Inverclyde Central suffered a heavy defeat away to title-challengers Cathcart in their latest game in the Glasgow Chess League. Inverclyde were huge underdogs going into the match, with Cathcart able to field a an International Master on board one, and with grading advantage of over 200 points on most of the other boards. To make matters worse for Inverclyde, Cathcart's substantial advantages were added to by Inverclyde being a player short, defaulting the bottom board to begin 1-0 down.
The Inverclyde players fought well, but it did not take long for Cathcart's superiority to tell. Andrew Curran's hard-fought draw was the only real consolation for the visitors as the home team racked up the wins, though Inverclyde's Carsten Bolln and Andy Smith were unlucky to lose.
While Inverclyde's three defeats from three was a sobering start to their campaign, they could take some comfort in the that they had now completed their games against three of the top-four finishers of last season, and could look forward to somewhat easier competition.
| Bd | Grade | Cathcart A | (2) | vs | (7) | Inverclyde | Grade | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2291 | McKay, Roddy M (IM) | 1 | - | 0 | McDonald, Kevin | 2069 | Home Win |
| 2 | 2122 | Grant, Alan G | 1 | - | 0 | Hilton, Steve H | 1822 | Home Win |
| 3 | 1962 | Campbell, David | 1 | - | 0 | Logue, David | 1696 | Home Win |
| 4 | 1957 | Maxwell, Alistair | 1 | - | 0 | McPheator, Gary | 1690 | Home Win |
| 5 | 1856 | Tsang, Sai Kong | 1 | - | 0 | Bolln, Carsten | 1667 | Home Win |
| 6 | 1826 | Harkins, Michael G | ½ | - | ½ | Curran, Andrew D | 1666 | Draw |
| 7 | 1822 | Tyre, Malcolm | 1 | - | 0 | Smith, Andy | 1391 | Home Win |
| 8 | 0 | DEFAULT | W | - | L | DEFAULT | 0 | Win by Default |
| 7½ | - | ½ | ||||||
