Playing against Edinburgh University is always a step into the unknown.
Because they have so many foreign players, you can’t draw too many assumptions from their grades. But, given they’d won all their matches – with an average score of 4.5-1.5 – we knew they were one of the favourites to win the division.
And with our usual boards 3 and 4 (Steve and Shahul) unavailable, it looked a tough ask.
But Iain – stepping up from the 2nd team – got us on the scoreboard with an early draw.
Maurice was under a lot of pressure, but his perseverance paid off when his opponent blundered a rook.
David G added to the score with another win.
Three games down, and we were just 1 point from victory.
A loss for Keith evened things up a little, but Doug secured the win.
And, finally, Mike and his opponent played to bare kings.
Final score: Musselburgh 1: 4, University of Edinburgh 2.
That puts us top of the table on 9 points from a possible 12.
There are a couple of tough matches coming up against Edinburgh 4 and 5 – both of whom have games in hand.
January 16, 2020