Robin Templeton reports on Monday nights Div. 1 tussle vs. Cathcart:

Glorious defeat

Glasgow Montrose almost pulled off an upset in their opening league division one campaign before losing narrowly 4.5 – 3.5 to Cathcart.

Norman was first game to finish with a dead drawn position. Montrose picked up wins on the bottom two boards with David all over his opponent . Chris was the only black point scorer on the night on board seven. David and Chris ended up fighting for the privilege of playing board 8 prior to the match. It certainly got them in fighting mood!

Team captain Sam Collins weathered the early storm before tripping up in the endgame. It was a draw he was heard to mutter. Bahloul got tied up with his knight on h8 at one point.  Edd drew the short straw when six time Scottish champion and international master Roddy McKay made his first start of the season. He slowly got ground down. My own game against Alan Grant was a cat and mouse affair. After 55 moves I was left with the Lucena position and converted.

With the scores tied at 3.5 each all focus shifted to George’s game. He tried gamely but the exchange down and an open king was too much. The result reflected the overwhelming 200 rating point difference on the top six boards. It was however a cause for optimism for the rest of the season as GM gave one of the big five a fright.