Inverclyde Central Chess Club saved their best performance of the Glasgow League season till last, defeating Phones A 5-3. Due to results in other matches this was not enough to avoid them finishing 9th; in the relegation places. However, fortune favoured the club, as Stepps B, who finished second in Division 2 have since declined promotion, giving Inverclyde Central a reprieve.
The match was expected to be crucial for both teams, with the loser sure of relegation; however, Phones A unexpectedly beat Stepps A in their penultimate match, securing their position in the league for next season. While this removed the tension for the Phones players, the stakes for Inverclyde remained very high - indeed it made the club's position worse as it could not longer finish above Phones. Inverclyde had to win and hope that Giffnock A would lose their outstanding match with Paisley in order to avoid relegation.
With the exception of a large difference on the bottom board, the teams' grades were evenly matched: a close contest was expected. Fine wins on the top two boards by Kevin McDonald and John Calder gave Inverclyde an excellent start, and a further win by Andew Curran over a stong opponent gave Inverclyde a big advantage. They were able to draw four of the remaining boards (with one defeat) to record a win they hoped would be crucial.
In the end, the match result did not matter. Giffnock won their outstanding game to finish above Inverclyde despite Inverclyde's win, only for finishing 9th no longer to matter.
Full Result
| Bd | Grade | Phones A | (9) | vs | (7) | Inverclyde | Grade | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2106 | Mitchell, Robert | 0 | - | 1 | McDonald, Kevin | 2069 | Away Win |
| 2 | 1847 | Brady, Stuart | 0 | - | 1 | Calder, John | 1880 | Away Win |
| 3 | 1806 | Dickson, Robert | ½ | - | ½ | Hilton, Steve H | 1822 | Draw |
| 4 | 1670 | Perdikou, Evis | 1 | - | 0 | Logue, David | 1696 | Home Win |
| 5 | 1638 | McIntyre, John W | ½ | - | ½ | McPheator, Gary | 1690 | Draw |
| 6 | 1834 | Rubio Rodriguez, Luis | 0 | - | 1 | Curran, Andrew D | 1666 | Away Win |
| 7 | 1576 | MacDonald, Paul H | ½ | - | ½ | Bolln, Carsten | 1667 | Draw |
| 8 | 1145 | Reid, David | ½ | - | ½ | Doherty, Stephen | 1671 | Draw |
| 3 | - | 5 | ||||||
The final league table is shown below:
| Boards | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matches | Played | Defaults | Score | ||||||||||||
| Pos | Team | Team Name | P | W | D | L | Pts | W | D | L | W | D | L | Boards | % |
| 1 | 5 | Glasgow Polytechnic A | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 43 | 16 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 51 | 71 |
| 2 | 6 | Hamilton A | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 37 | 16 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 65 |
| 3 | 2 | Cathcart A | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 36 | 21 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 47½ | 66 |
| 4 | 8 | Paisley A | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 32 | 15 | 21 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 43½ | 60 |
| 5 | 1 | Bearsden A | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 25 | 22 | 24 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 51 |
| 6 | 10 | Stepps A | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 24 | 26 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 51 |
| 7 | 9 | Phones A | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 15 | 29 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29½ | 41 |
| 8 | 3 | Giffnock A | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 16 | 22 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 38 |
| 9 | 7 | Inverclyde | 9 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 14 | 14 | 41 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 21 | 29 |
| 10 | 4 | Glasgow Montrose A | 9 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 10 | 19 | 39 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 19½ | 27 |
| 90 | 39 | 12 | 39 | 90 | 252 | 200 | 252 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 362 | ||||
