The 1st of 5 OTB Quick-Play Competitions: Night One report – Thurs 1st May 25
SEASON 2024-25
SNCL (Scottish National Chess League)
Sunday 27th April 25
Round 9 (last) + the Scottish team lighting tournament
Dundee City teams are a joint venture between Castlehill CC & Dundee CC
Division 1
The final Round of this season’s SNCL took place on Sunday 27th April. This season has been the 2nd to be run over 9 Rounds instead of 7. It has been a long journey, but what a final round we had, with unbelievable drama and outcome! Leaders and strong favourites for the division one title was Dunfermline who only needed a draw to win the title. Up stepped the ultimate warriors of Dundee City B team!
Dundee City B (1972) 3 – 2 (2124) Dunfermline Knights
Out graded, but not out gunned! Dundee City B team shocked the champions to be, to open the door for Dundee City A to sneak past Dunfermline Knights for the title! What a team performance, with special mentions to George Vayamos, Sven Stocklose & Andre Babin on fantastic wins.
Outstanding chess from the whole team
Dundee City A (2183) 4½ – ½ (1817) Bon Accord
With Dundee City B blasting open the door, Dundee City A team needed not only a win, but a convincing win, and boy did they deliver in spades! Talk about a last round miracle!
With this win and Dundee City B`s unbelievable win, Dundee City A team finished on the same points as Dunfermline Knights, but take the title by 2½ board points! What an amazing end to the SNCL competition! Well played Rishi Vjjayakumar FM, Jacques Ophoff CM, Andrew Wright, David Findlay & Ed Spencer! There is no more superlatives left to describe this performance and outcome, just unbelievable and very, very sweet indeed!
Dundee City B finished in a very respectable 5th place on 21½ points, way ahead of their first objective of avoiding relegation! So proud of you all!
Division 3
Dundee City C (1578) 4 – 1 (1324) Dunfermline Bishops
Dundee City D (1404) 5 – 0 (ug) Edinburgh West 3
Both Dundee City C & D finished their campaign with good victory`s, with special mention to Katarina Tanzerova on an outstanding tournament performance. One to watch, I think! Of course, it`s a team effort, and what an effort by all players.
Dundee City C finished in 5th place in a league of 16! Dundee City D finished in 8th place!
ROUND-UP
Not sure what to say about that last round, but what an outcome with Dundee City A getting their title back in dramatic circumstances! Out of this world performance and outcome by “ALL” Dundee city teams and players winning all 4 matches! What an end of tournament performance by all, with the division one title, the icing on the celebratory cake! Congratulations to Dundee City A, champions once again!
KEN STEWART CUP – LIGHTNING TOURNAMENT
Nine rounds
Dundee City A team then followed the SNCL league performance with what can only be described as an astonishing lightning tournament to win the Ken Stewart Cup by the skin of their teeth! Unbelievable nine rounds of chess with both Dunfermline & Dundee City A finishing on 16 points, but winning the title by ½ a board point from Dunfermline! Boy Dunfermline must be sick of the sight of Dundee City teams!
As usual, it was a team effort, as all players were amazing, but for one player who was bloody outstanding, winning all nine of his matches (clean sweep)! Yes, FM Rishi Vijayakumar was on fire and is just becoming a chess genius! We are so proud of all our players, but Rishi is something else! Guys, absolutely amazing, astonishing, incredible, unbelievable, etc, etc, etc!
This title also included a win against Dunfermline, who only lost that one match!
Sunday 27th April 25 will go down in Dundee City chess history, as one of the greatest set of results for the City of Dundee! What else is there to say but:
COME ON DUNDEE CITY!
Chess-Results – SNCL – Ken Stewart Lightning Cup
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