Chess Scotland Club Tournament Finals

Grangemouth - March 29, 2003

report by Ken Stewart

The finals of the Chess Scotland team competitions were played at Grangemouth on Saturday 29 March.

In the Richardson Cup the two clubs were very evenly matched and all the games were exceptionally closely contested. At first Edinburgh West seemed to have an overall edge but Glasgow Polytechnic took the lead when Watt won on time on board 8. This was followed by a close-fought draw on board 1, the only other game not to go past the main time control. Matters were balanced when Redpath gained material and reached a won ending.

The five remaining games, all now reaching endings of various sorts, favoured Poly by three to two, but board count would have favoured Edinburgh West. However, the two games favouring Edinburgh West then ended in draws and the Poly players ground out three wins to give a result perhaps a little flattering to them overall. This gives the club a fifth successive victory, a feat equalled only by Glasgow in the 1960s.

In the Spens Cup final Holy Cross had a large grading advantage but were soon in trouble on two boards. However, Irvine were unable to capitalise on this and the Holy Cross strength at the top proved decisive as their top three won neatly, especially Stalker who won with a temporary queen sacrifice. Holy Cross thus add a first victory in the Spens to their National League success.

The Jack Campbell Rosebowl final was closely fought, with four draws out of six. Dunfermline, though, produced the two crucial wins to win them the trophy for the first time.

Grading Data

Chessbase Game File

Richardson Finals

Spens Finals

Possible new format for Club Competitions

Richardson Cup Final

Board No Edinburgh West Glasgow Polytechnic Colour Name Grade Score Name Grade Score 1  B  K Arakhamia-Grant 2405 ½  JK Shaw 2500 ½ 2    J Redpath 2110 1  I Swan 2190 0 3    J Grant 2165 0  E Davis 2200 1 4    N Farrell 2150 ½  M Perez 2135 ½ 5    W Buchanan 2110 ½  L Kirk 2080 ½ 6    G Neave 2070 ½  D Byrne 2120 ½ 7    P McInally 2095 0  G Rattray 2020 1 8    B McNally 1900 0  DA Watt 2015 1       Total 2.5   Total 5.5

Spens Cup Final

Board No Holy Cross Irvine Porthead Colour Name Grade Score Name Grade Score 1 W  A Stalker 2120 1  T Barrett 1720 0 2    S Tweedie 1985 1  G King 1705 0 3    T Donohue 1900 1  A Birnie 1690 0 4    C Tweedie 1725 0.5  R Yates 1550 0.5 5    M Hanley 1565 1  R Loughran 1535 0 6    D Rooney 1500 0  R Gourlay 1435 1       Total 4.5   Total 1.5

 

Jack Campbell Rosebowl

Board No Dumfries Dunfermline Colour Name Grade Score Name Grade Score 1  B  M Green 2035 0.5  I Robertson 2135 0.5 2    D Brown 1825 0.5  G Saxton 1790 0.5 3    K Saunders ung 0.5  J Webster 1740 0.5 4    S Marchbank 1560 0  F Ossowski 1675 1 5    W Thompson 1460 0  C Smith ung 1 6    R Sim 1280 0.5  S Black 1350 0.5       Total 2   Total 4