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.