2025-12-08 Stirling E -v- Dunfermline B

Alongside the match on Monday night between the Stirling D -v- C teams already reported upon, the E Team had a good win over Dunfermline B.

   Central League Division 2

   Stirling E             3-2  Dunfermline B

1. Sandy Carmichael  1357 1-0  Calum Newton     1508
2. Mick Murphy       1087 0-1  Douglas Rew      1369 
3. Mick Bloor        1084 0-1  Daniel Lynch     1239
4. William Feather   875  1-0  Ali Shuttleworth 1207
5. Stewart Cairns    719  1-0  Brian Easton     999

Here is Stewart's victory on board 5.

[Event "Stirling E v Dunfermline B"] [Site "Stirling"] [Date "2025.12.08"] [Round "?"] [White "Easton, B."] [Black "Cairns, S."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D02"] [WhiteElo "999"] [BlackElo "719"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "92"] [GameId "2253634069524498"] [EventDate "2025.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. Bf4 Bf5 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 e6 5. Be2 Nc6 6. a3 Bd6 7. Ne5 Nd7 8. g4 Ndxe5 9. gxf5 Nc4 10. fxe6 fxe6 11. Bxc4 Bxf4 12. exf4 dxc4 13. Qh5+ g6 14. Qg5 Nxd4 15. Qxd8+ Rxd8 16. O-O Nxc2 17. Ra2 O-O 18. Nc3 Rxf4 19. Rc1 Nd4 20. Kf1 Rdf8 21. b3 Nxb3 22. Re1 Nc5 23. Nb5 Nd3 24. Ree2 Nc1 25. Nxc7 Nxa2 26. Rxa2 Rc8 27. Nxe6 Rh4 28. Kg2 c3 29. Rc2 Ra4 30. Ng5 Rxa3 31. Ne4 b5 32. Nd6 Rd8 33. Nxb5 Rb3 34. Nxa7 Rd2 35. Rc1 c2 36. Nc6 Rb1 37. Ne7+ Kf7 38. Nd5 Rxc1 39. Ne3 Rb1 40. Nxc2 Rxc2 41. Kg3 Rbb2 42. f3 Rxh2 43. f4 Kf6 44. Kg4 Rb3 45. f5 h5+ 46. Kf4 Rh4# 0-1

2025-12-08 Match between the Stirling D and C Teams

   Central League Division 2 
  
   Stirling D         1½-3½ Stirling C   
   
1. Harry Feather 1461  0-1  Nathanael Loch   1515    
2. David Fowler  1304  1-0  Kenny MacPherson 1506 
3. Tom Wallace   1313  0-1  Kelechi Nwosu    u/g     
4. Josh Heesom   u/g   0-1  Toby Geyer       1302
5. Victor Liu    928   ½-½  Rudra Pardhi     930

Stirling D had white on boards 1 and 4  

2025-12-03 Division 2 Match at Grangemouth

Stirling E travelled to Grangemouth to face their Cs, with both teams having non-playing captains - Bill Gray for the hosts and Graham Anderson for the visitors - watching on.

Grangemouth C          3½-1½ Stirling E 

1. Crawford Welsh 1486  1-0  Mick Murphy     1087 
2. Joe Johnstone  u/g   1-0  Mick Bloor      1084 
3. Harry Leishman 847   1-0  Rudra Pardhi    930 
4. Arran Short    u/g   0-1  William Feather 875 
5. Tyler Doney    u/g   ½-½  Stewart Cairns  719 

The home team had White on boards 3 & 4

Graham provides this report on the match:

Some wild games...Stewart was N+5P against N+2P in the endgame. I blinked, and it was then N+2P v N+2P. Not entirely sure how he managed to lose those pawns, but he held out for a draw. Mick M's game is below...he missed several mates. Mick B's King found its way to g3 by about move 15, but survived a ferocious attack to be 2 pawns up in the endgame, then contrived to lose. William had a lovely mate at the end (game also below).

[Event "Grangemouth C V Stirling E"] [Site "Grangemouth"] [Date "2025.12.03"] [Round "?"] [White "Murphy, M.."] [Black "Welsh, C.."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A40"] [WhiteElo "1087"] [BlackElo "1243"] [PlyCount "84"] [EventDate "2025.??.??"] 1. d4 g6 2. e3 Bg7 3. Bd3 d6 4. Nd2 e6 5. f4 b6 6. Ngf3 Bb7 7. Qe2 a6 8. O-O Ne7 9. c3 Nd7 10. e4 O-O 11. e5 d5 12. g4 c5 13. h4 b5 14. g5 Nc6 15. Rf2 Qb6 16. Qe3 cxd4 17. cxd4 Rac8 18. Nf1 Rc7 19. Bd2 Rfc8 20. a3 Bf8 21. N1h2 b4 22. Ng4 Na5 23. Nf6+ Nxf6 24. gxf6 Nb3 25. Rd1 Nxd2 26. Qxd2 bxa3 27. bxa3 Bxa3 28. Rg2 Bb4 29. Qe2 a5 30. h5 Bc3 31. hxg6 fxg6 32. Bxg6 Bxd4+ 33. Nxd4 Rc1 34. Rxc1 (34. Be8+ Kf8 35. Rg8+ Kxg8 36. Qg2+ Kf8 37. Qg7+ Kxe8 38. Qe7#) 34... Qxd4+ 35. Kh2 Qxf4+ 36. Kh3 Rxc1 37. Bxh7+ (37. Bf7+ Kxf7 38. Qh5+ Kf8 39. Rg8+ Kxg8 40. Qe8#) 37... Kh8 38. Rg8+ Kxh7 39. Qh5+ Kxg8 40. Qe8+ (40. Qg6+ Kf8 41. Qg7+ Ke8 42. Qe7#) 40... Kh7 41. Qh5+ Qh6 42. Qxh6+ Kxh6 0-1

[Event "Grangemouth C v Stirling E"] [Site "Grangemouth"] [Date "2025.12.03"] [Round "?"] [White "Short, A."] [Black "Feather, W."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C62"] [BlackElo "875"] [PlyCount "78"] [EventDate "2025.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 4. d3 Bd7 5. Bd2 a6 6. Bc4 Nf6 7. O-O Bg4 8. Nc3 Bxf3 9. Qxf3 Nd4 10. Qd1 c6 11. Be3 d5 12. Bb3 Nxb3 13. axb3 d4 14. Bg5 dxc3 15. bxc3 Be7 16. Ra5 Qxa5 17. b4 Qa3 18. Qd2 a5 19. bxa5 Rxa5 20. g3 O-O 21. Rb1 b5 22. Qe1 b4 23. cxb4 Bxb4 24. Rxb4 Qa1 25. Rb1 Qa4 26. c4 h6 27. Bd2 Ra6 28. f4 Ng4 29. fxe5 Nxe5 30. Qf1 Qc2 31. Rd1 Qxd3 32. Bf4 Qxf1+ 33. Kxf1 Nxc4 34. Ke2 Ra2+ 35. Kf3 g5 36. Bc1 f5 37. Rd4 Ne5+ 38. Ke3 f4+ 39. gxf4 gxf4# 0-1

2025-12-01 Match between the Stirling A and B Teams

Central League Division 1

Stirling A             5-0  Stirling B

Isaac Browning   2054  1-0  Richard Warcup 1637
William Spiers   1758  1-0  Brad Duthie    1552
Sean Flanagan    1698  1-0  Ross Warcup    1494
Nathanael Loch   1515  1-0  Steve Smith    1549
Kenny MacPherson 1506  1-0  Bill Cook      1544

Stirling A had white on boards 3 and 4

Stirling A team captain, Isaac reports:

Stirling A had to rely on two members of the C team due to shortages, but neither Kenny nor Nathanael looked out of place. Kenny won in a bishop endgame after the game simplified fairly quickly. Nathanael attacked his way to a position with a queen and extra pawn vs two rooks, the exposed black king tipping the balance in his favour.

I managed to beat Richard after breaking out of a cramped position with an extra pawn. William, playing his fifth black from five games, managed to build up a space advantage in the centre and eventually triumph.

Sean and Ross' game went right down to the wire. Sean had an extra pawn, but Ross' passer on c2 had the white rook locked down. Therefore, it seemed for a while as though white wouldn't be able to escape, but Sean managed to open the h-file and bring his rook across to threaten mate, the possible pawn promotion an irrelevance. Ross, down to his last few seconds, was unable to find the saving tactic in time.

A hard-fought match, again not fully captured by the scoreline, under difficult circumstances for all.

2025-11-26 Central League Division 2 Match

Clackmannanshire      2-3  Stirling E 

Vytautas Jakstys u/g  0-1  Mick Murphy     1087
Dale Carberry    u/g  1-0  Mick Bloor      1084
Joseph Lambert   u/g  1-0  Rudra Pardhi    930
Roman Quinn      u/g  0-1  William Feather 875
Lewis Wyper      u/g  0-1  Josh Heesom     u/g

E Team captain Graham Anderson reports on a close match at Alloa:

Boards 3,4 and 5 were all juniors, although the two Micks managed to keep the average age of the Stirling team at around 40.

Game of the night was Joseph-Rudra on board 3, where from quite a closed position Joseph managed to sneak a defended knight onto e6 and wreak havoc with Rudra's backline, then showed impressive end-game technique to claim the win. It's worth keeping an eye on both these players.

Graham also forwarded the game-score of a very nice win by Mick M on board 1, by first winning the exchange and then keeping the pressure on, which produced a fatal error from his opponent.

[Event "Clackmannanshire v Stirling E"] [Site "Alloa"] [Date "2025.11.26"] [Round "?"] [White "Murphy, M."] [Black "Jakstys, V."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A45"] [WhiteElo "1087"] [PlyCount "49"] [EventDate "2025.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. e3 g6 3. Bd3 Bg7 4. Nd2 O-O 5. f4 d6 6. Ngf3 Nd5 7. Qe2 Bg4 8. h3 Bxf3 9. Nxf3 Nd7 10. Bd2 Re8 11. e4 N5f6 12. O-O c5 13. c3 b6 14. g4 Nf8 15. e5 dxe5 16. fxe5 Nd5 17. Bb5 Nd7 18. Bc6 Nc7 19. Bxa8 Qxa8 20. Ng5 f6 21. Nf3 cxd4 22. cxd4 Kh8 23. Rac1 Nd5 24. Qb5 Nb8 25. Qxe8+ {Black resigns. 25 ... Bf8 26 Qxf8#} 1-0

Dave Hewitt (1961-2025)

It is with great sadness and a sense of shock that the Club has to report the sudden death on 24 November of Dave Hewitt at the age of 64.

Dave has been the heart of Stirling Chess Club for a long time, having joined nearly 30 years ago in 1997 when he moved to the area, previously having been a member of both Battlefield and Cathcart Chess Clubs in Glasgow.

He was a keen player, often employing a sharp sacrifice, and Team captain of the Club’s B and C teams as well as the Stirling Bruce allegro team which he captained to victory in the allegro league. Under his captaincy the C team won the Central League Division 2 on numerous occasions, and the Under 1500 Cup. He also enjoyed playing in weekend congresses and won several first prizes over the years as well as a number of Club tournaments.

Dave's favourite openings

Dave also organised the Thursday night Lichess tournament which has been held every week for 5 years without fail since the summer of 2020.

Aside from his playing career, Dave was an indefatigable Competition Secretary for the Club, organising all the internal club competitions (a task made more complicated recently with the increase in membership following Covid), posting results, making sure that Team captains had enough players (and finding them when teams were short), and importantly welcoming and making new members feel at home. He was encouraging, kind and thoughtful to everyone.

Dave’s ability to marshal statistics and remember results and players was legendary and his emails definitely comprehensive!

In addition to chess Dave was a keen hill walker, having climbed well over 1000 Munros and walking in his beloved Ochils every week.

It will be impossible to replicate Dave’s contribution to the Club and he will be greatly missed, not only at Stirling but in the wider chess community.

Our thoughts go to Tessa his partner and his family.

2025-11-17 Two League Matches at Home

Central League Division 1

Stirling B           2-3  Grangemouth A 

Leo Gardner    1896  ½-½  John McLay       2016 
Richard Warcup 1636  0-1  Graham Hamilton  1905
Brad Duthie    1552  1-0  Pranav Hariharan 1747
Bill Cook      1544  0-1  Duncan Glassey   1722 
Steve Smith    1530  ½-½  Alan Petrie      1685 

Central League Division 2

Stirling E            ½-4½ Stirling C 

Mick Murphy     1087  0-1  Kenny MacPherson  1506
Mick Bloor      1084  0-1  Harry Feather     1461
Stewart Cairns  719   0-1  Toby Geyer        1302
Rudra Pardhi    930   0-1  Kelechi Nwosu     u/g
William Feather 875   ½-½  Tom Wallace       1313

2025-11-12 Allegro Match at Grangemouth

Grangemouth Tigers -v-  Stirling Bruce

                 Round 1
John McLay   2058  0-1  Leo Gardner      1985
Alan Petrie  1692  0-1  Isaac Browning   1938
Joe Johnson   u/g  0-1  Kenny MacPherson 1568
Sean Gray     u/g  0-1  Dave Hewitt      1367
                   0-4

                 Round 2
            McLay  ½-½  Browning
           Petrie  1-0  MacPherson
          Johnson  0-1  Hewitt
             Gray  0-1  Gardner
                  1½-2½
                  1½-6½
                
                 Round 3
            McLay  1-0  MacPherson
           Petrie  1-0  Hewitt
          Johnson  0-1  Gardner
             Gray  0-1  Browning
                   2-2
                  3½-8½

                 Round 4
            McLay  1-0  Hewitt
           Petrie  0-1  Gardner
          Johnson  0-1  Browning
             Gray  0-1  MacPherson
                   1-3 
                  4½-11½

Bruce had white in the even rounds.

Individual scores:
Tigers: McLay 2½, Petrie 2/4, Gray 0/4, Johnson 0/4
Bruce: Gardner 4/4, Browning 3½/4, Hewitt 2/4, MacPherson 2/4

Dave Hewitt, the Stirling Bruce captain provided this summary of the match:

A hard-fought match ended in a fairly comfortable win for the visiting team, who reached the necessary score with a round to spare.

From a Stirling point of view, Leo - from Barcelona - had an excellent allegro league debut and looks like being quite a force in the Central League during the four years he'll be a student here. Isaac again showed his fondness for spending lengthy periods at the end of games living on the increment and doing it well. Kenny continued his recent good form. For Grangemouth, John and Alan were solid and reliable as ever, and Joe and Sean are getting stronger all the while and will certainly score better than this in matches to come.

2025-10-10 Two Matches against Dunfermline

Stirling hosted a double-header against Dunfermline, and both home teams ended the evening victorious.

Central League Division 1 Match

Stirling A           4-1  Dunfermline A

Isaac Browning 2054  1-0  Volodymyr Tushynsky 2176
John Iwuozor   2020  ½-½  Ian Robertson       2059
Leo Gardner    1889  1-0  John McBride        1715
William Spiers 1758  1-0  Calum Smith         1599
Sean Flanagan  1698  ½-½  Gregor McCloskey    1571

Stirling had white on boards 3 and 5

The Stirling A team had a strengthened line-up with Leo Gardner winning on his first appearance for the club. Isaac Browning, the Stirling A captain, reports: 

A tighter match than the score line would perhaps suggest. Ian and John Iwuozor (who had arrived ten minutes late) drew what seemed to be a fairly peaceful game; Sean and Gregor likewise. Leo, Stirling's newest recruit, managed to get the better of John McBride from a position with queens and two minor pieces each. 

I beat Volodymyr after emerging from a very complicated opening with an extra pawn, which eventually became two due to white's problematic structure. William was down a pawn at one point but managed to regain it and ultimately caught Calum's king in a mating trap to round off the match.

Central League Division 2 Match

Stirling D             3-2  Dunfermline B

1. Harry Feather 1461  0-1  Euan Bell        1429
2. David Fowler  1300  ½-½  Douglas Rew      1369
3. Tom Wallace   1313  1-0  Daniel Lynch     1239
4. Kai Austin    946   ½-½  Ali Shuttleworth 1207
5. Victor Liu    928   1-0  Barrie Dempster  896

Dunfermline had white on boards 3,4 and 5

The Junior players for both sides put in strong performance. Tom Wallace reports: 

A very close game tonight between Stirling D and Dunfermline B. 

Stirling Junior Kai Austin drew with Ali Shuttleworth with a perpetual quite quickly on board 4. David Fowler and Douglas Rew on board 2 swapped off pieces to leave a rook and 5 pawn draw. Another Stirling Junior Victor Liu won on board 5 against Barrie Dempster. 

On board 1 Dunfermline Junior Euan Bell beat Harry Feather which left the score 2-2 with my game on board 3 against Daniel Lynch deciding the overall result. 

I had black and put a lot of pressure on white until a miscalculation with not a lot of time left on both sides where Daniel had a dangerous passed d-pawn with only the queens and 4 pawns each. I sacrificed a b-pawn and Daniel quickly moved his queen up the queenside to capture more pawns and leaving his King to a back row mate which I gladly grabbed.

28/10/25 Two Allegro Matches at Dunfermline

Dunfermline hosted two Stirling teams in the Central Allegro League on Tuesday evening. Stirling Bruce had White on all boards in Rounds 1 and 3 in their match against the Minnows.

Dunfermline Minnows          7½-8½ Stirling Bruce

                            Round 1
Ian Robertson           1979  0-1  John Iwuozor     1861
Calum Smith             1798  ½-½  Jim Shemilt      1659
Dimitris Giannakopoulos 1378  0-1  Kenny MacPherson 1568
George Webb             1352  ½-½  Dave Hewitt      1367
                              1-3

                            Round 2
                   Robertson  1-0  Shemilt
                       Smith  0-1  MacPherson
              Giannakopoulos  ½-½  Hewitt
                        Webb  0-1  Iwuozor
                             1½-2½
                             2½-5½

                            Round 3
                   Robertson  1-0  MacPherson
                       Smith  1-0  Hewitt
              Giannakopoulos  0-1  Iwuozor
                        Webb  0-1  Shemilt
                              2-2 
                             4½-7½

                            Round 4
                   Robertson  1-0  Hewitt
                       Smith  1-0  Iwuozor
              Giannakopoulos  1-0  Shemilt
                        Webb  0-1  MacPherson
                              3-1

Individual Scores
Minnows: Robertson 3, Smith 2½, Giannakopoulos 1½, Webb ½
Bruce:   Iwuozor 3, Shemilt 1½, MacPherson 3, Hewitt 1

In the other match of the evening, Stirling Wallace had White on all boards in Rounds 1 and 3 against the Sharks.

Dunfermline Sharks        9½-6½ Stirling Wallace

                         Round 1
Volodymyr Tushinskyi 2276  1-0  William Spiers  1784
John McBride         1780  0-1  Nathanael Loch  1581
Gregor McCloskey     1372  1-0  Douglas Heatlie 1454
Euan Bell            1404  ½-½  Toby Geyer      1487
                          2½-1½

                         Round 2
               Tushynskyi  1-0  Geyer
                  McBride  0-1  Spiers
                McCloskey  1-0  Loch
                     Bell  0-1  Heatlie
                           2-2
                          4½-3½

                        Round 3
               Tushynskyi  1-0  Heatlie
                  McBride  0-1  Geyer
                McCloskey  1-0  Spiers
                     Bell  0-1  Loch
                           2-2
                          6½-5½

                         Round 4
               Tushynskyi  1-0  Loch
                  McBride  0-1  Heatlie
                McCloskey  1-0  Geyer
                     Bell  1-0  Spiers
                           3-1 

Individual scores
Sharks:  Tushynskyi 4, McBride 0, McCloskey 4, Bell 1½
Wallace: Spiers 1, Loch 2, Heatlie 2, Geyer 1½

27-10-2025 Robert Togneri Trophy

The Robert Togneri Trophy, the club's bi-annual allegro tournament, was won on Monday night by eighth-ranked Toby Geyer, pictured below being congratulated by Club President Gordon Allcock.

25 people played in all, but only 18 played in all five rounds, mainly due to the younger juniors having to leave before close of play. However, there were no byes. Graham played in just round 3, to replace Jamie. Rudra and Garry then dropped out after Round 3, as did Steve to keep it at an even number. Victor and Elsa dropped out after round 4. Overall, 55 games were played: 12 in each of the first three rounds, ten in round 4, nine in round 5.

Thanks to Graham for the photograph and Dave for the crosstable.

2025-10-23 League Results Round-up

I had got behind with reporting the results of the Central League matches, but below you will find a major update starting with this week's results and going in reverse chronological order back to late September. The results start off with what I think was our first visit to the new Clackmannanshire club in Alloa for a competitive match.

   2025-10-22 Division 2 Match

   Clackmannanshire     0-5  Stirling C

1. Glen Wilson    1082  0-1  Nathanael Loch   1488
2. Luke Evans     u/g   0-1  Kenny MacPherson 1504
3. Dale Carberry  u/g   0-1  Kelechi Nwosu    u/g
4. Joseph Lambert u/g   0-1  Toby Geyer       1332
5. Roman Quinn    u/g   0-1  Dave Hewitt      1500

Two days earlier the Stirling B team were at home to Grangemouth B in while the E team ventured to Broxburn to play Badgers Brook.

   2025-10-20 Division 1 Match

   Stirling B           ½-4½ Grangemouth B

1. Brad Duthie    1552  0-1  Alan Bell      1948
2. Ross Warcup    1494  0-1  Daniel Kitaev  1928
3. Richard Warcup 1637  ½-½  Dougie Will    1839
4. Bill Cook      1544  0-1  Crawford Welsh 1243
5. Steve Smith    1549  0-1  Joe Johnson    u/g
   
   2025-10-20 Division 2 Match

   Badgers Brook          3-2  Stirling E

1. Kevin Brown      1318  0-1  Sandy Carmichael 1357
2. Antonio La Gamma 1269  1-0  Mick Murphy      1087
3. David Lawrence   1180  0-1  Stewart Cairns   719
4. Corey Dolan      u/g   1-0  Chris Woodhouse  u/g
5. Matthew McEwan   u/g   1-0  Elsa Liu         u/g

The previous Monday there was a double-header at home against Badgers Brook and Clackmannanshire.

   2025-10-13 Division 1 Match

   Stirling A          3½-1½ Badgers Brook

1. Isaac Browning 2054  1-0  Kenny McGeoch   2014
2. John Iwuozor   2020  1-0  Stuart Ward     1868
3. William Spiers 1758  0-1  Jonathan Rowney 1543
4. Sean Flanagan  1698  ½-½  Colin Matthews  1394
5. Stephen Smith  1549  1-0  Corey Dolan     u/g
  
   2025-10-13 Division 2 Match

   Stirling D         4½-½  Clackmannanshire

1. Harry Feather 1461  1-0  John Blake       1546
2. David Fowler  1300  1-0  Glen Wilson      1047 
3. Tom Wallace   1313  1-0  Luke Evans       u/g
4. Kai Austin    946   ½-½  Vytautas Jakstys u/g
5. Victor Liu    u/g   1-0  Joseph Lambert   u/g

There was only one League match played in the week commencing Monday 6 October.

   2025-10-06 Division 2 Match

   Stirling C            3½-1½ Badgers Brook B
                        
1. Nathanael Loch   1515  1-0  Graham Kerr    1482
2. Kenny MacPherson 1506  1-0  Colin Matthews 1394
3. Kelechi Nwosu    u/g   0-1  Gordon Walker  1237
4. Toby Geyer       1302  ½-½  David Lawrence 1170
5. Dave Hewitt      1493  1-0  Peter Woollven 907

Going back to the last Tuesday in September, Stirling had two teams in action away to Dunfermline.

   30-09-2025 Division 1 Match

   Dunfermline A                4½-½  Stirling B
 
1. Volodymyr Tushynskyi    2176  1-0  Jim Shemilt     1707
2. Ian Robertson           2059  1-0  Richard Warcup  1637
3. Calum Smith             1599  ½-½  Brad Duthie     1552
4. Gordon Greig            1560  1-0  Douglas Heatlie 1563
5. Dimitris Giannakopoulos 1400  1-0  Steve Smith     1549
   
   30-09-2025 Division 2 Match

   Dunfermline B         2½-2½ Stirling C
                           
1. Gregor McCloskey 1630  1-0  Nathanael Loch   1515
2. Euan Bell        1427  1-0  Kenny MacPherson 1506
3. Douglas Rew      1369  ½-½  Harry Feather    1461
4. George Webb      1316  0-1  Toby Geyer       1302
5. Barrie Dempster  896   0-1  Dave Hewitt      1493

The last match in our round-up to link up with the two earlier results of the 2025-6 season, already posted, is an away match at Grangemouth

   24-09-2025 Division 1 Match

   Grangemouth B      2½-2½ Stirling A    
                       
1. Alan Bell     1948  ½-½  Isaac Browning 2054
2. Daniel Kitaev 1928  0-1  John Iwuozor   2020
3. Dougie Will   1839  1-0  William Spiers 1758
4. John Smith    1653  1-0  James Shemilt  1707
5. Bill Gray     1486  0-1  Ross Warcup    1494

15-09-25 Stirling E -v- Stirling D

Stirling E           2½-2½         Stirling D

Gordon Allcock  1230  0-1  Harry Feather 1461
Mick Bloor      1084  1-0  Tom Wallace   1313
Mick Murphy     1087  0-1  David Fowler  1300
Charles Thomson  u/g  ½-½  Kai Austin     946
Stewart Cairns   719  1-0  Josh Heesom    u/g

08-09-2025 Stirling Bruce -v- Stirling Wallace

The Club has entered two teams in the Central Allegro League and the new season started with a very close and hard-fought match between them. Stirling Bruce had the white pieces in rounds 1 and 3.

Stirling Bruce         9-7  Stirling Wallace

                     Round 1
Isaac Browning   1938  0-1  William Spiers 1784 
John Iwuozor     1861  1-0  Brad Duthie    1618 
Kenny MacPherson 1568  ½-½  Nathanael Loch 1581 
Bill Cook        1440  0-1  Toby Geyer     1487
                      1½-2½

                     Round 2
            Browning   1-0  Geyer
            Iwuozor    1-0  Spiers
            MacPherson ½-½  Duthie
            Cook       0-1  Loch
                      2½-1½

                     Round 3
            Browning   1-0  Loch
            Iwuozor    1-0  Geyer
            MacPherson ½-½  Spiers
            Cook       0-1  Duthie
                      2½-1½ 

                     Round 4
            Browning   1-0  Duthie
            Iwuozor    ½-½  Loch
            MacPherson 1-0  Geyer
            Cook       0-1  Spiers
                      2½-1½  
                      
Individual scores
Bruce:   Iwuozor 3½, Browning 3, MacPherson 2½, Cook 0
Wallace: Spiers 2½, Loch 2, Duthie 1½, Geyer 1                    

01-09-2023 Stirling AGM Blitz

The traditional post-AGM blitz was played over five rounds at a time rate of three minutes, plus 2 seconds increment. Top seed Issac secured first place with five straight wins. Your correspondent lost to him in Round 1 and ended up at the other end of the final table. Ross and Sean shared second place in the field of sixteen.

Grading List 2025/2026

Name	Grade	Allegro Grade	CS Player Number
Isaac Browning   John Iwuozor   Sam Coates   William Spiers   Graham Anderson   Jim Shemilt   Sean Flanagan   Matthew Demmon   Richard Warcup   Oliver Twentyman   Brad Duthie   Steve Smith   Bill Cook   Nathanael Loch   Kenny MacPherson   Ross Warcup   Dave Hewitt   Ruaridh Simpson   Harry Feather   David McAlister   Sandy Carmichael   Tom Wallace   Toby Geyer   David Fowler   Gordon Allcock   Scott Keenan   Tom Nimmo   Harley Lang   Mick Murphy   Mick Bloor   Glen Wilson   Kai Austin   Rudra Pardhi   Victor Liu   William Feather   Cameron Anderson   Stewart Cairns   Felix Borzil   Elsa Liu   Jonathan Pont   Lokesh Kumar Pulkanti   Samay Bannakar   Scott Carvel   Aarika Pawar   Jamie Scanlon   Garry Singh	2054   2020   1913   1758   1712   1707   1698   1682   1637   1602   1552   1549   1544   1515   1506   1494   1493   1488   1461   1445   1357   1313   1302   1300   1230   1208   1169   1094   1087   1084   1047   946   930   928   875   848   719   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -	1938   1861   1897   1784   1565   1659   1619   1700   1572   1763   1618   1478   1440   1581   1568   1468   1367   1429   1300   1458   1309   1409   1487   1109   1409   1208   1441   1550   1019   1101   1084   808   899   654   853   848   975   1516   374   679   1779   102   840   662   178   340	28848   32455   27984   6074   3045   14985   30186   3707   28305   17449   27821   6052   3596   30187   28993   28204   8570   8838   30193   28837   30191   15409   30204   24406   13003   32027   30648   30190   5427   21079   29257   31070   32155   29851   30394   29810   30194   32337   30919   31496   32405   30200   29944   32767   27238   27234

10-02-25 Stirling E v Stirling D

Stirling E		v		Stirling D
Kai Austin Mick Murphy Rudra Pardhi Stewart Cairns Grishma Bannakar	900 1101   738	0 - 1 0 - 1 ½ - ½ 0 - 1 0 - 1	1472 1406 1264 1102 851	Dave Hewitt Toby Geyer David Fowler Mick Bloor Cameron Anderson
		½ - 4½

03-02-2025 Stirling Douglas v Grangemouth Lions

Stirling Douglas 7 - 9 Grangemouth Lions
Round 1
Richard Warcup	0 - 1	Alan Bell
Nathanael Loch	0 - 1	Dougie Will
Ross Warcup	0 - 1	Duncan Glassey
Toby Geyer	0 - 1	Josh Cummings
Round 2
Richard Warcup	0 - 1	Dougie Will
Nathanael Loch	0 - 1	Duncan Glassey
Ross Warcup	1 - 0	Josh Cummings
Toby Geyer	1 - 0	Alan Bell
Round 3
Richard Warcup	1 - 0	Duncan Glassey
Nathanael Loch	1 - 0	Josh Cummings
Ross Warcup	0 - 1	Alan Bell
Toby Geyer	1 - 0	Dougie Will
Round 4
Richard Warcup	1 - 0	Josh Cummings
Nathanael Loch	0 - 1	Alan Bell
Ross Warcup	0 - 1	Dougie Will
Toby Geyer	1 - 0	Duncan Glassey

03-02-2025 Stirling Bruce v Grangemouth Tigers

Stirling Bruce 7 - 9 Grangemouth Tigers
Round 1
John Iwuozor	0 - 1	John McLay
Oliver Twentyman	0 - 1	Daniel Kitaev
Bill Cook	0 - 1	Alan Petrie
Kenny MacPherson	½ - ½	Nicholas Kitaev
Round 2
John Iwuozor	1 - 0	Nicholas Kitaev
Oliver Twentyman	0 - 1	John McLay
Isaac Browning	½ - ½	Daniel Kitaev
Kenny MacPherson	1 - 0	Alan Petrie
Round 3
John Iwuozor	1 - 0	Alan Petrie
Isaac Browning	1 - 0	Nicholas Kitaev
Bill Cook	0 - 1	John McLay
Kenny MacPherson	0 - 1	Daniel Kitaev
Round 4
John Iwuozor	½ - ½	Daniel Kitaev
Isaac Browning	0 - 1	Alan Petrie
Bill Cook	1 - 0	Nicholas Kitaev
Kenny MacPherson	½ - ½	John McLay

27-01-25 Stirling E v Dunfermline B

Stirling E		v		Dunfermline B
Kai Austin Rudra Pardhi Mick Murphy Neander Didla Victor Liu	893   1125	0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1	1518   1021 1004	Calum Newton Daniel Lynch Melinda Kindeur Brian Easton Ali Shuttleworth
		0 - 5

27-01-25 Stirling A v Stirling B

Stirling A		v		Stirling B
Isaac Browning William Spiers Oliver Twentyman Richard Warcup Steve Smith	2008 1807 1784 1555 1599	1 - 0 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 ½ - ½	1470 1545 1481 1513 1481	Bill Cook Brad Duthie Douglas Heatlie Nathanael Loch Kenny MacPherson
		1½ - 3½

Thanks to the various players for the games below.

[Event "Stirling A v Stirling B"] [Site "Stirling CC"] [Date "2025.01.27"] [White "Browning, I"] [Black "Cook, B"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1470"] [ECO "B90"] [Opening "Sicilian"] [Variation "Najdorf, 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.f3 Be7 9.Qd2"] [WhiteElo "2008"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. Be3 Nbd7 9. Qd2 Rc8 10. O-O-O Be7 11. g4 Nb6 12. Qf2 Nfd7 13. h4 Qc7 14. Kb1 Bc4 15. Bxc4 Nxc4 16. Nd5 Qc6 17. Bg5 f6 18. Be3 Nxe3 19. Qxe3 Bd8 20. Qd2 O-O 21. Nb4 Qb5 22. Qxd6 Nb6 23. Nd5 Rc6 24. Ne7+ Bxe7 25. Qxe7 Nc4 26. Rd7 {Black resigns.} 1-0

 

[Event "Stirling A v Stirling B"] [Site "Stirling CC"] [Date "2025.01.27"] [White "Loch, N"] [Black "Warcup, Richard"] [Result "1-0"] [BlackElo "1555"] [ECO "A00"] [Opening "Dunst (Sleipner-Heinrichsen-Van Geet) Opening"] [Variation "1...d5"] [WhiteElo "1513"] 1. Nc3 d5 2. f4 c5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 Bf5 5. d3 Nf6 6. Bg2 d4 7. e4 Bg4 8. Ne2 Bxf3 9. Bxf3 h5 10. Ng1 e5 11. Nh3 Qd7 12. Ng5 g6 13. Qe2 Bd6 14. Bg2 Nh7 15. f5 Be7 16. Nxf7 Kxf7 17. Bh3 Qd6 18. fxg6+ Kxg6 19. Bf5+ Kg7 20. Qxh5 Ng5 21. Qg4 Qf6 22. O-O Rh3 23. Bxg5 Rxg3+ 24. hxg3 Qxg5 25. Qxg5+ Bxg5 26. a3 Ne7 27. Kg2 Ng8 28. Rh1 Nh6 29. Rh5 Be3 30. Rf1 Re8 31. g4 Nf7 32. Rh7+ Kg8 33. Rxf7 Kxf7 34. Bd7+ Ke7 35. Bxe8 Kxe8 36. Kh3 Ke7 37. Kh4 Bf4 38. g5 b5 39. Kg4 Kf7 40. Rxf4+ exf4 41. Kxf4 c4 42. Kf5 a5 43. e5 c3 44. b3 {Black resigns.} 1-0

 

20-01-25 Stirling D v Stirling C

Stirling D		v		Stirling C
Toby Geyer Dave Hewit David Fowler Mick Bloor Cameron Anderson	1422 1198 1133 847	0 - 1 1 - 0 ½ - ½ 0 - 1 0 - 1	1555 1481 1464 742 1352	Richard Warcup Kenny MacPherson Harry Feather Ross Warcup Tom Wallace
		1½ - 3½

Thanks to Dave for providing this game from board 2, where Dave had White against Kenny.

06-01-25 New Year Blitz

Well done to William and, er, me, joint winners of the opening night Blitz!

Time control: 3 minutes + 2 second increment each for all moves

	Name	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7	Place
1	William Spiers	1 W 10	2 B 21	3 W 6	4 W 8	4 B 3	5 W 4	6 B 5	=1
2	Bill Cook	0 B 11	1 W 17	2 B 10	3 W 7	4 B 8	4 W 3	4 B 4	=7
3	Graham Anderson	1W 12	1B 8	2W 22	3 B 9	4 W 1	5 B 2	6 W 6	=1
4	Richard Warcup	1 B 13	2 W 11	2 B 8	3 W 21	4 B 5	4 B 1	5 W 2	3
5	Nathanael Loch	1 W 14	2 B 9	2 W 12	3 B 20	3 W 4	4 B 6	4 W 1	=7
6	Douglas Heatlie	1 B 15	2 W 7	2 B 1	3 W 12	4 B 11	4 W 5	4 B 3	=7
7	Tom Nimmo	1 W 16	1 B 6	2 W 14	2 B 2	2½ W 22	2½ B 12	3½ W 19	=12
8	Ross Warcup	1 B 17	2 W 3	3 W 4	3 B 1	3 W 2	3 B 13	3 W 11	=14
9	Toby Geyer	1 B 18	1 W 5	2 B 11	2 W 3	2½ B 12	3½ W 15	4½ W 13	=4
10	Mick Bloor	0 B 1	1 W 19	1 W 2	1 B 22	1 B 13	1 W 18	2 B 16	=18
11	Marnix Joris	1 W 2	1 B 4	1 W 9	2 B 16	2 W 6	3 B 17	4 B 8	=7
12	Rudra Pardhi	0 B 3	1 W 16	2 B 5	2 B 6	2½ W 9	3½ W 7	3½ B 21	=12
13	Cameron Anderson	0 W 4	1 B 20	1 W 21	2 B 14	3 W 10	4 W 8	4 B 9	=7
14	Victor Liu	0 B 5	1 W 15	1 B 7	1 W 13	2 B 19	2 W 20	3 B 18	=14
15	Elsa Liu	0 W 6	0 B 14	1 W 20	2 B 17	3 W 16	3 B 9	3 W 22	=14
16	Samay Banakar	0 B 7	0 B 12	1 W 18	1 W 11	1 B 15	1 W 19	1 W 10	=21
17	Grishma Banakar	0 W 8	0 B 2	0 B 19	0 W 15	1 W 18	1 W 11	1 B 20	=21
18	Aarika Pawar	0 W 9	0 B 22	0 B 16	1 W 19	1 B 17	2 B 10	2 W 14	=21
19	Jamie Scanlon	0 W 20	0 B 10	1 W 17	1 B 18	1 W 14	2 B 16	2 B 17	=21
20	Rihaan Pawar	1 B 19	1 W 13	1 B 15	1 W 5	1 B 21	2 B 14	3 W 17	=14
21	Dave Hewitt	1 Bye	1 W 1	2 B 13	2 B 4	3 W 20	3½ B 22	4½ W 12	=4
22	Steve Smith	½ Bye	1½ W 18	1½ B 3	2½ W 10	3 B 7	3½ W 21	4½ B 15	=21