Dalmuir 2.5 - 5.5 Inverclyde Central

Inverclyde secured a vital away victory against Dalmuir in the Glasgow League which ensures they will avoid relegation to Divison 2. The game was vital to both teams, with Dalmuir in ninth place in the league they needed to win to have chance of escaping one of the two relegation spots; Inverclyde, in eigth, one place above the relegation zone, required at least a draw to be confident of avoiding relegation, with both teams' remaining league games being against very strong opposition.
The teams were evenly matched, with Inverclyde holding significant advantages in grading on the first three boards, the next three boards being approximately even, and Dalmuir holding notable advantages on the remaining two.
The match was very tense, and although Inverclyde went into an early lead, Dalmuir fought back, and with with four games still to finish, the score was 2-2. Stephen Hilton ground down his opponent to convert his superior position to a win for Inverclyde, to taking the score to 3-2, but two the three remaining boards seemed to favour Dalmuir, with one game level. However, Inverclyde's Jim McGranaghan managed upset the balance in this game to force a spectacular checkmate, which took Inverclyde to four points, leaving Dalmuir needing to win the remaining games to tie the match.
Kevin McDonald produced a superb comeback, outplaying his opponent with both players under significant time pressure. He used his bishop, king and kingside pawns to breakthrough to promote a pawn to a queen which he used to wrap up victory, punishing his opponent who had had a material advantage but underestimated Kevin's attack. With Inverclyde now on five points, Andrew Curran's opponent, who had an edge in the final game, offered him a draw, rather than risk defeat in a time scramble.
The 5.5-2.5 win secures Inverclyde's place in the first division of the Glasgow League next season, with two games games remaining against top four opposition, Shettleston and Polytechnic.

Full results below:

Bd	Grade	Dalmuir	(9)	vs	(4)	Inverclyde	Grade	Comments
1	1913	Aird, Ian	0	-	1	McDonald, Kevin	2102	Away Win
2	1739	Wright, Alex	0	-	1	Calder, John	1846	Away Win
3	1714	Mollison, Jamie	0	-	1	Hilton, Steve H	1847	Away Win
4	1708	Myall, Andrew	1	-	0	McPheator, Gary	1691	Home Win
5	1647	Tait, Philip	0	-	1	McGranaghan, James	1662	Away Win
6	1570	Taylor, Fraser	0	-	1	Logue, David	1609	Away Win
7	1556	Tait, Thomas	1	-	0	Sheridan, Marc	1315	Home Win
8	1552	McKechnie, Ian	½	-	½	Curran, Andrew D	1400	Draw
			2½	-	5½