Bon Accord Knights – North East Chess League Champions

The match North East Scotland Chess League between the Bon Accord Knights and the Bon Accord Bishops took place on Tuesday 19th April 2016 at Ferryhill community centre.

The league situation going into the match was that Bishops needed to defeat the Knights in order to win the league title. The game on board 4 was first to finish with John Ewen reaching a winning king and pawn ending against Ian Grieve. On board 3 Hugh Holmes converted a rook ending with a couple of extra pawns to level the match at 1-1. The top two boards went almost to the time limit with Duncan Harwood defeating Mike Cavanagh to secure the draw and the league title for the knights. The final game between Neil Irving and Richard Jennings in a position that was better for white, but both players had very little time.

Congratulations to the Bon Accord Knights – 2016 North East Chess League champions.

		Bon Accord Knights				Bon Accord Bishops
1	B	Duncan Harwood	1950	1	0	Mike Cavanagh	1888
2	W	Neil Irving	1748	½	½	Richard Jennings	1878
3	B	Ricky Telford	1633	0	1	Hugh Holmes	1712
4	W	John Ewen	1568	1	0	Ian Grieve	1397
				2½	1½

North East Scotland Chess League – Sharks vs Knights

The match in the North East Scotland Chess League between the Teflon Sharks and the Bon Accord Knights took place on Tuesday 15th March 2016 at Ferryhill community centre. The result was a 3-1 win for the Knights as follows:

		Teflon Sharks				Bon Accord Knights
1	B	Jeremy Mitchell	1794	0	1	Duncan Harwood	1950
2	W	Ross Brennan	1634	0	1	Ricky Telford	1633
3	B	Duncan McClymont	1227	0	1	John Ewen	1568
4	W	Sean Gordon		1	0	David Smith	1514
				1	3

Knockout Cup – Knights vs Stonehaven

The match in the North East Scotland Knockout cup between Bon Accord Knights and Stonehaven was played at Ferryhill on Tuesday 1st March 2016 with the following outcome:

		Bon Accord Knights				Stonehaven
1	B	Duncan Harwood	1950	1	0	Keith Emery	1660
2	W	Ricky Telford	1633	1	0	Bruce Harrold	1651
3	B	John Ewen	1568	1	0	Pat Coffield	1531
4	W	Ayo Suberu		0	1	David Bridges	1240
				3	1

The identity of the team that qualifies for the final from this group will depend on the outcome of the final match between Stonehaven and Newmachar, although as a result of this match it will not be Stonehaven.

 

North East Scotland Chess League – Knights vs Peterhead

The match between the Bon Accord Knights and Peterhead took place at Ferryhill community centre on Tuesday 15th December. Peterhead featured guest player Eugene Ogosi on board 4. The result was as follows:

		Bon Accord Knights					Peterhead
1	B	Ricky Telford	1633		1	0	Chris Rose	1443
2	W	John Ewen	1568		1	0	Malcolm McMillan	1271
3	B	Dave Smith	1514		1	0	Dominic Troman	1089
4	W	Kalyan Kante	749		0	1	Eugene Ogosi
					3	1

North East Scotland Chess League – Newmachar vs Knights

The match between Newmachar and the Bon Accord Knights took place at Newmachar primary school on Tuesday 17th November.

The first game to be decided was on board 1 where in a Kings Indian defence Neil Irving found a tactic that won two pieces for a rook and left him with a knight on e6 dominating the position. At about the same time the board 4 encounter finished with Ayo Suberu managing to take advantage of his opponents neglected development, winning several pawns and eventually an exchange. On board 3 in a Dragon Sicilian Dave Smith concluded a strong attack by winning a piece. This left the board 2 encounter where Ricky Telford concluded the match by forcing a Queen exchange leading to a knight ending with two extra pawns.

The full results were as follows:

		Newmachar				Bon Accord Knights
1	B	Joy Durno	1819	0	1	Neil Irving	1748
2	W	Gerald Lobley	1665	0	1	Ricky Telford	1633
3	B	Steve Sawaryn	1403	0	1	David Smith	1514
4	W	Ayo Suberu		1	0	Kalyan Kante	749
				1	3

BP Cup Semi Final – Bon Accord Knights vs Teflon Sharks

The BP cup semi-final between the Bon Accord Knights and the Teflon Sharks took place on Tuesday 5^th May. The Sharks were only able to field three players, so the Knights won board four by default. Eric Davidson evened the score with a fine attacking win with black against John Ewen. This left the Knights needing at 1.5 points from the top two games, but the board 2 game between Ross Brennan and Ricky Telford ended in a blocked position where neither could make progress, and on board 1 Duncan Harwood could only draw a pawn down against Jeremy Mitchell. The 2-2 draw leaves the Teflon Sharks going through on board count.

	Bon Accord Knights				Teflon Sharks
1	W	Duncan Harwood	1988	0.5	0.5	Jeremy Mitchell	1812
2	B	Ricky Telford	1639	0.5	0.5	Ross Brennan	1670
3	W	John Ewen	1619	0	1	Eric Davidson	1669
4	B	Win by default		1	0	Default
				2	2

 

Knights vs Sharks

The match between Bon Accord Knights and the Teflons Sharks in the North East Scotland chess league was played at Ferryhill community centre on Tuesday 21st April, and ended in a 2-2 draw.

The board 4 game ended first with Alan Smith of the Sharks pinning Mark Barclay’s knight against his king on the open g file. Boards 2 and 3 resulted in well played draws, whilst on board 1 Jeremy Mitchell blundered a piece in an equal position against Neil Irving. The full results were as follows:

		Bon Accord Knights				Teflon Sharks
1	B	Neil Irving	1644	1	0	Jeremy Mitchell	1812
2	W	Ricky Telford	1639	0.5	0.5	Ross Brennan	1670
3	B	Leston D’Costa	1421	0.5	0.5	Eric Davidson	1669
4	W	Mark Barclay	1457	0	1	Alan Smith	1603
				2	2

BP Cup Round 1 – Stonehaven vs Knights

The first round match of the BP cup between Stonehaven and Knights was played at Newtonhill on Wednesday 8th April 2015.

The match was extremely closely fought. Leston D’Costa defeated his less experienced opponent fairly quickly, and just after the time control Duncan Harwood won his game against Bruce Harrold leaving the Knights 2-0 ahead. However on boards 2 and 3 things were not looking promising for the Knights: on board 2 Neil Irving had blundered an exchange in the opening against Pat Coffield, and his final move before the time control had left a completely lost bishop vs rook endgame. Meanwhile on board 3 John Ewen having had a probably winning position earlier in the game against David Bridges was faced by a lost king and pawn ending. This would have left the Knights eliminated from the competition at the first hurdle. Fortunately for the Knights David Bridges made some mistakes and John Ewen was able to win his ending and thus clinching the match. Pat Coffield then recorded a consolation win for Stonehaven.

		Stonehaven				Bon Accord Knights
1	B	Bruce Harrold	1671	0	1	Duncan Harwood	1988
2	W	Pat Coffield	1452	1	0	Neil Irving	1644
3	B	David Bridges	1235	0	1	John Ewen	1619
4	W	Robbie Williamson	U/G	0	1	Leston D’Costa	1421
				1	3

 

Knights vs All Stars

The Bon Accord Knights vs Bon Accord All Stars match in the North East Scotland chess league was played at the Ferryhill community centre on Tuesday 24^th March 2015, and ended up in a narrow 2.5 – 1.5 win for the All Stars. The All Stars very quickly gained the lead when Vagif Ramazanov checkmated Ricky Telford. The second game to finish was on board 4 where Dylan Bodrell successfully defended against John Ewen’s sacrificial attack, and was just material up. On board 2 Neil Irving overlooked a couple of tactical opportunities to win material against Alex Beaney and was then unable to win a rook and pawn ending with an extra pawn. The last game to finish was on board 1 where Daniel Maxwell was a piece and several pawns up, but under attack against Duncan Harwood. Eventually Duncan was able to win his material back with interest, and finished with an extra queen. Daniel has subsequently informed me that he was winning until near the end of the game, and described the finish as a “filthy rotten swindle”

		Bon Accord Knights				Bon Accord All Stars
1	B	Duncan Harwood	1988	1	0	Daniel Maxwell	2081
2	W	Neil Irving	1644	0.5	0.5	Alex Beaney	1590
3	B	Ricky Telford	1639	0	1	Vagif Ramazanov	1398
4	W	John Ewen	1619	0	1	Dylan Bodrell	898
				1.5	2.5

Peterhead vs Knights

The Peterhead vs Bon Accord Knights match in the North East Scotland chess league was played at the Albert hotel, Peterhead on Wednesday 25^th February 2015. The outcome was as follows:

		Peterhead				Bon Accord Knights
1	B	Chris Rose	1435	0	1	Duncan Harwood	1988
2	W	Malcolm MacMillan	1105	0	1	Neil Irving	1644
3	B	Dominic Troman	1093	0	1	Leston D’Costa	1421
4	W	Default		0	1	Win by default
				0	4