2025-11-26 Central League Division 2 Match

Clackmannanshire      2-3  Stirling E 

Vytautas Jakstys u/g  0-1  Mick Murphy     1087
Dale Carberry    u/g  1-0  Mick Bloor      1084
Joseph Lambert   u/g  1-0  Rudra Pardhi    930
Roman Quinn      u/g  0-1  William Feather 875
Lewis Wyper      u/g  0-1  Josh Heesom     u/g

E Team captain Graham Anderson reports on a close match at Alloa:

Boards 3,4 and 5 were all juniors, although the two Micks managed to keep the average age of the Stirling team at around 40.

Game of the night was Joseph-Rudra on board 3, where from quite a closed position Joseph managed to sneak a defended knight onto e6 and wreak havoc with Rudra's backline, then showed impressive end-game technique to claim the win. It's worth keeping an eye on both these players.

Graham also forwarded the game-score of a very nice win by Mick M on board 1, by first winning the exchange and then keeping the pressure on, which produced a fatal error from his opponent.

[Event "Clackmannanshire v Stirling E"] [Site "Alloa"] [Date "2025.11.26"] [Round "?"] [White "Murphy, M."] [Black "Jakstys, V."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A45"] [WhiteElo "1087"] [PlyCount "49"] [EventDate "2025.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. e3 g6 3. Bd3 Bg7 4. Nd2 O-O 5. f4 d6 6. Ngf3 Nd5 7. Qe2 Bg4 8. h3 Bxf3 9. Nxf3 Nd7 10. Bd2 Re8 11. e4 N5f6 12. O-O c5 13. c3 b6 14. g4 Nf8 15. e5 dxe5 16. fxe5 Nd5 17. Bb5 Nd7 18. Bc6 Nc7 19. Bxa8 Qxa8 20. Ng5 f6 21. Nf3 cxd4 22. cxd4 Kh8 23. Rac1 Nd5 24. Qb5 Nb8 25. Qxe8+ {Black resigns. 25 ... Bf8 26 Qxf8#} 1-0

Dave Hewitt (1961-2025)

It is with great sadness and a sense of shock that the Club has to report the sudden death on 24 November of Dave Hewitt at the age of 64.

Dave has been the heart of Stirling Chess Club for a long time, having joined nearly 30 years ago in 1997 when he moved to the area, previously having been a member of both Battlefield and Cathcart Chess Clubs in Glasgow.

He was a keen player, often employing a sharp sacrifice, and Team captain of the Club’s B and C teams as well as the Stirling Bruce allegro team which he captained to victory in the allegro league. Under his captaincy the C team won the Central League Division 2 on numerous occasions, and the Under 1500 Cup. He also enjoyed playing in weekend congresses and won several first prizes over the years as well as a number of Club tournaments.

Dave's favourite openings

Dave also organised the Thursday night Lichess tournament which has been held every week for 5 years without fail since the summer of 2020.

Aside from his playing career, Dave was an indefatigable Competition Secretary for the Club, organising all the internal club competitions (a task made more complicated recently with the increase in membership following Covid), posting results, making sure that Team captains had enough players (and finding them when teams were short), and importantly welcoming and making new members feel at home. He was encouraging, kind and thoughtful to everyone.

Dave’s ability to marshal statistics and remember results and players was legendary and his emails definitely comprehensive!

In addition to chess Dave was a keen hill walker, having climbed well over 1000 Munros and walking in his beloved Ochils every week.

It will be impossible to replicate Dave’s contribution to the Club and he will be greatly missed, not only at Stirling but in the wider chess community.

Our thoughts go to Tessa his partner and his family.

2025-11-17 Two League Matches at Home

Central League Division 1

Stirling B           2-3  Grangemouth A 

Leo Gardner    1896  ½-½  John McLay       2016 
Richard Warcup 1636  0-1  Graham Hamilton  1905
Brad Duthie    1552  1-0  Pranav Hariharan 1747
Bill Cook      1544  0-1  Duncan Glassey   1722 
Steve Smith    1530  ½-½  Alan Petrie      1685 

Central League Division 2

Stirling E            ½-4½ Stirling C 

Mick Murphy     1087  0-1  Kenny MacPherson  1506
Mick Bloor      1084  0-1  Harry Feather     1461
Stewart Cairns  719   0-1  Toby Geyer        1302
Rudra Pardhi    930   0-1  Kelechi Nwosu     u/g
William Feather 875   ½-½  Tom Wallace       1313

2025-11-12 Allegro Match at Grangemouth

Grangemouth Tigers -v-  Stirling Bruce

                 Round 1
John McLay   2058  0-1  Leo Gardner      1985
Alan Petrie  1692  0-1  Isaac Browning   1938
Joe Johnson   u/g  0-1  Kenny MacPherson 1568
Sean Gray     u/g  0-1  Dave Hewitt      1367
                   0-4

                 Round 2
            McLay  ½-½  Browning
           Petrie  1-0  MacPherson
          Johnson  0-1  Hewitt
             Gray  0-1  Gardner
                  1½-2½
                  1½-6½
                
                 Round 3
            McLay  1-0  MacPherson
           Petrie  1-0  Hewitt
          Johnson  0-1  Gardner
             Gray  0-1  Browning
                   2-2
                  3½-8½

                 Round 4
            McLay  1-0  Hewitt
           Petrie  0-1  Gardner
          Johnson  0-1  Browning
             Gray  0-1  MacPherson
                   1-3 
                  4½-11½

Bruce had white in the even rounds.

Individual scores:
Tigers: McLay 2½, Petrie 2/4, Gray 0/4, Johnson 0/4
Bruce: Gardner 4/4, Browning 3½/4, Hewitt 2/4, MacPherson 2/4

Dave Hewitt, the Stirling Bruce captain provided this summary of the match:

A hard-fought match ended in a fairly comfortable win for the visiting team, who reached the necessary score with a round to spare.

From a Stirling point of view, Leo - from Barcelona - had an excellent allegro league debut and looks like being quite a force in the Central League during the four years he'll be a student here. Isaac again showed his fondness for spending lengthy periods at the end of games living on the increment and doing it well. Kenny continued his recent good form. For Grangemouth, John and Alan were solid and reliable as ever, and Joe and Sean are getting stronger all the while and will certainly score better than this in matches to come.

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.

28/10/25 Two Allegro Matches at Dunfermline

Dunfermline hosted two Stirling teams in the Central Allegro League on Tuesday evening. Stirling Bruce had White on all boards in Rounds 1 and 3 in their match against the Minnows.

Dunfermline Minnows          7½-8½ Stirling Bruce

                            Round 1
Ian Robertson           1979  0-1  John Iwuozor     1861
Calum Smith             1798  ½-½  Jim Shemilt      1659
Dimitris Giannakopoulos 1378  0-1  Kenny MacPherson 1568
George Webb             1352  ½-½  Dave Hewitt      1367
                              1-3

                            Round 2
                   Robertson  1-0  Shemilt
                       Smith  0-1  MacPherson
              Giannakopoulos  ½-½  Hewitt
                        Webb  0-1  Iwuozor
                             1½-2½
                             2½-5½

                            Round 3
                   Robertson  1-0  MacPherson
                       Smith  1-0  Hewitt
              Giannakopoulos  0-1  Iwuozor
                        Webb  0-1  Shemilt
                              2-2 
                             4½-7½

                            Round 4
                   Robertson  1-0  Hewitt
                       Smith  1-0  Iwuozor
              Giannakopoulos  1-0  Shemilt
                        Webb  0-1  MacPherson
                              3-1

Individual Scores
Minnows: Robertson 3, Smith 2½, Giannakopoulos 1½, Webb ½
Bruce:   Iwuozor 3, Shemilt 1½, MacPherson 3, Hewitt 1

In the other match of the evening, Stirling Wallace had White on all boards in Rounds 1 and 3 against the Sharks.

Dunfermline Sharks        9½-6½ Stirling Wallace

                         Round 1
Volodymyr Tushinskyi 2276  1-0  William Spiers  1784
John McBride         1780  0-1  Nathanael Loch  1581
Gregor McCloskey     1372  1-0  Douglas Heatlie 1454
Euan Bell            1404  ½-½  Toby Geyer      1487
                          2½-1½

                         Round 2
               Tushynskyi  1-0  Geyer
                  McBride  0-1  Spiers
                McCloskey  1-0  Loch
                     Bell  0-1  Heatlie
                           2-2
                          4½-3½

                        Round 3
               Tushynskyi  1-0  Heatlie
                  McBride  0-1  Geyer
                McCloskey  1-0  Spiers
                     Bell  0-1  Loch
                           2-2
                          6½-5½

                         Round 4
               Tushynskyi  1-0  Loch
                  McBride  0-1  Heatlie
                McCloskey  1-0  Geyer
                     Bell  1-0  Spiers
                           3-1 

Individual scores
Sharks:  Tushynskyi 4, McBride 0, McCloskey 4, Bell 1½
Wallace: Spiers 1, Loch 2, Heatlie 2, Geyer 1½

27-10-2025 Robert Togneri Trophy

The Robert Togneri Trophy, the club's bi-annual allegro tournament, was won on Monday night by eighth-ranked Toby Geyer, pictured below being congratulated by Club President Gordon Allcock.

25 people played in all, but only 18 played in all five rounds, mainly due to the younger juniors having to leave before close of play. However, there were no byes. Graham played in just round 3, to replace Jamie. Rudra and Garry then dropped out after Round 3, as did Steve to keep it at an even number. Victor and Elsa dropped out after round 4. Overall, 55 games were played: 12 in each of the first three rounds, ten in round 4, nine in round 5.

Thanks to Graham for the photograph and Dave for the crosstable.