National Team Event Reports - 2024-25

Richardson Cup

Edinburgh were the two-time defending Richardson Cup winners heading into this year's competition. There are always tough teams around the corner and plenty of challenges to overcome as the season progresses.

This year's competition had a Quarter, Semi and a Final for all teams.

Quarter final vs Edinburgh West

Unfortunately, our neighbours had a clash of dates so were unable to fill their very strongest team. That said, they still had a mix of strong, experienced players and terrifying youngsters on their team. The score on the day was 7-1 to Edinburgh with the individual results below.

The pace was set by Freddy, Jacob and Keith on the top boards, who all achieved excellent positions out of the opening/early middle game and then converted their advantages with skill and class. Neil drew an extremely solid game as Black in a Nimzo while Craig drew when he was a little better but couldn't quite convert vs some excellent defence.

The bottom three boards were more exciting. I myself had a pretty interesting Grunfeld vs a talented youngster and managed to get over the line after a trick or two in an unclear middlegame. Petros and Andrew are the reasons we're no longer permitting the Dragon to be played. Petros twisted and turned to win a long game with R, h+f vs R. A theoretical draw but hard to hold in practice. Andrew played 25 moves of heady Dragon theory vs a knowledgeable junior and prevailed after he spotted a beautiful tactic. Rh8+ on an empty square.

 

Semi Final vs Strathclyde University

Strathclyde University are an ambitious, young team with a strong set of players, especially on the top boards. Last year, they had a Grandmaster playing on their team, so we were prepared for the challenge. As there was a clash with the 4NCL, we were missing a few of our players.

Keith was better in a surprisingly sharp Caro-Kann where his resilient opponent found a classy defence to hold after Keith spotted a rare trick to go a pawn up. Craig returned to winning ways with a lovely, smoothly controlled game while Petros lost a full blooded fight on board 3. I thought my position was going well until it really wasn't. A pawn up for some compensation should have been a pawn up for no compensation but became a pawn down for no compensation. I dug out some nice defensive ideas, even if I say so myself, to hold a tough position vs a talented player.

The bottom four boards were where the damage was done. William played a fabulous game, outplaying his opponent, who played a fairly suspect opening, and sat on his advantage until he won. Brian's story was similar. A big white square grip with no chances for his opponent to fight back meant a smooth win. Big results for Ross and Matthew on their debuts. Matthew pressured his opponent until he won in a queen ending while Ross's position got a little bit better every time I came back to look at it.

Final vs Bon Accord

Bon Accord played very well in their semi-final to beat a strong Dundee team, so we were very aware of the challenge that was ahead of us if we were going to make the three-in-a-row.

The final result of 6.5-1.5 was not fitting of the match and flattered us.

Unfortunately, Matthew got off to a tough opening and never managed to recover, with his opponent playing a well-crafted game. I was very lost and was expecting to go down until I found a dirty move that kept everything in place, just about. There was a great many options for my opponent and, fortunately for me, he chose the wrong one, turning the game on its head. On the other side of the coin, we had some promising positions early doors: Keith, Brian and Petros looked to achieve solid advantages from their openings and kept things under control as the game progressed. Further into the match, it was clear that we should score well from these boards and we did.

Andrew's game had potential to be in the same category, but his opponent found some clever pawn breaks to mix things up. He won in the end but only after some fireworks.

Ross was the final player to finish, as you may suspect. A long grind where he couldn't quite finish the game was an enthralling finish to the whole tournament. Tense, he was a pawn up in a Queen ending with both players playing on increment. Only Ross could win but it was unclear if his opponent had a fortress. Playing like a player with much more experience, Ross nudged and nurdled here and there until he found an opening to get his King in. The pressure made Black's life a lot tougher and eventually caused him to collapse.

A fine result for three-in-a-row. An overall result of P24 W17 D5 L2 on board results is extremely convincing but there were some games and individual boards that had potential to go the other way. Our players showed immense fight to pull the extra half point out when they did. Special mention to Petros and Matthew in the semi-final and Ross in the final for this.

Polytechnic's record for Richardson Cups is 6 in a row. I guess that's our new target!

 

 

Spens Cup

 

 

Scottish National Chess League (SNCL)