11 February 2019 - Central League Division 2

Stirling B		v		Badgers Brook B
Bill Cook Brad Duthie Dave Hewitt Tony Pitson Tom Wallace	1576 1488 1550 1456 1385	½ - ½ ½ - ½ ½ - ½ 1 - 0 1 - 0	1673 1547 1144	John Smith Dave McGilvray Gordon Walker Peter Woollven Craig van der Heever
		3½ - 1½

4 February 2019 - Central League Division 2

Stirling D		v		Stirling B
Kenny MacPherson Martin Pringle Idris Benwell Alex Brimlow Gordon Bowie	522 427	0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1	1576 1488 1550 1456 1456	Bill Cook Brad Duthie Dave Hewitt Richard Warcup Tony Pitson
		0 - 5

The juniors conducted themselves perfectly, and I was very proud of them. Idris lost the exchange early on, but through the middle stages of the game this didn't matter much. Dave's passed d pawn made steady progress up the board, and on promotion to a second Queen Idris resigned. Alex lost a pawn early on to Richard, but continued to fight on until he blundered the exchange, and with Richard's Rooks getting to the seventh, he was eventually checkmated in the corner. Gordon started brightly, looking to practice the pawn storm ideas we'd discussed over the last couple of weeks. Unfortunately he forgot to wait until Tony had castled to start advancing the pawns...

Thanks to Kenny and Martin for taking the harder games on boards 1 and 2. Martin in particular was unlucky not to finish with a draw, in a tricky Knight and three pawns ending.

30 January 2019 - Central League Division 2

Badgers Brook		v		Stirling C
Dave McGillvray Gordon Walker Peter Woolven Craig Van Der Heever	1430 1175	½ - ½ 1 - 0 1 - 0 0 - 1 0d - 1d	1436 1385 1228   1224	Craig Manson Tom Wallace Robert Togneri Nikolai Hermann Gordon Allcock
		2½ - 2½

28 January 2019 - Thornton Cup

In the Thornton Cup, the following game was played between Robert Togneri (White) and Gordon Allcock (Black). I'll let the moves speak for themselves...(because they have a lot to say)

[Event "Thornton Cup SF"] [Site "Stirling CC"] [Date "2019.01.28"] [Round "SF"] [White "Togneri, R"] [Black "Allcock, G"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e6 4. Nf3 c6 5. Bf4 Bb4 6. a3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 Nbd7 8. e3 Ne4 9. Qb3 Qa5 10. Rc1 Ndf6 11. Bd3 O-O 12. Nd2 Nxd2 13. Kxd2 dxc4 14. Bxc4 Ne4+ 15. Ke1 Nf6 16. Be5 Nd5 17. Bd6 Re8 18. Bb4 Qd8 19. Qd1 Qh4 { 19 ... a5! wins the Bishop. } 20. Bxd5 exd5 21. Bd6 Rxe3+ 22. Kf1 { 22 Bg4 keeps the pressure up. } 22... Re6 23. Bg3 Qh6 24. f3 b6 25. Bf2 Ba6+ 26. Kg1 Rae8 27. Bg3 Re2 28. h3 Qe3+ { 28 ... Rd2. If Whites moves the Queen 39 ... Ree2 } 29. Kh2 Qxf3 30. Qf1 Qe3 { 30 ... Rxg2+ 31 Qxg2 Re2 } 31. Re1 Qd2 32. Rxe2 Bxe2 33. Qe1 Qe3 34. Bf2 Qe6 35. Qd2 Qd6+ 36. Bg3 Qxa3 37. Re1 Qe7 38. Qa2 a5 39. Qb2 b5 40. Qa2 a4 41. Bd6 { Both players have written this as the move, although it can't be correct... Qxd6+ } 41... Qe3 42. Be5 Qxc3 43. Rxe2 f6 44. Rc2 Qb3 45. Bd6 Qxa2 46. Rxa2 Re6 47. Bc5 Kf7 48. Kg3 g6 49. Ra3 h5 50. Kf3 g5 51. g3 f5 52. Kf2 Re4 53. Ra1 Kf6 { 53 ... h4 gives Black the opportunity to create a(nother) passed pawn. } 54. Kf3 g4+ 55. hxg4 hxg4+ 56. Kf2 Kg5 57. Rh1 { This seemingly innocuous move is the start... } 57... Re6 { Stockfish recommends 57 ... f4 58 gxf4 Rxf4+. After 57 ... Re6, the evaluation (previously in Black's favour) has moved to dead drawn } 58. Rh8 Kg6 59. Rc8 Kf7 60. Rc7+ Kg6 61. Rc8 Kf7 62. Rc7+ Kg6 63. Rc8 { Draw by repetition... } 63... Kg7 64. Rc7+ Kg6 65. Rc8 Kg7 66. Rc7+ Kg6 67. Rc8 Rf6 68. Rg8+ Kf7 69. Rc8 Kg7 70. Rc7+ Kg6 71. Rc8 Re6 72. Rg8+ Kf7 73. Rc8 Rf6 74. Rf8+ Kg7 75. Rc8 Kf7 76. Rc7+ Kg6 77. Rc8 Kf7 78. Rc7+ Kg6 79. Rc8 Kg7 80. Rc7+ Kg8 81. Rc8+ Kh7 82. Rc7+ Kg6 83. Rc8 Kf7 84. Rc7+ Kg8 85. Rc8+ Kh7 86. Rc7+ Kg6 87. Rc8 { Stockfish has stopped analysing this. It's adjudicated it as a draw for the last 20 moves... The game continues, although the scoresheets conflict from here. For completeness, the moves recorded as follows (from Black's scoresheet):- 87 ... Rf6 (this can't be right, because it's already on that square) 88 Rc7 Re6 89 Rc8 Kg7 90 Rc7+ Kf6 91 Rc8 Kg6 92 Rg8+ Kh7 93 Rc8 Rf6 94 Rc7+ Kg6 95 Rc8 Kf7 96 Rc7+ Ke8 97 Rh7 Rf7 98 Rh8+ Kd7 99 Rg8 Kc7 100 Ra8 Rf6 101 Rg8 Kd7 102 Rg7+ Ke8 103 Rg8+ Kf7 104 Rc8 Re6 105 Rc7+ Kg6 White's scoresheet has 87 ... Rf7 88 Rc7 (which can't be right either, because 88 ... Rxc7) 89 Rc8 Kf7. The rest of the moves concur. And here, on move 105, White claims a draw on the basis that no capture and no pawn move has been made for 50 moves (55 hxg4+). White has made 49 consecutive Rook moves. } 1/2-1/2

Hopefully the replay will be an easier game to transcribe.

21 January 2019 - Central League Division 1

Stirling A		v		Dunfermline A
Steve Smith Graham Anderson David McAlister Bill Cook Tony Pitson	1712 1667 1634 1576 1456	0 - 1 1 - 0 ½ - ½ ½ - ½ ½ - ½	2045 1612 1468 1434 1396	Ian Robertson Calum Smith Stewart Brisbane Gonzalo Ferero Gordon Greig
		2½ - 2½

I was first to finish (see the game below, where I had Black), then David and Stewart agreed a draw, followed by Steve losing on board 1. Bill and Tony were both winning, but very short on time. Tony's clock ran out as his Queen and King hunted down Gordon's King - this finished a draw as Gordon had no material left. Bill was two pawns up in a Queen and Pawns ending, but with less than two minutes left didn't have enough time to convert this to a win, and a draw was agreed.

[Event "Stirling A v Dunfermline A"] [Site "Stirling CC"] [Date "2019.01.21"] [Round ""] [White "Smith, C"] [Black "Anderson, G"] [Result "0-1"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Bc5 5. Nf3 d6 6. O-O Bg4 7. d3 Nd4 8. Be3 a6 9. Rb1 Qd7 10. Re1 h5 11. Bxd4 Bxd4 12. Qd2 O-O-O { A mistake. 12 ... Bb6 keeps the bishop on the strong diagonal. I concentrated too much on connecting the rooks. } 13. Nxd4 exd4 14. Ne2 h4 { Let's just go for it... } 15. Nxd4 hxg3 16. fxg3 Bh3 17. Bf3 Rh7 18. Re2 { Stockfish prefers 18 b4. } 18... Rdh8 19. c4 c5 20. Nc2 Bg4 21. Ne1 Nh5 22. b4 Nxg3 23. hxg3 { Stockfish prefers 23 Rg2. } 23... Bxf3 24. Nxf3 Rh1+ 25. Kf2 Rxb1 26. bxc5 dxc5 27. Qc2 Rb6 28. Qc3 Rf6 29. Ke3 Qg4 { White resigns. } 0-1

14 January 2019 - Central League Division 2

Stirling C		v		Stirling B
Craig Manson Tom Wallace Martyn Roe Gordon Allcock Robert Togneri	1436 1385 1379 1226 1243	0 - 1 0 - 1 ½ - ½ 0 - 1 ½ - ½	1576 1488 1550 1456 1456	Bill Cook Brad Duthie Dave Hewitt Richard Warcup Tony Pitson
		1 - 4

7 January 2019 - New Year's Blitz

Dave Hewitt writes:- Congratulations to Steve, who won the new year blitz tournament last Monday with a score of 6/7. He started with four straight wins, was then pegged back by a loss to Graham (which meant that Steve, Graham and Richard were tied for the lead after five rounds), but two wins to finish brought him the title after Graham beat Richard in r6 but could only draw with Bill in r7. Graham was thus second, while Richard and Tony (who started with three wins) were joint third. It was Steve's second win in club blitz events - he also won the agm blitz in September 2007.

There were some good scores for players further down the grading order, notably Nikolai and Kenny who each finished with 4/7, and Idris with 3.5/7. Everyone managed at least one win - always good to see - and it was also good that all 18 players, including the juniors, stayed for the full seven rounds.

Full cross-table results