a Dundee City team battles it out with Wessex Some Stars, this time our “D” team against their “E” team, with both evenly matched grading wise. Well maybe they were grading wise, but OTB, Dundee City D stood head and shoulders above Wessex Some Stars E! It was a masterclass by Richard Kynoch, Ross Brennan, Ray Flood & Leyton Hackney”!
Dundee City D sit in 2nd place on 6 points, just 2 points behind the leader!
Div 4 – Group B
Dundee City E (1598) 2 – 2 (1368) East Kilbride B
Well if you go by the published grades, you would think this was a walk in the park for our “E” team, but all is not what it seems sometimes and this was one of those occasions! East Kilbride B had drawn their last two matches against stronger teams and it seems they are on a roll as they once again get a draw against a stronger team, us!
Alisdair McLeod on top board won, Jim Anderson lost, while Trevor Harley and Ray Noble both drew their matches. Trevor maybe had the edge and just missed finding the killer move in time-trouble, while Ray was busy checking and sorting out all our 8 teams, which took up 40 minutes of his time! By then he was the exchange down and losing! Once able to fully focus on his game, somehow (call it a miracle!), he managed to salvage a very important draw!
This draw keeps Dundee City E in 1st place on 7 points! You can`t ask better than that!
Div 4 – Group A
Cozy Tomatoes (1697) 2½ – 1½ (1544) Dundee City F
These two teams met in season 7 with our “F” team winning, just, so for Cozy Tomatoes it was sweet revenge! Another close game, and Cozy Tomatoes were the ones to beat this time. Dundee City F, pushed them close and on another day, it could have gone the other way! Sir Philip Cohen got the “F” team off to the perfect start, then Subhayu Banerjee followed that up with a draw. Unfortunately, Conor Kelly and captain, Robert Jackson lost. Given the side our “F” team have, it astounding that they have yet to register a point!
Dundee City F team are in 7th place on zero points and looking relegation in the face! Still time to pull a rabbit out of the hat!
Div 5 (Swiss)
Charlton Cobras (1136) 0 – 4 (1394) Dundee City G
Nice win by Dundee City G team with Stuart Duff, Matthew Hunter J15, Ana Belen Otero Seijas and Chris Moore all on hot form, with some adding a slice of luck on top to boot!
In a Swiss division of 32 teams, Dundee City G team sit in 12th place on 4 points, 3 points behind the leaders. A promotion place is still in their grasp!
Dundee City H (1014) 3½ – ½ (879) Chess Challengers D
Dundee City H team faced a” chess challenge” and met it head-on to take the points. They were helped by Chess Challengers D only having 3 players, meaning David Ewing did not get a game, but we got the default start! It was not plain sailing and some players tried their best to make it difficult, but in the end, got there! Well played Leonardo Devisme J13, Judith Firth & Norman Waugh.
Dundee City H team sit in 21st place on 3 points, so still an outside chance of promotion!
Round 5 is on Tuesday 7th November 23, 7:30pm
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JUNIOR 4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Thurs 19th Oct 23 – 6:00pm
Season 8 – Round 4
Division Three – Group A
A joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
RESULT
Brentwood School B (1258) 4 – 4 (1314) Dundee City Juniors
Grading wise Dundee City Juniors were heavily out graded on the bottom two boards, but out graded our opponents on the top two boards, especially the top board with our superstar junior, Rishi Vijayakumar (2269)!
It was a good match up and all 8 juniors put their heart and soul into their matches! Alexander Barron-Majerik (558) on board 3, got us of to a flyer with a nice win against his much stronger opponent (1128)! The down side is, he lost quickly in his second game, but that chess for you!
Haoqi Liu (474) on board 4 can blow hot and cold, sometimes at the same time and you never know what you are going to get! This time however Haoqi was not at the races for some reason as he lost both games quickly, the last one in 10 moves! Knowing Haoqi, he will do the same again in two weeks, but win both of them!
Our board one superstar, Rishi Vijayakumar (2269) was made to work by his 1402 opponent! Both games were thrillers and great to watch! On another night Brentwood Schools number one board could have won both games against any other player, with the way he played! But Rishi is no ordinary junior and he held his nerve, worked it all out and even nearly lost on time! I have no doubt that he had already worked and seen the win and pressure does not seem to faze him at all, indeed I think he lives for it! Great two wins by Rishi which has given Dundee City some hope of getting something out of this match!
Our board two, Matthew Hunter (1535) est, is still finding his feet in this format and time-control and was a bit unlucky in the end to lose the first match! But boy did he make up for it in his second match, which at one point, I had him down as lost, only for him to turn it around and take the second match (not sure how?) to get Dundee City Juniors an unexpected draw! Well played Matthew!
This draw has taken Dundee City off bottom place to 7th and still in reach of the teams above them! Of course, it’s all about the experience they gain playing in competitions like this, which hopefully they will learn from and develop into better players.
Well played Rishi, Matthew, Alexander & Haoqi! Well played Brentwood School B team, you have some very talented juniors for the future and Dundee City Juniors wish you all the best the this competition!
Round 5 is on Thursday 2nd Nov 23, 6pm.
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 10th Oct 23 – 7:30pm
Season 8 – Round 3
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams is a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
Hail, rain and fire would be a good way to describe the 4NCL matches in round 3! It was a tough, joyful and a heart-breaking night for Dundee City teams, but sometimes you must fight your demons and stand tall!
RESULTS
Div 1 – Group A
Shropshire & Friends 1 (1975) 3 – 1 (2284) Dundee City A
It was heartbreak for Dundee City A as they unexpectedly lost their first game in a while, which has put a dent in their championship hopes of defending the title they won in season 7! All credit must go to Shropshire & Friends 1 for some great performances and they fully deserved the win! Mind you it did not help that one of our players, playing from Brazil, fell victim to a power cut just as the 4NCL was about to start! Unfortunate, but somethings you have no control over, it is what it is!
Dundee City A sit in 6th place on 3 points, just 2 points behind the leaders, with 4 rounds to go, so still in prime position to finish in the top two and defend their title!
Div 1 – Group B
Dundee City B (1987) 1½ – 2½ (2035) Hackney Heffalumps
This was a tough match for Dundee City B team, who were slightly weakened with some players missing, but their replacements proved themselves worthy of their place in the “B” team! Alan Borwell (Brd 3) and Graham Mooney (Brd 4) drew their matches, giving their team a strong foundation to build on. Stephen Hogg (Brd 2), also drew his match keeping the match all-square. Ed Spencer on board one was up against an FM and took him all the way, but just lost out at the end. We gave Hackney Heffalumps a fight, even fright, to the end, but congratulations to the Heffalumps on the win!
Dundee City B, sit in 3rd place on 3 points, just 2 points behind the leader, ready to strike at any moment!
Div 2 – Group B
Hackney Thirsty (1787) 1½ – 2½ (1890) Dundee City C
Our Dundee City C team have had a great start to season 8 with this being their 3rd win out of 3 matches! You can`t ask better than that! This teams fighting quality, team spirit is absolutely amazing. Andre Babin, Theodoros Vasiliadis and Ross Bremner fought hard and long to secure a draw, especially Ross on board 4! Alastair Dawson on board 3 gave the team a great start with a win. The irony is, Alastair is normally the player that draws his matches! Way to go lads!
Dundee City C sit in 2nd place on 6 points, just a ½ game point behind Oxford 3, who are also on 6 points!
Div 3 – Group A
Wells Globetrotters 1 (1785) 1 – 3 (1758) Dundee City D
It was a very even encounter grading wise, but Dundee City D held their nerve against a very strong Wells team to take the points. Wells Globetrotter had a bit of bad luck with their top player on board one not showing up until it was too late, giving us a free point and earning them a ½ point penalty. Joshua Crofts on board 2 won, as did Ray Flood on board 4 with a fantastic performance! Ross Brennan on board 3 found his opponent too solid and ended up losing to one of Roger Hargreaves, Mr Man, called Mr Strong (username)!
How could you fight that!
Dundee City D sit in 3rd place on 4 points, just 2 points behind the leaders, but a few games points to make up!
Div 4 – Group B
Farnham B (1549) 1½ – 2½ (1569) Dundee City E
Dundee City E team are proving to be a tough team to beat with a never say die attitude! Leyton Hackney (Brd 3) and Cosmo Bokak (Brd 2) both winning, with Trevor Harley (Brd 4) losing a curious match to say the least. So, it was down to their captain on board one, James Anderson to get the half point needed to secure the win and that he did to make it 3 wins out of 3 matches! Phenomenal performance once again from Dundee City E team players!
That puts them out on their own at the top of the group on 6 points!
Div 4 – Group A
Worcestershire Wolfpack A (1836) 2½ – 1½ (1569) Dundee City F
Out graded and outgunned, Dundee City F team punched well above their weight and so nearly caused an upset! On another day the result could easily have gone the other way! Without doubt, our players showed they are not out of their depth at this level, indeed other teams should be shaking in their boots every time they come up against our “F” team! If they keep this up, their results will turn around at some point!
Dundee City F sit in 7th place on zero points for now!
Div 5 (Swiss)
Dundee City G (1490) 1½ – 2½ (1503) War & Piece Nimrod
Another tough match, in a very hard division for our “G” team. Again, it was one of those matches that could have gone the other way on another day! Ed Walton on board 3 is the very essence of Mr dependable with another draw, while Subahyu Banerjee`s bad run continues on board 2 with a loss! I am sure it will turn around soon. Board one, Euan Murray, put up a valent battle but just lost out at the end. Credit to Stuart Duff on board 4 for the win, but at times it seemed he was trying to grab defeat from the jaws of victory, but in the end had to settle for the win! Well done, Stuart!
Dundee City F, sit in 19th place on 2 points, in a very dangerous division!
Chessy McChessface (1276) 3 – 1 (1078) Dundee City H
Dundee City H team as always in this division, are out graded! It`s also the team for players to get experience at playing in competitions like this, so it`s not so much about the results, but what they can learn from the games!
All our players were out graded on all boards, and went down fighting, some even kidding and screaming! But we did get one success, with board 4, David Ewing winning his match! Well played David and the rest of the team. It`s murder out there in division 5, but don`t worry, we have your backs!
Dundee City H sit in 27th place and as Yazz sings, “the only way is up”!
Round 4 on Tuesday 24th October 23, 7:30pm
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 12th Sept 23 – 7:30pm
Season 8 – Round 2
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams is a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
In round 2, out of the 8 matches, we won 3, draw two, and lost 3! Dundee City teams faced Wessex Some Stars four time over the divisions! One win each, and two draws, so honours even! But Wessex Some Stars A will have been happy to draw with our “A” team in division one!
It`s seems the “only way is Wessex”!
RESULTS
Div 1 – Group A
Dundee City A (2280) 2 – 2 (2179) Wessex Some Stars A
Talk about a tough game! While the defending champions Dundee City A had a slight edge grading wise. All matches were battles of the highest quality, and in the end Wessex Some Stars A fully deserved the draw! Rishi once again proved he is not out of his depth at this level and maybe soon it will be the other players that will be out of their depth! Declan Shafi and Richard Polaczek IM both drew and a rare loss for Mr consistent, David Findlay on board 4.
There are 4 team in group A on 3 points, with our “A” team topping the table by 1 game point from you`ve guessed it, Wessex Some Stars A!
Div 1 – Group B
Wessex Some Stars B (2073) 2 – 2 (2042) Dundee City B
Another Wessex versus Dundee City battle and another draw! Scottish Champion Ed Spencer just can`t go wrong at the moment with another fine win on board 1! The middle boards (Andrew Wright (on phone!) & Stephen Hogg) were draws, with Alan Borwell on board 4 being the unlucky one in a dragon fight! Fair result for both sides.
In group B, we have a 3-way tie on 3 points, with our “B” team in 3rd place on game points.
Div 2 – Group B
Dundee City C (1889) 2½ – 1½ (1768) Shropshire & Friends 2
Andre, Graham, Theo & Dariusz, the dream team in any division! Fantastic performance against a more than decent side! I think our “C” team have a good shot at a promotion place if they can carry on like this!
In group B our “C” team sits in equal 1st place on the full 4 points, with Oxford 3!
Div 3 – Group A
Dundee City D (1744) 3 – 1 (1725) Ashfield Anonymous C
Two evenly matched sides, but Dundee City D were just awesome on the night! Ray Flood (board 4) started it all off, after his opponent made a mouse slip and asked for a “take-back” which is not allowed, so refused. It`s just one of those things in online chess you have to take on the chin! Joshua Crofts and Ross Brennan made it 3 wins, with Richard Kynoch on board one, the only player losing out this week.
In group A, our “D” team is in 4th place on 2 points, only one win behind the leaders!
Div 4 – Group B
Dundee City E (1615) 2½ – 1½ (1703) Wessex Some Stars F
This has to be the result of the night with our “E” team taking the spoils in a cracking battle against another very strong Wessex Some Stars team! Captain, James Anderson (1617) on board one took a draw against a 1725). Leyton Hackney (1644) on board 2, had a up and down match, which thankfully finished on an up! Cosmo Bobak (Brd 4) was doing fine until a blunder, but that’s chess for you! The match of the night was a titanic struggle on board 3, where Trevor Harley (1586) was up against a 1706. With both players in time trouble, it was nail-biting to watch, never mind play in! At one point, Trevor made his move as his clock hit zero, and got 15 second’s increment! Trevor looked to be on the wrong end of it at this point, only for his opponent in time-trouble, to miss a threat, with Trevor delivering checkmate with seconds to spare! What a breath-taking finish to this match! Trevor you must have nerves of steel!
In group B our “E” team sits proudly at the top of the group on 4 points, from the Hemel`s Gambit!
Div 4 – Group A
Dundee City F (1564) ½ – 3½ (1751) Lenzie Basilisks
This was always going to be an uphill struggle and so it proved. Having said that Robert Jackson on board 1 and Alisdair McLeod on board 2, had their chances, but it was one of those nights! Sir Philip Cohen on board 3 got a deserved hard-fought draw, then found out he had missed a win! Don`t you just love this game!
Our “F” team in group A, unfortunately are in 7th place for now, but still 5 rounds to go!
Div 5 (Swiss)
Chess Challengers A (1543) 2½ – 1½ (1491) Dundee City G
Oh boy, what a match! On another day, the score-line could have gone the other way. Ed Walton on board 4 could find no way through, so a draw. Subhayu Bannerjee and Stuart Duff both lost, but first-timer, Junior, Matthew Hunter won an end game which was looking like a draw with opposite coloured Bishops! His opponent offered the draw, but Matthew turned it down and then went on to demonstrate why he turned it down to take the full point. What a finish by Matthew! I was blown away by his end game play for one so young!
Despite this narrow defeat, our “G” team is in 9th place on 2 points, well in striking distance of the leaders!
Dundee City H (1133) 0 – 4 (1590) Wessex Some Stars G
Out graded, out gunned, out played! Having said that, there was some fighting chess from our players and hope for the future. On a comedy note: Ana on board 1, had just finished work and was playing on her phone, got on the wrong bus, had to get off that bus and catch another one and lost quickly! As Tommy Cooper said “Just like that”!
Our “H” team is in 23rd place on 1 point.
Round 3 on Tuesday 10th October 23, 7:30pm
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Thurs 21st Sept 23 – 6:00pm
Season 8 – Round 2
Division Three – Group A
A joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
RESULT
Suffolk Juniors (1539) 4½ – 3½ (1554) Dundee City Juniors
On grading, it looks a close match, but Suffolk Juniors were by far the stronger side, indeed, I would say one of the favourites to win the division!
Dundee City Juniors had Rishi Vijayakumar J12 on board one with a grading of 2269! This is what gave us the average team grading of 1554!
Board one: Rishi Vijayakumar (2269) was given a game by his opponent (1778), but was just too strong for him in the end, winning both his matches. I don`t think the Suffolk number one board will face another junior like Rishi this season!
Board two: Matthew Hunter (1535) was playing his first Junior 4NCL match and played well against his 1553 opponent! It was not his night, losing both matches, but the tight time controls take some getting used to, but I think we have another star junior on our hands!
Board three: Leonardo Devisme (1144) was another junior playing his first match for Dundee City Juniors in the Junior 4NCL! Like Matthew, he found the quick time-controls had to adjust too, but will learn. He did lose both matches, but the experience he gains from playing in this type of match, will stand him in good stead for the future!
Board four: Josh Dickson (983) is normally board 1 or 2, so board 4 was a new experience for him! Unfortunately, due to a problem at Suffolk Juniors end, Josh won his first game by default! He could have claimed his 2nd game by default as well, but his opponent did turn up, and you know, for the juniors, it`s about playing chess, not defaults! Josh was up against it in the opening faze and was losing after a blunder on move 7! But Josh is a fighter, and got himself back into the match, but time pressure forced another error and that was that! Still, it was a tremendous effort against his 1318 opponent, especially as he had to wait a long time for the game!
We lost the match 5 – 3, but Suffolk Juniors got a ½ point penalty, making it 4½ – 3. Now if we had claimed the 2nd default, the match would have finished 4 -4, then Suffolk would have had a 1-point penalty, making it a win for Dundee City Juniors! But that would not have been in the right spirit for a junior match and in the end, we were well beaten by the better side on the night!
Congratulations to Suffolk Juniors, and we wish them will in the rest of their campaign!
Well played to our juniors and I see plenty from them to suggest, we have something to look forward to in the future!
The battle continues with round 3 taking place on Thurs 5th Oct 23, 6pm!
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 12th Sept 23 – 7:30pm
Season 8 – Round 1
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams are a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
We are off and up and running in season 8 of the 4NCL! Dundee City have 8 teams this season, spread throughout all 5 divisions! Disappointedly, two of our teams did not get a match in round one, with Dundee City H, in division 5 getting a bye and Dundee City E, in division four winning by default as Calstock Killers did not reach base!
Of the six teams playing we had 4 winners; Dundee City A and Dundee City B in division one, Dundee City C in division two, and Dundee City G in division 5. Unfortunately, Dundee City D (div 3) and Dundee City F (div 4) both lost.
RESULTS
Div 1 – Group A
Dundee City A (2303) 4 – 0 (1832) Oxford 2
A comfortable start for Dundee City A in the defence of their title. Rishi Vijayakumar, J12 played his first match in the “A” team on board 4 and showed not only his fighting qualities, but his deep understanding of the game to bag his win!
Div 1 – Group B
Dundee City B (2087) 2½ – 1½ (2062) Oxford 1
A close fought match for Dundee City B, who just sneaked past the winning line. What a line up too, with David Findlay in the team after Rishi pushed him down a team, Scottish champion 2023, Ed Spencer also in the team, Mr dependable, Stephen Hogg, topped off on bottom board by Ross Bremner!
Div 2 – Group B
Barnet Knights A (1917) 1 – 3 (1889) Dundee City C
Dundee City C team, once again preformed like giants against class opponents, Barnet Knights A! Graham Mooney and Theo Vasilliadis both won, while Andre Babin & Alastair Dawson both drew their matches!
Div 3 – Group A
Dundee City D (1836) 1 – 3 (1823) Hebden Bridge 2
Dundee City D had everything thrown at them by Hebden Bridge 2, and put up a good fight, but in the end, it was a bridge too far! Two good draws on boards one & two by Dariusz Kosznik and Richard Kynoch, but no joy on the other two boards!
Div 4 – Group B
Dundee City E W – L Calstock Killers
Well all ready and primed for battle, but Calstock Killers, were more Calstock no-shows! Disapointing for our players who had given up their time, but a win is a win!
Div 4 – Group A
Hebden Bridge 3 (1515) 3 – 1 (1562) Dundee City F
It seems Hebden Bridge are going to be a thorn in our side as their number “3” team, emulated their number “2” team with a 3-1 win! Some tough and close matches, but always just behind. A nice win for Conor Kelly on board 4 saved the granny!
Div 5 (Swiss)
Dundee City G (1427) 4 – 0 (929) Colchester JFF B
While nothing in chess is ever what it seems by the score line, this turned out to be a nice start for Dundee City G, winning all 4 matches! On board 4 was Ana Belen Otero Seijas, playing her first match in the 4NCL on her phone, on the bus, and it was her opponent who mouse/hand slipped!
Dundee City H a bye
Not much you can do with an odd number of teams and someone had to get the bye!
Round 2 on Tuesday 26th September 23, 7:30pm
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JUNIOR 4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Thurs 7th Sept 23 – 6:00pm
Season 8 – Round 1
Division Three – Group A
A joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
RESULT
Dundee City Juniors (700) 3½ – 3½ (1194) Ojay`s D
It was a difficult start for our juniors on many fronts! Our junior rising star, Rishi Vijayakumar has moved on to pastures new in his rapid rise up the chess grading ladder! He will still fill in if we are short of players, but hopefully we can fill the gaps with new players.
Of course for the moment it has had a big effect on the team grading, but I am sure our juniors will rise to the challenge!
First match up in round one and we were massively out graded on all boards, but our players stood their ground under intense pressure to secure the draw with a bit of luck, or in the case of Ojay`s D, bad luck!
On board one, Josh Dickson J12 (983) won his first game against his opponent rated 1283! He lost his second one, but not without having his chances. Well played Josh!
On board two, Noah Dickson J10 (675), massively out graded (1217), managed an outstanding draw in his first game, before going down fighting in his second match. Well played Noah!
On board three, Alexander Barron-Majerik J12 (558) and playing his first Junior 4NCL match for a while faced an opponent graded 1156. Alexander put up a brave fight, but in the end his opponent was just to strong and he lost both matches. Chin up Alexander as that was a very tough match against a very strong opponent!
On board 4, Haoqi Liu J13 (474) had a frustrating time, as his opponent was a no show, so he won both matches by default. While this is good for the team, for Haoqi, Dundee City team and all our juniors, it`s about playing matches and getting more experience at this level that counts more than a default win, but that’s life sometimes! Haoqi will get his chance soon to prove himself!
The match finished 3½ – 4½ to Ojay`s D, but they had a ½ point deducted for each defaulted match (1 point in total), so the official score-line was 3½ – 3½ (draw) in the end.
Well played everyone, that was a good start to the campaign and we can build on that, but it will be tough!
The battle continues with round 2 taking place on Thurs 21st Sept 23, 6pm! Opponents: Suffolk Juniors (1539)!
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Season 8 starts in September 23!
Junior 4NCL – Thurs 7th Sept 23 – 6pm.
Main 4NCL – Tues 12th Sept 23 – 7:30 pm
If you are interested in playing in this exciting online event, let me know ASAP!
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SEASON 2022-23
4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 2nd May 23 – 7:30pm
Season 7 – Finals
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams are a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club
DIVISION ONE -FINAL
Dundee City A (2260) 2½ – 1½ (2052) Hackney Heffalumps
DIVISION THREE – FINAL
Dundee City C (1889) 2½ – 1½ (1825) Jurassic Coast
Congratulations to Dundee City A for becoming the first Scottish team to be crowned the 4NCL Online division one champions! Incredible achievement for Scotland the City of Dundee and the two chess clubs in Dundee City (Castlehill CC & Dundee CC). This is even more remarkable when you take in the fact they were in the final last year, with the match at their mercy, before tragedy struck! What strength of character by all players involved!
Not to be out done, Dundee City C are the division three champions after a close match against perennial arch rivals, Jurassic Coast, who might be getting a bit sick of Dundee City teams as this makes it 3 out of 3 finals they have lost to Dundee City teams (Seasons 5, 6 & 7!).
Dundee City A started with a draw on board 3 by CM Jacques Ophoff (2189), followed with a loss on board 4 for David Findlay (2197). Declan Shafi (2296) on board 3 was the exchange up, but looked to be fighting a rearguard action against his King? Having said that, Declan`s opponent was struggling for time and Declan seemed to have everything under control (I think?). The pressure finally got to his opponent as he left his knight en prise and Declan`s opponent resigned!
That made the score all square at 1½ each, with one match to finish. It all depended on the board one match with IM Richard Polaczek (2358) up against an FM (2218). Amazingly this was the same in the season 6 final when Dundee City A faced Charlton Cobras and were 2-1 up, with Richard last to finish. Richard was winning that final game, but under pressure and time running out, he blundered and lost the game which I know must have hurt him at the time. The match finished all square with Charlton Cobras taking the title on boards!
So here we are in season 7 and Dundee City A are back in the final, with Richard last to finish! What a game it was and to be honest, I had no idea what was going on (nothing new there!), but it looked too close to call at one point. This time I think Richard was in more time trouble than the last time, but this time, once his opponent made a mistake, Richard pounced on him, ripped this heart out and made no last minute errors to win the game. It was great to watch a professional at work and show us how it is done under pressure!
Now that’s what I call karma!
Richard you showed everybody, what we all knew anyway, you are not only a great chess player, an incredible team player, but your mental strength when faced with a repeat of the season six final scenario, you made sure the outcome was not repeated and sealed the deal for Dundee City A team to be crowned the 4NCL online division one champions 2022-23! The first ever Scottish champions! Well played everybody and what a team performance not only in this final, but the whole season 7 campaign! Proud of you all!
Not to be out done, Dundee City C team make it a double celebration as they beat Jurassic Coast in the division three final to lift the division three title 2022-23! It was another close match with an old enemy who have yet to get the better of any Dundee City teams in a final!
Theodoros Vasiliadis (1864) on board 4 gave Dundee City C the best start with a nice little combination to finish the game off! Alan Borwell (1917) on board one up against a very strong opponent (2051) was holding his own, if not better at one point, but in the end both agreed a draw.
On board two, Ross Bremner (1996) seemed to be holding his own for most of the game, only to be out done in the end game, with Knight & pawns v Bishop & pawns. Ross could not have done more then he did for the cause. This meant Dundee City C like our “A” team were tied at 1½ each with one game left!
On board 3 for Dundee City C was another Richard! You can’t scrip this sort of thing! This time it was Richard Kynoch (1781) up against a 1693. It was an up and down game with both players making mistakes, but in the end it was Richard and Dundee City C that got the point and the division three title!
What a result! What a game! What a match!
The whole team have been magnificent all 7 rounds, the semi-final and now the final. Along with the above players already mentioned, we have to pay tribute to Andre Babin, who won 6 games and drew one in the 7 rounds played and was instrumental, along with everybody else in helping Dundee City C reach the semi-finals!
Well what a season 7 for Dundee City teams! Two league champions, another two semi-finalists and three teams gaining promotion (One still to be confirmed?)!
Thank you to the organisers and helpers of the 4NCL. Thank you to Lichess.org, but most of all thank you to our players and teams who made us all proud again!
Bring on season 8 (Sept 23) and also maybe 8 teams!
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 25th April 23 – 7:30pm
Season 7 – Semi-Finals
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams are a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
DIVISION ONE
Dundee City A (2260) 4 – 0 (2002) Dundee City B
Well it was an easier night than expected for Dundee City A, as they brushed aside their team mates, Dundee City B. To be fair, one of them was a default, not the best time to only have 3 players in the semis! Congratulations to Dundee City A for reaching the final for the second season in a row! Last time out in the final, they faced the very strong Charlton Cobras A and only for an error under time pressure, should have won the final then. It hurt, but time has shown what resilience and strength of character this team has to reach the final again! Well played IM Richard Polaczek; Declan Shafi; Jacques Ophoff & David Findlay!
What a fantastic campaign by Dundee City B team to get to the semi-finals of division one. An outstanding achievement, just a pity they could not field their normal side this time, Ian McDonald; Ed Spencer; Stephen Hogg & Iain Sneddon who had guided them to this stage! Well played everyone!
Dundee City A, will not be facing the Cobras in the final this season, as they surprisingly got beat by Hackney Heffalumps in the other semi-final!
DIVISION THREE
Dundee City D (1807) 1½ – 2½ (1825) Jurassic Coast
With Dundee City C getting a bye to the final, they awaited the winners of Dundee City D v Jurassic Coast! Grading wise you could not separate them, both had good players, have been here before and have battled against each other at this stage!
In season 5, Dundee City D lost to Jurassic Coast in the division 4 semi-finals, but got revenge in season 6, when they beat Jurassic Coast in the division 4 final 3-1! This time however, it was Jurassic Coast’s turn to win but only just as Dundee City D lost 2½-1½. It seems the semis are not a good omen for Dundee City D against Jurassic Coast! Well played Jurassic Coast and unlucky Dundee City D and its players, Dariusz Kosznik (0); Sir Philip Cohen (0), Rishi Vijayakumar (1) & Ross Brennan (½). What an excellent season 7 campaign once again. While they lost in the semis, they are (or should be?) promoted to division 2!
That sets up the final, Dundee City C v Jurassic Coast! Now once again there is history here and lucky for us maybe, the omens are the other way around compared to Dundee City D! Yes in season 5 Dundee City C were victorious in the Division 4 final against Jurassic Coast! They did however lose their last match against them in season 6, in the division 4 semi-final stage. So as you see the omens are in our favour here! Will history repeat its self? We will have to wait until next Tuesday for the finals to find out!
4NCL Finals – Tues 2nd May 23, 7:30pm on Lichess.org!
Come on Dundee City A & C teams!
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 18th April 23 – 7:30pm
Season 7 – Round 7
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams are a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
RESULTS
Div 1 – Group B
Dundee City A (2260) 3½ – 1½ (2151) Barnet Knights A
Div 1 – Group A
Dundee City B (2102) 4 – 0 (2057)Farnham A
Just an amazing result!
Div 3 – Group A
Watford (1596) 1 – 3 (1929) Dundee City C
Div 3 – Group B
Hertford 2 (1482) ½ – 3½ (1829) Dundee City D
Div 4 – Group A
Dundee City E (1627) 1 – 3 (1886) Streatham B
Div 5 (Swiss)
Wells Globetrotters 2 (1561) 1½ – 2½ (1615) Dundee City F
Dundee City G (1513) 2½ – 1½ (1419) Worchester Wolfpack 3
What a night and what a performance by all Dundee City teams! We had 6 winners, with one expected loss, so once again just missing out on the 7 wins!
Congratulations to Dundee City A, B, C & D teams for all reaching the semi-final stage in their respective divisions! Also congratulations to Dundee City F for finishing 3rd in division 5 and more than likely promotion to division 4 depending on entries next season. Dundee City G finished in 7th place and also have an outside chance of promotion, but probably may just miss out!
With Dundee City A finishing top of their group, and Dundee City B runners-up in their group, this unfortunately , but not confirmed yet, mean both Dundee City A & B will meet in the semi-final stage, but at least that would guarantee a Dundee City team in the final once again! Well done lads!
Div 1 -Semi-Final draw (TBC)
Charlton Cobras A v Hackney Heffalumps
Dundee City A v Dundee City B
Both last years finalists (Charlton Cobras A & Dundee City A) are in the semis and could meet again in the final? In some ways that would be good so we could try and right a wrong as Dundee City A let slip the win the last time!
As both Dundee City C & D finished top of their respective groups in division 3, they should avoid each other in the semis, which will give both a chance of meeting each other in the final (fingers crossed!).
Div 3 – Semi-Final draw (TBC)
Dundee City C v Sheffield Uni Graduates
Dundee City D v Jurassic Coast
Once again old rivals Jurassic Coast and Dundee City D meet again! Let’s hope our winning form against them continues!
All of the above draws have yet to be confirmed as the 4NCL are doing on going checks on all matches played under their Fair-Play and anti cheating policy’s!
Dundee City E team had a hard finish against the very strong Streatham B and did well to get a point, with Leyton Hackney on board 3 the hero of the hour to stop the whitewash! Dundee City E finished in 4th place in their group.
The semi-finals take place this coming Tuesday 25th April 23, 7:30pm.
COME ON DUNDEE CITY!
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JUNIOR 4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Thurs 13th April 23 – 6:00pm
Season 7 – Round 7 (last)
Division Three – Group B
A joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
RESULT
Dundee City Juniors (960) 5 – 3 (917) Warwickshire Bears F
Congratulations to Dundee City Juniors on winning this relegation double header! All players chipped in to support Rishi Vijayakumar J11 on board 1. Apart from the top board, our players on boards 2, 3 & 4 were all out graded by their opponents, but played out of their skins to all take a point off their opponents which sealed the deal with a 5 -3 win, which not only kept them in division 3, but propelled them to 4th place on 6 points. Wow!
I can’t say how proud we all are at Castlehill Chess Club & Dundee Chess Club (I certainly am!), of all four juniors! Of course Rishi gets all the plaudits because he is in a different class, but this time, the plaudits go to Josh Dickson J12, Noah Dickson J10 & Haoqi Liu J11 for not only the way they have been playing all season, but the way they handled the relegation pressure on the night to more than support their team mate, Rishi! Each time I see them play, I see the improvement in their chess in just a short space of time and it wonderful to see!
That’s it for season 7! Who knows what might happen in season 8 later in the year, if all our juniors keep improving. You never know, from a relegation battle to a promotion battle, why not!
COME ON DUNDEE CITY JUNIORS!
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 4th April 23 – 7:30pm
Season 7 – Round 6
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams are a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
RESULTS
Div 1 – Group B
Wessex Some Stars B (2069) 1 – 3 (2260) Dundee City A
Great result again from Dundee City A team. CM Jacques Ophoff kicked it off with a draw, Declan Shafi put Dundee City in the lead, then David Findlay drew, threefold repetition to make it 2-1 Dundee City A! That left our number one board IM Richard Polaczek to bring home the bacon which he did with a master class on how to convert a pawn advantage in a rook endgame! Superb performance once again from all our players!
Dundee City A sit top of group B on 10 points and have qualified for the play-offs with one round to spare! The round 7 match will decide who finishes top of the group which could be very important!
Div 1 – Group A
Guildford 1 (1747) 1 – 3 (2055) Dundee City B
An unbelievable start for Dundee City B as Stephen Hogg won his game in under 10 minutes as his opponent blundered twice in double quick time! But fate has a way of evening things out sometimes, and so it did six minutes after Mr Hogg’s match, when Andrew Wright (board one) blundered early, (most unusual for him!) to make it two quick games in this match. But not to worry as Iain Sneddon (brd 4) and Ed Spencer (brd 2) both won to give Dundee City B team the win! Talk about a real team effort! This puts them on 10 points and in 2nd place in group A. Still work to do in their last match to qualify for the play-off, but it’s in their own hands, win their last match and they join Dundee City A in the play-offs!
Div 3 – Group A
Dundee City C (1929) 2½ – 1½ (1710) Wells Globetrotters 1
It seems Dundee City teams are on fire in round 6 and our “C” team was no exception as they fought hard in a very close match to take the points! Andre Baban (Mr Reliable) got them off to the best of starts, Ross Bremner lost on board 1, CM Graham Mooney drew his match on board 4, which left it all hinging on Alan Borwell on board 3! Well Alan showed that age is no barrier and his vast experience and skill was just too much for his opponent in the end. It was another endgame master class along with perfect time management to bring the win home! Well played everyone!
Dundee City C sit top of group one on 12 points and have qualified for the play-off with one round to spare! Well done! Still it’s no time to rest on their laurels just yet as we have the matter of securing top spot in the group next round!
Div 3 – Group B
Dundee City D (1784) 2½ – 1½ (1744) War & Piece Overlord
Well would you believe it, as Dundee City D team make it 4 wins for our teams so far! It was close, but as a team they all pulled together to get the win. Rishi Vijatakumar J11 on board one lost against a very strong player. Sir Philip Cohen pulled it back to 1 – 1, then Richard Kynoch drew to leave it to our board 4 player, Ross Brennan to save the day. Well this was some match, and at one point it was not looking good for Ross with his opponent having a passed pawn and activity. But Ross did not make it easy and as the clock ticked down, his opponent started to make mistakes and handed Ross a life line which he grabbed with both hands to wrest the advantage from his opponent and ended up queening two pawns to take the points. What a game, what a finish! What a player! What a team! This result means like Dundee City C, the “D” team have made the play-offs with one round to spare! Now the big question is… can they avoid each other in the semi-finals?
Div 4 – Group A
Hebden Bridge 2 (1897) 2 – 2 (1627) Dundee City E
What’s the point of playing chess unless you can get a result doing it the hard way against a team of Hebden Bridges grading strength! Dundee City E, were 2 nil down (James Anderson & Trevor Harley) and teetering on the edge of the abyss. Then up steps Leyton Hackney in a game full of fireworks (Blackmar-Diener Gambit accepted) to give Dundee City E a glimmer of hope with a outstanding win in very stormy seas! What a game! So it all fell on the shoulders of the experienced Ray Flood on board two. Ray was white and faced the Alekine, Samisch Attack. It looked like Ray got the better of the opening exchanges, but for all I know it could well be theory! But with black having doubled d pawns, I much preferred his position. Mind you black did have an attack and missed the opportunity to sack his Bishop on move 19 to open up Ray’s King position for a very strong attack. Now it amazes me how in chess you miss an opportunity like this and then play the Bxh3 2 moves later, but it is no where as strong! Ray was still in trouble and under the cosh, but still alive and kicking! With blacks attack looking overpowering, and Ray technically a rook down (the a1 rook had not moved yet!), he was going to need a little bit of luck! Well time is no friend to anybody in chess, but I think time was the deciding factor along with Ray’s fighting spirit and tenacity! Both players were in serious time-trouble (tick-tock), but it was Ray’s opponent who kept missing the winning moves and in the end allowed Ray to swap off all the remaining pieces and blacks’ dangerous Kingside pawns to be two pawns up and winning! What the hell was that! Ray Flood, you must be the Teflon man, nothing sticks to you! Did you step in something before you played your match? That was one hell of a get out of jail card! One hell of a rearguard action and under pressure you played like a Grandmaster! True grit and stamina, you defiantly win the award of player of the night!
Dundee City E sit in 3rd place on 8 points in group A. Unfortunately the result that might scupper their chances of reaching the play-offs, was Streatham B`s outstanding draw against the mighty Heffalump Hunters! It is still in Dundee City E teams own hands as they play Streatham B in the last round. The only problem is, they need to win 4 – 0 to reach the play-offs! After Ray Flood’s performance tonight, you have to believe anything is possible and just reach for the stars!
Div 5 (Swiss)
Dundee City F (1572) 3 – 1 (1297) Farnham C
Another Dundee City team with the winning mentality! Yes, Dundee City F team were too strong for Farnham C who had some problems getting a team together due to the Easter holidays. Euan Murray lost his match on board 4, but his team mates, Joshua Crofts, John Robertson & Alisdair McLeod all won to get the team win! The only disappointing thing was Alisdair`s opponent in a lost position (Checkmate or lose queen!), not playing on or resigning, but just letting his time run out, over 30 minutes of it. Unfortunately Alisdair had to wait as anything else would have resulted in a loss.
Dundee City F sits in third place on 9 points, just 2 points off the leaders and has a great chance of promotion! It will be a tough last match whoever they play, but it’s in their own hands and that is all that matters!
Charlton Cobras D L – W Dundee City G
Unfortunately, Dundee City G team won by default as Charlton Cobras D could not raise a team due to the Easter holidays. But every cloud has a sliver lining I suppose, and Dundee City now sit in 10th place on 7 points!
What a night with Dundee City team winning 6 matches, drawing 1, with no losses! Oh so close to the holy grail of seven teams, seven wins! Mind you I personally would count Dundee City E teams draw as a win!
Congratulations to Dundee City A, C & D for reaching the play-offs! Fingers crossed they will be joined by our “B” team and maybe our “E” team! Bring on round 7!
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JUNIOR 4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Thurs 30th March 23 – 6:00pm
Season 7 – Round 6
Division Three – Group B
A joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
RESULT
Stroud Cubs A (1314) 6 – 2 (960) Dundee City Juniors
This was a tough match for our juniors on more than one front! Firstly they were playing one of the top sides in the group! Secondly, they were massively out graded! Thirdly, Josh & Noah Dickson were on holiday and kindly agreed to play using their phones!
Rishi Vijayakumar (1875) on board one had to pull out all the stops to share the points with his 1797 opponent! Not too often Rishi loses a game, but this was a hard game against a good opponent!
Hats of to Josh Dickson (786) on board 2 for a great win in his first match against a 1200 player! His opponent took the 2nd match to share the points, but well played Josh!
With Noah Dickson (board 3) and Haoqi Lui (board 4) both losing against their stronger opponents the match finished 6 -2 to Stroud Cubs A whom now top the group!
Congratulations to Stroud Cubs A on a great performance and best of luck in your last qualifying match!
Dundee City Juniors find themselves in 6th place on 4 points, just a point ahead of 7th placed Warwickshire Bears F, who they face in round 7 (last) in what could be a relegation double header!
No pressure then! Come on Dundee City Juniors!
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 21st March 23 – 7:30pm
Season 7 – Round 5
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams are a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
Not too shabby a night, with 4 wins 3 draws and no losses! Dundee A are still on course for another shot at the division one title, with the “B” team also in with a shout! Dundee City “C” & “D” teams on course to meet each other in the latter stages (hopefully), and the “E”, “F” and “G” teams in the fighting zones, rather than the danger zones!
Dundee City teams are on a “voyage of discovery” in season 7 and who knows where that might lead! Ship ahoy!
RESULTS
Div 1 – Group B
Dundee City A (2203) 3 – 1 (2001) Shropshire & Friends 1
Another good win for Dundee City A which keeps then top of group B on 8 points, a point ahead of the chasing teams. With two draws on the top two boards (IM Richard Polaczek & David Findlay) and our bottom two boards winning (CM Jacques Ophoff & Andrew Wright), this was a real team effort!
Next up Wessex Some Stars B!
Div 1 – Group A
Charlton Cobras (2141) 2 – 2 (2076) Dundee City B
What a result against the group leaders and season 6 division one champions! Make no mistake, this was a draw, but in every other aspect it felt like a victory! Charlton Cobras had two FM`s in their side, but Dundee City B were hot to trot on the night! Nice wins again for Ed Spencer and Iain Sneddon! This puts Dundee City B in 2nd place in group A on 8 points, just one point behind leaders, Charlton Cobras.
Up next, Guildford 1.
Div 3 – Group A
Guildford 2 (1375) 0 – 4 (1916) Dundee City C
You know, it’s never easy playing a team which you out grade on all boards by a big margin. The pressure is all on you, with the other team playing without a care in the world! But we need not have worried as all our players stood up to the challenge and played some nice chess and got the result they deserved! Guildford 2 played well, and made our players work for their wins, and in the end experience told! Well played Ross Bremner, Andre Babin, Graham Mooney & Theodoros Vasiliadis!
Dundee City C are on a 100% record with 5 wins out of 5 and top the group A table on 10 points, 2 points clear of Jurassic Coast.
Next up, 3rd placed Wells Globetrotters 1!
Div 3 – Group B
Sheffield Uni Graduates (1868) 2 – 2 (1829) Dundee City D
Another good draw for Dundee City D against a strong side. Well played Daruisz Kosznik, Rishi Vijayakumar, Richard Kynoch & Sir Philip Cohen! It was a very fluid match which swung one way and then another, especially Rishi`s (a pawn up, but made an error, but fought hard for draw!) and Philip’s (wrong end of it, but fighting draw!)! That’s when you need that little bit of luck even in chess!
Dundee City D sit top of group B on 9 points, just ahead of Sheffield Uni Graduates.
Next up, 3rd placed War & Piece Overlord!
Div 4 – Group A
Dundee City E (1627) 2 – 2 (1530) Shropshire & Friends 4
Good all round team performance deserving of a draw at least. Nice finishes by Ray Flood and Leyton Hackney, James Anderson under the cosh in the end game (most unusual) and an unfortunate blunder by Trevor Harley after a hard fought game left us with a draw! Yes a dropped point in some ways, but a draw that keeps Dundee City E in the hunt for a semi-final place! Well played everyone!
Dundee City E sit in 3rd place in group A on 7 points, 2 points behind the two leaders.
Up next, Hebden Bridge 2 who are just a point behind, in 4th place (Double header!).
Div 5 (Swiss)
Harrow Juniors (1620) ½ – 3½ (1612) Dundee City F
Grading wise this was a very close match, so the result in the end was outstanding! Ed Walton ended up in a locked position and a draw was agreed. Joshua Croft (Bd 2) got our first win after his opponent helped him trap his own queen! Alisdair McLeod (Bd 3) made it 2½ – ½, with a nice finish. That left Ross Brennan on board one to bring home the bacon in a very tight game in which Ross seemed to be fighting a rear guard action (cramped position?) until his opponent blundered and gifted him a piece! After that Ross made short work of the end game!
Very well played team against a strong side! Dundee City F sits in 4th place on 7 points, 2 points behind the leaders so in touching distance with two rounds to go!
Dundee City G (1449) 3 – 1 (1194) Chess Challengers B
Really nice win in the end for Dundee City G team! Adam Crocker (Bd 3) started it all of with a nice cameo performance, followed up with Afshin Alijani (Bd 4) winning after his opponent sacked his Bishop and then got his queen pinned to his King, game over! Kit McEvoy Gould (Bd 2) found himself down a pawn in the end game and his opponent cashed in that pawn for a win. On board 1, Euan Murray got of too a flyer after his opponent lost his Bishop in the opening! It was looking plain sailing for Euan, but then he started to drift a little, making it a lot harder than it should have been! In the end another blunder (Knight forked King and Rook) put Euan on easy street and a good win! Well played everyone, good team effort! Dundee City G sit in 17th place on 5 pts and still in with a promotion chance if they win both their last two games and other results go their way!
See next tab for all the results and standings so far!
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JUNIOR 4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Thurs 16th March 23 – 6:00pm
Season 7 – Round 5
Division Three – Group B
A joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
RESULT
Dundee City Juniors(960) 6 – 2 (1000) Shropshire Juniors
At last a result and a good one at that! While the team average grading looked level (40 pts dif), it can be deceiving as Rishi`s 1875 kind of distorts the grading`s. In reality apart from our top board, we were out graded on the last three boards by a big margin (567 – 866)!
Rishi Vijatakumar J11 won both his games on board one and deserves praise for still managing to keep focus and do the business despite the big grading gap between him and his opponent. It sometimes can lead to complacency and banana skin moments!
Josh and Noah Dickson on boards two and three respectively also won both their games, but against higher graded opponents! Josh`s wins were good and shows he is holding his own at this level. As for Noah, what a double win against an opponent 419 points above him. Way to go Noah!
Haoqi Liu on board 4 was well out graded and as we all know by now, one never knows which version of Haoqi will turn up on any given night! We will see what happens in two week and which Haoqi turns up!
This result means Dundee City Juniors sit in 4th place on 4 points in division 3, group “B”
Best of luck to Shropshire Juniors in the next round.
Round six Thurs 30th March 23.
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 7th March 23 – 7:30pm
Season 7 – Round 4
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams are a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
It was a tough round, but 5 of our teams won, with the other two team drawing, and no losses. That’s what I call a good night’s work! Having said that, everybody had to work hard, and some of the results underestimate the strength of our opponents and how well they played!
Div 1 – Group B
Hertford 1 (1888) 1 – 3 (2260) Dundee City A
At this level, there are no easy matches, gradings are no guides to a teams potential strength and Hertford 1 lived up to that billing! With draws by IM Richard Polaczek (board 1) and Jacques Ophoff (board 3), it was left to Declan Shafi (board 2) and David Findlay (board 4) to get the wins this time and the match in Dundee City A teams favour! Well played everybody!
Dundee City A sit top of group B on 6 pts. Hopefully they can stay there until the end!
Div 1 – Group A
Dundee City B (2102) 2 – 2 (2131) Wessex Some Stars A
This was a tough old battle and some balls of steel were required at the end! Going 2 – 0 down was not the best of starts (unlucky Stephen Hogg & Iain Sneddon), but what fighting qualities Dundee City B showed winning the last two matches to draw on the night. It almost felt like a win! Well played Ian McDonald (great end game technique), and Ed Spencer for pulling us out of the fire!
With that draw, Dundee City B sit in 2nd place on 7 points, just a point behind leaders Charlton Cobra`s A. It`s all in their own hands as luck would have it, they face the leaders in the next round! Should be a “Thriller”!
Div 3 – Group A
Dundee City C (1916) 2½ – 1½ (1832) Jurassic Coasts
If ever there was a team that would be sick of the sight of Dundee City, Jurassic Coasts would be that team! In Season 5, Dundee City C beat them in the div 4 play-off and just last season (7), Dundee City D beat them, again in a div 4 play-off! Here we go again as Dundee City C did it again with another close win! Ross Bremner (board 1) lost, Andre Babin (board 2) drew, but captain, Graham Mooney (board 3) and board 4 Theodoros Vasiliadis both winning to take the points once again! What a Team!
This leaves Dundee City C undefeated so far in 1st place on 8 points in group A!
Div 3 – Group B
Dundee City D (1829) 2½ – 1½ (1836) Wessex Some Stars D
A close one to call, but Dundee City D just managed to edge over the winning line to keep their 100% record after 4 rounds! Dariusz Kosznik (board 1) and Richard Kynoch (board 3) both won, while Rishi Vijayakumar J11 (board 2) drew to give us the narrow win. Sir Philip Cohen (board 4) was the unlucky player this week, but as we all know, it`s a team effort and his time to shine will come!
Like Dundee City C in group A, Dundee City D sit top of the table, undefeated on 8 points in group B!
Div 4 – Group A
East Kilbride Wanderers (1168) 1½ – 2½ (1622) Dundee City E
It seems the de facto score line this week (2½-1½) as Dundee City E made heavy weather of the fighting Warriors, East Kilbride Wanders! What on paper (who plays on paper?) looked like a sure thing, turned out to be a “What the *%*@”! On board 4, Trevor Harley was on fire and finished up winning in about 10 to 15 minutes! Leyton Hackney (board 2) lost, while Ray Flood (board 3) drew his match, leaving it all up to captain James Anderson! It was some game by James (Jim) and he played extremely well to see it through to the end with a win. Nice work James, a captains performance!
That leaves Dundee City E in 3rd place on 6 points, 2 points behind league leaders and odds on favourite to top the group, Heffalump Hunters! More importantly, they are only 1 point behind 2nd placed, Streatham B!
Div 5 (Swiss)
War & Piece Nimrod (1509) 0 – 4 (1615) Dundee City F
Grading wise a close match up. The matches were tougher than the score line suggests but with some outstanding play by all Dundee City F team players (Ross Brennan, Joshua Crofts, Alisdair McLeod & john Robertson Jnr), we managed what looked like a comfortable win! I have to hand it to all four players, well done indeed! I have never known John Robertson Jnr to ever finish his game 1st! He is normally the last one to finish as they are always “Wars of attrition”! It was quick! Onward and upward!
Dundee City F team with this win have moved up to 9th place on 5 points, just a mere 4 points behind the leaders! With 3 rounds left, we still have a chance of getting into the promotion places!
Chess Challengers C (908) 2 – 2 (1374) Dundee City G
Playing what looks like a junior team can be a nightmare. Not only that, but our “G” team is made up of a mixture of experienced players and others just beginning their chess journey! It can be, or should I say will be a rocky road with plenty of ups and downs! Well played Chess Challengers C and also Dundee City G!
Ed Walton (board 2) surely had not had his tea before the game and was starving, as he finished his game before some players had started theirs! Started 7:30pm, finished 7:39 pm. Phew! Afshin Alijani (board 3) got his first win in the 4NCL and must have been buzzing! On board one, Kit McEvoy Gould does not like playing juniors it seems as his record against them is not good! Still there is always round 5 to make amends! Judith Firth (board 4) is still waiting for that allusive win, or draw and I am sure it will come as she gets more experience at this level!
Dundee City G sits in 23rd place on 3 points. Still 3 rounds left to improve on that position, but it’s about the experience of playing chess at this level that is more important for this team!
With 3 Dundee City teams topping their tables and 1 team in 2nd place, it’s going very well so far in this season 7 campaign! Let’s keep it up!
Still all to fight for with 3 rounds left!
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JUNIOR 4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Thurs 2nd March 23 – 6:00pm
Season 7 – Round 4
Division Three – Group B
A joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
RESULT
KEGS B (1208) 6 – 2 (960) Dundee City Juniors
Dundee City Juniors find themselves out graded team wise against almost all of their division 3, group B opponents and this match was no exception! Having said that, the experience gained will hopefully help them improve as players.
However we did have a couple of upsets on the night. Josh Dickson (786) on board 2 got a fantastic victory against his opponent graded 1182! Well played Josh!
On the other hand, Rishi Vijayakumar (1826), surprisingly lost to a 1282! Mind you junior grades can be fickle, but this was still an unexpected loss for Rishi. Having said that, Rishi redeemed himself later on that night in a TAFCA division one match for Castlehill A against league leaders, St Andrews with a fantastic draw against Euan Gray (2118) which helped secure an unbelievable win for Castlehill A! You just can`t keep him down for long!
Noah Dickson and Haoqi Lui were massively out graded on boards 3 & 4, but put up some brave resistance before both losing 2- 0.
This leaves Dundee City Juniors bottom of group B in division one after 4 rounds. Nobody said it would be easy! Time now for them to pick themselves up, dust themselves down and be ready to do battle in round 4! If nothing else, they are strong characters who will be ready for the battle and will give it their all when the time comes. Both chess clubs in the City of Dundee are immensely proud of our juniors!
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 21st Feb 23 – 7:30pm
Season 7 – Round 3
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams are a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
A mixed bag of results in round 3 with 3 of our teams winning, 1 drawing and 3 losing, most unusual!
Div 1 – Group B
Hackney Heffalumps (2170) 2 – 2 (2260) Dundee City A
A tough match with our two top boards especially finding it hard work! But our two bottom boards saved the day and our “A” team’s title hopes!
Div 1 – Group A
Hackney Thirsty (1855) ½ – 3½ (2102) Dundee City B
While no win is ever comfortable, this was as good as it gets result wise for Dundee City B!
Div 3 – Group A
Dundee City C (1924) 2 – 1 (1621) Hackney Hackers
A match with a twist after the board 4 game was null & void (0 – 0) after a technical hitch which caught both players, and helpers out despite their best intentions! You just never know when playing online chess what can happen! This meant only 3 of the 4 boards counted, which luckily went the way of Dundee City C!
Div 3 – Group B
Deaf England (1441) ½ – 3½ (1855) Dundee City D
Dundee City D team made sure they were not going to be the “fall guy” in this potential banana skin match against players who always play above their posted grades!
Div 4 – Group A
Heffalump Hunters(1931) 4 – 0 (1627) Dundee City E
“Hunted“, check! “Caught“, check! “Lumps taking out of“, check! A “Heffa” defeat! Almost an Angela Lansbury, murder she wrote episode!
We will be back!
Div 5 (Swiss)
Dundee City F (1581) 1½ – 2½ (1287) Lenzie Dementors
Congratulations and well played Lenzie Dementors! They cast their spells and the Dundee City F muggles were a bit “wand” less! No “Expecto Patronum” get out of jail spell this time!
Dundee City G (1392) 1 – 3 (1363) Telepost Dark Knights 2
This grading wise was a close match, but the Dark Knights, “Kapowed” the living daylights out of Dundee City G team, with a super hero performance! Well played!
We are still looking for that holy grail of 7 teams, 7 wins! Four rounds left to do just that!
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JUNIOR 4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Thurs 16th Feb 23 – 6:00pm
Season 7 – Round 3
Division Three – Group B
A joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
RESULT
Dundee City Juniors (1047) 3 – 5 (1415) Chess Rising Stars 1
Well unfortunately due to a mix up in communications, Dundee City Juniors had to play with only 3 players this time. It’s just one of those things that happen from time to time, but hopefully not to often!
Once again Dundee City Juniors found themselves out graded team wise and out graded on two of the three boards, with Rishi on board one the highest rated player!
I have to say this match was full of surprises and exciting games! Both Josh and Noah Dickson managed to share the points with their much higher graded opponents! Well played the both of you!
The other surprise was Rishi losing his first match? But he did not let that bother him and kept his nerve to win the second game. That’s the mental strength that makes champions!
Oh what might have been had we had the full 4 players? Dundee City Juniors played one hell of a match against their strong opponents and if they can keep that up and maybe find another junior to help out, you just never know!
But the most important thing about the junior 4NCL is the experience of playing in such a high profile competition and one that will help them develop as chess players!
Congratulations to Chess Rising Stars 1 on their deserved win!
The battle continues with round 4 taking place on Thurs 2nd March 23, 6pm!
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 24th Jan 23 – 7:30pm
Season 7 – Round 2
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams are a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
What a great night for the City of Dundee teams as we get 5 winners, 2 draws, with no losses!
Div 1 – Group B
Dundee City A (2280) 2 – 2 (2027) Brentwood
A good draw against a tough team, and certainly better than a loss, but maybe a point dropped? None the less it keeps them in the hunt along with Brentwood, with both in equal 2nd place, just 1 point behind leaders Wessex Some Stars B in group B!
(Team: Richard Polaczek IM; Declan Shafi; Hamish Olson & Jacques Ophoff CM)
Div 1 – Group A
Dundee City B (2102) 3 – 1 (2041) Oxford 1
Another great win and a perfect start in division one for Dundee City B! Dundee City did have the grading advantage on all boards, but not by much. They managed to translate that into 2 wins and two draws and 2 points! Dundee City B are unbeaten and sit in 3rd place on 4 points with two other teams, just 1½ game points behind leaders…yes you guessed it, Wessex Some Stars A! Well played everybody!
(Team: Ian McDonald; Edwin Spencer; Stephen Hogg & Iain Sneddon)
Div 3 – Group A
Stroud Oldies (1601) ½ – 3½ (1896) Dundee City C
A dream two out of two start for Dundee City C with a convincing win against the “Oldies”! Our young guns had plenty of stamina left, even Alan Borwell!
Good to see Theodoros back with us. Well played team! In Group A, Dundee City C sit in equal 2nd place, just a ½ game point behind leaders, Hackney Hackers.
(Team: Alan Borwell; Graham Mooney CM; Andre Babin & Theodoros Vasiliadis)
Div 3 – Group B
Dundee City D (1829) 4 – 0 (1611) Ashfield Anonymous C
Dundee City D started their campaign off in round one with a 3 – 1 win and now back it up with an amazing 4 – 0 whitewash! What a terrific performance against a team with 3 very strong boards. This leaves Dundee City D top of Group B on full points, 1 point ahead of their nearest challenger. Outstanding start lads!
(Team: Dariusz Kosznik; Rishi Vijayakumar J11; Richard Kynoch & Sir Philip Cohen)
Div 4 – Group A
Dundee City E (1627) 3½ – ½ (1275) Hackney Hungry
It’s always tough when playing a team with a much lower grading team average, a potential banana skin match! But the players in this team are all very experienced and handled the pressure with aplomb! Indeed praise has to go to board one player and captain, James Anderson who faced the toughest challenge and had a battle and a half! He played it well and I am not sure if time was an issue because James might have missed a win on move 38, but a draw was one hell of a result for James and Dundee City E! Leyton Hackney on board 2 won in double quick time (10 minutes) with a very nice mate! Raymond Flood on board 3 was not far behind him! Unbeaten after two rounds, sitting in 3rd place, just 1 game point behind the leaders in Group A
(Team: James Anderson; Leyton Hackney; Raymond Flood & Trevor Harley)
Div 5 (Swiss)
Cozy Tomatoes (1375) 1½ – 2½ (1595) Dundee City F
This was another of those banana skin matches and Cozy Tomatoes fought like demons and can consider themselves a little unlucky not to get something out of this match! But all credit to Dundee City F and their players. Ross Brennan, on board one is now know as “Cool hand Ross” after winning under extreme time pressure! Robert Jackson (board 3) did not give up despite being the exchange down, but with the Bishop pair! In the end he could not hold it, but went down with all guns blazing! Alisdair McLeod on board 4 caught his opponent in an opening trap, then finished his opponent off with a brilliant double rook sacrifice! But the match of the night has to go to John Robertson Jnr on board two. It was a classic game of chess, with a Goliath v David theme! I was captivated watching John battle against the odds, the exchange down (Rook v Bishop) and a pawn down. To add to the drama, time was in short supply for both players! As you would expect in time-trouble, errors filled most of the end game, but what a defence by John, stunning draw in the end. I could not take my eyes of the game. John you are a star and that draw gave Dundee City F the win!
Dundee City sits in 11th place, but just 1 point behind the leading team. Striking distance!
(Team: Ross Brennan; John Robertson Jnr; Robert Jackson & Alisdair McLeod)
Bishop Knight (1277) 2 – 2 (1368) Dundee City G
Another close match for Dundee City G and another draw! The match was in doubt as no pairings came up at first, but after a few phone calls, all was sorted out and the match went ahead! Ed Walton and Euan Murray after some tough battles, managed to get the upper-hand and take the points. Our bottom two boards put up strong resistance in their first outing in the 4NCL, season 7. In the end it was not enough and the match ended in a draw, two in a row! Dundee City G is in 16th place on 2 points, just 2 points behind the leaders with 5 rounds left!
(Team: Ed Walton; Euan Murray; Afshin Alijani & Judith Firth)
Fantastic round 2 performances by all our teams and all of them are sitting well in their respective divisions and groups! Bring on round 3!
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JUNIOR 4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Thurs 2nd Feb 23 – 6:00pm
Season 7 – Round 2
Division Three – Group B
A joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
RESULT
London Dragon Beryllium (1233) 5½ – 2½ (960) Dundee City Juniors
Well we thought we were out graded in the last match, we were “WELL” out graded team wise in this match, the difference from an ordinary explosive to an atomic explosive! It was a valiant effort by Dundee Juniors!
Rishi Vijayakumar (1826), on board one was far too strong for his 1228 opponent and indeed had finished both his games before the other 3 matches had finished their first! What more can I say!
Haoqi Lui (436), on board 4 started his match with the wrong time-controls (eagerly spotted by Rishi!), but stopped the game (agreed a draw) and started again! Unfortunately he lost both matches against his 1213 opponent; I mean 777 points higher graded is a mountain to climb!
Josh Dickson (786) on board 2 against a 1261 also found it tough going, but put up one hell of a fight. Josh was fighting hard in the first game, only to miss a mate move by his opponent. It happens to us all, and indeed happened to my opponent in a TAFCA league match that night at Castlehill! Josh was doing fine in his second game before allowing a Bishop Skewer on his Queen and rook which eventually cost him the game and 2 – 0.
The main thing for Josh is he was competing at that level, but for a couple of lapses, or time running out (Not sure?). Well played Josh.
On board 3, Noah Dickson (481), only 739 grading point below his 1220 opponent, managed a fantastic draw in his first match! Now true he was losing and was helped out by his young opponent, not understanding the three-fold repetition rule and in stead kept checking Noah’s King a few times, when he could have pushed his pawn and promoted to a queen and won (to be fair I am not sure if his time was running out!). This resulted in the position being repeated for the third time and in online chess (unlike OTB chess), the computer automatically flags it, which must have come as a shock to “BOTH” players! Well played Noah! Unfortunately, Noah was not so lucky in his second game and lost.
Well played everybody in what turned out to be too big a mountain to climb! But even after that loss, Dundee City Juniors sit in 2nd equal on 2 points, just 2 points behind the leaders, Stroud Cubs A. Now we just need to push that bit harder and with a bit of luck, you just never know!
Next round (3) on Thurs 16th Feb 23, 6pm
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 24th Jan 23 – 7:30pm
Season 7 – Round 1
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams are a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
For the seventh season in a row, Dundee City has added a team to the 4NCL which now stands at 7 teams! Fantastic achievement and hopefully we can try and keep it going but it’s getting harder! Also in season 7 Dundee City B will be playing their first ever game in division one and we wish them luck in the fires of hell!
Div 1 – Groups
Streatham A (2088) 1½ – 2½ (2260) Dundee City A
Dundee City A, after just losing out on the division one title in season 6, showed their mental strength in round one. Of course nothing is easy at this level and Streatham A was never going to roll over! It was a very close match that could have gone either way, but Dundee City A got their campaign off with a winning start!
Spirit of Atticus A (2058) 1 – 3 (2102) Dundee City B
Dundee City B are over the moon after a winning start in their first ever match in division one! Grading wise there was nothing in it, but our players showed their experience and determination to show they mean business and are not here to just make the numbers up or be pushed around! Fantastic performance!
Div 3 – Groups
Dundee City C (1883) 2½ – 1½ (1752) Wessex Some Stars E
Another rock solid team effort from Dundee City C to get off to a winning start in round one of season 7! Indeed looking at the players they have, they look more like a team of sleeping giants just waiting for their place in history!
Dundee City D (1829) 3 – 1 (1185) Watford Juniors
Talk about a potential banana skin match! Grading wise this was a no contest, but that’s not always how it works as our hero from season six found out! Watford Juniors fought all the way and made a decent contest of it, including toppling our top board! Still banana skin avoided and the battle begins again in round 2!
Div 4 – Groups
Charlton Cobra`s C (1513) 1 – 3 (1622) Dundee City E
They talk about the “Famous Five”, but Dundee City E team after their campaign in season six are beginning to turn heads and maybe now we have a “Famous Four”! Nice victory against tough opponents.
Div 5 (Swiss)
Dundee City F (1590) 2 – 2 (1403) Colchester JFF B
A steady start for Dundee City F, but maybe chances missed. Kit got himself in a bit of trouble on board 2, while on board 4, Baillie Armstrong had connection problems but was still in the game only a pawn down, but time running out. Of course time-trouble and connection problems add to the pressure and unfortunately Baillie left a Rook for the taking and that was that! Alisdair McLeod (board 3) finished off his game in style, while Ross Brennan (board one) finished his opponent off after a hard battle, with a queen sac (QxR)! Beautiful finish by Ross! While maybe Dundee City should have sneaked a win, all credit to Colchester JFF B who deserved their draw with a battling performance from their players!
Dundee City G (1506) 2 – 2 (1545) War & Piece Nimrod
Boy, was this a battle and a half! Like the novel by Leo Tolstoy, every match went on and on with no quarter given! It could have gone either way but for one mistake from either side, and maybe in the end a draw was a fair result after every player left nothing in the tank by the end of the match. Both Adam Crocker (board 4) and Ed Walton (board 3) battled hard to earn their draws, and I mean hard! Euan Murray (board 2) got a break near the end when his opponent allowed a pin on his King and lost a piece! It must have hurt after Euan`s opponent had played so well. Speaking of hurt? On board one Conor Kelly under intense pressure managed to get into a great position and indeed on move 31 had a forced checkmate (Qxh7+)! But just when you think it’s all over, something goes wrong and the tables were turned in the matter of one move? Heart-breaking for Conor, but one I am sure he will learn from and I can assure him it’s happened to us all, even those God’s of chess in our “A” team!
Season 7, round one, 5 wins and 2 draws, with no losses. What an unbelievable start to the campaign! All we need to do now is build on it!
Round 2 takes place on Tuesday 7th February 2023, 7:30pm on LIchess.org!
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JUNIOR 4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Thurs 19th Jan 23 – 6:00pm
Season 7 – Round 1
Division Three – Group B
A joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
RESULT
Dundee City Juniors (960) 8 – 0 (1030) Ojay`s D
A great start to season 7 in round 1 for Dundee City Juniors! Team average grading wise Dundee City Juniors were the underdogs. Throw in the fact we were also out graded on three of the four boards, this was looking like an up hill struggle on paper. But our players are now more experienced and I can see their grading taking a jump soon.
On board one, Rishi Vijayakumar J11 showed his class against his vastly out graded opponent. On board two Josh Dickson excelled in beating his higher graded opponent, giving Rishi the support he needs, while Josh`s brother, Noah Dickson J10 on board three was not to be left behind and also won both his games despite his opponent being over 500 points higher graded! Magnificent result Noah!
Not to be left out Master Haoqi Lui J11 who was also well out graded matched his team mates with another 2 nil win! Go Haoqi go!
What a team performance and dream start. This puts them top of group B in division three, leading by 1 game point over the other 3 teams.
Now comes the hard part of keeping it going in two weeks time, but for now let them enjoy this fantastic victory!
Watch it all unfold in Round 2 on Thurs 2nd Feb 23, 6pm!
COME ON DUNDEE CITY JUNIORS!
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 20th Dec 22 – 7:30pm
Season 6 – Final`s
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams are a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
Oh what a night of chess drama! Shock and Awe! Jubilation and Heartbreak! This night had it all and you could have cut the atmosphere with a knife!
Dundee City had two teams in their respective division finals! That is some achievement by Dundee City teams!
We shall start with “Jubilation” and “Awe”!
Div 4
Jurassic Coast A (1864) 1 – 3 (1794) Dundee City D
Congratulations to Dundee City D team for winning the final 3 – 1 to take the division 4 title along with promotion to division 3 all things being well!
Dariusz Kosznik (1860) on board one faced a talented junior aged 12 and graded 2042. The thing is, Dariusz has already played him twice and won both games, but now he has him on his mantle piece after winning for the third time! It was his hardest battle yet, but Dariusz as always is as cool as a cucumber under pressure!
Sir Philip Cohen (1870) on board two fought hard but finally had to succumb to the inevitable and lost.
Our board 3 player was our very talented junior aged 11, Rishi Vijayakumar (1754). Rishi had already played his opponent before with the same colour and lost. Boy is revenge sweet, and what a nice finish by Rishi. He learns quickly and proved that in this match to vanquish his opponent!
Ross Brennan (1686) on board four was just sublime, especially in the end game to take the point!
All four players played their part not only in the final, but in the qualifying rounds as well. This includes playing Captain Graham Mooney who steered the ship to the final, promotion and the division 4 title!
The final and result must have seemed like “déjà vu” to Jurassic Coast A as they lost to Dundee City C in last years division 4 final! Indeed 3 of the players in the Dundee City C team played in this year’s final for our “D” team! The same is true for Jurassic Coast A team with 3 players from last year, playing this year, and of course the same result!
Congratulations to Dundee City D on beating Jurassic Coast A in the final
Now for the “Shock” and “Heartbreak”!
Div 1
Dundee City A 2 – 2 Charlton Cobra`s A
Dundee City A team reached the final by way of the tie-break, and would you believe it, lost the final by way of the tie-break! Amazing how fate has a way of levelling things out!
Board 3 & 4 , Jacques Ophoff CM (2209) and David Findlay (2223) respectively both drew their matches. They were not easy draws and indeed both had their fair share of fortune, but held their nerve to get the draws!
Declan Shafi (2288) on board 2 got the all important win after a toe to toe battle. His opponent under pressure started to make small mistakes and Declan pounced on them to put himself in the driving seat! With two pieces under attack and a mating net threat, Declan`s opponent could not find a good move and timed out in the end. It was a lost cause regardless (I think but what do I know!) and I am sure Declan would have seen the match out!
That put Dundee City A in the driving seat with one match still playing.
On board one was the ever dependable Richard Polaczek IM (2358) with the white side playing against another IM. It was a battle and a half but Richard managed to get the upper hand and was in a strong position to clinch the game and the match. But as I have mentioned before time is an enemy of us all and with the clock ticking like a time bomb, it forced an error from Richard which his opponent jumped on at supper sonic speed (Knight forking King & Rook!). Richard resigned and we all know he was gutted. It happens to us all over time, even IM`s, FM`s and GM`s! It’s still heart-breaking regardless especially in these type of games!
Every player in the Dundee City squad all feel Richards pain, but we also all know Richard has been one of our best players since he joined us and like all good teams we have his back in all circumstances, “All for one and one for all”!
We live to fight another day with each other by our sides!
Congratulations to Charlton Cobra’s A on a well deserved victory (on tie-break) and winning the coveted 1st division title!
So close, but so far but what a season 6 campaign by Dundee City A and it’s players “Richard Polaczek IM, Declan Shafi, Jacques Ophoff CM and Captain David Findlay”.
Well done all Dundee City teams and players, we are all proud of you all!
Dundee City plan to put another team in for season 7 making it 7 Dundee City teams!
BRING ON SEASON 7! Starts in Jan 23!
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 13th Dec 22 – 7:30pm
Season 6 – Semi-Final play-off`s
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams are a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
Dundee City had 4 teams out of 4 teams in the play-offs. What a fantastic performance by all 4 teams! Our other 2 teams were in division 5 which did not have any play-offs!
Division One
Dundee City A (2269) 2 – 2 (2197) Hackney Heffalumps
This was looking close on paper and did not disappoint online either! The battle of the 2000 + players made sure not only was this a tight match, but a quality match as well! Dundee City A had an IM & CM, while Hackney Heffalumps had an FM & CM!
While I cannot comment on all the matches (too many on that night!), I believe Hackney Heffalumps went into a 2-0 lead before Dundee City`s board one, Richard Polaczek IM brought it back to 2-1!
The last match to finish involved Declan Shafi on board 2 against the FM and what a match it was! With both players down on time, but Declan with only seconds to play with, managed to find the right path with the Heffalumps King playing, “Chase me” and “Catch me if you can” at the same time! Under tremendous time pressure Declan did just that to get Dundee City A team a hard earned 2 – 2 draw. What a finish and cool head by Declan Shafi! Well played and great team effort by Dundee City A and its players (Richard Polaczek IM; Declan Shafi; Jacques Ophoff CM & David Findlay)!
Now I cannot confirm as of yet, but my understanding is the tie-break system used is “**Board Count or Berlin System” which favours the higher boards, which in this case favours Dundee City A who on that basis would go through to the final (not confirmed by 4NCL yet!)!
If that is the case, congratulations to Dundee City A team and their players!
**If teams are level at the end of the match, you add up the boards where your team won and compare it to those of the opposition. Dundee City A won on boards 1 & 2 = 3 points; Hackney Heffalumps won on boards 3 & 4 = 7: The lowest score wins (Favours the top boards/players). In theory it can be applied the other way around, but not in this case (fingers crossed!).
Division Two
Dundee City B (2048) 1 – 2 (2069) Guildford 1
Grading wise this was a close match and could have gone either way! Not entirely sure what happened at the start, but the board 1 match involving Stephen Hogg (Dundee City) started late, then finished quickly with seemingly a win for Guildford, only for the match to be null and void to both sides as the wrong time control was used!
That left it up to the 3 remaining players from both sides to decide the match. It started off okay for Dundee City B as their board 4 player; Iain Sneddon put them 1 – 0 up! Then on board 2 Ed Spencer lost his match which pulled Guildford 1 level with just one match to go.
The board 4 match with Gary Weir (Dundee City) with white was a real heartbreaker in the end. After 33 moves, material was equal, yes black had more space, activity and the Bishop pair, but there was no obvious way for black to take advantage of this. The big downside for Gary was everybody’s enemy, “TIME”. With his opponent having over 5 minutes and Gary only just over 2 minutes left, time waits for no man and it forced an error from Gary resulting in a double whammy with doubled pawns and loss of exchange (Rook for Bishop). Gary battled on bravely but the writing was on the wall and his opponent seen out the match to give Guildford 1 a 2 – 1 victory and a place in the division two final!
Congratulations to Guildford 1 for a deserved victory and a place in the final! Unlucky Dundee City B (Stephen Hogg; Ed Spencer; Gary Weir & Iain Sneddon) for an outstanding season 6 to reach, not only the semi-final stages but if I am right have earned promotion as well! Well played and proud of you all!
Division Four
Dundee City had two teams in the semi-finals which is an outstanding achievement!
Jurassic Coast A (1864) 3 – 1 (1912) Dundee City C
This was a repeat of season 5`s final in May 22! Dundee City C finished in 3rd place in their group, but qualified for the semi-final’s because Sheffield University Graduates did not want to take their spot. On paper not much between the teams, but Jurassic Coast A had two 2000+ players! In season 5`s final Jurassic Coast lost out to Dundee City C 2½ – 1½, but this time turned the tables against Dundee City C winning 3 – 1, revenge is sweet!
Andre Babin on board 4 got our only point, with Alan Borwell, Ross Bremner and Richard Kynoch all losing. Tough one to take, but what a season for Dundee City C team and their players again! They gave everything and more but this time it was not to be!
Congratulations to Jurassic Coast A on their victory and reaching the final, deserved winners on the night!
Wessex Some Stars E (1420) 0 – 4 (1795) Dundee City D
This was more like a David versus Goliath match grading wise, but thankfully this time David did not win! Wessex Some Stars E fought all the way and the score line is maybe not a true reflection on how well they did play. Having said that, what a performance by Dundee City D to win 4 – 0!
Dariusz Kosznik; Graham Mooney; Rishi Vijayakumar & Ross Brennan all played their part not only in this semi-final, but getting to this stage in the first place! Nothing seems to faze them and they will need that in the final when they face Jurassic Coast A who will want to go one better than season 5!
Well played Dundee City D!
Well a mixed bag of results, but to get two teams out of four into the final (one still to be confirmed!) is not a bad return! Well played all Dundee City teams and their players on the night. As usual you have done us proud and along with the two teams in division 5, this proves that the joint venture between Castlehill and Dundee is reaping its rewards!
The final is on Tues 20th Dec 22, 7:30pm on Lichess. More info to follow!
COME ON DUNDEE CITY!
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 6th Dec 22 – 7:30pm
Season 6 – Round 7
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams are a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
Absolutely out of this world performances from all Dundee City teams with 5 wins and one draw from a team who had already qualified two weeks ago! Incredible does not describe what all our teams not only did in round 7, but the whole of the season 6 campaign. We have at least 3 confirmed Dundee City teams in the semi-finals, with an outside possibility of more! We also have just had some breaking news!
We`re on the march with Dundee City`s army (Oh wait a minute that did not go so well with Ally MacLeod in 78?)!
Division One – Group B
Farnham A (2129) 2 – 2 (2269) Dundee City A
Dundee City A had already made top spot with this game to spare, but no resting on their laurels with a fighting draw with Farnham A. Well played everyone, fantastic achievement by Dundee City A so far!
Semi-Final draw – Tues 13th Dec 22, 7:30pm
Dundee City A v Hackney Heffalumps
Charlton Cobras A v Farnham A
Division Two – Group A
Oxford 3 (1626) 1½ – 2½ (2062) Dundee City B
A bit closer than expected but what another result by Dundee City B to finish top of group A on 12 points. Another fantastic achievement by a Dundee City team!
Semi-Final Draw – Tues 13th Dec 22 – 7:30pm
Dundee City B v Guildford 1
Barnet Knights A v Wessex Some Stars C
Division Four – Group B
Hebden 2 (1684) 1 – 3 (1912) Dundee City C
Great win after losing their last match and Dundee City C end up on 10 points and 3rd place in group 2. They just miss out by one point on the play-offs! Good campaign which bodes well for season 7!
But wait… “BREAKING NEWS” Sheffield University Graduates who finished top of group B have declined to play in the play-off`s so the semi-final place has gone to Dundee City C as 3rd place finishers! What an unexpected result! Get in there Dundee City C!
Semi-Final Draw – Tues 13th Dec 22, 7:30pm.
Jurassic Coast A v Dundee City C
Wessex Some Stars E v Dundee City D
Division Four – Group A
Dundee City D (1794) 2½ – 1½ (1358) Hebden 3
Slightly closer than one would have liked given the grades, but a win that puts Dundee City D in 2nd place in group A on 11 points. This means they have made the semi-finals!. What can I say about another Dundee City team, but bloody incredible!
Semi-Final Draw – Tues 13th Dec 22, 7:30pm.
Jurassic Coast A v Dundee City C
Wessex Some Stars E v Dundee City D
Division Five – Swiss
Dundee City E (1614) 3 – 1 (1709) Worcester Wolfpack
What a win in their last match against a strong side! Dundee City E pulled out all the stops and punched above their grading weight to finish on 10 points and 3rd place in division 5! What an incredible performance from all the players. I have no idea if this is good enough for promotion but we will find out soon, but it was some performance regardless!
Dundee City F (1525) 3½ – ½ (1496) Wessex Some Stars G
The score line does not reflect the strength of the opposition and the match was closer than it looked. Having said that, our players in Dundee City F were outstanding on the night and the result was hard earned and deserved! Dundee City F finished on 9 points and 8th place in division 5. Will not know for a little while what this may or may not mean, but as soon as I do you will be the first to know!
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JUNIOR 4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Thurs 1st Dec 22 – 6:00pm
Season 6 – Round 7
Division Three – Group B
A joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
RESULT
Barnet Knights C (1125) 5 – 3 (961) Dundee City Juniors
Unfortunately for the last match, Dundee City Juniors could not field a full side and had to default the bottom board. Hopefully we will have a full squad of players for season 7!
Rishi Vijayakumar J11 (1875) on board one was far too strong for his opponent (1171) and won both matches.
Josh Dickson (632) on board two won his first match with a nice finish, but could not capitalise further as his opponent gained revenge in the 2nd match. Given Josh’s opponent was 497 points higher graded, well played Josh!
Noah Dickson (378) on board 3 found it tough against a 1076, over 698 points higher than Noah! Yes Noah lost 2 – 0, but not without a fight!
Congratulations to Barnet Knights C for winning the match. Dundee City Juniors finished in 5th place on 6 points. The most important thing is the experience gained playing in the 4NCL which will bring it`s on rewards in the future!
Well played Rishi, Josh, Noah, Haoqi and Scott and thank you for your support in this event. Also thank you to the organiser and captain of the Dundee City Juniors, Declan Shafi. While you need the chess players, you also need an organiser and captain for it to run at all!
That ends season 6 for Dundee City Juniors, but season 7 is just around the corner starting on Thurs 19th Jan 23!
Congratulations to Lenzie Dementors, East Kilbride Knights and Young Dragons “B” & “C” for reaching the semi-final’s. Good luck to all 4 teams!
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 22nd Nov 22 – 7:30pm
Season 6 – Round 6
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams are a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
Round six saw 3 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses! With one rounds left, all Dundee City teams have a chance (some more than others!) to reach the play-off stages!
Division One – Group B
Dundee City A (2269) 3½ – ½ (2140) Streatham A
A comfortable victory score line wise, but a tough battle over the board! Three winners and one draw made the score line up, so well played everybody! This result means Dundee City A finish top of division one, group B with one game spare! They are in the play-offs! Fan-bloody-tastic!
Division Two – Group B
Dundee City B (2110) 3 – 1 (1822) Shropshire & Friends 2
Another good win OTB and banana skin avoided! S&F 2 gave it their all but Dundee City B were not for crumbling! Dundee City B are equal top of division two, group A on 10 match points each with Wessex Some Stars C and also equal on game points (16½ each). All they need in their last round match is a draw to qualify for the play-offs. They face Oxford 3 who on paper they should beat, but the match off course is not played on paper, but OTB so it will be a matter of taking care of business on the night! Well played everyone!
Division Four – Group B
Dundee City C (1912) 3 – 1 (1790) Sheffield Uni Graduates
Great result from Dundee City C who have bounced back well after their shock defeat in round 4, with two wins in a row to give them a fighting chance of the play-off`s in division 4,
group B sitting in 4th place on 8 points! To beat the current leaders shows you, this is a winning team! They are going to need results to go their way and of course win their last match by as big a margin as they can muster! Dundee City C plays Hebden Bridge 2, while two of the teams above them face each other!
Come on Dundee City C!
Division Four – Group A
Jurassic Coast A (1879) 2½ – 1½ (1774) Dundee City D
While given the grades were slightly in favour of Jurassic Coast A, I know the Dundee City D team would have been disappointed with the end result given the players they have! What a result by board one player Dariusz Kosznik (1866) beating a 2047! Dariusz is always a threat to any player as is Rishi Vijayakumar J11 who this time unusually lost his match on board 3. I am sure he will bounce back in the last round.
This still leaves Dundee City C in 2nd place in division 4, group A on 9 points. It’s all in their own hands, win and no matter the other results, they make the play-off again!
Come on Dundee City D!
Division Five – Swiss – 36 teams
East Kilbride Wanderers (999) 2 – 1½(1614) Dundee City E
It all went wrong for Dundee City E in the penultimate round as board 3 player for Dundee City E missed the match (He is okay!) which cost the team a possible win and the draw. Captain, James Anderson in trying to find out what happened, lost his game quickly (distracted me thinks!). The match ended in a 2-2 draw, but of course because of the default, Dundee City E were deducted a half point. It was just one of those things that happen from time to time and the main thing is everybody is okay! This result leaves Dundee City E in 5th place on 8 points, with an outside chance of finishing in 3rd place if results go their way. Of course they also have to win their last match by as big a margin as they can!
Come on Dundee City E!
Dundee City F (1534) 2 – 2 (1341) Ashton 2
This was a disappointing result in one way, but given how the matches went (especially board one!), it could have been worse! All credit to Ashton 2 who battled hard and got their just rewards! Euan Murray on board 3 got the team off to a perfect start, Alisdair McLeod playing his first match in this competition, did well but his time management in the end cost him. Now he knows what’s involved he will have learnt from this and will be back fighting the next time. Ray Noble on board one was riding a roller-coaster of his own making! Never one to make things easy on himself, his games are always double-edged and topsy-turvy! His opponent deserved the win, but unfortunately (or should that be fortunately?) for him he blundered a Bishop and from that point Ray took full control and played proper chess for a change to see the match out! John Robertson on board 4 got into a cramped position early on and his opponent slowly squeezed him to death!
This leaves Dundee City F in 11th place on 7 points. If they win their last match and other results go their way they could still move up and maybe a very slim chance of reaching the promotion places, but doubtful. But were there is a chance, you just never know!
In total Dundee City teams won 3 matches, drew 1 and lost 2 (be it a draw until the deduction!). Still a good overall result, but we know we could have done better. It all rests on the last round matches and still everything to play for. When the going gets tough, the tough get going!
Last round on Tues 6th Dec 22!
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JUNIOR 4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Thurs 17th Nov 22 – 6:00pm
Season 6 – Round 6
Division Three – Group B
A joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
RESULT
Dundee City Juniors (887) 7 – 0 (628) Ojays C
With Rishi Vijayakumar back in the fold after his break in India, Dundee Juniors were a lot stronger! Indeed they were the favourites against their opponents Ojays C. Unfortunitley for Josh Dickson on board 2, his opponent was a no show and he did not get a game of chess. Yes he won 2 – 0, but playing chess is what is needed at junior level! Josh`s brother, Noah, on board 4 did get a game and won 2 – 0. A way to go Noah!
Haoqi Liu on board 3 won his second match, but it looks like a double default in the first (Not sure to be honest), and no points awarded to either side? Disappointing but hey that’s how the cookie crumbles sometimes!
Rishi Vijayakumar on board one was far too strong for his opponent, but of course this can sometimes lead to a banana skin moment, which thankfully Rishi avoided!
Well played everyone!
With this result Dundee Juniors now sit in 5th place in group “B” on 6 points. They cannot get into the play-offs, but can still finish in at least 4th place if they beat Barnet Knights C in the last round. To do that Dundee Juniors would need to field their strongest side possible as Barnet are a good side if at full strength!
Next round is on Thurs 1st Dec 22, 6pm!
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 8th Nov 22 – 7:30pm
Season 6 – Round 5
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams are a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
A good week in one way with no losses, but an ordinary week in another way with two draws! Having said that we have four teams in line to reach the semi-finals, with another one an outside chance of reaching the semi-final stages. We also have one team in division 5 with a slim chance of being promoted! You can’t ask or do better than that with all six Dundee City teams!
Division One – Group B
Trelawny`s Army (1871) 1½ – 2½ (2269) Dundee City A
A very tight game with the smallest of margins going the way of Dundee City A, courtesy of Dundee City`s board two player, Declan Shafi, the only winner, with the other three matches ending in a draw. PHEW! They all count and winning anyway you can is all that counts in the end!
Dundee City A, sit top of group B with a 4 point lead (10pts) and only need a half point in the last two rounds to secure their semi-final place!
Division Two – Group B
Dundee City B (2110) 2 – 2 (1889) Ashfield Anonymous B
Nothing anonymous about Dundee City B`s opponents as they fought hard and got a deserved draw. Yes disappointing, but not a loss! With Gary Weir and Ian McDonald drawing, Ed Spencer losing, it was left to Mister dependable, Stephen Hogg to once again get the win and the draw!
Dundee City B are sitting top of group A on 8 points, just half a board point ahead of Wessex Some Stars C! With two rounds left, Dundee City B need 3½ points regardless of other scores, to make it to the semi-finals stage! Of course if results go their way, they may need less points!
Division Four – Group B
Dundee City C (1912) 3½ – ½ (1662) Calstock Killers
A comfortable score line against a very tricky side in the 1600+! The win gives Dundee City C an unlikely life-line to reach the semi-finals stages. They need to not only win their last two matches probably 3-1, they need help from other teams in group B! Where there’s hope, there’s always a chance!
Division Four – Group A
Dundee City D (1824) 2 – 2 (1468) Hackney Hungry
A draw is a draw and not a loss, but knowing our players; they will be a bit disappointed with dropping a point against Hackney Hungry! Mind you, online grading`s can be deceptive and who knows what their real strength is? This leaves Dundee City D in 2nd place on 9 points, the same as leaders Jurassic Coast A, but 2 board points behind them. Dundee City D needs 3½ points from their last two matches to reach the semi-final stages. Their next opponents in the penultimate round is…yes you’ve guessed it, Jurassic Coast A! That will be worth watching!
Division Five – Swiss – 36 teams
Dundee City E (1614) 3½ – ½ (1253) Bishop Knights
Banana skin avoided and still on course! Not sure how many qualify from this league but Dundee City E sit in 2nd place on 8 points, just two behind the leaders and favourites, Heffalump Hunters! They have a great chance of pulling this off!
Warwickshire Bears B (1241) 1 – 3 (1412) Dundee City F
The score line did not reflex the standard of play from the Warwickshire Bears B, who gave Dundee City E team a fight all the way to the end! Our players held their nerve and a nice victory gets them back on track for the final two rounds! Dundee City F sit in 10th place on 6 points and have an outside chance of getting promoted depending on how many go up! Just win the last two and see what happens!
Next round (6) in two weeks time!
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JUNIOR 4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Thurs 3rd Nov 22 – 6:00pm
Season 6 – Round 5
Division Three – Group B
A joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
RESULT
Dundee City Juniors (466) 1½ – (955)East Kilbride Knights
While well out graded it was still a disappointing result not helped by shooting ourselves in the foot by double defaulting board 2 due to a no show from one of our juniors. The Official result is ½ – 6½ as we lose 1 point due to the double default. Josh Dickson on board one managed a fantastic draw against a 1210, while not to be out done by his big brother, Noah Dickson on board 4 took a full point off his opponent graded 528. Great result by both brothers. Haoqi Lui on board 3 against a 760 got no joy at all from his opponent.
That leaves Dundee City Juniors in 5th place in group B, 6 points behind the leaders on 10 points with two rounds to go. Hopefully Rishi will be back the next time and we can finish the season off strongly. But the main point of these matches in the Junior 4NCL is to give our juniors the experience of playing at this level which hopefully will help them develop as chess players!
Next round is on Thurs 17th Nov 22, 6pm!
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 25th Nov 22 – 7:30pm
Season 6 – Round 4
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams are a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
Division One – Group B
Dundee City A (2269) 4 – 0 (1880) Hertford 1
Four wins out of 4 matches for Dundee City A, and sitting top of group B in division one! They lead by 2 points and 1½ match point’s from their nearest rivals, Streatham A! They play Streatham in round 6! What an “A” team we have this season with Richard Polaczek IM (2358), Declan Shafi (2288), Jacques Ophoff CM (2209) & David Findlay (2223) working their magic on the night!
Division Two – Group B
Warwickshire Bears A (1624) 1 – 3 (2029) Dundee City B
Another banana skin avoided as Dundee City B make it 3 wins out of 4, with one draw! This puts them top of group A in division two on 7 points, 1 point ahead of their two nearest competitors, Shropshire & Friends 2 and Ashfield Anonymous B. Things could change over the next two rounds as Dundee City B face both of them with Ashfield up first in round 5! Well played Ed Spencer (2137), Stephen Hogg (2040), Gary Weir (2004) & Alan Borwell (1936).
Division Four – Group B
Charlton Cobra`s B (1686) 3 – 1 (1896) Dundee City C
One of those night were things did not go to plan! Dundee City C had the grading advantage but not by much. It was still disappointing not to get something out of the match, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles sometimes! Charlton Cobra`s brought a lot of venom to the board! Dundee City C are on 4 points and sit in 4th place in group B in division 4, 4 points behind leaders, Sheffield University Graduates. Ross Bremner (1996) on board one was our only winner on the night but Richard Kynoch (1821), Alastair Dawson (1879) & Theodoros Vasiliadis (1888) gave it their all! Still time to move up the table!
Division Four – Group A
Ashfield Anonymous D (1465) ½ – 3½ (1824) Dundee City D
While another comfortable win for Dundee City D, it`s always a bit squeaky bum time playing a team which on paper you should beat, anonymous or not, as captain Graham Mooney found out! But they did do the business with brutal efficiency to make it 4 out of 4 and sitting top of the group A pile in division 4 on 8 points! They lead by 1 point from their forever rivals, Jurassic Coast A, who they play in round 6! Keep it going lads: Dariusz Kosznik (1866), Sir Philip Cohen (1870), Graham Mooney (1875) & Ross Brennan (1586).
Division Five – Swiss – 36 teams
The Hemel`s Gambit (1419) 0 – 4 (1614) Dundee City E
That makes it 3 wins out of 4, with one loss to the current leaders and division 5 odds-on favourites Heffalump Hunters (2073)! Dundee City E sit in 4th place on 6 points, just 2 behind the leaders. They are doing fantastically well and are still in the running for promotion! Dundee City E team is make up of very experienced and battle hardened players who have nothing to prove! Well played Ray Flood (1630), James Anderson (1630), Leyton Hackney (1613) & Trevor Harley (1586).
Dundee City F (1561) 1 – 3 (1713)Farnham C
This was a tough match for Dundee City F against a very strong side, especially on the top 3 boards. With a 2000+ player on board one our player’s backs were up against the wall, but standing steadfast and trading blow for blow! In the end Farnham were worthy winners on the night, with John Robertson Jnr on board 4 our only winner. All 4 matches were good ones but our opponents were the better team on the night. Ray Noble on board one against the 2000+ player was the last match to finish, but in truth, it was all over in the opening faze after he dropped a pawn and just faced a slow death as his opponent squeezed the life out of him like a Boa Constrictor!
That leaves Dundee City F in 16th place on 4 points, but with still an outside chance of promotion. The surprise package of the division is East Kilbride Wanderers who like the Heffalumps are unbeaten on 8 points but grading wise as a team are only 1026! Of course I think they are mostly juniors (could be wrong?) who’s official grades do not represent their grades in “real terms” yet!
City Gladiators on the night were: Ray Noble (1591), Robert Jackson (1582), Euan Murray (1506) & John Robertson Jnr (1567).
So Four wins, two losses in round four not to shabby at all for our Dundee City teams. We have three teams in top spot with the rest still in contention in their respective divisions and groups!
Bring on round five in two weeks time!
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JUNIOR 4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Thurs 20th Oct 22 – 6:00pm
Season 6 – Round 4
Division Three – Group B
A joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
RESULT
Warwickshire Bears E (1121) 2½ – 5½ (466) Dundee City Juniors
With Rishi Vijayakumar away to India, it was left to the rest of the team to play and boy did they step up to the plate in his absence!
What a result against a far stronger team on paper! It would have been a tough match with Rishi playing, but without him this result has to be a big shock against the strong Warwickshire Bears E! To be honest our team grade is far to low because newbie Scott Xu is proving to be a much better player than his grade suggests. Playing in only his second match he is unbeaten on 4 out of 4! Remarkable performance by Scott.
He was backed up by his new team mates with Josh Dickson on board one getting a very good unexpected draw against a very strong player grading wise to Josh!
Haoqi Liu on board two also produced the goods with a win and loss. Haoqi has to be the most unpredictable junior player I have ever seen, talk about hot and cold!
The star performer for the team on the night has to go to our board four player, Noah Dickson (378), who won 2 nil against a 1060! Out of this world performance from young Noah which included the cheeky queen winning trap in the Petroff! Oh what a night for Noah! 5 stars young man!
Dundee City Juniors sit in 4th place 4 points behind the leaders, but only two points behind the 2 teams in 2nd & 3rd place, with 3 rounds left. If Rishi and Scott play in all 3, backed up by the rest of the team, Dundee City Juniors might still have a chance of promotion!
Next round is on Thurs 3rd Nov 22, 6pm.
For all the results and standings, click the link below.
Junior 4NCL
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Tues 11th Nov 22 – 7:30pm
Season 6 – Round 3
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams are a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
Another busy and outstanding night’s chess from all of our 6 teams! You can’t argue with 4 wins and 2 draws between the 6 Dundee City teams!
Division One – Group B
Brentwood (2000) 1 – 3 (2269) Dundee City A
It’s never easy being the top dog in a fixture and a potential banana skin is always only around the corner. Happily Dundee City A, side-stepped that problem with a couple of draws (Richard Polaczek IM & Jacques Ophoff CM) and two good wins from Declan Shafi and David Findlay!
Dundee City A sit proudly top of division one, group B on 6 points!
Division One – Group B
Dundee City A (2048) 2 – 2 (1973) Wessex Some Stars C
This was a tit for tat war of attrition between two equally matched sides (less than 100 dif). A win on the top board by the experienced Ed Spencer and a win on the bottom board by newbie Iain Sneddon was enough to secure the draw after Mr Reliable, Stephen Hogg and Gary Weir both lost on the middle boards.
Dundee City B are in second place in division two, group A on 5 points!
Division Four – Group B
Dundee City C (1900) 3½ – ½ (1510) Bishop Trojans
It`s always a worry when the grading difference is so high, but Dundee City C handled it well with wins for Ross Bremner, Andre Babin & Richard Kynoch. Newbie Vasiliadis Theodoros got a draw on the bottom board. That makes it two wins out of three which is a marvellous start!
Dundee City C sit in 4th place on 4 points in division one, group B, only one game point behind 2nd place Carlton Cobra`s B!
Division Four – Group A
Dundee City D (1794) 2½ – 1½ (1672) Wessex Some Stars F
What can you say about this team after making it three wins out of three matches played! It was close as you would expect given the gradings on both side, and three of the matches were draws (Dariusz, Sir Philip & Ross Brennan)! The hero of the hour so to speak came on board 3 as young super junior, Rishi Vijayakumar J11 (1754) won his game against a 1664! What a team! What a junior!
Dundee City D are in 1st place on 6 points in division 4, group A!
Division Five – Swiss – 36 teams
Dundee City E (1588) 3 – 1 (1287) Charlton Cobra`s D
Well who would have thought you could put “CHESS” and “ROLLERCOSTER” together, but for Dundee City E that is exactly what you can do! First match a nice 4 – 0 win! Second match they were hunted like Heffalumps losing 4 – 0 and now in round 3 they win 3 – ½! Now that is rollercoaster chess big time! Oh let me off I am felling queasy! Well done James Anderson, Leyton Hackney, Ed Walton and Ray Flood!
Dundee City E are in equal 8th place on 4 points in division 5!
Lerryn Clowns (1525) 2 – 2 (1432) Dundee City F
Dundee City F team are punching above their weight at the moment after another fine battling draw! That makes it one win and two draws after 3 matches. Not bad at all! Three of the boards were evenly matched with Dundee City F being out graded on board 4 which makes the draw an even better result than it looks!
Well played Kit McEvoy Gould, Euan Murray, John Robertson Jnr & Judith Firth!
Dundee City F are in equal 8th place on 4 points in division 5 with Dundee City E!
For all the results and standings click the link below.
4NCL
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JUNIOR 4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Thurs 6th Oct 22 – 6pm
Season 6 – Round 3
Time-Controls – 10 minutes + 5 seconds increments
Division Three – Group B
JUNIOR 4NCL (Nations Chess League)
RESULT
Dundee City Juniors (884) 7 – ½ (1016) Uxbridge Jnr C
Oh what a night! Rishi Vijayakumar won both his games on board one after his exploits at the FIDE World Cadets Championships in Georgia by the Black Sea! Just loves his chess!
On board 2, Josh Dickson (632) was on fire as he won both his games against a higher graded junior to give Rishi the support he needs! Well played indeed Josh!
Scott Xu on board 3, got his first game for Dundee City Juniors and boy did he make the most of it winning 2 nil! The side is stronger now with Scott!
Noah Dickson (378) on board 4 won by default in first game, and lost his second game against a far stronger junior!
This puts Dundee City Juniors in 5th place on 2 points, 4 points behind the two leaders, but with 4 rounds still to play.
You just never know at the junior level!
For all the results and standings, checkout our website (Link below)
4NCL Website
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Season 6 – Round 2
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams are a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
Another busy and outstanding night’s chess from all of our 6 teams!
Division One – Group B
Dundee City A (2269) 3½ – ½ (2186) Wessex Some Stars A
What a strong line-up from Dundee City A with board order, IM Richard Polaczek (2358), Declan Shafi (2288), CM Jacques Ophoff (2209) & Mister dependable, David Findlay (2223)! They did not disappoint against strong opposition with an unbelievable 3½ to ½ score line! This puts them on 4 match points with 6 game points and tied first place in group B with Farnham B! Well played lads!
Division Two – Group A
Barnet Knights B (1751) 0 – 4 (2048) Dundee City B
Well given the strong line-up of our “A” team, the “B” team has never looked so good! They did what they had to do and avoided the potential banana skin when you play a team lower graded then yourself. What a performance from Ed Spencer (2137), Stephen Hogg (2040), Gary Weir (2004) and newbie, Iain Sneddon (2014)! Can’t ask or do better than that! That puts them on 4 match points, with 6½ game points and in 2nd place, just behind Shropshire & Friends 2 by 1 game point! Well played lads!
Division Four – Group B
Shropshire & Friends 4 (1348) 1 – 3 (1912) Dundee City C
The knock on effect of fielding stronger “A” & “B” teams, is we have stronger teams all the way down the divisions, including our “C” team! In the end it was a comfortable win, but given the grading difference a slightly “Squeaky backside” performance given the two draws against them! Still that’s what makes a good side when they win matches like this to get their first points on the board! Well played Ross Bremner (1996), Andre Babin (1896), Alan Borwell (1936) and Richard Kynoch (1821)!
That puts Dundee City C on 2 match points, with 4½ game points and 3rd place in the group table, only 2 match & game points behind the leaders Sheffield University Graduates!
Division Four – Group A
Streatham B (1756) 1̕½ – 2½ (1824) Dundee City D
This was a tough match against teams of similar strength. Graham Mooney (1875) on board one rolled back the years and showed his vast experience to secure a draw against a 2050! That draw proved vital to the teams result! Dariusz Kosznik (1866) on board 2 carried on where he left off in season 5 and will be a vital member of this team. Sir Philip Cohen (1870) on board 3 is beginning to find his form from years ago and is literality “Turning back the hands of time”! Newbie, Ross Brennan (1686) lost on board 4 but is proving to be a good addition to the Dundee City squad! That puts Dundee City D on 4 match points, with 5 game points and sitting in 2nd place only 2 game points behind leaders Ashfield Anonymous D!
Division Five – Swiss – 36 teams
Heffalump Hunters (2071) 4 – 0 (1614) Dundee City E
Well what can I say? Up against a side that is division 1 or 2 standards, there was only one outcome! Mind you given the Dundee City players involved, they went down fighting tooth and nail until the end! This really was “Hunter” v “Prey” and unlike in films, there were no happy endings for Dundee City E. Of course like in the films “They’ll be back”! Well played under a lot of pressure, Ray Flood (1630), James Anderson (1630), Leyton Hackney (1613) and Trevor Harley (1586).
Dundee City F (1516) 2 – 2 (1651) Colchester JFF A
Another tough match with Colchester having the advantage on the top two boards. The grading`s were more even on the bottom two boards. This made Colchester JFF A the favourites to win, but our players are tough fighters and when the going gets tough, the tough get going! A draw was a fantastic result on the night but we did have chances on win the match. Kit McEvoy Gould (1561) on board one was doing so well he turned down a draw offer from his 1881 opponent, something in the end he lived to regret!
Subhayu Banerjee (1519) on board 2 also played well, but was disappointed in the way he played in the end game. No matter how well you play, you can’t win them all!
Euan Murray (1506) and Ed Walton (1481) under pressure stood their ground like “pillars of stone” to get the 2 points needed to secure an unexpected draw! Well played everyone!
Dundee City F team are on 3 match points and 5 game points and sit in 9th place, with Dundee City E team on 2 match points, 4 game points and sit in a respectable 16th place for now!
Four wins, 1 draw and one loss is a fantastic Dundee City teams performance on the night! The loss does not really count given the opposition our “E” team faced!
BRING ON ROUND 3!
For all the results and standings click the link below.
4NCL
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JUNIOR 4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Thurs 22nd Sept 22 – 6pm
Season 6 – Round 2
Time-Controls – 10 minutes + 5 seconds increments
Division Three – Group B
Young Dragons C (807) 6½ – 1½ (473) Dundee City Juniors
With Rishi Vijayakumar away to the FIDE World Cadets Championship, our junior side was not only weakened, but one player short as we have yet to find a 5th or 6th player! That meant we had to default two games in what was already an up hill struggle grading wise! But while our junior side went down 6½ – 1½, out of the ashes came Josh Dickson J11 (632) to make his mark and statement in the absence of Rishi, with a win and draw against a 1078! Remarkable performance and one that shows he is not only improving as a player, but he has the temperament as well! With Rishi not available, Josh stepped up and stepped out of the Rishi`s shadow, to show why he is in the team. Well played young man! Also well played against tough opponents were Haoqi Lui J (411) and Noah Dickson J (378). With a star player (Rishi) and a backbone (Josh Dickson), then add a tail that can wag (Haoqi Lui & Noah Dickson) you a have the makings of a good team for the future!
For all the results and standings click the link below.
JUNIOR 4NCL
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Season 6 – Round 1
Time-Controls – 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Dundee City teams are a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
We have added another team for this season making it 6 teams in total. Bloody amazing stuff!
Not totally sure what happened with the 4NCL for season 6, but there seems to be less teams (Still a lot!) and this caused our division 4 champions Dundee City C who won promotion to division three, to be put back to division 4! Disappointing but what can you do? Well you can just go and win it again!
Division One Group B
Dundee City A (2358) 2½ – 1½ (2023) Hackney Thirsty
Always tough at the top, but a win is a winning start!
IM Richard Polaczek & Declan Shafi both won; Jacques Ophoff drew, while David Findlay suffered a rare loss!
Well played everybody!
Division Two – Group A
Dundee City B (2048) 2½ – 1½ (1673) Guildford 2
Another tough match in which Guildford battled hard and nearly pulled off a shock result! Talk about balls of steel! Well played Stephen Hogg (draw); Gary Weir & newbie for Dundee City, Iain Sneddon (both won!), with Ed Spencer the shock loss on board 2! What a team effort and well done to newbie Iain for his win (Everyone else as well!) Onward and upward!
Division Four – Groups B & A respectively
Dundee City C (1912) 1½ – 2½ (1713) Wessex Some Stars E
The first round is meant to be a little easier for the higher rated teams, but not in this one with Wessex Some Stars E living up to their “STAR” rating! Ross Bremner won, Andre Babin drew, while Alan Borwell and Richard Kynoch found themselves on the wrong end of it this time! Still it’s only the first round with plenty of time to pull themselves back into the fray! You know what they say? It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish in a marathon!
Dundee City D (1796) 3 – 1 (1660) Devana Corieltauvorum
Given the team gradings being so close, the result was always in doubt. It was not helped by Dundee City D having to default their board 3 match (Rishi missed the start. It was just one of those things). But when the going gets tough, the tough get going as Captain Graham Mooney led by example winning his game along with Sir Philip Cohan and another newbie to Dundee City, Ross Brennan! Well done everybody! The match finished 3-1, but Dundee City D get punished with a half point deduction for default. It still meant they won 2½ – 1 which they richly deserved! I am sure Rishi will make up for it the next time and he had a good excuse which we will not go into here!
Division Five (Swiss)
Dundee City E (1614) 4 – 0 (1014) Barnet Knights E
Comfortable wins for Ray Flood, James Anderson, Leyton Hackney & Trevor Harley against a far weaker team. Then again they can be banana skin fixture sometimes, but thankfully none stepped on one this time! Well played lads!
Hertford 3 (1349) 0 – 4 (1538) Dundee City F
While new team, Dundee City F were expected to win this fixture given the grades, it was another banana skin match and one given how well our opponents played, maybe the score line flattered us a bit? I can’t take anything away from the Dundee City F team players who battled hard and got there just rewards in the end. Well played Kit McEvoy Gould, Subhayu Banerjee, Ed Walton and Captain Ray Noble who to be fair got a lot of luck when his opponent missed chances to punish him big time! Still at the end of the day, it’s all about who can finish a match, regardless of what happens in the beginning or middle faze, don’t you agree Ray? Well played everyone and you can’t do better than a winning start in round 1! The only downside was one of the matches was played with the wrong time-control and was downgraded to a 0-0 result by the organisers which meant the match finished 3 – 0 instead, still in our favour! A lesson taught me thinks!
Round two will be in two weeks time. For all the fixtures, results and standings so far click the link below.
4NCL
JUNIOR 4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Thurs 8th Sept 22 – 6:00pm
Season 6 – Round 1
Division Three
Well hear we go again as the Junior 4 NCL kicks off once again! Sixth season shows it’s been a successful competition and one which gives out juniors a platform to gain experience playing competitive chess!
Unfortunately things did not go to plan in the first match up against one of the strongest sides in the division!
Dundee City Juniors (887) 2 – 6 (1300) Desert Penguins Jupiter
Out graded and out gunned on all boards, apart from board one where Rishi Vijayakumar was superb as usual winning 2 nil!
All our players, Rishi Vijayakumar J11, Josh Dickson J12, Haoqi Lui J12 and Noah Dickson J10 gave it their all, but against such strong opposition, it was always going to be an up hill battle. Well played everyone!
You will now know what to expect and will be ready to do battle once again in two weeks time! You can`t win every match, but you can win more of them than the others!
For all the results and standings so far, click the link below.
Junior 4NCL
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Season 2021-22
Tues 17th May 22 – 7:30pm
Division Four final play-off
Jurassic Coast (1750) 1½ – 2½ (1865) Dundee City C
Oh what a night of chess we bared witness too in this match! Congratulations to Dundee City C on becoming the 4NCL division four champions for season 5 2022 after beating Jurassic Coast 2½ – 1½.
I called it right in my last post when I said:
“This match will have more action, ups and downs, controversial moments, emotional rollercoaster’s, blood sweat and tears and of course some tense flowing, mind blowing chess!”
Was I not right?
What a game to watch and play in! Commiserations to Jurassic Coast who put everything into this match. Well played Dundee City C and its players on an out of this world performance!
Daiusz Kosznik on board 2 played a beautiful game and checkmate in 16 moves, stunning! That gave Dundee City C the start they wanted and needed! Game “HERE”
The other 3 matches took longer but boy did they produce some mind blowing chess from both sides!
Alastair Dawson on board one, in my option (might not be worth much and he was always under control!), was in a bit of a pickle and possible on the wrong end of it, but boy what a fighter he is. Those two connected passed pawns proved to be a thorn in his opponent’s side and cracks were beginning to appear along with the mistakes. I have to say what a wonderful endgame Alastair played, fantastic to watch and the finish…a work of art!
Game “HERE”
That put Dundee City 2 – 0 up just as Graham Mooney on board 3 drew his match to give Dundee City C the title, a fitting end for the captain! Game “HERE”
Sir Philip Cohen on board four finished just after that, losing his match in a very tight battle. But that loss did not matter and it’s a team game and the team won! Game “HERE”
I have no superlatives left in the locker after this match. My nerves are shattered and I need my bed to recover.
Once again congratulations to Dundee City C on what is a historic night for the City of Dundee and the two chess clubs involved, Castlehill Dundee CC and Dundee CC! This joint venture has proved it’s worth to both clubs and long may it continue!
When played like that, chess is the most beautiful game to play and watch in the world!
Dundee City C was the icing on the cake with this victory. All our other teams, Dundee City A, B, D and E also had incredible campaigns with the B, D & E teams all getting promoted! Dundee City A just missed out on the play-off`s and had some wonderful results along the way.
For all the results and standing visit the 4NCL website (link below).
4NCL website
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4NCL (Nations Chess League)
Dundee City teams are a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club Dundee and Dundee Chess Club.
SEASON 5 – Division Four – Semi-Finals
Tuesday 3rd May 22 – 7:30pm
Time-Control: 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
Congratulations to Dundee City C & D teams on reaching the semi-final stages of the division four title race. They both have already been promoted to division three. The rules for the semi-finals are a bit different and can be a bit more stressfully! You must have two computers, one for playing the game and the other for watching you playing the game! This is all part of the anti-cheating policy of the 4NCL. Their arbiter monitors all games with sound which can be off putting with dogs barking and kids running around! Both Dundee City teams managed to avoid each other in the semi-final draw!
DRAW
Jurassic Coast (1861) 2 – 2 (1580) Dundee City D
Up against a much stronger side, Dundee City D did themselves proud in getting a draw! Unfortunately in 4NCL rules (tie-break) all went the way of the higher graded team, Jurassic Coast who have qualified for the final. Congratulations to them and we wish them well in the final (well it all depends who they are playing!).
What a campaign for Dundee City D, especially the performance they put in for the semis. Jan Barron-Majerik, James Anderson, Ray Flood & Rishi Vijayakumar J10 left nothing in the tank to try and reach the final, but it was not to be this season. But remember they have gained promotion to division three (3) which was a fantastic achievement!
Sheffield Uni 70`s Graduates (1654) 1½ – 2½ (1865) Dundee City C
CELEBRATIONS COME ON! Congratulations to Dundee City C for reaching the division four final with a chance to claim the division four title! They have already gained promotion to division three (3), but this would be the icing on the cake! We had hoped they would be playing Dundee City D but not to be. Well played Alasatir Dawson, Dariusz Kosznik, Graham Mooney & Sir Philip Cohen against a very good side.
The final takes place on Tuesday 17th May 22 on Lichess.org and you can watch all the games as they unfold.
For all the results, standing and the links to watch the final matches, visit the 4NCL website by clicking the links below. The final links will not be up until about a half hour before the games are due to start.
Once again congratulations to both Dundee City teams, but especially Dundee City C for reaching the final.
COME ON DUNDEE CITY C!
4NCL website
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SEASON 5 – ROUND 7 (7 rounds in total)
Div 1 – Group D
Shropshire and Friends 2 (1869) 1½ – 2½ ( 2113) Dundee City A
Shropshire and Friends may have finished in 7th place but they did not play like that against Dundee City A! What a tight fighting match and what a performance by Dundee City A not only to win this match ( 3 draws and one win by Ed Spencer!), but to finish in 2nd place in group D, ahead of Scottish superstars “ALBA” who finished third! I would say the best performance/campaign Dundee City A has had. This really was an outstanding league campaign by Dundee City A! Group D winners Schach Attack on 13 points could only draw with Dundee City A in their round one match!
Div 2 – Group D
Dundee City B (1914) ½ – 3½ (2166) Barnet Knights A
On the night Dundee City B were out graded and out played by the better team simple as that! Great fighting chess by all players, especially Andre Babin on board 3 who stopped the white wash with a draw! Despite that loss it is still congratulations to Dundee City B on finishing in runners-up spot on 10 points, two behind group winners Barnet Knights A on 12 points. This means they are “PROMOTED” to division one next season! What an amazing achievement by Dundee City B! It will be tough in division one but that’s why you play chess!
Div 4 – Group B
Guildford Castles 2 (1673) 2½ – 1½ (1798) Dundee City C
Congratulations to Dundee City C who top group B in division one despite losing their last match against Guildford Castles 2! What can you say! What a stunning league campaign! Finishing top on 11 points, one ahead of Wessex Some Stars E, Dundee City C have qualified for the knockout section to decide who will be the division four champions! Not only that as they are promoted to division three! Top team, top players and one hell of a season 5 campaign!
Div 4 – Group D
Dundee City D (1605) 2 – 2 (1707) Plymouth 2
It just gets better and better as Dundee City D draw their last match to reach the knockout stages along with Dundee City C to decide who will be this season’s division four champions! They also finished top of the group after Streatham B lost their last match! To top it off, like Dundee City C, they are promoted to division three in the next campaign! Well played lads and what a nice finish by Ray Flood to win his match on board one!
Div 5 – Swiss
Crowthorne B (1149) 0 – 4 (1534) Dundee City D
You can`t ask better than that to finish off your league campaign with a convincing 4 – 0 victory. Yes grading wise that was the probably result, but many a banana skin has befallen a team in that position so well played! That fantastic result pushed Dundee City E into 3rd place in the league on 9 points (4 teams on 9 pts) with 19½ board points, meaning they finish ½ a board point above the other three teams! While no league title it is enough to gain promotion to division four! Outstanding league campaign by Dundee City E! Truly amazing results and performances to gain promotion!
What was achieved on the night? You could say, two wins, 1 draw, 2 losses yes, but put another way, four promotions to a higher division, one promotion to a higher group and still four teams in with a chance to become champions of their division. Wow! Now that is what you call out of this world!
The semi-finals take place on the 3rd May, draw’s still to be confirmed (below is the predicted draw based on the 4NCL guidelines which would mean bot Dundee City teams avoid each other in the semi`s, TBC). We will be there to support all Dundee City teams in their quest for division titles!
Semi-Final Draw (TBC)
Jurassic Coast v Dundee City D
Sheffield Uni 70`s Graduates v Dundee City C?
For all the results, tables, etc please visit the 4NCL website (link below).
4NCL website
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SEASON 5 – ROUND 6 (7 rounds in total)
Tuesday 5th April 22 – 7:30pm
Time-Control: 45 minutes + 15 seconds increments
What an incredible performance from all five of our teams with 4 winners and one draw! Can`t ask much more than that!
Div 1 – Group D – Dundee City A are only a point behind the leaders in group D but will need to win their last game and hope the leaders lose to have a chance of reaching the knockout stages! It was a close match against Stratham A in round 6 but last man standing Stephen Hogg pulled the win out of the bag again!
Div 2 – Group D – Dundee City B are only 2½ board points behind group D leaders Barnet Knight A with both on 10 match points. But the good thing is it’s in Dundee City B`s own hands as they play Barnet Knights A in the last match! The winner finishes top of group D to reach the knockout stage and a chance to win the division two title! I am sure if they finish 2nd in the group they will be promoted to division one! (will confirm ASAP!)
Div 4 – Group B – Congratulations to Dundee City C who finish top of group B with one match to spare! They have qualified for the knockout stage to become Division 4 champions! If I am correct they have also gained promotion to division 3 (will confirm ASAP)! What a performance this campaign by Dundee City C!
Div 4 – Group D – Dundee City D sit top of group D by ½ a board point from Streatham B (both on 9 points). They drew with them in round 6. Like Dundee City C it`s all in Dundee City D teams own hands, win 4 -0 against Plymouth 2 (in 4th place) and they finish top with a shot at the league title! Any other result and it will depend on how the other teams got on. If Dundee City D finish in 2nd place I am sure they are promoted to division three (will confirm). Squeaky bum time!
Div 5 – Swiss – Dundee City E have had a very good campaign this season and sit in 6th place on 7 points, 4 points behind the leaders. I am not sure but mathematically it still may be possible for Dundee City E to reach a promotion spot? Will find out ASAP. Just win their last match by as big a score line as they can manage and you never know!
See 4NCL tab for matches, results and tables
