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Chandler Cornered
League Round Up - the Artwork of Graeme Kafka
A quick round up of the Leagues.
Premier League winners were Edinburgh 1 who clinched
the title by winning their last match v Sandy Bells 1.
Premier Division P W D L For Aga Pts Edinburgh 1 10 7 1 2 37½ 22½ 15 Sandy Bells 1 10 6 1 3 34½ 25½ 13 Edinburgh West 1 10 5 0 5 28½ 31½ 10 Wandering Dragons 1 10 4 0 6 30½ 28½ 8 Lasswade 1 10 4 0 6 26 34 8 Wandering Dragons 2 10 2 2 6 22 37 6
When you think of it, it's little wonder that
Edinburgh 1 won the League. Look at their team.
Pentland Hills 1 won Division 1 and earn the right to
be relegated from the Premier next season.
(I'll get into trouble for writing that...
also I could be in extreme danger of eating my words).
Division 1 P W D L For Aga Pts Pentland Hills 1 10 6 3 1 41 19 15 Musselburgh 1 10 5 3 2 33 27 13 Livingston 10 5 3 2 29½ 30½ 13 Edinburgh 2 10 3 3 4 28 32 9 Corstorphine 1 10 3 0 7 27 33 6 Gorgie Dalry 10 1 2 7 21½ 38½ 4
I do not have a team picture of Pentland Hills 1.
This will do instead.
Gosh look at those eyes.
"You dare to sacrifice a pawn against me!"
Civil Service 1 won Division 2. There are some good players
in the Civil Service squad. They will be challenging for the
Division 1 title next season.
Division 2 P W D L For Aga Pts Civil Service 1 10 9 0 1 41 19 18 Bank of Scotland 1 10 7 1 2 34½ 25½ 15 Edinburgh 3 10 6 2 2 37½ 22½ 14 University 1 10 6 0 4 33½ 26½ 12 Tiger Cubs 1 10 4 1 5 32 28 9 Balerno 10 4 1 5 29½ 30½ 9 Sandy Bells 2 10 3 2 5 26½ 32½ 8 Civil Service 2 10 4 0 6 24½ 34½ 8 Pentland Hills 2 10 2 3 5 27½ 32½ 7 Musselburgh 2 10 3 1 6 23½ 36½ 7 Edinburgh West 2 10 1 1 8 19 41 3
Once again I do not have a team pic of the Civil Service team.
This will do.
What a beautiful smile.
How could one cheapo such a smile.
You cannot have a season without the Dragons
winning something. They walked through Division 3
unbeaten. Well done, they only unbeaten team
throughout the whole of the Edinburgh league.
Division 3 P W D L For Aga Pts Wandering Dragons 3 10 10 0 0 51 8 20 Bank of Scotland 2 10 6 2 2 32½ 27½ 14 Sandy Bell's 4 10 5 3 2 36½ 23½ 13 Lasswade 2 10 6 1 3 35½ 24½ 13 Badger's Brook 10 6 0 4 35½ 23½ 12 Edinburgh West 3 10 4 2 4 28 32 10 Sandy Bell's 3 10 4 1 5 25 35 9 Pentland Hills 3 10 4 0 6 28½ 31½ 8 Corstorphine Castle 2 10 3 1 6 27½ 32½ 7 Tiger Cubs 2 10 0 2 8 16½ 43½ 2 University 2 10 1 0 9 12½ 47½ 2
Once again I have no picture of the Dragons team
so here is one for the ladies.
John Henderson The Scotsman chess correspondent.
By the by, I know loads of you have these digital
mobiles so please send in any pictures of chess events,
chess players, anything chess related.
So now we need a game.
As is well know Edinburgh League players have a
dead rooted fear of seeing their games in this column
so I have no Edinburgh game.
I.Marks v I.McGregor, Glenrothes Open 2006.
This is a good instructive game giving us 3 key positions.
Here Black has just played 11...c4. This type of move
is tempting and it is a common move amongst weaker players.
The gain of time is worthless, the board is cut in half
and Black has frozen the tension in the centre.
Black is now a Rook down (the Rook on h8).
11...Qa5 or 1...Nc6 look better.
So why has Ian McGregor played it?
He is not a weak player so there must be a reason.
It's more instructive when a good player makes
a dodgy move because they rarely do so without a valid reason.
He feared the idea of Rh3-g3 when defending the
g7-pawn with Rg8 was out because of Bh7.
So 11...c4 prevents the Bishop from going to h7.
But he can ignore that idea and get on attacking the centre.
Suppose White ignores the centre and gets on with
the flank attack and goes for his plan of Rh3-g3.
This is a plausible variation.
11...Qa5 12.Rh3 cxd4 13.Rg3 Qxc3+ 14.Ke2 Rg8 15.Bh7 d3+ 16.cxd3 Qxe5+
White's attack is going nowhere, he is lost.
By all means look to see what you opponent is up to
and then judge if you can ignore it or get on with
your own ideas, giving him the onus of finding a
counter idea to your plans. It's called playing Chess.
Ian knew what he was doing by playing 11...c4
he is a good player, he just underestimated his
own position and over estimated his opponents plan.
Later this position arose. And you can see what
I mean about Black being a rook down.
From bad positions bad moves will eventually come.
So a few moves later Black blundered a pawn.
The theme: My favourite, Unprotected pieces.
The Bishop and Rook hang so Bxc4 wins a pawn.
(taking the pawn the helped put Black in this mess)
and white was on the road to victory.
White finished it with a nice clean bit of chess.
A good game.
[Click here to replay the game]
I.Marks v I.McGregor
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Bb4 5.e5 h6 6.Bd2 Bxc3 7.bxc3 Ne4 8.Qg4 Kf8 9.Bd3 Nxd2 10.Kxd2 c5 11.h4 c4 12.Be2 Nc6 13.Rh3 Bd7 14.Rg3 Rg8 15.Nh3 b5 16.Nf4 Ne7 17.Nh5 Nf5 18.Rh3 a5 19.a3 Rb8 20.Rhh1 Qb6 21.Rhb1 Qd8 22.g3 Qe7 23.Qf3 Bc6 24.Bxc4 b4 25.axb4 axb4 26.Be2 Qc7 27.g4 Nxh4 28.Qg3 bxc3+ 29.Qxc3 Rxb1 30.Rxb1 Ng6 31.Qb4+ Ne7 32.Qb8+ Qc8 33.Qd6 Bb7 34.Rxb7
And finally.
Actually I do have a genuine picture of the Edinburgh 1 team.
I joined them in their celebrations on the night they won the Premiership.
It was Kafka the hooligan who sprayed the wall of the Shakespear Bar with black paint.
