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Iain Gourlay
I Gourlay 
Source: chessscotland.com 
Number of games in database: 287
Years covered: 1999 to 2022
Last FIDE rating: 2342
Highest rating achieved in database: 2406

Overall record: +34 -27 =41 (53.4%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games in the database. 185 exhibition games, blitz/rapid, odds games, etc. are excluded from this statistic.

MOST PLAYED OPENINGS
With the White pieces:
 Reti System (45) 
    A04 A05 A06
 English (41) 
    A13 A11 A15 A14 A10
 English, 1 c4 e5 (14) 
    A26 A20 A24 A21 A29
 King's Indian Attack (13) 
    A07
 English, 1 c4 c5 (10) 
    A37 A36 A30 A38
 Uncommon Opening (8) 
    A00 B00
With the Black pieces:
 Sicilian (44) 
    B40 B23 B22 B47 B46
 King's Indian (12) 
    E94 E68 E95 E67 E60
 Queen's Pawn Game (12) 
    A45 A46 D04 D02
 Slav (11) 
    D17 D11 D10 D18 D15
 Sicilian Taimanov (10) 
    B47 B46 B48 B45
 English (7) 
    A15 A11 A16 A13
Repertoire Explorer

NOTABLE GAMES: [what is this?]
   E Bamber vs I Gourlay, 2001 1/2-1/2

NOTABLE TOURNAMENTS: [what is this?]
   Scottish Championship (2009)
   Hereford International (2006)
   Scottish Championship (2001)
   4NCL Div 1a 2018/19 (2018)
   London Chess Classic Open (2014)
   Baku Olympiad (2016)
   4NCL 2011/12 (2012)
   FIDE Online Olympiad (2020)

RECENT GAMES:
   🏆 II Mindsports Masters Festival IM Norm
   I Gourlay vs P Lalic (Feb-16-23) 0-1
   S Masango vs I Gourlay (Aug-09-22) 1-0
   I Gourlay vs J Subelj (Aug-08-22) 0-1
   N Djukic vs I Gourlay (Aug-07-22) 1/2-1/2
   I Gourlay vs Ibrahim Sultan (Aug-06-22) 1/2-1/2

Search Sacrifice Explorer for Iain Gourlay
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FIDE player card for Iain Gourlay


IAIN GOURLAY
(born May-30-1974, 49 years old) United Kingdom

[what is this?]

FIDE Master. He was Scottish champion in 2009.

Last updated: 2021-03-13 13:48:18

 page 1 of 12; games 1-25 of 293  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. I Gourlay vs A Summerscale  0-1361999Edinburgh opB70 Sicilian, Dragon Variation
2. Andrew Burnett vs I Gourlay  0-1571999Edinburgh opB25 Sicilian, Closed
3. I Gourlay vs D Bryson  ½-½561999Edinburgh opB01 Scandinavian
4. P McKeown vs I Gourlay  1-0412000SCO opB44 Sicilian
5. R Cochrane vs I Gourlay  0-1672000SCO opB40 Sicilian
6. I Gourlay vs Robert Lothian  1-0532000SCO opA04 Reti Opening
7. A Fish vs I Gourlay  0-1392000BCF-chT3b 0001 (4NCL)B24 Sicilian, Closed
8. I Gourlay vs Stephen P Clark Foulquier  1-0462000BCF-chT3b 0001 (4NCL)A06 Reti Opening
9. I Gourlay vs A Lewis  0-1462000BCF-chT3b 0001 (4NCL)A05 Reti Opening
10. M Macdonald-Ross vs I Gourlay  1-0442000BCF-chT3b 0001 (4NCL)A46 Queen's Pawn Game
11. I Gourlay vs A Jackson  ½-½312001BCF-chT3 0102 (4NCL)D76 Neo-Grunfeld, 6.cd Nxd5, 7.O-O Nb6
12. I Gourlay vs J Humphreys  1-0472001BCF-chT3b 0001 (4NCL)A04 Reti Opening
13. C Flear vs I Gourlay  1-0402001BCF-chT 0001 (4NCL)A58 Benko Gambit
14. I Gourlay vs J Quinn  1-0472001BCF-chT3b 0001 (4NCL)A05 Reti Opening
15. I Gourlay vs M Houska  0-14020014NCLA06 Reti Opening
16. Kees Van Drunen vs I Gourlay  ½-½502001BCF-chT4 0001 (4NCL)B46 Sicilian, Taimanov Variation
17. I Gourlay vs J Goldberg  1-0412001ENG County-chA07 King's Indian Attack
18. I Gourlay vs S R Mannion  0-1402001Scottish ChampionshipA04 Reti Opening
19. A J Norris vs I Gourlay  1-0492001Scottish ChampionshipA34 English, Symmetrical
20. E Bamber vs I Gourlay  ½-½912001Scottish ChampionshipB23 Sicilian, Closed
21. I Gourlay vs W F Buchanan  1-0512001Scottish ChampionshipA07 King's Indian Attack
22. N Berry vs I Gourlay  1-0312001Scottish ChampionshipA58 Benko Gambit
23. M Fraser vs I Gourlay  ½-½512001Scottish ChampionshipA34 English, Symmetrical
24. I Gourlay vs C McNab  ½-½202001Scottish ChampionshipA07 King's Indian Attack
25. I Gourlay vs J Stevenson  1-0372001Scottish ChampionshipA04 Reti Opening
 page 1 of 12; games 1-25 of 293  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Gourlay wins | Gourlay loses  
 

Kibitzer's Corner
Jun-14-17  7he5haman: I had the pleasure of playing this gent in the London League last Thursday.

He has an English Chess Federation (ECF) grade of 234, which is an Elo of 2455 (I see his actual Elo is a little low than that).

Whereas I've got an ECF grade of 186 (~Elo 2095). Nonetheless I nearly managed to beat him in our match!

Jun-14-17  7he5haman: Here's the game with some light notes, to view it you can paste the moves below as a PGN into this site https://www.chess.com/analysis-boar...

1. c4 b6 2. Nc3 e6 3. e4 Bb7 4. Nge2 c5 5. g3 Nf6 6. Bg2 Be7 7. O-O Qc8 8. b3 d6 9. Bb2 O-O 10. Rc1 a6 11. d3 Nbd7 12. a3 Ra7 13. h3 Qa8 14. g4 Ne8 15. f4 Nc7 16. Ng3 h6 17. Kh2 b5 18. g5 hxg5 19. fxg5 Bxg5 20. Qg4 Qd8 21. Nh5 Ne5 22. Qg3 g6 23. Nf4 bxc4 24. dxc4 Bh4 25. Qe3 Qg5 26. Rg1 Qh6 27. Bh1 Nd3 28. Qxd3 Qxf4+ 29. Rg3 Bxg3+ 30. Qxg3 Qxg3+ 31. Kxg3 e5 32. b4 Bc6 33. Rd1 cxb4 34. axb4 Rb8 35. Ba3 Ne8 36. Bf3 f5 37. Nd5 a5 38. b5 Bxd5 39. Rxd5 fxe4 40. Bxe4 Nf6 41. Bg2 Nxd5 42. Bxd5+ Kh7 43. Bxd6 Rd8 44. b6 Rad7 45. Bxe5 a4 46. b7 a3 47. b8=Q Rxb8 48. Bxb8 Re7 49. c5 Rd7 50. Bd6 Ra7 51. Ba2 Ra6 52. Kf4 Kg7 53. Ke5 Ra5 54. Ke6 Rb5 55. c6 Rb2 56. c7 Rc2 57. Kd7 Rxa2 58. c8=Q

Some comments:

White: Iain Gourlay - 234 ECF, 2401 Elo
Black: Me! - 186ECF, no Elo

7...Qc8 - Black can't castle straight away because e5 is a threat 16.Ng3 - a nice move, means that I can't play ...d5 without allowing an eventual Nf5 18.g5 - Opponent was getting low on time so tries to force the issue 20...Qd8! - I think he missed this move
26...Qh6 - threatening Ng4+ hxg4 Bg5+
27.Bh1? - Kh1 was correct. Opponent had very little time left 27...Nd3! I'm clearly winning now
31...e5?! A very negative move and the beginning of my downfall - fixes the pawn structure in such a way that I am passive and gives White the d5-square. I should have started pressuring his b-pawn immediately with Bc6 and Rb8 37...a5?! A senseless move that does nothing but help White! The position has gone from clearly winning to unclear, although the comp says I'm still (near) winning with best play 39...fxe4 & 40...Nf6 I thought I was easily winning with these moves but White's ingenious 41st move makes things very difficult! 43...Rd8?? - 43...Rxb5 wins here!! Oh well :)
48...Re7 - 48...a2 is a clear draw; 49.Be5 Re7 50.Bd4 Re1 etc. 49...Rd7?? - I'm losing now :( 49...Re2 draws

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