Chess Scotland Club Tournament Finals

Grangemouth - April 16, 2005

report by Ken Stewart

The finals of the Chess Scotland team competitions were played at Grangemouth on Saturday 16 April.

A new winner of the Richardson Cup was guaranteed as Glasgow Polytechnic's six-year spell as holders had ended in an earlier round. Edinburgh West had been regular defeated finalists but Hamilton had never reached this stage before. Neither side had its strongest team available and this turned out to favour Hamilton as they had a substantial grading advantage on the lower boards. First to finish was Board 7 where Macdonald outmanoeuvred Mayo. Hamilton then picked up wins on the other lower boards giving them an effectively unassailable 4-0 lead. Although Arakhamia mated Muir after some time-shortage tactics, the issue was decided when Board 4 was drawn, Tweedie's pawn-grabbing being countered by Neave's attack. In the two remaining games Pritchett and Coffey pressed for endgame wins but ultimately both had to settle for the draw, leaving Hamilton as clear winners.

The Spens Cup final was marred by the non-arrival of two of the Castlehill team at their meeting point in Dundee , leaving them two points down and generally outgraded. The Board 4 game was a relatively short draw but the others were long and very hard fought; in the end, however, Edinburgh Civil Service were successful in all three, giving them a second consecutive victory in the event.

The Jack Campbell Rosebowl final was won by last year's beaten finalists, Lanark, who had a substantial grading advantage over Stonehaven's less experienced team. Apart from a short draw on Board 1, the games were hard fought, though for a town with a notable castle, Stonehaven were rather careless with the safety of their rooks.

(Hamilton team photo by Sam Collins)

 

Grading Data 2004-2005

Chessbase Game File

Richardson Finals

Spens Finals

 

Richardson Cup Final

Board No Edinburgh West Hamilton Colour Name Grade Score Name Grade Score 1  B  K Arakhamia-Grant 2457 1  A Muir 2363 0 2    C Pritchett 2232 ½  J Redpath 2205 ½ 3    J Grant 2246 ½  P Coffey 2110 ½ 4    G Neave 2037 ½  S Tweedie 2087 ½ 5    S Gillam 2048 0  D McGowan 2081 1 6    S Hogg 1918 0  A Stalker 2028 1 7    K Mayo 1829 0  C MacDonald 2012 1 8    M Robinson 1684 0  C Tweedie 1954 1       Total 2½   Total 5½

Spens Cup Final

Board No Edinburgh Civil Service Castlehill Colour Name Grade Score Name Grade Score 1  w  A Prince 1780 1  G Mooney 1838 0 2    N Anderson 1778 1  K Rose 1691 0 3    C Macnab 1708 1  C Edwards 1579 0 4    D Stewart  1679 ½  R Noble 1565 ½ 5    R Austin 1  default 0 6    G Brown 1  default 0       Total 5½   Total ½

Jack Campbell Rosebowl

Board No Lanark Stonehaven Colour Name Grade Score Name Grade Score 1  B  I Brownlee 1840 ½  C Curry 1734 ½ 2    I McLachlan 1728 ½  K Green 1574 ½ 3    J Smalls 1674 1  K Emery 1486 0 4    T Brown 1669 1  J Wright 1119 0 5    G R Brown 1441 1  M Emery 998 0 6    M Benyon 1416 ½  S Wright 837 ½       Total 4½   Total 1½

 

 

                                                                      

1.  Hamilton - 8	Hamilton - 5.5	Hamilton - 5.5	Hamilton -5.5	Hamilton
2.  Glenrothes - 0
3.  Inverclyde Central	Dundee & Victoria - 2.5
4.  Dundee & Victoria w/o
	Polytechnic - 3	Wandering Dragons - 2.5
6.  Wandering Dragons - 5.5	Wandering Dragons - 5
7.  Irvine Porthead - 2.5
8.  Cathcart - 4 bd count	Cathcart - 4.5	Cathcart - 3	Edinburgh West - 2.5
9.  Bon Accord - 4
10. Glasgow Montrose - 5.5	Glasgow Montrose - 3.5
11.  Phones - 2.5
12.  Edinburgh West - 5	Edinburgh West - 6	Edinburgh West - 5
13.  Edinburgh - 3
14.  Oban - 5.5	Oban - 2
15.  Kilmarnock - 2.5

RELEGATION PLAY-OFF (One team will be relegated)

                                           

	1. Glenrothes	Glenrothes
2. Edinburgh - 5.5	3. Bon Accord w/o
3. Bon Accord - 2.5
4. Kilmarnock - 3	4. Kilmarnock - 4.5	Irvine Porthead
5. Phones - 5
6. Inverclyde Central - 4 bd ct	7. Irvine Porthead - 3.5
7. Irvine Porthead - 4

The four seeded clubs (based on weighted performance in reaching the semi-finals over the past three years) are Polytechnic, Edinburgh West, Glasgow Montrose and Hamilton.