Page updated; 07/02/2012

TAFCA MATCH REPORT: Mon 6th Feb:

Div 2; Castlehill D 1.5, Kinross 2.5

Castlehill D lost there unbeaten run to Kinross on a night of high drama! Kinross coming to Castlehill, needed a win to resurrect there title and promotion chances. They had a strong side with Bappa Roy on board 1.

First to finish was Jim McCluskey(1335) against the Kinross Captain, Ian Washington(1433). Jim had white and played e4. Ian as he has done for years replied d5! 2 exd Nf6. Unfortunately for Jim, Ian has a good record in this opening and come out on top. Back to the drawing board for Jim!

Castlehill D 0, Kinross 1.

Next to finish was Colin Young(1100)est, on board 4. He was playing Harold Ross(900), that old campaigner who still enjoys his chess. Colin won fairly comfortably in the end. 

Castlehill D 1, Kinross 1.

On Board 3, Norman Waugh (1169) was playing a great game of chess against David Simmons (1390). He was two pawns up out of the opening exchanges, and had swapped the rooks off (always a good idea!) to reach a won end game. Unfortunately David started showing his experience and higher grade, while Norman lost his way a bit. With time running out, a draw was agreed! Norman needs to practice his end game technique I think!

Castlehill D 1.5, Kinross 1.5.

So it all came down to the last match on board one. David Andrew Robertson (1414) v Bappa Roy (1758), and what a match! Despite being heavily out graded, David first of all took advantage of a small error in the opening phase and ended up two pawns to the good. Bappa had pressure for this, but it did not seem like enough compensation for them. Pressure was building and everyone in the room was watching this match! You could cut the tension with a knife. Never easy playing when everyone is watching your moves and giving each other there opinions on them as you play! Bappa showed his vast experience and kept causing problems for David's Queen. He was eventually rewarded with a mistake and a pawn back. A couple of moves later and with tiredness creeping in for David (due to a long and serious illness), the killer mistake was made and Bappa pounced like a hungry and grateful tiger to deliver the killer blow. What a match to finish the night on. What a performance from David against a much higher graded opponent! Disappointment in the end with Castlehill D losing 1.5 to 2.5 to Kinross, but what a night of chess! Well played Kinross, a deserved victory.

Castlehill D are still two points clear at the top of division two, with two matches left to play. It is still in there own hands to take both the title and promotion to division one. 

     Castlehill                v               Kinross

1.D.Robertson(1414) 0-1   (1756)B.Roy

2.J.McCluskey(1335) 0-1   (1433)I.Washington

3.N.Waugh(1169)       ½-½  (1390)D.Simmons

4.C.Young(1100)e      1-0     (900)H.Ross

                                  1 ½-2½ to Kinross

PERTH & KINROSS CHESS FESTIVAL REPORT: (Fri-Sun-27-29 Jan)

Castlehill were represented in Perth by 8 players in total; none in the Open; 2 in the Challengers; 3 in the Major; and 3 in the Minor.

OPEN EVENT: Castlehill had no players entered

CHALLENGERS: (U1800) Castlehill were represented by two players, Andre Babin (1633) & Paul Shafi (1558). Andre seeded 16 out of 24, started with a very hard match against that up and coming junior Andrew McCusker aged 12 and graded 1217. Andre had white but surprisingly lost! He recovered well and finished on 3/5 with a grading performance of 1616. Not bad considering his first round defeat against a 1217!

Paul seeded 25 started with a draw and two losses against higher graded players. Unfortunately in the last round he was hit by a different junior bug, Carl Milton aged 13 and graded 1310. He lost! Finishing on 1/5 and a grading performance of 1403! Paul!!

MAJOR EVENT (U1600)

Castlehill were represented by three players, Martin Chalmers (1537), Declan Shafi (1000) and Colin Young (1100) est.

Martin, the number four seeded player out of 40, took a bye in the first round, then won his next match, but drew his third round match against that brick wall player, David Cubitt (1421) Unfortunately Martin lost in round four to a 1414 to dent his ambitions. He won his last match and finished on 3/5 with a grading performance of 1516. His average opponents grade were 1425.

Declan seeded 35; started with a bang, winning his opening first round match against the much stronger player rated 1424! Unfortunately Declan could not repeat this success result wise, but did against much stronger give a good account of himself and nearly pulled off another upset. He finished on 1/5, with a grading performance of 1155! His opponents average grade was a whopping 1396! What a step up in class for the Smiling Assassin. Well played.

Colin seeded 39 took a bye in the first round, lost his second, and drew his third match. He then with the white pieces won against the number seven-seeded player, Colin Heathcote, graded 1509, a grading difference of 409 points! What a result Colin. In the last round, reality struck with a loss, all be it to a 1435. As each tournament passes, Colin gets better!  He finished on 2/5, with a grading performance of 1374 and an opponent’s average grade of 1465!

MINOR EVENT (U1300)

Castlehill had three players in this event, Lisa Paton (1058), Robbie McLeod (1003) & Norman Waugh (1169).

 
Lisa, seeded 11th out of a field of 31, took a bye in the first round, then won her next two matches against a 682 & 1217 respectively. It was not to be and Lisa lost the last two matches to finish on 2½/5, and a grading performance of 1098, exactly the same as her opponent’s average grade!

Robbie, seeded 17^th, also took a bye in round 1, and drew his round two match. In round 3 he played the number 2 player graded 1256 and achieved a draw! Way to go Robbie. Not to be out done by his sister Lisa, Robbie also lost his last two matches to finish on 2/5 and a tournament performance of 964.

 Norman, seeded 9^th finished on 1½ points and a 741 performance. He enjoyed himself and used the tournament as a warm up for his league match for the Castlehill D team the next day. He won that match!!

 Well done to all players and I hope you all had a great time in Perth!

 Thanks go to Nigel Whyte who provided the results on Facebook during the tournament. This was most appreciated by myself and the players involved including the Dundee/Victoria players.

This more detailed (& sorry a bit sparse due to time) and fun report was delayed because the congress official results did not appear until Friday!

Prize winners (Congress web site)

TAFCA MATCH REPORT:Monday 30th January 2012

 Division Two: Perth C 1, Castlehill D 3;

Congratulations go to Castlehill D for increasing there lead at the top to four points, with three matches left. After beating the leaders last week at Perth (Perth B 1, Castlehill D 3). Castlehill were once again back at Perth to play there game in hand. After a room problem, and having to refuse there request for subs as we seemed to be always there! The match started.

First to finish was Colin Young on board 4, playing an unknown player who had just turned up and got a TAFCA league match as his introduction! Colin won in fine style, but this player could have been a 2000+? Thankfully not!  1:0 to Castlehill

Ray Noble (Capt) on board 1 was playing that old stalwart John Shovlin. John put up a good fight, but unfortunately Ray kept sober and found the right moves in the end! 2:0 to Castlehill. 

The draw guaranteed at least!

Jim McCluskey on board 2, was playing a great game against his junior opponent. He caused pawn damage, leaving his opponent with 3 isolated triple pawns. Bad luck struck and Jim missed a mate threat which cost him a Knight! It was one of those things and his opponent played it well in the end. 2:1 to Castlehill.

It all rested on the final match!

Norman Waugh on board 3 was having a fine tussle against his opponent. He went one, then two pawns up, and played a great end game with pawns & rook, against pawns & rook to force the win. It was good to watch!

3:1 to Castlehill. 4 points clear at the top of Division 2; I smell the fear from Division one teams already!!

TAFCA MATCH REPORTS: Monday 23rd January 2012

TAFCA Division One: Dundee/Victoria B 2.5, Castlehill B 1.5; 

Unlucky Castlehill and well played D&V! After a venue overload at D&V`s place, the match was moved to Castlehill`s venue.

On board 1, Andre Babin drew with Jim James Anderson; Board 2 Andy Paulin lost to Frank Stevenson, 3-Fergus Milne(Capt) lost to John Kelly and on board 4; Keith Rose won against John Robertson Jnr.

The last two matches for Castlehill B have dented there ambitions of winning the Division One title? Oh well!

TAFCA KNOCKOUT: Q/Final; Castlehill 4, Glenrothes 4; 

Castlehill win on tie-break system to reach the Semi-Finals. They play Dundee/Victoria B.

The night belongs to the young and the old (Sorry Norrie!) Declan Shafi, aged 10 won both his matches on board 3, and Norrie Morrision on board four turned back the years and won both his matches. That meant Castlehill only needed a half point from the top two boards to win outright. unfortunately Lisa and Robbie lost both there matches, but Castlehill still went through on tie-break rules! Well done.

That means that out of the four teams in the semi's, Castlehill have three of them! "A", "C" & "D". But lets take a warning from football. England had 3 teams in the Champions league semi's, but the Spanish team won it!

TAFCA LEAGUE Division Two: Perth B 1 Castlehill D 3.

What a result away from home. Perth B were the leaders of division two on board count! This result puts Castlehill D two points clear at the top, with a game in hand.

1.Doug Harvey 0, Ray Noble 1
2.Jeremy Duncan 0, Jim McCluskey 1
3.Lawrence Sword ½, Colin Young ½
4.John Shovlin ½, Leonardo Sani ½

Leonardo aged 11 and playing his first TAFCA league match, was superb, cool under pressure and first to finish. One to watch for the future? Colin was ahead in his match, but made a mistake which his opponent took advantage of and a drew was agreed. It happens to us all and Colin is getting better and better!

Jim was in fine form. He won a piece and never let the guy back into the match this time!

Ray had an early opening present of a pawn and just squeezed his opponent to submission.

TAFCA MATCH REPORT: Castlehill A 2.5 v 1.5 Dundee/Victoria C; Mon 9th Jan 2012

Castlehill were a man down due to a player forgetting he had a match! Being one point down against a team you are supposed to win against is not ideal. Mikey on board 3 (late as usual) managed to dispose of Harvey Duke. Board one was a rock & roll affair, with Elaine taking an early advantage against Andy Rowe, only for him to come back and get what can only be described as a wild position with fantastic winning chances for him. Elaine of course, always in control (I think? Hopefully?) Finally nailed him to the board (Ouch!). That made it 2-1 to Castlehill with one match to go. On board 4 was Craig Nicol (white) against Nigel Whyte (black). It was a hard match and Nigel who was massively out graded by his opponent, playing a blinder and was at least holding his own, with winning chances. The two respective Captains of there teams eventually agreed a draw and Castlehill A`s blushes were spared with a 2.5; 1.5 win. They can still win the league and retain there title, but they are doing it the hard way!

The 2nd TAFCA INDIVIDUAL ALLEGRO: Saturday 17th December; Ninewells Hospital

CHESS IN DUNDEE & TAFCA MOURN THE LOSS OF A CHESS ORGANIsING LEGEND!

TAFCA DIV 1; Castlehill A v Castlehill C; Thurs 8th Dec;

Castlehill A after a hard struggle and a bit of good fortune overcame a weakened Castlehill C! Dmitriy Payada got the fright of his live after being savaged by the "C" team Bull Dog and captain, Martin Chalmers! In the end despite all the wounds inflicted by Martin, Dmitriy showed his class and was rewarded by an offer of a draw by Mr Chalmers! With such speed of hand Dmitriy nearly inadvertently hit Martin with a sucker punch in his haste to accept the draw offer! I wonder why? If this was Monopoly instead of chess, Dmitriy just played his get out of jail card! Despite this, Martin Chalmers in the end had a great result against his much higher rated opponent. All bodes well in the Martin chess camp!

 Colin Young also got a draw against the much higher graded and more experienced veteran, Craig Nicol. Colin out played Craig in all departments of the game, except the swindle! Craig as a past master of the swindle, complicated matters so much over the board, that in the end inexperience, time and belief caught up with Colin and a draw was agreed.

 Both matches were a joy to watch for many reasons. This was indeed goodnights chess at the chess club!

TAFCA MATCH REPORTS: 28/11/11

In Division One, Castlehill B beat Dundee & Victoria C 3.5-0.5 at D&V. This not only helps the "B" teams ambitions, it keeps the  Castlehill`s "C" teams chances of survival a big leg up!

Castlehill C are in the semi-finals of the TAFCA Knockout after a 6-2 win against Perth C. This was not looking likely after the first round of matches ending 2-2. In the end we won the last four matches 4-0! Well done to all the "C" team knockout players despite the time handi-cap. We face either Castlehill A or Perth B in the semi's.

 Perth C                v            Castlehill C 
1.G.Matthews   0,0 v  1,1  R.Noble
2.M.Aboim        0,0 v  1,1  J.McCluskey
3.H.Aboim        1,0 v  0,1  N.Waugh

4.J.Shovlin       1,0 v  0,1  C.Young
Final score        2  -  6    Castlehill C won

SNCL - REPORT; Sunday 27th November

Both Dundee City "A" & "B" teams won there two matches to both go top of there leagues! Dundee City A in the morning match beat Cumbernalud 3.5-1.5 and in the afternoon match forced the abdication of the Kingdom Kings by 4 points to1! They now sit proud at the top of Division One on eight points, 1 ahead of Edinburgh West. Hamilton A, the winners of Division One for the last two years (DCA 2nd both times!) and tournament number 1 seeds, suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Forth Valley! Who knows may be this year?

Dundee City B also won in convincing style both there morning and afternoon matches. In the morning they defeated Pentland Hills 4.5 - 0.5, and in the afternoon they beat Irvine 3.5-1.5. They lead Division Three on eight points, and lead by one point from Edinburgh 2 on 7. Can we make it too Division Two this time?

Well played everyone, you have done us proud!

Next round in February 2012.

Results & Tables

OBAN CHESS CONGRESS REPORT: (Fri-Sun-18-20 Nov)

Castlehill were represented in Oban by 7 players in total; 2 in the Open, 2 in the Major, and 3 in the Minor.

OPEN EVENT:

Our new member, Elaine Bamber (WFM)-2120,  was seeded 8th in a field of 23 players. After a bye in the first round Elaine drew with a 1908, lost to a 1823 and won her last two match against a 1698 & 1876, to finish on 3 points. A very strong finish! Elaine's tournament performance was 1932, a bit down on here actual grade. 

Report Card says " Good, but could do better!"

Alastair " the Prof" Dawson 1851 was seeded 20th out of 23 players. After a bye in the first round he lost to a 2139, won against a 1549, lost to a 2046 and drew his last match against a 1884, to finish on 2 points. Alastairs tournament performance was 1835, an average tournament for the Prof! 

Report Card says " An academic outing!"

CHALLENGERS: (U1900)Castlehill had no players entered in this event. Disappointing?

MAJOR EVENT (U1600)

Castlehill were represented by two players, Paul Shafi (1558) & John Lynch (1075). Paul, the number two seeded player, took a bye in the first round, then drew his next three matches  with a 1308, 1410 & 1365 respectively! He then finished the tournament off with a win (at last!) in the last round against a 1424 to finish on 2.5 points, with a tournament performance of 1468.  

Report card says "Lets hope Paul "DRAWS" from this experience!"

John seeded 28th out of a field of 29, lost his first two matches against a 1424 & 1378. He then won the third against a 1276 with the black pieces! Unfortunately he could not capitalize on this and lost the last two matches to higher rated players graded 1446 & 1359 respectively to finish on 1 point. John's tournament performance was 1136, a 61 point increase on his current grade Well done John! 

Report Card says " A fine performance in a hard tournament"

MINOR EVENT (U1350)

Castlehill had three players in this event, Lisa Paton (1058), Robbie McLeod (1003) & the Smiling Assassin, Declan Shafi (1000), aged 10. All three had above average tournaments.

Lisa, seeded 13th out of a field of 26, won two matches against a 763 & 1244 respectively. A draw in the last round took Lisa to 2.5 points and a tournament performance of 1078. 

Report Card say " Steady, Girl, Steady!"

Declan "The Smiling Assassin" Shafi was seeded 19th. After a bye in the first round, Declan won  his next two matches against a 1055 & 1198. He could not keep this going losing the last two match against a 1252 & 1003. (see Robbie Report regards last loss!) Declan finished on a fantastic 2.5 points and a TP of 1127, a massive 127 points higher than his grade! 

Report Card says " The future looks bright, the future looks Declan`s!"

Robbie McLeod, the man in form after taking grading prizes in his last two congresses, got his tournament off with a loss.(Oh dear?).  Robbie seeded 18th then took a bye in round 2 and with batteries charged began a three match winning streak with a win against "McNab!........ Nicholas McNab graded 1097. He then had a wonderful win with the white pieces against the number one seeded tournament player, Ian Johnson graded 1390!( Who would be a top seed?) A whopping 297 points higher than Robbie! In the last round he defeated his club team mate, Declan Shafi, (who was also going for a prize), to secure for the third tournament in a row the grading prize (u1050). Robbie's TP was an unbelievable 1399, a tremendous 396 points above his current grade!! WOW!

Report Card says "Start spreading the news, Robbie`s on his way to breaking his grading barrier!"

Well done to all players and I hope you all had a great time in Oban!

TAFCA LEAGUE MATCH REPORT; 14/11/11

Kinross v Castlehill D - Div 2

Congratulations go to Castlehill D in winning against the league title favorites Kinross at there home ground!

The first bit of luck for Castlehill was that Kiron Roy was not available to play for them. This did weaken there side quite a bit.

First to finish was Jim "The husk" McCluskey (1335) on board 2 against Ian Washington (1433). From the off Jim was in fine form, and as his chess nick name suggests, (The Husk), he  sucked his opponent dry and left nothing but an empty shell! A great win. 1-0 to Castlehill; Next to finish was Colin "Stonewall"Young(1000)est, on board 3 against David Simmons (1390). The result was a "Stonewall" draw. Colin at this rate will be taking the mantle off Craig Nicol as the draw master! Another fine performance by Colin against a vastly experienced and higher graded opponent! 1.5-0.5 Castlehill.

Next up was John "The mob"Lynch(1075) on board 4, playing up from the "E" team as we were players short for this match. His opponent was Harold Ross (900). John had the advance from the start and just kept giving his opponent enough rope to hang himself! Well played young man! That win secured a match victory regardless of the result on board 1.

On Board 1 was Ray "The inebriated" Noble(1362), playing Babba Roy (1758). Babba turned up over 35 minutes late, but he still managed to win the game! It was a great tactical game of chess and Babba was on top form as his grading would suggest. Ray could have claimed the game regards the 30 minute rule, but he was here for a game of chess and did not claim. It was offered, but refused!

The match finished 2.5-1.5 to Castlehill D

Lets keep it going lads. This was a fine comeback after the disappointing draw against Perth B the last time.

SNCL - Dunfermline; Sun 30th Oct 2012

Both Dundee City teams got off to a great start in the first SNCL of the season. In Division One Dundee City A won both there matches comfortably 3½-1½ & 4½-½. Not to much to report. They share the lead with Hamilton on 4 pts each.

In Division Two Dundee City B also won both there opening matches of the season. In the first match against Oban they won, 3½-1½. The afternoon match was much closer and could have gone either way. Dundee City B finally overcame Lanark by 3-2, thanks to a great win by Martin Chalmers (1537) against Tom Brown (1684). Dundee City share 1st place with Edinburgh 2 & Inverclyde on 4pts each.

"Results/Tables"

The Dundee & Angus Chess Congress 2011 Report

Castlehill members had an excellent Dundee and Angus Chess Congress 2011. In all 17 Castlehill members took part. A fantastic entry from our club. 

In the "Open Sea Engineering Open" We had Daniel Rocks, Dmitriy Payada & Mikey Grove. They all struck gold! Daniel Rocks (Junior ) (2056) got 3/5 and a grading performance of 2029, slightly below his grade. He shared the junior prize for the open. Dmitriy Payada (1944) finished on 3/5 with a grading performance of 2092! He shared in a 5 way-tie for the under 2025 grading prize. He had a fantastic win against the very experienced Peter Romily (Dun/Vic) graded 2185. Mikey Grove (1851) also shared that prize with a grading performance of 1955, a 104 points above his grade!. Go Mikey Go!

In the Minor, Bruce Wallace (1350), (also from Dundee/Victoria), Took out right 1st place with an undefeated 4.5 On the way to victory he played the only other player unbeaten in the minor at that time in round three, Ray Noble. With his butchers knife, and like a mad surgeon, he duly dispatched him with the hung, drawn and quartered opening, without even drawing breath or needing a toilet break! With a Grandmaster draw in the last round, he was this years Minor champion with a grading performance of  1550! A magnificent 200 points above his grade! Well played Mr. Wallace!

Equal 2nd went to two other Castlehill members, Ray Noble (1382) & Jim McCluskey (1335). Jim McCluskey with a fantastic 4/5 for his first tournament after many years away, managed a grading performance of 1347. He also completed the tournament undefeated! Ray Noble also finished on 4/5 with a grading performance of 1478.

Colin Young (1100)est; got 2.5/5 and achieved a grading performance of 1173!  Declan Shafi (Jnr 11) (1000), had the tournament of his very short life so far, with a fantastic 3/5 and a tournament performance of 1334, a whopping 334 points above his grade. Amazing! On the way he defeated number two seed Iain Hope graded 1397! In the process he shared the Junior prize in the Minor. Well done Master Declan!

Lisa Paton (1058), Robbie McLeod (1003) & Norman Waugh (1169) also took part in the Minor and preformed very well.

In the MAJOR with a grading limit of 1750, a Castlehill player went undefeated and achieved a grading performance  of 220 points above his grade. This unassuming and humble Castlehill player, and up and coming wizard of the checkered board was none other than Andre Babin (1633). He took out right first place with 4.5 points and a grading performance of 1853. In the last round he defeated number 6 seed, rated 1704. To take 1st place in a 1750 event and a very strong field was nothing short of a miracle. The best winning result by a Castlehill player in the Dundee & Angus Congress as a whole. Absolutely mind blowing and stupendous Master Babin, a "grand" result!

Paul Shafi (1558), took equal 2nd place with a score of 4/5. his grading performance of 1778 was 220 points above his grade and was equal to André's performance grading wise. Truly a wonderful performance from Mr. Shafi! On the way he defeated a 1725 & 1630 on the way to =2nd place.

Graham Atkins (1471) and resident oldie of Castlehill, took the under 1600 grading prize with a 3.5 points result. On the way he drew with a 1705 and won against a 1685. His grading performance an unbelievable 219 points above his grade!!!! Wow! There's life in the old dog yet!?

Martin Chalmers (1537) had a disappointing tournament by his standards. He got a respectable 3/5 in the end, having started off with a 1st round defeat against the up and coming under 10 junior Kai Pannwitz(1230). A very experienced and strong player for his age. Martin rallied in the final two rounds on Sunday with 2 wins out of 2. Not easy, but he held his nerve!

John Lynch (1075) finished on 1.5 points and a grading performance of 1106! Harvey Duke (1309)  also got 1.5 points and a grading performance of 1078.  Both players were massively out graded in the Major, but gave it there best shot. Hats off too both of you!

Winning Congress performance, goes to Andre Babin, and Bruce Wallace. Winning grading performance goes to Master Declan Shafi, aka, The smiling assassin!

Well done to all players, and a big thank you to the organisers and helpers of Dundee & Angus Chess Congress.

For more detailed grading info go to the "congress website"   

Other Links;  "Photo's"  "Dundee TV Channel Congress Video"

The 29th KONRAD WEIRSBICKI MEMORIAL ALLEGRO 2011; Thursday 6th October 2011

17 players entered this years event, 3 up on last year! Format; 5 round Swiss, 15 minutes each player. Defending champion Mikey Grove was in determined mood to retain his title. He had some competition this year with Club Champion, Dmitriy Payada taking part, as well as Rashid Lawal, and Jim Anderson. Well Mikey was in fine form with everything going to plan. He defeated Dmitriy in round 3 with the black pieces! The shock was too much for Dmitriy who surprisingly lost his next match to that old rebel Craig Nicol. Mikey then rapped things up with two fine wins against Rashid & Craig respectfully. He finished undefeated and on full points with a perfect 5 out of 5! Congratulations go to Mikey Grove for a fine performance in retaining the Konrad Weirsbicki Memorial Allegro. Rashid Lawal on 4 points was the Runner-Up. Well done. 

Thank you to all players for taking part. It was a great nights chess! Can Mikey make it three in a row next year?

"Konrad Home"   "Roll of Honour"  "Photo`s"   "History"

LOTHIAN`S CHESS CONGRESS 2011

 What a performance by Dmitriy Payada from Castlehill Chess Club! Playing in the “OPEN” event in the Lothian’s Chess Congress, he comes out top of the heap! Finishing above top seed Alan Grant (2173) and all 17 entrants. He took first place and in the process gaining not only a tournament performance of 2151, but also taking out in the last round his club mate Mikey Grove with a fine win! Absolutely fantastic! After getting a point bye in the first round, Dmitriy lost his round two match to Christopher Tweedie (2070). Then overdrive kicked in and in round 3 he took out the very experienced George Neave (2126), round 4 Jamie Malkie (1726) and in round 5, the one and only Mikey Grove (1851). Well-played Dmitriy!!

 Mikey Grove also had a very good tournament finishing on 3/5, with a fantastic tournament grading performance of 2055! In the first round he took out an IM! (Jonathan Grant). In round two he drew with Andrew Green (2152), lost to number one seed Alan Grant (2173), beat Jonathan Edwards (1825), and lost to our very own “STAR” player, Dmitriy Payada.

 In the Major, Martin Chalmers (1537) went from strength to strength, finishing on 3/5, with a tournament performance of 1618! Martin started off with two draws against a 1410(?) & 1681(!!). He beat a 1217 & 1672(!!!), before losing the last round match against number 5 seed Keith Aitchison (1640). He did not finish in the prizes, but had a great tournament grading wise! Well-done Chambo!

 Paul Shafi (1558) was not so lucky, finishing on 2.5/5. His tournament performance was a disappointing 1445? He did take part, so good on him!

 In the Minor our sole representative was Master Declan Shafi (1000). He acquitted himself very well with a great tournament performance of 1204!! He finished with 2.5/5. What a future prospect for Castlehill! Go Declan, Go! The pupil may need to give the master (His Dad Paul!) some lessons!

RESULTS

GRANGEMOUTH CHESS CONGRESS 2011

Castlehill Chess Club were only represented in the Minor. The Premier, Challengers & Major were devoid of Castlehill players.

In the Minor, Robbie McLeod (1003) shone like a light in the dark, with a fantastic 3.5 points. He finished = 3rd, but took the Under 1150 grading prize. Robbie's grading performance was a staggering 1468!.

 Declan Shafi (1000) finished on 3 points with a grading performance of 1378! Magnificent! 

Lisa Paton (1058), despite her own reservations, got 2 points and a grading performance of 1104 for the tournament.

Well done to all. A grading increase for all!

Grangemouth Grading data

118th SCOTTISH CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS (9th-17th July)

Our very own Mikey Grove was playing in the 118th Scottish Open, held between 9th-17th July at LifeCare Centre, Edinburgh. This was a 9 round Swiss event, £75 entry fee; Time-Control 40 moves in 2 hours+60 minutes quick-play.

Mikey played 9 matches and ended up with 5 points, a remarkable feat given the strength of the field!

 He lost 3-1 with the black pieces, and won 4-1 with the white pieces. (5 whites & 4 blacks for the tournament) His best win was against an 1882 with white. He achieved a grading performance of 1853, which is in line with his new/first grade this season coming (1851) 

The tournament winner and Scottish Champion was Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant (GM) with a score of 7/9. Mikey beat everybody he should have + 1 he was not supposed to, and lost to those he was meant to lose to. He played Jonathan Grant (IM) 2198 alone the way. After a bad start score wise, Mikey pulled his socks up and proved how good a player he could be! It is not often that a Castlehill player plays in the open Scottish Championships, even more rare is how well he played. He finished =11th in a field of 38 players. 

 Not since bob Clapham played have we as a club had a player willing not only to enter, but enter to try and win! The experience gained will stand him in good stead for the future. Mikey Grove was the only player from the City of Dundee to enter the 118th Scottish Championships Open, 9 round event.

 Well-done Mikey from all the players of Castlehill Chess Club!

In the weekend events held over 15-17th July, only Castlehill were again represented;

 Daniel Rocks (2039) played in the open weekend event, but only completed 2 matches, plus one bye. He drew both and finished with 1.5/3.

 No players from Dundee were in the Major?

 Lisa Paton and Robbie McLeod, both from Castlehill played in the Scottish Minor weekend event. Lisa got 2.5/5 and Robbie got 1.5/5. Congratulations to all players in the weekend events. You entered, you played, you enjoyed!

Lets hope next year will see more players from the City of Dundee enter and you never know?

 For more info go to “More”

BOBBY FISCHER DCA ALLEGRO

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP 2010/11

Congratulations go to Dmitriy Payada for winning this years club championship with 5.5/6. Alastair Dawson was runner-Up(5) and Fergus Milne (4.5) is under 1600 winner after a tie-break win from Graham Atkins.

Club ChampionshipPage

BOBBY FISCHER AGAINST THE WORLD

Your views please!

OH WHAT A NIGHT! - Thursday 23rd June 2011

Oh what a night, middle of June, no special big event organised, just a normal club night. Club Championship and Summer matches, lot's of players down to play & watch, plus partake in the social aspect of our club. 22 players at the club in total, 

"now that's what you call a really competitive chess club!" 

Just in case anybody is in doubt, Castlehill Chess Club is the most friendliest, competitive, used, well attended chess club in the City of Dundee, may I dare say in TAFCA. If chess is your thing then Castlehill Chess Club is the club for you!

Special guests on the night were Norrie "I hate Knights" Morrison, Bruce Wallace, who was looking good after his major operation. Also visiting was our one and only FM Gunnar Jacob from Germany. What with Gunnar and Dmitriy as members, plus others, we can truly be considered a International Chess Club.

Photo's of the extraordinary Club Night!

LADDER FINAL 2011 - Thursday 16th June 2011

This years Ladder final was one of the strongest line ups in it's short history. It proved to be one of the most competitive finals ever, but not quite as dramatic as last years final. 

This was an all-play-all, 15 minutes each, playing each other with white & black.

Finalists; 1-Martin Chalmers; 2-Colin Edwards: 3-Ray Noble: 4-Mikey Grove

In round one Martin dispatched Ray in good-time and Mikey struck the first blow for the title by defeating Colin. Round two went to the form book with win's for Colin and Mikey against Martin & Ray respectively.

Round three proved to be the up-set round which opened the tournament up. Ray with the black pieces managed somehow (even he does not know how!) to draw with Colin Edwards, a rare feat indeed, while Martin Chalmers with the white pieces gave tournament favorite Mikey Grove a bloody nose with a superlative performance to take the match..

Half way scores; =1st M.Grove & M.Chalmers(2); 2nd C.Edwards(1.5); 4th R.Noble (0.5)

In round 4 normal service was resumed with Colin Edwards showing Ray how to play real chess and Mikey Grove (white) reasserting his superiority by extracting revenge for his defeat in the last round to Martin Chalmers (but it was touch and go!).

Round 5 saw Colin(white) beat Martin and Ray Noble somehow snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in an impossible position to lose? but he did manage it somehow! It would have been a rare success for Ray and altered things going into the last round.

This meant going in to the last round (6) Mikey only needed a draw against second place Colin to secure the title. Mikey had white and after making his first move duly asked Colin if he wanted a draw? Not surprisingly Colin declined! A fiercely fought match ensued with Mikey(5) eventually coming out on top and so taking the title of Castlehill Chess Club Ladder Champion 2010/11. Colin Edwards(3.5) was Runner-up. 

In the match between Martin Chalmers (white) & Ray Noble (black), Mr Chalmers strolled on easy street to do the double on Mr Noble and claim third spot on 3 points out of six. Ray was doing his best  impersonating Mr Atlas by holding up the rest of the field on his shoulders! 

1st Mikey Grove (5); 2nd Colin Edwards (3.5); 3rd Martin Chalmers (3); last Ray Noble (0.5)

Ladder Page             Home page            Ladder Role of Honour      Ladder History     Photo`s

5-MINUTE GRAND PRIX; Thursday 9th June

The last 5 Minute Grand Prix took place on Thursday 9th June. It proved to be a most entertaining affair and the overall out come of the Grand Prix took another twist and turn in what has been a very close and topsy-turvy competition unlike previous years!

Nine (9) players took part in the last 5-Minute and due to the Random Knockout final being played, we played the 5-Minute down stairs in the main lounge. Well the bar next door was very busy, it was Dale's (Publican) birthday and all were in party mood. The TV's were loud and the Juke box was on.

The chess pieces were positively dancing to the beat across the chess board. Some players were playing with soul, others were rocking, while Colin Edwards waltzed away with 1st place on the night. Colin only dropped ½ point in total and that was to the "smiling assassin" Master Declan Shafi.

1st Colin Edwards; 2nd Andre Babin; 3rd Declan Shafi; 4th= Graham Atkins, Harvey Duke & Paul Shafi

The overall standings after all six (6) events was most intriguing;  Dmitriy Payada had been leading after four (4) events on 21½ pts, and if we are honest was probably going to win the overall 5-Minute championship. Unfortunately for Dmitriy he was unable to play the last two events due to circumstances out with his control.

This meant that Mikey Grove over took Dmitriy after the 5th competition and so was leading with 24½ going into the last event with a 5pts lead over his nearest challenger Colin Edwards sitting in 3rd place on 19½pts.

Mikey only needed 1point to secure a possible tie-break finish or 2 points to confirm him as champion. He only needed to finish anywhere in the points to win. Unfortunately for Mikey he did not play in the last event giving Colin a slim chance of over hauling him. By finishing first and the bonus point for taking part, Colin secured the 6 points needed to over haul Mikey and take the title of Castlehill 5-Minute Grand Prix Champion 2010/11 for the second time by 1 point. Holy smoke, land sakes alive, Mikey just needed to turn-up!

Congratulations go to Colin Edwards on his achievement. Mikey Grove was Runner-Up.

5-Minute page

RANDOM KNOCKOUT FINAL 2010/11 - Thursday 9th June 2011

Congratulations go to Martin Chalmers for becoming the 2010/11 Random Knockout Champion.

Nineteen players entered this years campaign, played over 5 rounds (if you were lucky!). 

David Robertson (1387) on his way to the final overcame Harvey Duke (1195), a terrific win against Lloyd Hughes (1653) and in his Q/Final match he caused a major upset by defeating Colin Edwards who as captain of our fantastically successful Castlehill A team was one of the tournament favorites! David was drawn to play Mikey Grove (and tournament favorite) in the Semi-Finals, but due to circumstances Mikey had to withdraw which was a bit unlucky for him, but a stroke of luck to David and the other finalist Martin. This defantly opened up the tournament to both of them!

Martin Chalmers path was not so tough as David's but Martin equally dispatched his opponents alone the way in fine style. He beat Lisa Paton (1014), then the higher rated Fergus Milne (1558) and the in the Semi-Finals he defeated Gordon Thomas (1413) to reach his first  Knockout final.

The Chess room was set up with the Knockout final center stage. First to enter the room was Martin Chalmers, followed soon after by David Robertson. Both players posed for photo's and then "Eye of the Tiger" was belting out to build/rack up the atmosphere. As the music faded the final began......

Martin with the white pieces thrust  his e pawn forward two squares to e4. David stood firm and replied d5, the instant counter-attack. from there things proceeded down fairly normal lines until we reached move 11.  David with a slightly exposed Queen, but a level position suddenly produced a blunder out of thin air. He played Qf5 (Bb7 might have been better), which left Martin (not believing his luck!) to cherry-pick David's Queen after Nh4, "trapped!"   From there it was just a matter of swapping the pieces off and avoiding any silly blunders himself. This he did with aplomb and David resigned on move 37.

Well done to all players who took part in the Knockout competition, especially our finalists David Robertson and Martin Chalmers.

David Robertson was Knockout R/up and Martin Chalmers the Castlehill Random Knockout champion 2010/11.

Knockout Page         Photo`s      Home

INTER-CLUB ALLEGRO Report by Ray Noble

CASTLEHILL 8 - DUNDEE & VICTORIA 7

Final Score - Castlehill 54.5, Dundee/Victoria 40

Victory on the night for Castlehill Chess Club by 8 to 7 secured and retained the Inter-Club Allegro title for a second year.

A total of 25 players took part in the last Inter-Club Allegro for this season at Castlehill Chess Club held on Monday 30th May. 

Castlehill had 16 players and Dundee & Victoria had 9 players. 

Castlehill were once again out graded on average. Castlehill 1410 & Dundee/Victoria 1504;

It was good to see Bruce Wallace again looking good. And it was a nice surprise to see Graham Mooney all the way from Jersey "pullover" to see us. Castlehill needed just one point out of a possible 15 to retain there title. This they did despite Dundee & Victoria's best efforts to stop them. Colin Edwards(CH) took first place, with Frank Stevenson(DV) in second. Equal third went to Graham Mooney(CH), Keith Rose(CH), Jim Anderson(DV) & John Robertson Junior(DV). 

The Individual title had already been won before tonight by Dmitiry Payada (CH), Chaski (DV was Runner-up.

All in all a great nights club chess which just goes to show what a good competition this is proving to be. Serious and fun at the same time, plus a full club on the night!

May I take this opportunity to thank all players involved from both clubs, because without you it would not work.  

Until we meet again next year for three in a row!

Match table                Home             Photo`s

SPENS CUP FINAL REPORT by Keith Rose

Unlike our last appearance in the Spens Cup final we had a full team, all arrived on time and no-one got lost (although I missed a turning in Grangemouth).

The teams were fairly evenly matched, though we were outgraded on all boards.

Early on it wasn’t looking good. Ray appeared to be about to lose a piece when a Bishop was trapped by a pawn phalanx. Mikey looked  (to me) to be in a bit of trouble in a position which sometimes arises from a Scotch – Queen corralled by two knights and a Bishop – and Colin was facing a king-side pawn storm. Andre’s, Andy’s and my games were even.

When I next looked, Ray had a rook for two pieces but was about to win material with a Bishop forking a Knight and Rook. Andre was struggling, having to sac the exchange to avoid material loss on a Queenside castled position and back rank. Colin had broken the pawn wall and was finding space to create pressure on the queen side and Mikey, after an exchange of Queens, gradually improved his position. Andy’s game had two Rooks and a Knight each with pawns strung across the board and no real prospect of either breaking through. My game was materially equal but I had engineered a position which saddled my opponent with doubled, isolated e-pawns.

Ray was first to finish and with a win at that. A particularly good result as Rudolph’s season’s grading performance is 1695. Andy’s opponent offered a draw which was accepted and Andre had to concede. Mikey was next to finish and with a win. I didn’t see the outcome as my game was taking all my attention.

So, Colin and I were last-men standing. I didn’t see anything more of Colin’s game, my own was getting complicated. My opponent, running short of time (6 minutes to play 13 moves) made a mistake which allowed me to win the exchange. He played on and did well to reach the time-control with a few seconds left and no more disasters. The position was very difficult to negotiate as he was able to clog the position with a combination of two knights and lots of pawns. Although I did manage to break through, right to the end the position was very double-edged. Eventually, though, I was able to create a mating net and he resigned, just a few minutes after Colin also won.

Details:

(W) Colin Edward (1746)  1 - 0 Alan Prince (1895)
(B) Mikey Groves (E1720)1 - 0 Crawford MacNab (1870)
(W) Andy Paulin (1631) ½ - ½ Simon Bate (1645)
(B) Keith Rose (1595) 1 - 0 Richard Scott (1616)
(W) Andre Babin (1580) 0 - 1 Douglas Heatlie (1563)
(B) Ray Noble (1470) 1 - 0 Rudolph Austin (1530)

TAFCA MATCH REPORT; by Colin Edwards

Dundee & Victoria B v Castlehill A; Mon 4th April 2011

Castlehill A needed victory in their final fixture to become 2011 TAFCA league winners.
D & V turned up with three very experienced 1600+ players - Frank Stevenson, John Robertson jr and Andy Rowe. 
Castlehill A were without Daniel Rocks(2034) for this one and we expected a close match.

Team lineups

Frank Stevenson(1639) v Colin Edwards(1746)
John Robertson Jr (1626) v Mikey Grove (1720e (2384 according to Mikey!))
Andy Rowe(1604) v Dmitriy Payada (1700e)
Nigel Whyte( ungraded) v Andre Babin(1580)

First to finish was Dmitiry v Andy Rowe. Andy played Dmitriy's favorite opening the French against him. Dmitriy won the ensuing battle to make it 1-0 Castlehill.
Second to finish was Colin v Frank Stevenson. Frank walked into Colin's KID home preparation and admitted after the game he was 'under the cosh' the entire game. 2-0 Castlehill.
Next to finish was Mikey v John Robertson Jr. Mikey forked John's king and queen with his Knight and John resigned. Unfortunately for John he only noticed after he resigned he could simply take the Knight with his Rook!!   3-0 Castlehill and the league title was ours.
On the final board Andre swapped into an endgame several pawns up against Nigel Whyte, forcing Nigel to resign. 4-0 Castlehill. 
Castlehill A win the TAFCA division 1 title in style, in a season that included victories over both D & V teams. 
Many thanks to everyone who contributed to the teams success.

Colin Edwards

EDINBURGH CHESS CONGRESS; Report by Ray Noble

Castlehill Chess Club were represented by 4 players at the Edinburgh Congress held on Fri-Sun, 1-3 April.

Mikey Grove estimated at 1720 played in the Premier (He won the Major last year as an ungraded player!). He was seeded 53 out of 60 entries. Things did not go to plan from the off! On the way to Edinburgh Friday night he got a flat tyre and had to get a bye for the first round instead.  On the Saturday morning he failed to turn up to play his 2nd round match because he slept in (sampling the Edinburgh night life Mikey?). The organizers kindly let him continue in the competition and finally he got the chance to prove how good a chess player he can be. He went into this congress on the back of a great win against Dmitriy Payada in the Castlehill Random Knockout. In round 3 of the Premier he beat Andrew McHarg (1696); round 4 he beat Ian MacGregor (1932) and then topped it off with a fantastic win against the mighty Ed Spencer from Dundee & Victoria rated 2169. Mikey tournament performance was 2348! Way to go Mikey. Just what could have been had he played in all rounds, but then may be it was fate? A perfect 3 out of 3 in the Premier event. Sorry Lisa I don`t think you will be able to use him next year in your TAFCA team!( I might be available mind you?)

Martin Chalmers (1456) was playing in the Bishops (u1500) He was seeded 7th out of 48 entries: He took a bye in round 1, then on the Saturday won both his matches to go to 2½. He beat Vasif Ramazanov (1329) with white, then Adam Shannon(j15) (1120)with black. On the Sunday in round 4 Martin as white came up against the number 4 seed Vince Barron (1475) who was not for giving Mr.Chalmers any handouts. Against the French Defense Martin could find no way though and had to settle for a draw which dented his winning chances for the tournament due to already taking a bye in round 1. Martin rallied and with the black pieces won his last match against Mike Mitchell (ug) to finish on 4/5 and finish equal runner-up with 3 other players behind number 4 seed Simon Kerridge (1470) of Bearsden. Martin's tournament performance was a delight to see at 1683. Martin finished unbeaten after 5 matches.

Well played Martin, the old campaigner is not dead "just" yet!

In the Knights (u1300) we had two players entered, Lisa Paton (1014) and Robbie McLeod (997). Lisa finished on 3½/5 and Robbie on 2½/5. Lisa won her last 3 matches and Robbie won his last two matches. Lisa's tournament performance was 986 and Robbie's was 763.

Once again Castlehill can be proud of its players and apart  from Mr. Groves unfortunate mishaps all went better than could have been anticipated! Congratulations to all players especially to Martin Chalmers for going unbeaten in 5 matches (pinch me I must be dreaming!).

Off course the credits all go to Mikey Grove (who also finished unbeaten) for his tournament performance and his win against a vastly higher graded and experienced player, the mighty Ed Spencer. 

Hell no, well HELL YES!!!

SCOTTISH TEAM LIGHTNING - Sunday 27th March 2011 in Dumfermline.

As Dundee City A&B we entered two teams in this years event. There were 3 qualifying groups, A,B & C. Dundee A qualified from group B, and Dundee City B qualified from group C to reach the final stage of the competition.

Eight teams made up the final group with Hamilton A winning the lightning. Dundee City A&B finished 3&4th respectfully. There head to head match was a 2-2 draw with Mikey Grove beating the mighty Ed Spencer in the process! Ed will make sure his card is marked!!

Hamilton won the event despite only winning 5 and losing 2, where's Dundee City A won 6 and drew 1, no losses! If it had been based on team results Dundee City A would have won, but alas it was board count that mattered. Still what a performance by both Dundee City teams.  "

36th Scottish Team Lightning Championship

Dunfermline

March 27, 2011

by Ken Stewart

Sixteen teams took part in the 2011 Scottish Team Lightning Championship at Dunfermline on Sunday 27 March. The event had been postponed by severe weather from earlier in the winter and saw a new venue, being held after the conclusion of the SNCL at the Dunfermline venue. This change produced an increased entry and an interesting competition with the outcome uncertain until the last round. Hamilton were once again winners; they were defeated in individual matches against the second and third placed teams but by whitewashing the remaining opposition scored the most game points. The Edinburgh University team ran Hamilton very close and finished a clear second. Dundee & Victoria lost no matches but did not score heavily enough to come above third, with their second team following them.

For the winners Joe Redpath had 9/11, Steven Tweedie 10, Pat Coffey had a perfect 11and Andrew Muir had 9. For Edinburgh University , Adam Bremner had 8 and Boris Mitrovic, Pavlos Bozinakis and Kaushal Khandar all had 9. For Dundee & Victoria, Peter Constantinou had 8½, David Findlay 8, Chaski 7 and Ed Spencer 10.

SNCL - Scottish National Chess League; Sun 27th March 2011 in Dumfermline

Both Dundee City teams won there last match of this campaign! Dundee City A beating Kingdom Kings 4-1; and Dundee City B beating Kingdom Knights 3-2. (We will not be popular in Glenrothes and Fife bagging both there teams!). Dundee City A finished runners-up to Hamilton A in Division One, and Dundee City B finished forth in division 3. Well done and thank you all for playing and supporting us in our joint venture with Dundee and Victoria in the SNCL. I look forward to next year. May be promotion and Division 1 champions? Who knows!  "League tables & results"

TAFCA KNOCKOUT FINAL REPORT - Castlehill C v Castlehill A

Castlehill "A" brushed aside there own club mates from Castlehill "C" to lift the TAFCA Knockout trophy. The "C" team were out graded on 3 of the four boards, but could not take advantage of any time advantage against there illustrious opponents.

Ray Noble got the "C" team off to a fast flyer against Robbie McLeod who unfortunately blundered his queen! Every McLeod has a silver lining and Robbie would make sure he got his in match two! (1-0); time-control Robbie 48 minutes; Ray 12 minutes. Mikey (cool head) Grove leveled the match with a win against Roy Morris on board 3. (1-1); Mikey 23 minutes; Roy 38 minutes.  Robbie gained revenge against Ray, who over confident after the first match, over committed himself and left his King in the center. Robbie expertly combined his Queen, Knight and rooks to checkmate the hapless Noble in the middle of the board. Brilliant Play by Robbie! (1-2 to "A" team) 

Next to finish was the match between Daniel Rocks and Andre Babin on board 1. Andre gave it his all but came up against a "stone wall" in Daniel Rocks! (1-3 to "A" team); Daniel 12 minutes; Andre 48 minutes.  Colin Edwards on board 2 dispatched the "C" team Captain Fergus Milne to make it 1-4 in favour of the "A" team. Colin 23 minutes; Fergus 37 minutes.  Fergus in his second match tried to make a "pest" of himself against Colin by playing a "Buda trap!".  Colin fell for it and Fergus was a queen for two pieces up, brilliant play from el captain. Unfortunately Fergus blundered on his next move by forgetting to remove his queen after the combination and played something else? Colin not believing his luck nearly knocked all the pieces off the board in his haste to take the queen. The look of realization and shook on Fergus's face was priceless!! This meant that the "A" team had passed the wining line 1-5. The other two matches finished in favour of the "A" team making the final score a rout 1-7 to Castlehill "A" team.

Castlehill C                     v        Castlehill A

1.A.Babin(1580)    0;0   v  1;1  D.Rocks (2039)       - 48 minutes to 12 minutes

2.F.Milne (1558)    0;0   v  1;1  C.Edwards (1746)   - 37 minutes to 23 minutes

3.R.Morris (1532)  0;0   v  1;1  M.Grove (1700)est  - 37 minutes to 23 minutes

4.R.Noble (1470)   1;0   v  0;0  R.McLeod (997)     - 12 minutes to 48 minutes

Congratulations to Castlehill "A" team and there players for a well deserved victory. The best team won. Commiserations to Castlehill C who once again defied the odds to reach the final, knocking out defending champions St.Andrews in the semi-final's.

CASTLEHILL TAFCA MATCH REPORT

Castlehill B pulled off a double whammy against a much weakened Glenrothes A! Not only have they boosted there chances of avoiding relegation, they effectively killed off Glenrothes A`s title hopes and gave a massive shot in the arm  to Castlehill A`s chances of being crowned champions.

Jim Smith on board 4 was in sublime form winning against Pete Selbie. Next on board 1 Dmitiry Payada played a great match against that old stalwart George Pyrich to make it 2-0 to our "B" team. Craig Nicol on board 3 lost the very good Russell Kynock. The "B" team already guarantied a draw saw Keith Rose on board 3 superbly subdue his opponent, Ian Morris to help the "B" team win the match 3-1. Superb!!

Castlehill B                        v      Glenrothes A

1.D.Payada (1700)est   1  v  0  G.Pyrich (1907)

2.C.Nicol (1597)          0  v  1  R.Kynoch (1858)

3.K.Rose (1595)          1  v  0  I.Morris (1442)

4.J.Smith (1587)           1  v  0  P.Selbie (1371)

SPENS CUP SEMI-FINAL - Castlehill v Edinburgh B; 

1pm to 6pm (40moves in 2 hours+30 minutes quickplay)

at Castlehill Chess Club - 19/03/11

Castlehill at home to Edinburgh B were out graded on the first five boards and we were higher graded on the last only! (Average grade Castlehill 1662 ,  Edinburgh B 1740) 

Despite the grading difference Castlehill stormed into a 3 - 0 lead with our Captain Keith Rose(1595) rolling back the years to beat a 1703 player. Dmitriy(1700e) having to leave for work by 4:30pm was under pressure to get a result of some kind before then. This he did in fine style with time to spare. Mikey Grove(1720e) all round party animal and drama queen arrived 26 minutes late having partied all night. I woke him with a phone call at 12:40pm! It did not matter he pulled off a remarkable win with some fantastic play against a 1785 thus continuing his fine form from the Glenrothes Congress and our 5-Minute Grand Prix.. 

Colin Edwards(1746) our number one player was up against it playing Graeme Kafka (2002). With a cool head he held his own and secured the draw that won us the match outright! Andre Babin (1580) won his match next, with Andy Paulin(1631) taking a draw against his higher rated opponent. This meant we won the match 5 - 1; without having lost a match! 

We are in the final of the Spens cup to be held in Grangemouth on Sunday 22nd May.

Congratulations to all players on a great performance.  "Team Score Sheet"

CASTLEHILL TAFCA MATCH REPORTS

Ninewells  v Castlehill  - Wed 16th March at Ninewells (report by Colin Edwards)

The Castlehill A team were fighting to keep their slim hopes of winning the TAFCA Division title alive, while Ninewells were fighting relegation.
Castlehill A got off to bad start, when due to a mix up, they ended up defaulting the bottom board!
Castlehill A still heavily out graded their opponents on the remaining three boards.
Daniel Rocks was first finish, beating Lloyd Hughes. Both players were playing fast and Lloyd resigned a pawn down in a king and pawn ending. Mikey (cool hand) Grove played an open Sicilian with an early g4 against Helmi Pritam. Mikey kept pushing the pawns and mated his opponent.
Last to finish was Paul Shafi v Colin Edwards. In the middle game, Colin won Paul's queen, for rook and bishop and had a distinct edge. Paul fought back setting up a Knight fork trick that Colin fell for. Soon after the game became an opposite coloured bishops endgame which was objectively drawn. Colin, still going for a win nearly turned it into a loss, before an inaccuracy by Paul allowed Colin to achieve a drawing position.

(W) Daniel Rocks (2034)    1 - 0   Lloyd Hughes(1653)
(B)  Colin Edwards (1746) .5 - .5 Paul Shafi(1559)
(W) Mikey Groves (1695)   1 - 0   Helmi Pritam(1496)       
      Default                           0 - 1   Ninewells

                                  2.5 - 1.5 to Castlehill

Glenrothes A v Castlehill C - Thurs 17th March at Glenrothes ( report by Ray Noble)

Glenrothes A still have a chance to win the division one title and were in no mood to save Castlehill C from possible relegation. Martin Chalmers(1456) with black on board 4 dispatched his opponent Sudjic Branislave (1424) in quick ruthless style. Roy Morris also with black played a "Roy Morris opening" and after several attempts to keep his Knight moving on every move, finally laid it to rest! He lost to Ben Jennkins(1914) in style! Next up was Ray Noble, white on board 3 playing the evergreen George Pyrich (1907). Ray tried to keep things solid, so solid he could not move and lost over 20 minutes just staring at the board for divine intervention! George using his old head dispatched Mr. Noble and put him out of his misery! 

The final match to finish was a cracker. Our very promising young player Andre Babin (1580) was white on board 1 against the "street fighter" himself Mr. Andrew Burnett (2171). Andre gave it his all and it looked for a long time like a draw. Unfortunately for Andre, Andrew managed to magic up a very small advantage and then converted it! Phew!

A brilliant game by Andre who was not a happy bunny on the trip back home. He felt he made the mistake and should have been able to hold the draw. Now that's promise!

GLENROTHES CONGRESS; Fri-Sun; 11-13 March 2011

In the OPEN event which fielded 10 players over 2000+, Castlehill were represented by Mikey Grove & Dmitriy Payada. Both players had a fantastic tournament finishing on 3/5 and sharing the Grading under 1850 prize with each other. Dmitriy beat a 2034 and finished with a tournament performance of 2028!   Mikey despite one set back preformed magnificently with a tournament performance of 2086! He beat a 1895 & 1946, drew with a 1996 and a 2174! Two players for the future of our club may be? They both dared to enter the top table and were not over awed, brilliant!

In the MAJOR event, Castlehill`s sole representative was Martin Chalmers (1456). It was not one of  his best tournaments by far with 1.5/5.  After a bye in the first round, Martin lost to a 1628 and a junior (13) rated 676. It did not help that he was hung over from the night before. On Sunday he beat another junior(13) rated 1414, then lost his last match to a 1462. His tournament performance was 1272! Lesson One; Drink and chess don`t mix for most players. I am confident that the old campaigner will bounce back from this disappointment at the next tournament

In the MINOR event, Castlehill `s sole representative was Robbie McLeod(997). After a bye in the first round he took out the number two player rated 1425 in round two! He could not keep it going losing to a 812 in the next round. Robbie's tournament performance was 1079 a good improvement on his current grade.

CHESS WIDOW WINS!

Reykjavik;The widow of Bobby Fischer, a world chess champion who died in 2008, is to inherit his $2 million (£1.2 million) estate, a court ruled. His marriage to Miyoko Watai was questioned by his nephews. (Reuters news)

TAFCA DIVISION ONE; Match report 3/03/11 (by Colin Edwards)

Castlehill A went down 1.5 - 2.5 against Glenrothes A

A draw would have been good enough for Castlehill A to be favorites for the TAFCA league title, but it was not to be.
Glenrothes turned out a full strength side and once again Castlehill were out graded on every board.
On board 1 Daniel Rocks was first to finish with a draw against the author of 'Street Fighting Chess' Andrew Burnett. 
Daniel had Andrew on the ropes, but missed a win and had to accept a draw by repetition.
On board 3 Mikey Groves, with white played 1.b4 against the experienced George Pyrich. George calmly developed and created
enough tactical threats in the middle game to create a dangerous passed pawn. Mikey was forced to resign with the pawn about to queen.
On board 2 Colin Edwards, playing black against Ben Jenkins, managed to nullify whites threats and make a reasonably comfortable draw.
Board 4 was the last to finish, and what a match. Dmitriy Payada playing in his first game for Castlehill A had an excellent position against Russell Kynoch.
Russell, low on time was forced to blitz out around 12 moves in 2 mins to reach the time control. During this time, Dmitriy somehow managed to swap a Knight
for two pawns, leaving  Russell with R, N + 3 pawns against Dmiriy's R + 5 pawns. Dmitriy marched his pawns towards the first rank, forcing Russell to sack back
the Knight to stop blacks pawns queening. Both players were in severe time trouble. In the final minute, Dmitriy managed to trade into a rook and h pawn v rook ending in which he was winning. But in the dying seconds, Russell somehow managed to get his King into a drawing position. Rooks were exchanged and a draw agreed. Whites clock 2 seconds, blacks clock 3 seconds. It couldn't have been any closer.
The title race is now wide open. Anyone of Castlehill A, Dundee and Victoria A or Glenrothes A can win it. Glenrothes A v Dundee and Victoria A has still to be played.

(b) Andrew Burnett(2179)   0.5 - 0.5 Daniel Rocks(2034)
(w) Ben Jenkins(1914)       0.5 - 0.5 Colin Edwards(1746)
(b) George Pyrich(1907)    1  -  0     Mikey Groves(1698)
(w) Russell Kynoch(1858)  0.5 - 0.5 Dmitriy Payada(1700e)

Colin Edwards 

Cravat by Keith Rose;

  It does look as if the chance has slipped away now. You'll see from the TAFCA table (below) that if DA beat GA they will likely have enough game points to pass you on same Match Points and the same, but for GA, if It's a draw. If GA win then they will probably pass you on Match Points. Maybe there will be another Kinross-type upset.

But the fat lady hasn't sung yet.

Keith

SNCL ROUNDS 5&6:27/02/11

Dundee City "A" won both there matches in division one to keep there slim hopes of taking the division one title from Hamilton A. Dundee City A beat Cumbernauld 4 - 1 and Giffnock and Clarkston 4.5 - 0.5 respectively.

They go into the last round 2 points behind leaders Hamilton A needing a helping hand from Edinburgh west to have a small chance. Of course Dundee City A must win there last match against Kingdom Kings to have even a small chance!

In division 3, Dundee City "B" suffered a set back in there bid for promotion losing to Oban 3 - 2 in there first match. It was a close one to call but in the end Dundee City "B" just fell short. They redeemed themselves in the second match beating Lanark 3.5 - 1.5.

Unfortunately due to Kingdom Knights winning both there matches we have lost out on a chance of promotion. Strangely it is still mathematically possible to be  relegated with one match to go. We play Kingdom Knights in the final match which if we draw or win we are safe but if we lose it will depend on how other matches go!

Match results & Tables  

TAFCA KNOCKOUT; Semi-Final - University Challenge, your starter for ten!

Castlehill C over came the defending champions St.Andrews A in there semi-final clash on Thursday 24th February at Castlehill Chess Club. 

In this time handi-cap tournament Castlehill were out graded on the top two boards and higher graded on the bottom two boards(Ungraded players). Roy Morris on board 3 got us off to a flying start winning both his games before anybody else had completed there first games! Ray Noble(white) over came his opponent eventually against a French Defense. (3-0). Fergus Milne (board 3) drew his first match (3.5-0.5) and Andre Babin (board 1) lost (3.5-1.5).  Fergus lost his second match (3.5-2.5) but Ray Noble secured the teams progress to the final with a Sicilian win!(4.5-2.5). Andre Babin managed to win the last game(5.5-2.5) with a holy grail tactic called the windmill. It was beautiful to watch and see it used in a real match, not just the text book! The TAFCA Knockout Final will be an all Castlehill affair with the other semi being between Castlehill "A" & "D".

TAFCA LEAGUE MATCH REPORT: Castlehill A v Dundee/Victoria A

Castlehill A have beaten arch rivals Dundee and Victoria A  2.5-1.5.

Castelhill's Mikey (Cool Hand) Grove was first to finish on board 4, mating the usually solid Jim Anderson in the opening!
Next to finish on board 2 was Daniel Rocks, securing a draw against the much higher rated David Findlay.
In an up and down game on board 3, Alastair Dawson blundered a winning position, only for Colin Edwards to blunder back shortly after the time control. Colin resigned soon after.

This tied the match at 1.5 points each.

On board 4, in his last match for the club, Castlehill legend FM Gunnar Jacob finally overcame Ed Spencer to secure victory for Castlehill.
Gunnar is returning to Germany after finishing his PHD at Dundee University. It was an absolute pleasure having someone of Gunnars character and chess ability at our club. 
We wish him all the best for the future.
Castlehill A are now top of TAFCA division 1 on 5.5 points out of 6 with 3 matches remaining. Our next match at Glenrothes may well decide who will be TAFCA champions in 2011.

(B) Gunnar Jacob(2359) 1 - 0 Ed Spencer (2214)
(W) Daniel Rocks(2039)  0.5 - 0.5 David Findlay(2197)
(B) Colin Edwards(1746) 0 - 1 Alastair Dawson(1750)
(W) Mikey Grove(1698) 1 - 0 Jim Anderson(1701)

Match took place on Monday 21st February at Castlehill Chess Club

SPENS CUP MATCH REPORT: 22/01/11

Castlehill were drawn a home tie against Kilmarnock in the first round of the Spens Cup. Half way venue was requested from Kilmarnock so we played in Stirling. Castlehill were dealt a blow the night before with one player dropping out leaving us with just 5 players for six matches. Already one down before we started the pressure was on our players. We were out graded on the top three boards, and we out graded them on the bottom two boards.

Dmitriy Payada struck the first blow for Castlehill with a fine win against a player graded 190 points higher. (1-1); Colin Edwards was second to finish with a great draw against a player graded 200 higher! (1½-1½):

Andy Paulin was next to finish in an up and down match. After his opponent missed the easy win, Andy clawed his way back to equality only to mismanage the ending and lose the match after all his hard work! (2½-1½): Ray Noble with the black pieces was never in trouble, but despite winning a pawn and graded 161 points higher than his opponent, he could not convert it to a win. (3-2): One game left and Castlehill needed a win to tie the match. Our main man was Mikey (cool hand) Grove a new member and first time Spens Cup player. Like he had been playing this all his life, he coolly dispatched his much higher graded opponent to tie the match.(3-3): The first tie-break system used was board count; (see Chess Scotland for rules on board count). This was enough for Castlehill to win on board count and so progress to the next round! Well played lads! Might make it at least a bit easier if we have 6 players the next time please?  Result Card

INTER-CLUB ALLEGRO REPORT; 16/12/10

15 players took part in the second Inter-Club Allegro.  Of the 15 only 4 (Four!) Dundee and Victoria players took part. This made the draw difficult and was a bit disappointing as it is meant to be a team event first and foremost. André Babin was in great form starting off with a win in round one against the number one seeded player from DV, Ed Spencer. He carried this form right to the end taking equal first place for Castlehill along with Dmitriy Payada(Castlehill), Mikey Grove(Castlehill) & Jim Anderson (Dun/Vic) were =3rd and Ed Spencer (Dun/Vic), R.Lawal, Paul Shafi (both Castlehill) tied for 5th place.  This gives Castlehill a commanding lead going into the third match at Dundee/Victoria in January.

(Inter-Club Tables)

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP Rd 2 DEADLINE;

Due to the bad weather and the fact that the Stobswell club was closed for a week and one extra Monday. I have decided to extend the deadline date of the club championship to Thursday 6th January 2011. Hope this helps. There will be no further extension to this round. This will cause problems later on but I am sure we will cope!

TAFCA INDIVIDUAL ALLEGRO 2010

The first TAFCA Individual Allegro took place on Saturday 11th December at Ninewells Chess Club. 22 players took part despite the weather. The top four players were over 2000+.

Peter Connstantinou(FM) (2336) representing St.Andrews Uni won the event with a perfect 6 out of 6. Ed Spencer (2205) representing Dundee & Victoria was the R/up on 5/6. The two grading prizes went to Martin Chalmers (1436) & Ray Noble (1345) both representing Castlehill Chess Club. The top under 16 Junior prize went to Calum Pretious representing Carse of Gowrie Chess Club.  Castlehill chess club had 9 players the most players represented. Dundee/Victoria 5; Carse of Gowrie 3; Perth, St.Andrews Uni 2; Perth, Kinross, and Glenrothes 1 each.       For more visit TAFCA web site

TAFCA CASTLEHILL MATCH REPORTS

On Monday 15th November the following matches took place;

League Division 1; Castlehill A v St.Andrews Uni A; The match ended a 2-2 draw with Colin Edwards securing the draw with a fine win over Sam Gower on board 2; Castlehill A were at home and facing one of the big guns in Division 1; St.Andrews Uni A had Peter Constantinou(FM) 2336 on board 1! On board 1 for Castlehill was Daniel Rocks (2039) a new member this year. Daniel put in a good performance but was in the end outclassed by Peter. Mikey Grove another new member had a fine win on board four to secure Castlehills first point. While a draw against St.Andrews was an OK result, it was however an opportunity missed as Castlehill A had to default on board 3 with a no-show from there player. One will never know what the result might have been had the player turned up?

TAFCA KNOCKOUT PRELIM; Castlehill C v Glenrothes:  Castlehill C were at home and put in a fine performance against a Glenrothes side without its top players from there league A team. All Castlehill players had a time-handi-cap against Glenrothes players; Despite this Castlehill C won 5.5 - 2.5 with Roy Morris beating Ian Morris to pass the winning line. This was indeed a time for a little celebratory Morris Dancing! Andre Babin won both his matches; Martin Chalmers 1.5 points, with Roy and Ray winning one, and losing one each. The "C" team won this event two years ago and are on course to do it again! 

SNCL REPORT BY ALASTAIR DAWSON

SNCL Match Report November 14th  2010

Dundee Chess Stars Flying High

Dundee's top chess players were flying high yesterday after 8 hours of grueling play at the Scottish National Chess League in Dunfermline. As the Christmas break approaches, the A team lie in 2nd place behind Hamilton as they battle for the national title. On Sunday, the A team put in two impressive performances beating East Kilbride 4.5 -0.5 in the morning and overpowering Kilmarnock in the afternoon session of play by the same score. In the morning in the absence of top star Peter Constantinou of St Andrews University, inspired performances from David Findlay, Chaski and Stephen Hogg put East Kilbride to the sword. Peter returned for the afternoon match and a win from him was soon followed by wins for Ed Spencer, David Findlay and Chaski. Also doing well are the Dundee B team, promoted this year to Division 3. In the morning, wins for Alastair Dawson and Dimitriy Payada secured the draw with Ayrshire. In the afternoon the team suffered a narrow 3-2 defeat to Edinburgh University, The star performance of the day was in this match where Gary Weir, despite being outgraded by over 250 points put in a thumping win against Edinburgh Board 1, Bozinakis. With the top two places available to secure promotion to Division 2, the B team are on course providing that they maintain their good form when the SNCL resumes in January. Special gratitude goes to Ray Noble who volunteered at short notice to travel through from Dundee to play in the morning for the B team and saving them from a Board default penalty.

Best

Alastair

GLASGOW CHESS CONGRESS 2010

No Castlehill players in the open; Ed Spencer (2214) from Dundee & Victoria was the top seed but unfortunately Ed did not have his best tournament. Losing his last three matches to players graded 2034, 1895 & 1765 meant Ed finished on only 1.5 out of 5 and way down the pecking order. Ed`s tournament performance was 1812!?

In the Challengers Paul Shafi(1559) was the only player from the Castlehill Chess Club. (Paul is also a member of Ninewells Chess Club). Paul finished on 2.5 out of 5 and his tournament performance was 1653. Well done Paul!

In the Major; Martin Chalmers (1456) our only representative finished on 3 out of 5 points. He was a bit unfortunate to lose on time a piece up but trying to mate with Queen & Knight. Tournament performance 1410.

In the Minor; Castlehill were represented by 3 players; Lisa Paton(1014), Robbie McLeod (997) and young Declan Shafi (870) (also Ninewells Club). Lisa and Declan did not have there best tournament finishing with 1.5 & 1 out of 5 respectively. Robbie on the other hand was playing out of his skin and finished on 3 out of 5 , with a tournament performance of 1304! Lisa & Declan 982 & 752 respectively. Well played Robbie. Your best result for a while.

SNCL REPORT BY ALASTAIR DAWSON

SNCL Match Report October 31st 2010-11-03
Dundee sent two teams to Dunfermline for participation in this year's SNCL. We have two teams this year. The first team is challenging for the overall title in Division 1. The second team, promoted this year to Division 2, is attempting to make a push for promotion to Division 2. The first team is star-studded. On Board 1 is Peter Constantinou, now in his last year at St Andrews University. Then comes two exceptionally strong players - David Findlay and Ed Spencer. David comes in on the back of 2nd place at the recent Dundee Congress and Ed as winner of last season's Grand Prix. Then comes Chaski. On board 5 is Stephen Hogg. This team on paper is probably the strongest in Scotland. For our Division 3 team, for Rds 1 and 2 we had Gary Weir, Alastair Dawson supported on 3 by a new talent, Dimitriy Payada. For our first match, Bruce Wallace served as Captain on Bd 4. On Board 5 for our first games, young Declan Shafi was offered a place on the team in order to gain more experience of  competitive play.

In the morning the first team had a tough battle against Edinburgh West, one of the toughest teams in the competition. As the match entered its final phase, following a text book ending win by Peter over Neil Farrell,  the score stood at 2 -2 with just Chaski's match left against Mayo. Chaski was the exchange down (R + B + pawns vs 2 Rs plus pawns). After turning down a draw from his opponent, he fought into a time scramble and, in the melee of pieces flying around he finally emerged with a Q promotion. The match was won 3-2.

In the meantime, the 2nd team was battling  out a tough match vs Corstorprhine. Despite a valiant effort from Declan, Bruce gained the first half-point, then a setback by Gary in time trouble was remedied with wins by Alastair and Dimitriy giving a drawn match. Dimitriy, in particular, did exceptionally well displaying great concentration throughout with his game against a tough opponent.

In the afternoon, the first team were drawn against the present champions and favourites, Hamilton. Things did not go so well this time with just Peter, Stephen and Chaski securing draws. So the team went down 1.5-3.5 a score that flattered to deceive given the close fought nature of each of the matches.
The afternoon match of the 2nd team was against Irvine. Some of the Division 3 teams are very strong- and Irvine is one of these with Richard Wiltshire (1990s) on Board 1. This time Bruce was again first to finish with a draw. Declan played an excellent game, was winning against a much stronger opponent, but succumbed in the ending. Gary secured a draw against Wiltshire, then Dimitriy followed by Alastair secured the tie (3-2) with two wins. So - all in all, a good day's work. There is a hectic chess schedule this year. The SNCL matches are coming thick and fast with Rds 3 and 4 to be played in Dunfermline on Sunday November 14th.

Alastair Dawson

Jeff Sonas has initiated a competition to see if the Elo Rating system can be improved upon. As Elo developed his system around 50 years ago without the benefit of modern technology and the amount of data we have these days he felt it might be time to test it against other approaches. It may turn out that the Elo system is still pretty good, Sonas programmed an "Elo Benchmark" entry and submitted it a week ago. It was #1 briefly (for a few hours) but as more people played with the data and submitted their own tries, it fell farther behind and right now (after only a week) it is #14 out of 80 submissions. The contest runs for three more months. The top ten finishers will receive prizes donated by Chessbase or Amazon gift vouchers, and Sonas will be writing up the results of the contest since people have to share their methodology in order to be eligible for prizes.

Details of the competition http://kaggle.com/chess

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