Our top team returns to a new season with a strengthened squad.

All Premier Division results are here and grading calculations are here.

Opposition	H/A	Date	Res
Edinburgh West 1	H	Oct 10	2½-3½
Bank of Scotland 1	A	Nov 7	4-2
Edinburgh 1	A	Nov 15	4-2
Edinburgh University 1	H	Nov 28	5½-½
Badgers Brook 1	A	Dec 11	1½-4½
Edinburgh West	A	Jan 25	3-3
Bank of Scotland 1	H	Jan 30	2½-3½
Edinburgh 1	H	Feb 20	0-6
Edinburgh University 1	A	Feb 28	3-3
Badgers Brook 1	H	12 Mar	4½-1½

Badgers Brook 1 (Home, Mar 12th)

Our top guns finished the season with a convincing win, despite the absence of two regulars.
Mark Orr had a quick draw and Neil quickly took control with 2 passed pawns on queen side against Mark Cooke.
Isaac was on top, in a knight vs bishop ending (with a rook each ), to put the team 2½-½ up.
Walter was looking comfortable but it started getting a little tricky and Elliot was resisting a Dougie Will attack whilst pawn grabbing.

Meanwhile Tom created an advantage against Suzy Cooke and converted to a win to seal the match.
Walter went on to win his game and Elliot looked to be winning too, but was caught out by a tactic, which Dougie converted well.
So the final score was 4½-1½ to the Dragons, which guarantees Premier status for another season.

Sadly, we say farewell to Hamish Olson, who is moving to England in April.
We wish him well in his new ventures and appreciate his strength and expertise over the season.

Wandering Dragons 1	4½‑1½	Badgers Brook 1
Orr, Mark J L(2179)	½‑½	McGeoch, Kenny R(2039)
Leah, Tom(2069)	1‑0	Cooke, Susan G(1957)
Browning, Isaac(1988)	1‑0	Bell, Alan D(1949)
Sloan, Elliot S(1931)	0‑1	Will, Douglas(1870)
Fleming, Neil(1923)	1‑0	Cooke, Mark(1864)
Burnett, Walter(1910)	1‑0	Rowney, Jonathan(1591)

Edinburgh University 1 (Away, Feb 28th)

Despite fielding one of our strongest line-ups against a weaker team,
our Premier Dragons were unable to turn their strong grading and experience
advantage into a win, securing a draw at the Pleasance.

Edinburgh University 1	3‑3	Wandering Dragons 1
Krassel, Timofei(2038)	½‑½	Olson, Hamish(2337)
Watson, Jacob(1896)	1‑0	Tate, Alan W(2272)
Kopernicky, Martin(1713)	½‑½	Orr, Mark J L(2179)
Angeletos Chrysaitis, Nikitas (1687)	0‑1	Leah, Tom(2069)
Feser, Paolo(F1715)	0‑1	Sloan, Elliot S(1931)
Rogers, Andrew(E1600)	1‑0	Burnett, Walter(1910)

*F=FIDE, E=Estimated

Edinburgh 1 (Home, Feb 20th)

Our premier team was missing our top player, Hamish Olson, and it showed against the toughest team in the league.
We were out-graded by more than 200 points per board on average on the night, so any results would have been against the odds.

Wandering Dragons 1	0‑6	Edinburgh 1
Orr, Mark J L(2179)	0‑1	Ruxton, Keith(2379)
Minnican, Alan W(2051)	0‑1	Waldhausen Gordon, Frederick(2212)
Leah, Tom(2069)	0‑1	Berry, Neil M(2265)
Browning, Isaac(1988)	0‑1	Thomson, Craig S M(2220)
Sloan, Elliot S(1931)	0‑1	Walden, Petros(2202)
Burnett, Walter(1910)	0‑1	MacQueen, Calum(2174)

Bank of Scotland 1 (Home, Jan 30th)

We had a grading advantage overall and on almost every board.
This was not converted to a victory as we struggle to find good form as a team.

Wandering Dragons 1	2½‑3½	Bank of Scotland 1
Orr, Mark J L(2179)	½‑½	Blanco , Jorge(2192)
Minnican, Alan W(2051)	0‑1	Chisholm, Mike(1939)
Leah, Tom(2069)	0‑1	James, Chris(1884)
Browning, Isaac(1988)	1‑0	Chapman, Nigel(1871)
Sloan, Elliot S(1931)	0‑1	Mollison, Jamie(1814)
Burnett, Walter(1910)	1‑0	Lamarque, Hugh(1794)

Edinburgh West 1 (Away, Jan 25th)

We had a big grading advantage overall and on every board.
This was not converted to a victory but we should take some confidence
in drawing with one of the other contenders for the league title.

Edinburgh West 1	3‑3	Wandering Dragons 1
Redpath, Joe(2220)	½‑½	Olson, Hamish(2337)
Neave, George(2051)	½‑½	Orr, Mark J L(2179)
Farrell, Neil R(2029)	½‑½	Minnican, Alan W(2051)
Walker, Duncan(1747)	½‑½	Leah, Tom(2069)
Deepak Ambattu, Rithvik(1613)	½‑½	Browning, Isaac(1988)
Robinson, Martin E(1682)	½‑½	Burnett, Walter(1910)

Badgers Brook 1 (Away, Dec 11th)

Another tricky tie where a tight match was fought despite our grading advantage.
In the end, our top guns got the result. Thanks to Neil for stepping up from the second team.

Issac beat Dougie Will with a pawn sac, developed a big time advantage, and went on to achieve a convincing win. John McLay beat Tom. Neil won a piece for 2 pawns, and converted this to a win after over 70 moves. Elliot was outplayed by Mark Cooke and had to give up exchange but got enough counter-play, with his opponent short on time, to hold on for a draw. The last 2 to finish were Mark, who converted a pawn up in R and P ending against Alan Bell, and Hamish who squeezed Kenny McGeogh to win a minor piece ending.

Badgers Brook 1	1½‑4½	Wandering Dragons 1
McGeoch, Kenny R(2039)	0‑1	Olson, Hamish(2337)
Bell, Alan D(1949)	0‑1	Orr, Mark J L(2179)
McLay, John W(1948)	1‑0	Leah, Tom(2069)
Will, Douglas(1870)	0‑1	Browning, Isaac(1988)
Cooke, Mark(1864)	½‑½	Sloan, Elliot S(1931)
McHarg, Andrew(1838)	0‑1	Fleming, Neil(1923)

Edinburgh University (Home, Nov 28th)

A rather one sided affair gave the Dragons top team their first win of the season at home.
A heavily out-graded Edinburgh Uni team succumbed to overwhelming fire power of the top Dragons.

Wandering Dragons 1	5½‑½	Edinburgh University 1
Olson, Hamish(2337)	1‑0	Krassel, Timofei(2038)
Orr, Mark J L(2179)	½‑½	Watson, Jacob(1896)
Leah, Tom(2069)	1‑0	AulettaPasquale(1847)
Browning, Isaac(1988)	1‑0	Doroshenko, Sofia(1701)
Sloan, Elliot S(1931)	1‑0	Reda, Michael(1354)
Burnett, Walter(1910)	1‑0	RogersAndrew(u/g)

Edinburgh Chess Club (Away, Nov 15th)

Hamish won quickly and was first finished. Alan T lost to Neil Berry, then Elliot lost to Hugh Brechin, having been level up to move 25. Mark looked like he was beating Freddy Gordon, but Freddy stopped a pawn which look destined to queen to win. Isaac was outplayed by Calum MacQueen, Tom had a good win with black over Adam Bremner, looking in control most of the game. Mark's game was best shot, plus Elliot's. Overall quite a close match. Our results do not reflect our new found strength so we can only keep going to get team points in the bag.

Edinburgh 1	4‑2	Wandering Dragons 1
Ruxton, Keith(2379)	0‑1	Olson, Hamish(2337)
Berry, Neil M(2265)	1‑0	Tate, Alan W(2272)
Waldhausen Gordon, Frederick(2212)	1‑0	Orr, Mark J L(2179)
Bremner, Adam(2204)	0‑1	Leah, Tom(2069)
MacQueen, Calum(2174)	1‑0	Browning, Isaac(1988)
Brechin, Hugh R(1982)	1‑0	Sloan, Elliot S(1931)

Bank of Scotland (Away, Nov 7th)

A disappointing result, considering the on paper grading advantage.
A welcome return to league action for Alan Tate, with Mark Orr out due to RL commitments.

We were outplayed on the lower boards. Elliot sac'ed but misplayed it, Tom's opponent sac'ed successfully, and Walter's broke through after pressure.
Isaac was on defensive too and did well to draw.

Bank of Scotland 1	4‑2	Wandering Dragons 1
Blanco , Jorge(2192)	0‑1	Olson, Hamish(2337)
Bennett, William(2037)	½‑½	Tate, Alan W(2272)
James, Chris(1884)	1‑0	Leah, Tom(2069)
Chapman, Nigel(1871)	½‑½	Browning, Isaac(1988)
Mollison, Jamie(1814)	1‑0	Sloan, Elliot S(1931)
Ballantyne, Stuart(1635)	1‑0	Burnett, Walter(1910)

Edinburgh West (Home, Oct 10th)

Our first match was home to Edinburgh West with two 8 year-olds on the bottom boards who, unfortunately for us, did rather well.

Wandering Dragons 1	2½‑3½	Edinburgh West 1
Olson, Hamish(2337)	1‑0	Grant, Jonathan I M(2159)
Orr, Mark J L(2179)	½‑½	Neave, George(2051)
Minnican, Alan W(2051)	½‑½	Farrell, Neil R(2029)
Browning, Isaac(1988)	½‑½	Robinson, Martin E(1682)
Sloan, Elliot S(1931)	0‑1	Cheng, Louis(1471)
Burnett, Walter(1910)	0‑1	Sharma, Devesh(0)