2026-09-07 Season Opening Blitz

After the conclusion of the club's Annual General Meeting, there was time for the traditional Blitz tournament to be held over five rounds. The time-limit was 3 minutes per player plus a 2 second increment. We are grateful to Steve taking on the task of doing the pairings, without computer assistance but still with at a speed consistent with the fast playing format.

Just as happened last year, 16 players took part and Isaac won with a perfect score. William and Nathanael finished as joint runners-up and everyone got at least victory on the scoreboard.

Final Crosstable

No Name               Total    1    2    3    4    5  

1  Isaac Browning       5      8:W  4:W 10:W  2:W  6:W
2  William Spiers       4     14:W  3:W  9:W  1:L  4:W
3  Nathanael Loch       4     12:W  2:L  5:W 10:W  9:W
4  Kenny MacPherson     3      7:W  1:L 14:W 11:W  2:L
5  Graham Anderson      3     13:W  9:L  3:L  7:W 11:W
6  Sean Flanagan        3     15:W 10:L 16:W  9:W  1:L
7  Brad Duthie          2.5    4:L  8:D 15:W  5:L 12:W
8  Steve Smith          2.5    1:L  7:D 11:L 14:W 10:W
9  Harry Feather        2     16:W  5:W  2:L  6:L  3:L
10 Bill Cook            2     11:W  6:W  1:L  3:L  8:L
11 Ian Macrury          2     10:L 15:W  8:W  4:L  5:L
12 Leith Macrury        2      3:L 14:L 13:W 16:W  7:L
13 Claire Donald        2      5:L 16:L 12:L 15:W 14:W
14 Mick Bloor           1      2:L 12:W  4:L  8:L 13:L
15 Andy Hoehne          1      6:L 11:L  7:L 13:L 16:W
16 Jim Shemilt          1      9:L 13:W  6:L 12:L 15:L

Annual General Meeting 2026

The Stirling Chess Club AGM will take place at 7 p.m. on Monday 7 September at the Park Church.

Agenda

1. President’s welcome

2. Minutes of previous AGM

3. Minutes of Special General Meeting

4. Matters arising

5. Officers’ reports

5. Election of Office Bearers

6. Any other business

7. Date of next AGM

The AGM will be followed by the opening night lightning tournament. Last year we had time for five rounds at a time rate of three minutes, plus 2 seconds increment and 16 played.

Chess in the Park and next season start date

The club is now closed for the summer.

However, the usual outdoor chess will take place every Monday evening (weather permitting) in King's Park. It  begins on 6th July and will run until the end of August (either the 24th or 31st). Douglas Heatlie has taken over as the organiser.

The 2026/2027 season begins with the Club AGM on Monday 7th September at 7.00 p.m. A blitz tournament will be held after the conclusion of the AGM. 

2025-2026 Season Review

Our 2025-2026 season ended with a meeting at the Cowane Centre on Monday 1st June, which included the final of the Lindsay Cup.

The Club had been in a state of shock last November following the sudden death of Dave Hewitt who had done so much for the Club. Such was Dave's contribution that this required considerable reorganisation. Thanks to all members who rallied round to help - in particular Steve who took over as Competition Secretary and kept everything to schedule as well as continuing all his other work for the Club.

Despite everything, the season turned out to be one of the most successful in the Club's history.

Stirling won the quadruple of Divisions 1 and 2 of the Central League, the Neil Giffen Cup and the Allegro League; the A, Cup and Allegro teams captained by Isaac and the C team by Nathanael.

At the recent Central League AGM, Ian Robertson presented two of the trophies to Bill (Neil Giffen Cup) and Steve (Division 1 Trophy).

Unusually, for the first time for many years, the Under 1500 Cup was not won by Stirling, the honours going to Grangemouth who beat Dunfermline in the final.

Individual competitions

The final standings in the Richardson Cup (the Club Championship) were John 5.0; Isaac and Sean 4.0; Bill and William 2.5; Brad and Richard 1.5

Toby won the Thornton Cup by beating Gordon in the Final. Richard presented the trophy to Toby and took this photograph of him with it.

Ross won against Nathanael in the final of the Lindsay Cup. After a fluctuating encounter, though with no strong winning chances either way, Nathanael was pressing in a major-piece endgame, but missed a trap which would have resulted in at least losing Queen for Rook, so he resigned.

[Event "Lindsay Cup Final"] [Site "?"] [Date "2026.06.01"] [Round "?"] [White "Warcup, Ross"] [Black "Loch, Nathanael"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C02"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [BlackFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "65"] [GameId "2318716860829728"] [EventDate "2025.11.28"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bd7 6. dxc5 Bxc5 7. Bd3 Nge7 8. b4 Bb6 9. b5 Nb8 10. O-O a6 11. Na3 Qc7 12. Bd2 Ng6 13. Qe2 Bc5 14. Nc2 axb5 15. Ncd4 b4 16. Nb5 Bxb5 17. Bxb5+ Nc6 18. cxb4 Be7 19. a3 O-O 20. Rfe1 Rfc8 21. Bd3 Ra7 22. Bxg6 hxg6 23. Qd3 Rca8 24. Qb3 Ra4 25. Bc3 Qb6 26. Bb2 Bc5 27. Rf1 Nd4 28. Nxd4 Bxd4 29. Bxd4 Qxd4 30. Rfe1 b5 31. g3 Rc8 32. Qe3 Qc3 33. Rec1 1-0

2026-05-11 Neil Giffen 7 Board Cup Final: Stirling -v- Grangemouth

Isaac Browning reports:

In a tense and thrilling final that came down to the last board to finish, Stirling edged out Grangemouth by 4-3 to win the Cup.

In a not altogether uncommon occurrence this season, John was last to arrive but first to finish his game. Alan B had a pleasant grip on the dark squares but missed a sudden tactic that lost him a piece.

Next, William won after gaining an extra pawn against Dougie. I then drew with John after squandering a clear middlegame advantage by some questionably timed exchanges and weakening moves. Alan P pulled a point back for Grangemouth with a fine attacking win over Bill.

Sean and Pranav drew after an interesting middlegame featuring an attempt by Sean to trap the opposing queen left his own rook in a vulnerable location. Later, the game simplified to a level endgame with rook and bishop each. Graham exchanged queens early on and gradually wore down Leo to level the match at that stage.

This meant it all came to board six. Fortunately for Stirling, Richard had netted an extra exchange and despite Duncan's best efforts to find counterplay in their mutual time trouble, Richard advanced a passed pawn up the board to force resignation and win the match.

               Central League Cup Final
              Stirling  4-3  Grangemouth

1. Isaac Browning 2054  ½-½  John McLay       2016
2. John Iwuozor   2020  1-0  Alan Bell        1948
3. Leo Gardner    1889  0-1  Graham Hamilton  1905
4. William Spiers 1758  1-0  Dougie Will      1839
5. Sean Flanagan  1698  ½-½  Pranav Hariharan 1747
6. Richard Warcup 1637  1-0  Duncan Glassey   1722
7. Bill Cook      1544  0-1  Alan Petrie      1683

Stirling had white on the even boards

2026-04-27 David Brodie Trophy

Graham provided this report on the David Brodie Trophy, the annual competition for the junior members of Stirling Chess Club

On Monday past, the juniors competed in an allegro tournament for the David Brodie Trophy. There were 14 competitors, playing five rounds with 15 minutes for each game. Some great chess was played, and the destination of the trophy wasn't decided until the last match of the last round.

Victor, having declined a draw offer which would have seen him win the competition outright, played on in a fairly closed position having just opened the h file. However, it turned out to be Elsa who managed to take advantage of this and get her Queen in behind Victor's defences to first win a piece, then chase Victor's King into the middle of the board where she delivered checkmate with less than 30 seconds remaining on her clock.

This means that the trophy is shared between Elsa, Victor, and Kai. Well done to them, and well done to all the competitors, some of whom where playing in a proper competition for the first time.

Thanks to Julie for taking the photographs, thanks to Grishma for providing the participation awards, thanks to Grishma and Jim for helping with queries, and special thanks to Marissa (David's daughter) for presenting the awards and trophy.

Thanks also to Richard for providing the crosstable.

2026-04-22 Champions with their trophy

2025/2026 Division 2 Champions, Stirling C finished their programme on a high note with a victory at Grangemouth.

           Central League Division 2
           Grangemouth C 1-4  Stirling C

1. Joe Johnstone  *1450  1-0  Nathaniel Loch   1515
2. Sean Gray      *1383  0-1  Kenny MacPherson 1506
3. Harry Leishman  847   0-1  Tom Wallace      1313
4. William Walker  u/g   0-1  Toby Geyer       1302
5. Allan Mitchell  u/g   0-1  David Fowler     1300

* Live Rating

Stirling had White on boards 1, 3 and 5

Bill Gray sent through the grapevine a brief report and photograph of the League winners with the trophy.

Top board looked to be heading for an endgame draw until a discovered check cost Nathaniel his remaining rook. Kenny checkmated Sean after the latter had erred.

I missed the finale of board 3 where Tom had been enjoying an edge. Young William missed a probable draw v Toby by allowing an exchange of Queens which left him in a disadvantageous endgame.

Allan lost a Bishop for two pawns early on and David's active pieces won the day against an uncastled King.

A bittersweet night for our visitors who had already sealed the division 2 title; an achievement tinged with sadness due to the absence of their much missed former captain (and friend of mine), the late Dave Hewitt.