2026-03-23 Stirling host Badgers Brook

   Central League Division 2
   Stirling E            1-4  Badgers Brook B

1. Mick Murphy     1087  0-1  Derek Raffan   1384
2. Rudra Pardhi    930   0-1  David Lawrence 1180
3. William Feather 875   0-1  Connor George  977
4. Stewart Cairns  719   0-1  Peter Woollven 907
5. Elsa Liu              1-0  default

Stirling had white on boards 2 and 3

2026-03-16 Stirling A secure important victory

   Central League Division 1
   Stirling A           4-1  Grangemouth A 

1. Isaac Browning 2054  ½-½  Alan Bell        1948
2. John Iwuozor   2020  1-0  Graham Hamilton  1905
3. Leo Gardner    1889  1-0  Pranav Hariharan 1747
4. William Spiers 1758  ½-½  Duncan Glassey   1722
5. Sean Flanagan  1698  1-0  Alan Petrie      1683

Stirling had white on boards 3 and 5

Alan and Isaac just about to start play on board 1 

Comments from Stirling A captain Isaac:

In a key match at the top of the table, Stirling A ultimately walked away with a convincing win. However, at least four of the five games were in the balance for long periods.

Sean's game was perhaps the clearest, after he played the strong move Nd1 and caught Alan P in multiple pins.

Alan B and I played out a sharp middlegame where I tried to sacrifice a pawn to make his pieces awkward but missed it was possible to give it back favourably straight away, resulting in a position where neither side felt they could make progress and a threefold repetition ensued.

John had arrived a few minutes late but in typical fashion swiftly turned this time disadvantage around against Graham, eventually managing to win an exchange which proved decisive.

Duncan was up a pawn against William but his bishop was badly restricted by his own pawns, which made further progress improbable and a draw was agreed.

Leo and Pranav were both low on the clock when Pranav made an illegal move in an otherwise roughly balanced endgame. The resulting two minute deficit was too difficult to overcome.

2026-03-02 Togneri Trophy

The Spring edition of the bi-annual Robert Togneri Trophy had a good turnout with 24 participants, including 8 juniors. 

The fire alarm went off after the first round but everyone evacuated successfully. Fortunately there was no sign of fire or smoke and it transpired that two of the outside doors had opened, causing the intruder alarm to be triggered. Although it was then possible go back inside and recommence the tournament, the delay caused meant that there were some defaults in round 2 and there was only time for four rounds.

Congratulations to Isaac (see below receiving the trophy from Bill) who won with four points.

2026-02-25 Stirling D Team win in Alloa

   Central League Division 2
   Clackmannanshire     0-5  Stirling D

1. Glen Wilson    1047  0-1  Harry Feather 1461
2. Joseph Lambert u/g*  0-1  Tom Wallace   1313
3. Evan Laing     u/g   0-1  David Fowler  1300
4. Roman Quinn    u/g   0-1  Kai Austin    946
5. Lewis Wyper    u/g   0-1  Elsa Liu      u/g*

Clackmannanshire had White on boards 3 and 4
* Live ratings: Joseph Lambert 1006
                Elsa Liu       802

2026-02-23 U1500 Team lose at home while the A's win away

The Stirling Under 1500 Team, which has enjoyed a very successful time in the Cup in recent years, had a disappointing loss in the Preliminary Round to Grangemouth.

   Central League Under 1500 Cup
   Stirling               ½-4½ Grangemouth

1. Harry Feather    1450  ½-½  Bill Gray      1486
2. Sandy Carmichael 1394  0-1  Jim Stallard   1330
3. Tom Wallace      1313  0-1  Crawford Welsh 1243
4. David Fowler     1250  0-1  Sean Gray      u/g
5. Mick Bloor       1100  0-1  Joe Johnstone  u/g

Stirling had White on boards 2 and 4

Tom Wallace provided this overview of the match:

On board 4 Sean from Grangemouth won quickly followed by another win on board 2 where Jim’s 3 connected pawns where too much for Sandy's Knight. That meant Stirling were 2 down with 3 boards left.

My game should have been an easy win with a Rook up and Crawford's King in a precarious position. If Mick had got a draw on board 5 we could have won with a board count draw with a win on board 1 and 3. However Joe finished his endgame well and won, so match over.

Bill and Harry agreed a draw on board 1 and I let Crawford's King slip away to safety and eventually Crawford went on to win.

Meanwhile, on their travels to Broxburn, the A Team had a very good win over their hosts.

   Central League Division 1
   Badgers Brook A       1-4  Stirling A

1. Kenny McGeoch   2014  0-1  Isaac Browning 2054
2. Mark Cooke      1876  0-1  Leo Gardner    1889
3. Stuart Ward     1868  1-0  William Spiers 1758
4. Jonathan Rowney 1543  0-1  Steve Smith    1549
5. Mark Brown      1456  0-1  Nathanael Loch 1515

Badgers Brook had White on boards 1 and 5

2026-02-16&18 Two Further Away Matches

We have already reported on the Stirling E Team's match at Dunfermline on Tuesday. One day earlier, the C team had travelled to Broxburn to play Badgers Brook B and lost 3-2 with two players missing.

   Central League Division 2
   Badgers Brook B        3-2  Stirling C
   
1. Colin Matthews   1394  1-0  Nathanael Loch   1515
2. Antonio La Gamma 1269  0-1  Kenny MacPherson 1506
3. David Lawrence   1180  1-0  default
4. Peter Woolven    907   0-1  Toby Geyer       1302
5. Matthew McEwan   u/g   1-0  default

Badgers Brook had White on boards 1 and 2

On Wednesday the B team lost at Grangemouth, but the match was a lot closer than the final score suggests.

   Central League Division 1
   Grangemouth B        4½-½  Stirling B

1. Alan Bell       1948  1-0  Brad Duthie     1552
2. Daniel Kitaev   1927  1-0  Richard Warcup  1637
3. Dougie Will     1839  ½-½  Bill Cook       1544
4. Nicholas Kitaev 1121  1-0  Steve Smith     1549
5. Harry Leishman  847   1-0  Douglas Heatlie 1563

Grangemouth had White on boards 1 and 2

2026-02-17 Stirling E win at Dunfermline

   Central League Division 2  
   Dunfermline B         2-3  Stirling E

1. Calum Newton    1508  0-1  Sandy Carmichael 1357
2. Douglas Rew     1369  1-0  Mick Murphy      1087
3. George Webb     1316  0-1  Mick Bloor       1084
4. Gordon Handy    u/g   0-1  Stewart Cairns   719
5. Michael Spriggs u/g   1-0  Elsa Liu         u/g

Stirling had White on boards 1,2 and 3

Graham has provided the commentary and games from this tremendous win.

Thanks to Dunfermline for hosting, and a very entertaining match.

I feared the worst when Stirling E went 2-0 quite quickly. Elsa lost after missing a Queen and Rook skewer, and then missing the opportunity to get it back a couple of moves later.

Mick M resigned after a 'remove the defender' tactic gave Douglas three connected passed pawns in the endgame.

Mick B pulled a point back with an unstoppable mating attack (which, in a first for him, did not involve any wild sacrifice).

[Event "Dunfermline B v Stirling E"] [Site "Dunfermline CC"] [Date "2026.02.17"] [Round "?"] [White "Bloor, M.."] [Black "Webb, G.."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B01"] [WhiteElo "1084"] [BlackElo "1316"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [BlackFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "69"] [GameId "2279692142084218"] [EventDate "2026.??.??"] 1. e4 d5 2. e5 Bf5 3. d4 e6 4. Bd3 Bg6 5. Nf3 Nd7 6. Nc3 a6 7. a3 Ne7 8. Be3 c6 9. Bxg6 hxg6 10. Qd2 Nb6 11. O-O-O Nc4 12. Qe2 Qb6 13. Na4 Qa5 14. b3 Nxa3 15. Bd2 Qc7 16. Kb2 Nb5 17. Bb4 a5 18. Bc5 Nc8 19. Bxf8 Rxf8 20. c4 Nba7 21. cxd5 cxd5 22. Rc1 Qd7 23. Rc3 Nb5 24. Rc2 Nca7 25. Rhc1 Qe7 26. Rc5 Qd7 27. Nb6 Qd8 28. Nxa8 Qxa8 29. Rxb5 Nc6 30. Qc2 Kd7 31. Qc5 Rd8 32. Ng5 Ke8 33. Nh7 Ne7 34. Qc7 Nc6 35. Rxb7 {Black resigns.} 1-0

Stewart was two backward pawns up when a catastrophic error from Gordon gave away a rook and the game.

[Event "Dunfermline B v Stirling E"] [Site "Dunfermline CC"] [Date "2026.02.17"] [Round "?"] [White "Handy, G.."] [Black "Cairns, S.."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D02"] [BlackElo "719"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [BlackFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "81"] [GameId "2279692600692872"] [EventDate "2026.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. e3 e6 4. Bd3 Nf6 5. O-O Bd6 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. c4 b6 8. a3 Bd7 9. Re1 Re8 10. e4 dxe4 11. Nxe4 Nxe4 12. Bxe4 Rb8 13. Qc2 g6 14. Bg5 Be7 15. h4 Bxg5 16. hxg5 e5 17. d5 Nd4 18. Qd3 Nxf3+ 19. Qxf3 Qxg5 20. d6 cxd6 21. Bd5 Be6 22. Bxe6 Rxe6 23. Qd5 a5 24. Re2 Rc8 25. b3 Rc5 26. Qa8+ Kg7 27. Rb1 Qf5 28. Rd1 h5 29. Qa6 Rc6 30. b4 axb4 31. axb4 e4 32. f3 exf3 33. Rxe6 Qxe6 34. gxf3 h4 35. Rd4 Qe3+ 36. Kg2 Qxd4 37. Kh3 g5 38. Qa2 Rxc4 39. Qg2 Qf4 40. b5 Rc3 41. Qb2 {White resigns. 41 ... Qg3#} 0-1

This left the game on board 1, the longest game of the match. Calum elected to prevent Sandy from castling at the expense of Queen side development, and with the match score at 2-1 for Dunfermline, Sandy passed up an opportunity to take a draw by perpetual to go for the win. This eventually came with a checkmate.

[Event "Dunfermline B vs. Stirling E"] [Site "?"] [Date "2026.02.17"] [Round "?"] [White "Carmichael, S.."] [Black "Newton, C.."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D20"] [WhiteElo "1357"] [BlackElo "1508"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [BlackFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "73"] [GameId "2279688274182234"] [EventDate "2026.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 e5 4. d5 c6 5. Bxc4 Bb4+ 6. Nc3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 cxd5 8. Bxd5 Qc7 9. c4 Nf6 10. Nf3 Nxd5 11. cxd5 Qc4 12. Nd2 Qd4 13. Rb1 f5 14. Bb2 Qd3 15. Bxe5 O-O 16. Rb3 Qa6 17. Rg3 g6 18. Qh5 Nd7 19. Bc3 Nf6 20. Qh6 Rf7 21. Bxf6 Qxf6 22. O-O fxe4 23. Nxe4 Qe5 24. Re3 Bf5 25. Ng5 Qxd5 26. Nxf7 Qxf7 27. a3 Rc8 28. h3 Rc6 29. Rd1 Rc8 30. Qg5 Qf8 31. Re7 h6 32. Qe3 Bc2 33. Qe6+ Kh8 34. Rdd7 g5 35. Qe5+ Kg8 36. Rg7+ Qxg7 37. Qxg7# 1-0