There was a considerable determination among other teams this year to end Shettleston Chess Club's domination of the lightning chess scene, but in the end it came to naught.
Shettleston are again Scottish Team Lightning champions after a hard fought but clear victory in which they defeated two of their nearest rivals by the maximum 4-0 score, including a last round victory over Cathcart's strongest ever team led by Roddy McKay and Steve Mannion who could have won the title had they managed a 3-1 score. Shettleston have now won the title in seventeen of the last twenty-two years. The strong Edinburgh team finished second, edging out Wandering Dragons on tie-break.
For the winners, Douglas Bryson and Andrew Muir scored 11½/13 on the top boards with Graeme Nolan and Jim Doyle scoring just a little less. For the runners-up, Graham Morrison had 9/13, Neil Berry 10½/13, Graham Kafka 9½ and Obay Ali a fine 12. The tournament, sponsored by Everyman Publishers and Chess Suppliers (Scotland) was well supported by 24 teams.
S Mannion (Cathcart) - A Muir (Shettleston)
Opening: Sicilian Richter-Rauzer 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 d6 6 Bg5 e6 7 Qd2 Be7 8 0-0-0 Nxd4 9 Qxd4 0-0 10 f3 a6 11 h4 Qa5 12 Bd2 Qc7 13 h5 b5 14 h6 g6 15 g4 e5 16 Qd3 b4 17 Nd5 Nxd5 18 exd5 a5 19 Kb1 Ba6 20 Qe4 Bxf1 21 Rhxf1 Rfc8 22 f4 Qc4 23 Rde1 Bf6 24 g5 Bh8 25 f5 Qxe4 26 Rxe4 gxf5 27 Rxf5 Rc5 28 c4 bxc3 29 Bxc3 Rxd5 30 Rc4 Rd1+ 31 Kc2 Rg1 32 Rc7 Rf8 33 Bxa5 Rg2+ 34 Kc1 e4 35 Re7 Bxb2+ 36 Kd1 Be5 37 Bc7 Rxa2 38 Rd7 Ra7 39 Ke2 Bd4! 40 Rf4 Bb6 41 Rfxf7 Rxf7 42 Rd8+ Rf8 43 Rxf8+ Kxf8 44 Bxb6 Rf7 45 Ke3 d5 0-1
Graeme Nolan (Shettleston)- Black: Alan Grant (Cathcart)
Opening: French Winawer 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e5 c5 5 Bd2 Ne7 6 Nb5 Bxd2+ 7 Qxd2 0-0 8 f4 a6 9 Nd6 cxd4 10 Nf3 Nbc6 11 Bd3 f5 12 Qf2 Qa5+ 13 Qd2 Qb6 14 0-0-0 a5 15 Qf2 a4 16 c3 Bd7 17 Nxd4 a3 18 b3 Nxd4 19 Qxd4 Qxd4 20 cxd4 b6 21 Kd2 Nc8 22 Nxc8 Rfxc8 23 Rc1 h6 24 Rxc8+ Rxc8 25 Rc1 g5 26 Rxc8+ Bxc8 27 g3 gxf4 28 gxf4 Kf7 29 Kc3 Kg6 30 Be2 h5 31 Kb4 h4 32 Kxa3 Bd7 33 Kb4 Be8 34 a4 Kh6 35 a5 bxa5+ 36 Kxa5 Bh5 37 Bxh5 Kxh5 38 h3 1-0
Details of Final A:
1. Shettleston A 30; 2. Edinburgh A 26; 3. Wandering Dragons A 26; 4. Cathcart A 24; 5. Edinburgh West A 19; 6. Phones A 15½; 7. Shettleston B 12½; 8. Glasgow Montrose A 12; 9. Wandering Dragons B 12; 10. Edinburgh B 2½.
Other prizewinners were:
Final B: 1 Edinburgh West B Final C: 1 Bankton A
Preliminary A: Cathcart A Preliminary B: Edinburgh West A
Preliminary C: Glasgow Montrose A Preliminary D: Wandering Dragons B
Preliminary E: Phones A
Team Lightning Final Section A 2000
Team
SH
ED
WD
CC
EW
PO
GM
SH
WD
ED
Total
1 Shettleston A
x
4
2
4
3½
3
3
3
3½
4
30
2 Edinburgh A
0
x
2½
2
3
3½
4
3½
3½
4
26
3 Wandering Dragons A
2
1½
x
3
3
3½
3
3
3
4
26
4 Cathcart A
0
2
1
x
3½
2
4
4
4
4
24½
5 Edinburgh West A
½
1
1
½
x
3
3
4
2
4
19
6 Phones A
1
½
½
2
1
x
2
1½
3
4
15½
7 Glasgow Montrose
1
0
1
0
1
2
x
3
1
3½
12½
8 Shettleston B
1
½
1
0
0
2½
1
x
3
3
12
9 Wandering Dragons B
½
½
1
0
2
1
3
1
x
3
12
10 Edinburgh B
0
0
0
0
0
0
½
1
1
x
2½