2026-03-25 Double-header at Grangemouth

   Central League Division 2
   Stirling C             3-2  Grangemouth C

1. Douglas Heatlie  1563  1-0  Jim Stallard   1330
2. Nathanael Loch   1515  1-0  Crawford Welsh 1243
3. Kenny MacPherson 1506  1-0  Joe Johnstone  u/g  
4. Toby Geyer       1302  0-1  William Walker u/g
5. Kai Austin       946   0-1  Harry Leishman 847

Stirling had white on boards 2 and 5
Live rating: Joe Johnstone 1334

Stirling C, despite being the home team, travelled to Grangemouth on Wednesday to assist with scheduling the internal club tournaments.

Nathanael, the C Team captain had released Douglas to Stirling B who were playing that same night, but when one of the other C's players couldn't make it, he asked for Douglas back.

It was a close match and it was Douglas who decided it at the end.

Giving back Douglas left the B Team with only four players, but despite this, the outcome was a remarkable victory against the Grangemouth A Team.

   Central League Division 1
   Grangemouth A         2-3  Stirling B

1. Alan Bell       1948  0-1  Brad Duthie    1552
2. Graham Hamilton 1905  1/2  Richard Warcup 1637
3. Alan Petrie     1722  0-1  Bill Cook      1544
4. Bill Gray       1496  1/2  Steve Smith    1549
5. Sean Gray             1-0  Default 

Stirling had white on boards 3 and 4

All our players made an important contribution, but Brad's turnaround win on Board 1 was pivotal in securing at least a drawn match, and then Richard played accurately with little time left for an endgame draw in the final game to finish for the team victory.

Here is Brad's game. Alan was better for most of the game. Brad was left with a difficult endgame, but decided to muddy the waters with his 39.g5 and then Alan's 44...Kh4 was the fateful mistake.

[Event "Grangemouth A v Stirling B"] [Site "?"] [Date "2026.03.25"] [Round "?"] [White "Duthie, Brad"] [Black "Bell, Alan"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E11"] [WhiteElo "1552"] [BlackElo "1948"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [BlackFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "107"] [GameId "2292626377019418"] [EventDate "2025.11.28"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Qe7 5. a3 Bxd2+ 6. Nbxd2 d6 7. e3 O-O 8. Bd3 e5 9. dxe5 dxe5 10. Qc2 Re8 11. Ne4 Nbd7 12. O-O h6 13. b4 a5 14. Qc3 Nxe4 15. Bxe4 Nf6 16. Nd2 Rd8 17. f3 Qd6 18. Nb3 Nxe4 19. fxe4 a4 20. Nc1 Bg4 21. c5 Qd2 22. Qxd2 Rxd2 23. Ra2 Rad8 24. Rxd2 Rxd2 25. h3 Bh5 26. Kh2 Bg6 27. Kg3 Bxe4 28. Rf2 Rxf2 29. Kxf2 Kf8 30. Ne2 Ke8 31. Nc3 Bc2 32. g4 Kd7 33. e4 c6 34. Ke2 g6 35. Kd2 Bb3 36. h4 f6 37. Ke3 Ke6 38. Kf3 Bc2 39. g5 hxg5 40. hxg5 f5 41. Ke3 fxe4 42. Nxe4 Kf5 43. Nd6+ Kxg5 44. Nxb7 Kh4 45. Nd8 g5 46. Nxc6 g4 47. Nxe5 g3 48. Ke2 Be4 49. Kf1 Kg5 50. c6 Kf5 51. c7 Bb7 52. Nc4 Kg4 53. Nb6 Kh3 54. Kg1 1-0

2026-03-23 Stirling host Badgers Brook and Clackmannanshire

   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

   Central League Division 2
   Stirling C             5-0  Clackmannanshire

1. Nathanael Loch   1515  1-0  Glen Wilson      1047
2. Kenny MacPherson 1506  1-0  Luke Evans       u/g
3. Harry Feather    1461  1-0  Joseph Lambert   u/g*
4. Tom Wallace      1313  1-0  Vytautas Jakstys u/g
5. Mick Bloor       1084  1-0  Roman Quinn      u/g

Stirling C had white on boards 2 and 4
* Live rating: Joseph Lambert 1007

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