TAFCA Individual

TAFCA OTB INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2024-25
DATE: Fri 7th to Sun 9th Feb 2025
VENUE: Castlehill Chess Club, Dundee (Chaplaincy Centre)

TAFCA Individual results & standings

We had 37 entries, and the event took place at Castlehill Chess Club rooms at the Dundee University, Chaplaincy Centre. Unfortunately, Ed Spencer was not there to defend his title, which of course opened the competition up! We did have a couple more entries, but they had to pull out at the last minute!

The event was held over 3 days and was a 5 round Swiss, with a new time-control: 60 minutes + 30 seconds increments. This proved to be very popular with the players, and it certainly was heaven for the arbiter and organisers of this event!

While everyone was in one section, there were 3 competition trophies to be won:

1: The TAFCA Individual Champion (Open)
2: The Presidents Cup (U1650)
3: The Challenge Shield (U1400)

We also had one grading prize (U1200).

CLUBS (Players)

• Castlehill CC: 16

• Dundee CC:   7

• Perth CC:    6

• St Andrews CC 5

• Stonehaven 3

There were some fine performances, especially by Euan Murray 1589 (Castlehill), who in round 3 upset the tournament favourite and number one seed, Shubham Lakudkar 2147 (Perth), by taking a half point off him! This really opened up the tournament. Euan, followed that up in round 4, with and amazing win against the number 2 seed Joshua Crofts 1779 from Dundee CC! This earned Euan a last round battle against the number 3 seed, Jan Klingelhoefer 1713, a club mate at Castlehill. Could Euan make it a 1, 2 & 3? Not this time, but what a way to finish a tournament, playing the top 3 seeds and getting 1½ points out of 3!

ROUND 1 – (Pairings done with club protection)

With roadworks at Guardbridge causing travel chaos in Fife, the busses from St Andrews were running late, or not at all, several of the St Andrews players were forced to take a half point byes as they could not make it to Dundee in time!

There was only one small upset in this round, with Liam Mathieson 1150est, taking the scalp of Castlehill legend, Keith Rose (1504)! Everybody else won according to grading!

ROUND 2 – (Pairings done with club protection)

Oh dear, no upsets at all this round with all matches going to the form book! Having said that, we did have a near default! Vladyslav Drabych was late turning up after traffic problems, turning up with only 30 seconds left on his clock, before he was automatically defaulted.
Not only that, but with a massive time disadvantage, Vladyslav still managed to win!

ROUND 3 – (Club Protection off)
No upsets in the last round, then like buses, 3 come along all at once in round 3! This was the round Euan Murray played the game of his career, getting a draw against Shubham. Ian Washington 1363 (Perth) turned back the hands of time, when he beat William Boyd 1564 (Dundee). But for me the shock result of the round has to go to Norman Waugh 1188 (Castlehill), who got a great win against James Graham 1510 (Perth). Way to go Norman!

After 3 rounds, Vladyslav Drabych 1648 (Castlehill) leads the way on a perfect 3 points!

ROUND 4

Vladyslav once again was late for his match against Perth legend, David Hall, and found himself in a lot of trouble, indeed to be honest, he was losing the match! Somehow, and I have no idea how, Vladyslav escaped with a draw, which must have felt like a win, win!

Euan Murray caused the upset of the round taking the scalp of Joshua Crofts! Euan must have been on a high after his last two matches! As for Joshua…

After 4 rounds, we have 4 players on 3½ points going into the last round. They are Shubham Lakudkar (Perth), Jan Klingelhoefer (Castlehill), Vladyslav Drabych (Castlehill) & Euan Murray (Castlehill).  With 3 Castlehill players, surely one of them will win the tournament?

Now the last round draw is done, taking into account the 3 separate tournaments and trophies that players are playing for and where possible pair the contenders for each section together, so winner takes it all! It made for some interesting pairings, with of course winners and losers!

ROUND 5 (King of the hill pairings)
The number one seed, Shubham Lakudkar (Perth) was just too strong for young Vladyslav Drabych (Castlehill), taking the match to finish on 4½ points. The other match was a Castlehill clash, that was the last match to finish, and they had a big audience surrounding them, watching every move! No pressure then! Jan Klingelhoefer beat Euan Murray to finish on 4½ points and in the process, finishing joint TAFCA Individual Champion, with Shubham Lakudkar. Congratulations to both players! Jan had finished runner-up to Scottish Champion, Ed Spencer (Dundee) last year, so well played to upgrade to Champion (joint) this year!

Now a new player we have not really mentioned, has been quietly moving up the standings. Luke Donofrio 1410 est (St Andrews), finished on 4 points after winning against David Hall in the last round. This great win meant Luke won the Presidents Cup (Under 1650) title! Well done Luke!

In the battle of the Challenge Shield (Under 1400), Junior, Joshua Smikle 1272 (Castlehill) beat fellow Club mate, and many years his senior, Norman Waugh 1188 (Castlehill). I guess a case of the young gun, taking over from the old guard! Norman played well and only lost on time! Congratulations Joshua on winning the Challenge Shield (U1400) title!

There was a silver lining for Norman as he finished on 2½ points along with another Castlehill player, Francesc Polignano 1186, to jointly share the Under 1200 grading prize!

Well done both players! Indeed, well done Castlehill Chess Club, taking 3 of the 4 prizes on offer (some jointly)! Just reward for having the most players entered!

CHAMPIONS

• TAFCA Individual Champions: Shubham Lakudkar (Perth) & Jan Klingelhoefer (Castlehill) 4½ pts

• Presidents Cup (U1650): Luke Donofrio (St Andrews) 4 pts

• Challenge Shield (U1400): Joshua Smikle J14 (Castlehill) 3½ pts

• Grading prize (U1200): Norman Waugh & Francesco Polignano 2½ pts

Thank you, to you the players for your support of the TAFCA Individual, especially those who travelled all the way to Dundee from Stonehaven, Perth, St Andrews & Broughty Ferry! I hope you all had a good time. I have every intention of holding it again in the 2025-26 TAFCA season! Hopefully you will all take part again and maybe others as well.

Thank you to Keith Rose and Daniel Coleman for all his help and to everybody who gave a hand putting everything away at the end of the competition! Thank you to Castlehill Chess Club for the use of their equipment.

On a personal note: I really enjoyed being part of this year’s TAFCA Individual as the arbiter. I think it is a nice small TAFCA congress style event, with a great venue and atmosphere! For most of the time, during matches, you could have heard a pin drop!

All the results, standings and the J.R.Chalmers Grand Prix table have been updated (Click link`s below).

J.R.Chalmers Grand Prix