Scotland v Ireland 1984

The match took place on 3-4 March at Edinburgh Chess Club. Previous results meant that Scotland had to win 11-5 to win the trophy.

Board
Scotland
Rd 1
Rd 2
Ireland
Rd 1
Rd 2
1
CA McNab
1
½
Delaney
0
½
2
M. Condie
1
½
Wallace
0
½
3
G. Morrison
½
1
Orr
½
0
4
TJ Upton
½
½
Ludgate
½
½
5
DM Bryson
1
1
O'Reilly
0
0
6
P. Giulian
1
½
Carton
0
½
7
H. Milligan
½
½
Connolly
½
½
8
A. Coull
1
½
Martin
0
½
6½
5
1½
3

Pawn grabbing was the Scottish tactic in round 1. Although Tim [Upton] could only draw, Colin [McNab], Mark [Condie], Douglas [Bryson], Phil [Giulian] and Alison [Coull] all managed to convert their extra material to win. Graham [Morrison] had a solid draw, and when Helen [Milligan] also drew it meant that we had made an excellent start of 6½ points in the first round.

After a night's drinking and card playing, the Irish put up much better resistance in the second round. Mark, Tim and Helen all had fairly uneventful draws. However, Graham won a fine game culminating in an excellent sacrificial attack. When Douglas won after an unsound exchange sacrifice, we needed only one more point for the trophy. Meanwhile, a bitter dispute had arisen in time trouble on board eight. Both players became very upset by the events, and a whole series of blunders resulted, eventually culminating in a draw. On board one Colin was losing, but Phil was two pawns up with a completely won game. Under the circumstances, Phil accepted the drawneeded to give Scotland the trophy.

Colin eventually managed to save his game, and Ireland had been defeated 11½-4½, without Scotland losing a game - an excellent finale to the last match in this event.

Scotland therefore wins back the GLASGOW 800 CUP with what must be one of her best performances. Here are two games from the event.

Reilly - Bryson [A13]
Scotland v Ireland, 1984, Round 1.

1.c4 e6 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 d5 4.b3 c5 5.Bb2 Nc6 6.cxd5 exd5 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bb4+ 9.Bc3 Qa5 10.Bxb4 Qxb4+ 11.Qd2 Nxd4 12.exd4 Qxd2+ 13.Nxd2 0-0 14.Bd3 Re8+ 15.Kd1 Ng4 16.Rf1 Nxh2 17.Bxh7+ Kf8 18.Re1 Ng4 19.Rxe8+ Kxe8 20.f3 Ne3+ 21.Ke2 Nxg2 22.Rg1 Nf4+ 23.Ke3 Nh5 24.Bd3 Kf8 25.Rh1 g6 26.Rc1 Bd7 27.Rc7 Re8+ 28.Kf2 Bc6 29.Ba6 Nf4 30.Bxb7 Bxb7 31.Rxb7 Re2+ 32.Kf1 Rxd2 33.Rxa7 Rxd4 34.Rb7 Rd1+ 35.Kf2 Ra1 36.a4 d4 0-1

Morrison - Orr [A79]
Scotland v Ireland, 1984, Round 2.

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.Nc3 g6 7.Nd2 Bg7 8.e4 0-0 9.Be2 Re8 10.0-0 Na6 11.Kh1 Nc7 12.f3 b6 13.a4 Rb8 14.Nc4 Ba6 15.Bg5 Qd7 16.Qd2 Bxc4 17.Bxc4 a6 18.Bd3 b5 19.axb5 axb5 20.Ra7 c4 21.Bb1 Ra8 22.Rxa8 Rxa8 23.Ne2 Ra1 24.Nd4 Na6 25.Bh6 Bh8 26.Nc6 Ne8 27.Qe2 Nc5 28.f4 Nf6 29.Qf3 Nfxe4 30.Bxe4 Rxf1+ 31.Qxf1 Nxe4 32.Qa1 Nf6 33.Qa8+ Ne8 34.Qc8 Qxc8 35.Ne7# 1-0

Source:
Scottish Chess Nr. 80, April 1984.

Compiled by
Alan McGowan