Keith was first to finish." I missed a winning (probably) move at move 7!!, got good play for two sacked pawns but the advantage dwindled away and a draw was agreed with Len Weir one pawn up but unable to make it count (or so we thought until a winning line for Len Weir was pointed out by someone else);"
Fergus was next, having lost but missed how this came about;
Then Colin who was a pawn up, probably winning but in desperate time-trouble, agreed drawn with R+N+ a few pawns;
Next came Andy who won with a devastating attack on black's fianchettoed Kingside. An h5 x g6 followed by a Bishop sac offer on g6 (declined) broke apart the defense and won the queen for Rook. A rook. a Knight and a Queen were enough to force resignation;
Dmitriy halved out next in a Q+R+B+5 vs Q+R+N+5 ending;
And so it all hung on Andre. A draw would be enough on board count. At the first time control Andre was a pawn up and his opponent had no play for it. So Andre sacked his queen for Rook and Bishop leaving him with Rook+Bishop+5 against Q+4. But white still had no counter play so a draw was pretty certain. White mixed it a bit by pushing some pawns towards Andre's King but still with nothing forcing. White got some checking positions but it was impossible to force anything. And then Andre blundered away his Bishop!!? Fortunately white was now very short of time and still no obviously forcing moves so he had to agree a draw. "Talk about skin-of-the-teeth."
CASTLEHILL v TROON
1.(B) Payada, D (1944) 1/2 v 1/2 (1901) Barrett, T
2.(W) Edwards, C (1795) 1/2 v 1/2 (1865) Templeton, R
3.(B) Babin, A (1633) 1/2 v 1/2 (1834) Calder, J
4.(W) Paulin, A (1616) 1 v 0 (1658) Baird, C
5.(B) Milne, F (1572) 0 v 1 (1583) Malcolm, D
6.(W) Rose, K (1564) 1/2 v 1/2 (1551) Weir, L
Final
Score 3 - 3
Castlehill win on board count!
(Average grading; Castlehill 1687; Troon
1732) Out graded 4-2 on boards!
"Well played Castlehill! Cheers lads!
May I remind everyone, that we drew our first match 3-3 last
year and won on board count, then went on to win the Spens Cup in style!
