THE 44th FIDE CHESS OLYMPIAD – Ali Roy WFM title!
2020 WORLD WIDE CHESS LEAGUE 2020-21
Sunday 6th June 21 – 19:04 hrs (7.04 pm)
Round 9 Dundee City A 13, Bloemfontein Wild Knights Club A 9
Dundee City Teams are a joint venture between Castlehill Chess Club and Dundee Chess Club.
FORMAT
2 games against the same opponent (black & white): Time-Control – 10 minutes+5 seconds increments
Before I begin I must highly praise Bloemfontein Wild Knights Club A for bringing 11 players to the game! I for one think it makes for a better game and is a better reflection on the outcome. Big thumbs up to you from all Dundee City A team players!
What a match by both sides in a battle of 11 boards! I think the damage was done in the first half of games with Dundee City A winning that 7½ – 3½! Our top boards in the first half found the going a bit tougher as you would expect but still managed a plus score to give us a solid foundation, if you take the first six boards in to consideration, or tied if just 5 top boards.
Our bottom boards on the other hand were doing the damage winning 4 – 1 or 5 – 1 depending on 5 or 6 boards. Well played indeed!
The story was much the same in the second half of games with our top boards finding it hard work but still doing the ground work, while our bottom boards doing much the same winning 3 – 2 or 4 -2 depending on how you split the boards. It was a good fight back by our opponents in the second half, but Dundee City A kept their nerve and held their ground to pass the winning line with a few games to spare!
Jacques Ophoff CM (board one) and Andrew Wright (board 3) both found themselves up against it playing strong opponents (both lost 2-0), David Findlay (board 2) on the other hand did his now famous two draws master class to add a bit of stability to the team (you can always really on David!).
On board four is the ever dependable Stephen Hogg who did what his name says and “hogged” both games (2-0). So did Graham Mooney CM (board 6), Robert Jackson (board 8) and young Master Euan Dawson (board 10). Well played lads, you were all the backbone of the team on which our victory was built!
Alan Borwell (board 5), Dariusz Kosznik (board 7), Ray Noble (board 9) and Ana Belen Seijas Otero (board 11) all shared the spoils with their opponents, which helped our team cross the winning line!
This was truly a team effort and congratulations to Dundee City A and it’s players on the night! Bloemfontein Wild Knights Club A was great opponents and pushed us all the way right to the end! Now given the grades and the number of boards in play, this made for a fantastic chess match, which we all enjoyed on the night (can’t speak for the players that lost both games?).
This win puts Dundee City A on 6 points, and in 14th place, one ahead of Dundee City B (15th place) also on 6 after 9 rounds. Our friends and neighbours, Bon Accord A also won their round 9 match and are also on 6 points in 16th place a half a game point behind Dundee City B!
Who will finish above the other? Dundee City A or may be “B”, or maybe, Bon Accord A? Watch this space for more news as the fat hits the fan in round 10!
As usual, a big thanks to our players, opponents, Chess.com and the organisers of 2020 Chess League for giving us such a wonderful competition to play in.
Not only that but thank you to “TWITCH TV” for hosting the commentary on the games which adds another twist to this most enjoyable world wide chess league! God knows what they made of Ray Nobles games!
For all the results and standing please click the link below which will take you to the 2020 official website!
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