Despite a bit of an up-and-down season we managed 3rd place. Results and grading calculations.

Opposition	H/A	Result
Civil Service 1	A	½-5½
Badgers Brooke 1	H	2½-3½
Edinburgh 1	H	2-4
Edinburgh West 1	A	½-5½
Edinburgh 2	H	4½-1½
Civil Service 1	H	5-1
Badgers Brooke 1	A	4½-1½
Edinburgh 1	A	5-1
Edinburgh West 1	H	4-2

Note: our away match against Edinburgh 2 was not played.

Edinburgh West 1 (home)

The Dragons won their match against Edinburgh West, completing the double after a 5½-½ win earlier in the season.

Dragons A	4‑2	Edinburgh West 1
Bathie, N. (2217)	½‑½	Redpath, J. (2281)
Orr, M. (2142)	0‑1	Grant, J. (2194)
Fleming, N. (1913)	½‑½	Neave, G. (2116)
Sloan, E. (1853)	1‑0	Robinson, M. (1749)
Heron, D. (1847)	1‑0	Walker, D. (1734)
Taylor, E. (1842)	1‑0	Logue, D. (1616)

On last board Ewan's opponent, who had very little time left, stopped the clocks and claimed a draw because (he alleged) Ewan had no practical chances to win. Although it's true there were opposite coloured bishops, the trouble was that there were also a pair of rooks and plenty of pawns. The consensus view (after a long group discussion after all the other games had finished) was that it was a spurious claim and in the end it didn't go to arbitration.

Wins by Elliot and Don managed to compensate for Mark blundering a pawn, leading to a 4-2 win. Don's game had an interesting R&P ending.

Edinburgh 1 (away)

Dragons 1, with a weakened team, went down to the league champions elect.

Dragons A	1‑5	Edinburgh 1
Fleming, N. (1913)	½‑½	Bremner, A. (2190)
Sloan, E. (1853)	0‑1	Berry, N. (2158)
Heron, D. (1847)	0‑1	Brechin, H. (2060)
Taylor, E. (1842)	0‑1	Kafka, G. (1953)
Kynoch, R. (1839)	½‑½	Rutherford, W. (1935)
DEFAULT	0‑1	Antunes, A. (1814)

Unable to secure a 2nd team player, board 6 had to be defaulted. Richard had Willie Rutherford on the ropes, but his opponent survived the attack and the game ended in a perpetual draw. Ewan and Don both competed well, but eventually fell to Graeme Kafka and Hugh Brechin respectively. Elliot had a battle with Neil Berry who was down to 4 mins for around 10 moves but with a position later evaluated by an engine as +5 (though it didn't look quite as good to a human). Elliot then missed a tactic to take the initiative, and his opponent went on to win. Neil Fleming played a very good defence a couple of pawns down in an opposite bishop (plus queens) ending, and was rewarded with a perpetual in final position. Thus a 5-1 defeat.

Badgers Brook 1 (away)

In a night of blunders, including a default, the A-Team suffered another defeat against Badgers Brook in the Edinburgh premier league.

Dragons A	2½‑3½	Badgers Brook
Bathie, N. (2217)	1‑0	Cooke, S. (2041)
Orr, M. (2142)	½‑½	McGeoch, K. (1994)
Sloan, E. (1853)	0‑1	Cooke, M. (1943)
Heron, D. (1847)	0‑1	Newton, A. (1896)
Kynoch, R. (1839)	0‑1	McHarg, A. (1824)
DEFAULT	0‑1	Ward, S. (1778)

After a muddle over who was driving whom, Neil Fleming was left standing outside the Polish club waiting for a lift that had already merrily departed. Upon arrival at the venue and hearing team captain Elliot's query "And where's Neil?", driver Mark realised he'd blundered but didn't yet know this was only the first of the night.

On top board Nicol (white) outplayed another opponent in a longish ending as he seems to do on a regular basis.

On board 2 Mark had his opponent in a seemingly helpless position but compounded his earlier mistake by blundering a whole rook. Luckily, he had a passed pawn in compensation and this was enough to get back the rook, leaving our hero two pawns up. However, just as he was about to queen a pawn his flag fell (disaster number 3 😲). The rule is that you lose on time if your opponent can give mate with his remaining material, otherwise it's a draw. In this case the opponent only had a knight but it was still possible to construct a mate, highly contrived though it was. Despite being in a position to claim a win, Kenny McGeoch sportingly offered a draw, which was gratefully accepted.

Elliot got behind in development and succumbed to pressure on his king side. Donald played the wrong rook to the centre. Richard blundered his queen to a knight fork.

A sad, sad night, but hey, it's only a game.

Civil Service 1 (home)

Captain Elliot Sloan played a brilliancy as the A-team completed the double over Civil Service in the Edinburgh Premier League.

Dragons A	5‑1	Civil Service
Orr, M. (2142)	1‑0	Gunn-Russell, C. (1776)
Fleming, N. (1913)	0‑1	Macnab, C. (1754)
Sloan, E. (1853)	1‑0	Scott, R. (1691)
Heron, D. (1847)	1‑0	Jackson, R. (1665)
Taylor, E. (1842)	1‑0	Anderson, N. (1614)
Kynoch, R. (1839)	1‑0	Smith, E. (1611)

Dragons started well when Ralph Jackson left a piece on prise on move 8 and Don took full advantage to win quickly. Elliot sacked a knight for a very strong attack against Richard Scott, and then finished off nicely. In the diagram below he is a piece down but has the move, can you spot the continuation?

Ewan won shortly afterwards apparently effortlessly but then Crawford Macnab won an interesting open game against Neil with some clever tactics and, with Richard a pawn down, and plenty of play left in Mark's top board game, it was all to play for.

Mark (black) and Charles Gunn-Russell revisited an opening variation they had already contested many times in blitz games at Chess in the Park. The position below is from analysis (it didn't actually occur). Can you see Black's winning move?

Mark did eventually win and Richard also broke through which resulted in a 5-1 win.

Edinburgh 2 (home)

After their earlier defeat by Edinburgh 1 at noisy, cramped Clark's Bar, the A-Team took revenge by beating Edinburgh 2 at nice, spacious, quiet Pilrig Bowling Club.

Dragons A	4½‑1½	Edinburgh 2
Bathie, N. (2217)	1‑0	Bhopal, R. (1997)
Orr, M. (2142)	1‑0	Kristianson, S. (1939)
Fleming, N. (1913)	1‑0	Irving, N. (1901)
Sloan, E. (1853)	½‑½	Ridge, M. (1884)
Heron, D. (1847)	0‑1	Kane, B. (1815)
Kynoch, R. (1839)	1‑0	Ridge, B. (1651)

Nicol (on the left in picture below), as black, slowly but surely equalised against ex-Dragon Raj Bhopal on board 1 and then slowly but surely ground him down in a rook and bishop ending, cleverly liquidating to a won king and pawn ending near the end and playing the nice move 48...g4!.

On board 2 Mark played the strange move 10.Kd2 in the opening which he thought was threatening to win a queen (with 11.Bb5+ and 12.Re1) and black felt obliged to give up a piece to avoid that. However, the threat was not real (black could have played 11...Kd8) and this bit of luck more or less decided the game in the Dragon's favour. Mark's Icelandic opponent Snorri, whose wife is expecting their first baby and who was allowed to keep his phone on in case she called, showed himself to be a perfect gentleman when he returned shortly after leaving the building to warn Mark that his car lights were still on.

The board 3 game was a wild affair where Neil (on the left in picture below) gave up his queen for a rook and minor piece. Probably white could have defended better, but the game was decided when Neil's rooks and dark squared bishop got amongst the white king.

Elliot swapped off queens early in his game against professor (of philosophy) Mike Ridge and agreed an early draw. He was perhaps not in the best frame of mind for a fight after earlier losing a battle against the lock on the equipment box which seemed to leave him in a bad mood, judging by all the cursing!

Don got into a horrible queenless middlegame (weak pawns, bad bishop, cramped position) but soldiered on grimly to reach a rook and pawn ending which he thinks he might have had chances to hold had his concentration not been broken. Both players had lost track of the moves in time trouble and the game was stopped to discuss whether the rules required the score sheets to be completed. The players, team captains and various spectators all got involved but eventually it was agreed to continue without a reconstruction as it would have taken a while and it was getting late.

Richard's opponent blundered a typical Bxh7+ combination in an exchange French and after that our man ruthlessly brought home the full point.

Edinburgh West 1 (away)

With the return of Scottish international Hamish Olson to the lineup, one of the strongest Dragons A teams in recent memory hammered Edinburgh West in the Premier League.

Dragons A	5½‑½	Edinburgh West 1
Olsen, H. (2297)	1‑0	Grant, J. (2194)
Bathie, N. (2217)	1‑0	McLean, I. (1894)
Orr, M. (2142)	1‑0	Montgomery, J. (1824)
Fleming, N. (1913)	1‑0	Robinson, M. (1749)
Sloan, E. (1853)	1‑0	Watkins, J. (1737)
Taylor, E. (1842)	½‑½	Walker, D. (1734)

The first game to finish was over just minutes after the clocks had started. Team captain Elliot Sloan caught his opponent in an opening trap which he says has occurred twice before in his games, the two other times being only five days apart in the late 80's when he was still a teenager.

Hamish, who seems to like playing Carlsbad structures from both sides, got another one. This time on the White side of an Exchange Caro-Kann, he played the interesting move 12. Kf1. He said afterwards that this move, which he'd seen played before (though 12.O-O is more popular), defined the game, as after this he was always going to try and attack on the K-side. That's exactly what happened and his opponent failed to find the best defence.

On the Black side of his favourite Slav Defence, Nicol equalised comfortably but then his opponent allowed an unwise piece exchange. Nicol took full advantage and generated a mating attack.

Edinburgh 1 (home)

Dragons A played host to Edinburgh 1 at Clark's Bar in the Edinburgh Premier league and you could hear a pin drop.

Dragons A	2‑4	Edinburgh 1
Orr, M. (2142)	½‑½	Bremner, A. (2190)
Fleming, N. (1913)	0‑1	Walden, P. (2180)
Sloan, E. (1853)	0‑1	Berry, N. (2158)
Heron, D. (1847)	1‑0	Brechin, H. (2060)
Taylor, E. (1842)	½‑½	Rutherford, N. (1935)
Kynoch, R. (1839)	0‑1	Dawson, E. (1818)

Once again, one of the two small rooms that had been promised for our "exclusive use" was double-booked for a debating society. The compromise this time was that we would squeeze 4 boards into one room and 2 boards would have to play out in the open bar area. As it was a quiet Tuesday night, this actually turned out fine. The barman kindly muted the TVs and by the time the games were finishing all the other customers had departed leaving only the barman, chess players and complete silence. Never have I witnessed such a deathly quiet bar, it was a bit surreal.

Not unexpectedly, as we were somewhat outgunned on boards 2-4, the match did not go our way. After all, they had Neil Berry, the 2015 Scottish Champion on board 3, and he won a nice game against Elliot. Don (pictured) was the only one of us to have any winning chances and he managed to bring the full point home in a long game (the last to finish) after an instructive error by his opponent in a R+P v R ending. If you don't know whether the defending king should flee to the short side or the long side, check out the game. Our two draws were the result of some sterling defence by Ewan and Mark.

Badgers Brook 1 (home)

The A team were narrowly beaten in the Edinburgh Premier League by Badgers Brooke despite the welcome return of top player Nicol Bathie to the team. This was our first match in Clarks Bar. The noise level was somewhat off-putting to their board 2, who more than once got up to shut the door between our back room and the bar, but I didn't notice anyone else being bothered by it.

Dragons A	2½‑3½	Badgers Brook
Bathie, N. (2217)	1‑0	Cooke, S. (2041)
Orr, M. (2142)	1‑0	Bell, A. (1970)
Sloan, E. (1853)	0‑1	Cooke, M. (1943)
Heron, D. (1847)	0‑1	Newton, A. (1896)
Taylor, E. (1842)	0‑1	Will, D. (1816)
Kynoch, R. (1839)	½‑½	Biancalana, F. (1755)

Civil Service 1 (away)

The Dragons A team started their season with a one-sided away victory against Civil Service 1 at Slateford Bowling Club.

Dragons A	5½‑½	Civil Service 1
Orr, M. (2142)	1‑0	Gunn-Russell, C. (1776)
Fleming, N. (1913)	1‑0	Rounds, M. (1765)
Sloan, E. (1853)	1‑0	Macnab, C. (1754)
Heron, D. (1847)	1‑0	Scott, R. (1691)
Taylor, E. (1842)	½‑½	Anderson, N. (1614)
Kynoch, R. (1839)	1‑0	Bate, S. (1476)

Team captain Elliot Sloan: "It wasn't that comfortable. Don and Richard had both had been defending tricky positions but pulled off the wins in the end. I broke through just before time control to win. Neil Fleming had a strong attack and despite his opponent having extra material, again converted coming up to time control. Ewan drew a quiet looking game, and Mark eventually got better of Gunn-Russell, but not before the barman had loudly and rudely interrupted demanding everyone leave, though there were still several minutes to go before the normal closing time."

Both players involved in the last game to finish (Orr v. Gunn-Russell) were down to seconds on the clock. Mark later recalled that he had been aware of some sort of commotion in the background but that he couldn't risk looking around to see what was happening for fear of losing on time.