23 January 2017 - Central League Division 1

Stirling A v Badgers Brook A
Shivan Murdochy   Jim Shemilt   Steve Smith   Bill Cook   Kyle Kirkpatrick	1910   1756   1676   1657   1360	½ - ½   0 - 1   0 - 1   ½ - ½   1 - 0	2060   1949   1812   1617   1493	Kenny McGeoch   Mark Cooke   David McConnell   Graham Kerr   Dave McGilvray
		2 - 3

16 January 2017 - Central League Division 2

Stirling C v Stirling B
Craig Manson David Brodie Kyle Kirkpatrick Tom Wallace Zihan Kang	1387 1381 1360 1243 803	1 - 0 0 - 1 1 - 0 0 - 1 0 - 1	1553 1474 1469 1454 1428	Tony Pitson Dave Hewitt Robert Leckie Gordon Allcock Martyn Roe
		2 - 3

9 January 2017 - Blitz

Dave Hewitt writes:- A lively and well-contested new year blitz tournament saw 12 players take part and the lead change hands repeatedly. Three draws in r2 allowed Martyn to become clear leader even at that early stage, and he maintained his 100% score by beating me in r3. Jim beat Martyn in r4 to take the lead, but Gordon beat Jim in r5 to move clear in turn. I then beat Gordon in r6 to sneak ahead, before a draw between Bill and me in r7 saw the title shared by Jim, Martyn and me, all on 5/7. The intention had been to play nine rounds, but a good suggestion by Steve was to end it at seven (at about 9pm), as Idris and Alex were about to go home whereupon it would have become tricky to work out legitimate pairings for the remaining ten players. There was consensus on this - plus, as Mick said, we were all a bit brain-dead by then - so we headed home (or, in the case of four of us, to the pub).

A three-way tie seemed a nice way for it to end, and it was something of a blanket finish generally, with nine of the players on 3½ or better. Carl did well again, 4½, and at the other end of the age range Robert T scored what's become his standard 50%, very respectable. Even lower down there were good games and results - Alex beat Idris in the latest of a series of tournament encounters that is likely to stretch away into the future, and although Idris failed to score he was completely winning against Robert in r4 before losing on time.

Full results here. The slightly curious pairings in r1 were due to me mistakenly thinking there were 13 players and that Jim could sit out, only to realise there were actually 12 and Jim needed to play (which he did to very good effect). Also Tom W and Mick were listed in the wrong grading order on the pairing cards for some muddle-headed reason.

Thanks to everyone for making it such an enjoyable tournament - a good mix of decent chess, blunders and swindles as ever. Thanks especially to Steve for lots of help with the pairings.

19 December 2016 - Keddie Cup

The Cake Defence

Twenty five people took part in Monday night's Keddie Cup. Kudos to Mrs Cook for providing the chess piece cupcakes! The Cake Defence was much in evidence, as was the Mince Pie Attack, and it was also good to see Lucky Christmas Jumper sacrifice. Carl and I made it through to the Final.

Having already beaten Carl in the group stage (the only person to have done so), I was frankly sceptical of lightning striking twice. So it proved, with Carl making mincemeat of my poorly structured attack, and even having time to make several mince pies out of it before I resigned.

Congratulations to Carl, seen here receiving the trophy from president Tony Pitson, and a special thanks to Dave Hewitt for all his organisation.

The club will reconvene on Monday 9 January 2017. Merry Christmas!

12 December 2016 - Robert Togneri Trophy

Congratulations to Kyle Kirkpatrick, winner of the club allegro on Monday with 4½/5. Kyle is seen (having to crouch, to fit into the photo) above receiving the trophy from Robert.

Time control: 15 minutes each for all moves

	Name	Grade	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Place
1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18	Graham Anderson   James Warwick   Steve Smith   Bill Cook   Tony Pitson   Dave Hewitt   Gordon Allcock   David Brodie   Kyle Kirkpatrick   Robert Togneri   Robert Leckie   Tom Wallace   Nick Bloor   Zihan Kang   Idris Benwell   Alex Brimlow   Craig Thomson   Joe Hirst	1689   1035   1637   1567   1524   1516   1467   1396   1360   1253   1250   1243   1206   803   362   344   u/g   u/g	1 W 10   0 B 11   1 W 12   1 B 13   1 W 14   1 B 15   1 W 16   1 B 17   1 W 18   0 B 1   1 W 2   0 B 3   0 W 4   0 B 5   0 W 6   0 B 7   0 W 8   0 B 9	1 B 6   0 W 13   2 B 8   2 W 7   1½ B 9   2 W 1   1 B 4   1 W 3   1½ W 5   ½ W 11   1½ B 10   1 W 18   1 B 2   1 W 17   1 B 16   0 W 15   0 W 14   0 W 12	1 W 12   0 B 17   2½ W 4   2½ B 3   2 W 6   2½ B 5   1 W 14   2 B 13   2½ B 11   1½ B 15   1½ W 9   2 B 1   1 W 8   2 B 7   1 W 10   0 B 18   1 W 2   1 W 16	2 W 17   1 Bye   3½ B 6   2½ W 9   3 B 12   2½ W 3   2 B 18   2 W 11   3½ B 4   2½ W 13   2½ B 8   2 W 5   1 B 10   -   -   -   1 B 1   1 W 17	2 B 8   -   3½ W 9   3 B 5   3½ W 4   2½ B 11   3 W 10   3 W 1   4½ B 3   2½ B 7   3½ W 6   2½ B 13   1½ W 12   -   -   -   1 W 18   2 B 17	=11   =15   =2   =5   =2   =8   =5   =5   1   =8   =2   =8   14   =11   =15   18   =15   =11

7 December 2016 - Central League Division 2

Grangemouth B v Stirling C
Crawford Welsh Scott McKenzie David Fowler Scott Dickson	1272 1070 1010 977	0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 ½ - ½ 1d - 0d	1387 1381 1267 1163	Craig Manson David Brodie Robert Togneri Mick Bloor
		1½ - 3½

A fine win for the C team, even with the default when Carl was unable to make it.

5 December 2016 - Central League Division 2

Stirling B v Dunfermline B
Tony Pitson Robert Leckie Dave Hewitt Gordon Allcock Martyn Roe	1553 1469 1474 1454 1428	½ - ½ 0 - 1 ½ - ½ 0 - 1 1 - 0	1642 1568 1512 1385 1196	Jamie O'Connor Calum Smith Stewart Brisbane Peter Horne Mark McLintock
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