27th European Club Cup 2011

[George Murphy]

I see Edinburgh CC got off to a good - if losing (2-4)- start today with one win and two draws against considerably higher graded opposition. Good on them!

[Geoff Chandler]

Michal Meszaros (2377) - Calum Macqueen (2158) European Club Cup 2011

This was a good example of snatching a win with first glance tactics.
(I detect a wiff of mutual time trouble.)

The d-pawn and e-pawns are winning the game. A wee slack move from White 37.Nb6

[pos]5r2/1p4qk/1N2Pnpp/1PpP1n2/r7/2Q2B1P/2R4K/5R2 b - - 0 37[/pos]












A loose piece on the board, a check in the postion.

37...Qc7+ wins the Knight but is it enough? Those pawns are worth a piece.
.....tick tock.........tick tock.........tick tock.........tick tock....

Callum goes for a trick shot. The idea was possibly noted before 37.Nb6 was played.
A Queen winning trick shot which the more I look at it.
(of course without the .....tick tock....etc.)
The more I think White should have fallen into it.

37...Ra2 38.Rxa2 Ng4+ 39. hxg4

[pos]5r2/1p5k/1N2P1pp/1PpP1P2/8/2q2B2/R6K/5R2 b - - 0 40[/pos]












And I like White. The d and e-pawns are holding hands and skipping towards promotion.

Instead White spotted the trick without examining the trick and in the final flurry,
which does indeed reek of time trouble.
Callum again refuses the loose Knight and White walks into a Queen and Rook Knight fork.
White drops a Rook with check the Queen enters the King kicking with a check and it's all over.

Don't scoff at White playing on a Rook down. He had a horrid trap just waiting in the wings.
If Black had played a plausible or non-checking move here.

[pos]8/1pQN2qk/4P1pp/1P1P1n2/8/4r2P/5K2/8 b - - 0 46[/pos]












46.....Rc3 hitting the Queen for instance.
Then White mates in 3 with 47.Nf6+

[pgn]1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O Nc6 7. a3 e5 8.
d3 a5 9. Rb1 h6 10. b4 axb4 11. axb4 Be6 12. b5 Ne7 13. h3 Qd7 14. Kh2 Nh5
15. Ne1 Rab8 16. e4 c6 17. Ba3 Nf6 18. Qb3 c5 19. Nd5 Nh7 20. f4 f5 21. Bb2
fxe4 22. dxe4 Rbe8 23. Nd3 exf4 24. gxf4 Bxd5 25. cxd5 Bxb2 26. Nxb2 Nf6
27. Bf3 Kh7 28. Nc4 Neg8 29. Qd3 Ra8 30. Rb2 Qg7 31. e5 Nd7 32. Qe3 Ra4 33.
Rc2 dxe5 34. fxe5 Ne7 35. e6 Nf5 36. Qc3 Nf6 37. Nb6 Ra2 38. Rff2 Rxc2 39.
Qxc2 Nd4 40. Qxc5 Ne4 41. Bxe4 Rxf2+ 42. Kg3 Re2 43. Nd7 Rxe4 44. Qc7 Nf5+
45. Kf3 Re3+ 46. Kf2 Qb2+[/pgn]

[Angus McDonald]

Nice draw for Edinburgh today with some fairly useful opponents. :-)

[David Robertson]

It's all about Berry-Van Wely today!

Watching that would be a lot more fun than work. Come on Edinburgh!

[George Murphy]

Hmm... Lost 3.5-2.5, but heavily out-graded, and what a contrast between the top and bottom Boards where our boys were punching above their weight. Come on!

[Angus McDonald]

That's a very strong result!
Average grade of opponents was about 2515 (Olympiad strength)

[Alan Tate]

Wow good effort today. Macqueen is doing particularly well. Perhaps he is finally ready to leave the 2100 club.

[Neil Berry]

Greetings from Rogaska Slatina!

Enjoyed our day out yesterday, Gros Xake Taldea definitely needed their 2600s firing to beat us! Team playing well, especially MacQueen. I should have got a result in round 2, and missed a win in round 3. Played reasonably yesterday, but van Wely is pretty useful! On the bench today, planning to watch the big boys once I've completed my domestique duties.

Rogaska Slatina is a small and beautiful Spa town. Its size means that we're now used to seeing 2700s walking down the street! The tournament is split over 3 rooms and you can't visit the others until you've finished, which is a slight shame. We're having a fantastic time - should have done this years ago!

Best wishes,

Neil

[Neil Berry]

We drew 3-3 today with Skakkluben 41 from Denmark, another good result. Calum won yet again as did David, Hugh drew and Clement heroically held a worse ending to get us the draw. Hoping for a good pairing tomorrow!