Spens Cup 2004 Final - victory over Glenrothes
Crawford Macnab
17 April 2004
John Henderson - The Scotsman:
On the sad and lonely death of Paul Morphy in 1884, one of Glasgow’s leading legal officers, Sheriff Walter Spens, penned a very apt epitaph for his fallen hero, describing him as “The Pride and Sorrow of Chess”. That same year of his death, Spens was one ofthe original founding members of the Scottish Chess Association. Following Spens’s death in 1900, a public subscription among the membership was organised for a fitting memorial to his name, So, in 1902, the Spens Cup was initiated as a subsidiary event allowing teams to qualify for the Richardson Cup.
This years Spens Cup final was contested between Edinburgh Civil Service and Glenrothes, with the former being convincing 4.5 - 1.5 winners to lift the title for the first time since 1926. The tone for the match was set by Civil Service’s Alan Prince, who with a forceful victory on top board led the way.
Final was played at played at Grangemouth Sports Centre.
Jenkins,Ben - Prince,Alan [B03] Spens Cup, 2004 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bg5 Bg7 4.Nc3 c5 5.d5 b5 6.d6 Qa5 7.Qd2 Bb7 8.e3 a6 9.Be2 b4 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.Nd1 e6 12.0-0 Nc6 13.Bc4 Qb6 14.e4 Ne5 15.Qf4 Nxf3+ 16.gxf3 Qd8 17.e5 Bg5 18.Qg4 h5 19.Qg3 h4 20.Qg4 h3 21.f4 Rh4 22.Qe2 Bxf4 23.f3 Qg5+ 24.Kh1
Position after 24.Kh1
24…Rg4 [24…Rg4 25.Nf2 Rg2 26.Nxh3 Rxe2 27.Nxg5 Rxh2+ 28.Kg1 Rxc2 29.Bb3 Rxb2 30.Rf2] 0-1
| Glenrothes | Glenrothes | Civil Service | Civil Service | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ben J Jenkins | 1982 | 0 - 1 | Alan R Prince | 1800 | ||
| 2 | George D Pyrich | 1946 | 1 - 0 | David Stewart | 1702 | ||
| 3 | Thomas Thomson | 1820 | 0 - 1 | Douglas Heatlie | 1658 | ||
| 4 | Stuart Blyth | 1542 | ½ - ½ | Simon Bate | 1560 | ||
| 5 | Peter Selbie | 1322 | 0 - 1 | Gerry Brown | 1537 | ||
| 6 | Neil Taylor | 1291 | 0 - 1 | Rudolph J Austin | 1492 | ||
| 1½ - 4½ | |||||||
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