2026-10-05 and 2026-10-12 E Team's ups and downs

On Monday 5th October the E Team hosted Clackmannanshire, with the visitors claiming a narrow victory.

   Central League Division 2
   Stirling E           2-3  Clackmannanshire

1. Ian Macrury     u/g  1-0  Glen Wilson       1106	
2. Rudra  Pardhi   995  0-1  Joseph Lambert    1043	
3. Leith Macrury   u/g  0-1  Luke Evans        u/g 
4. Elsa Liu        841	1-0  Roman Quinn       u/g
5. Jamie Scanlon   u/g  0-1  Catherine Lambert u/g

The following Monday, the E Team were technically the away team and this time, they were victorious by the minimum margin.

   Central League Division 2
   Stirling D             2-3  Stirling E

1. Sandy Carmichael 1358  0-1  Iain Macrury   u/g
2. Tom Wallace      1293  1-0  Mick Murphy    1057
3. David Fowler     1219  1-0  Rudra Pardhi   995
4. Kai Austin       978   0-1  Stewart Cairns 821
5. Josh Heesom      953   0-1  Leith Macrury  u/g

D Team captain Tom provided this summary:

My game on board 2 finished quickly as Mick give away a rook for nothing on move 4 and eventually resigned in a lost middlegame. Josh and Leith fought a tricky rook and pawn ending with Leith promoting a pawn to win on board 5. Stewart had a good win against Kai on board 4.

2 games left and both very close, Rudra left his queen en prise and this wasn’t immediately noticed by David but once it was off David finished the game soon after. Sandy and Iain were down to a few minutes left with Iain having a Rook and 2 connected pawns against Sandy's Bishop and Knight. The pawns were pushed forward and the win secured.

The Stirling E Team is definitely stronger this year.

2026-10-06 Honours even at Dunfermline

   Central League Division 2
   Dunfermline                  2½-2½ Stirling D            

1. Dimitris Giannakopoulos 1450  1-0  Sandy Carmichael 1358
2. Ali Shuttleworth        1234  0-1  Tom Wallace      1293
3. Daniel Lynch            1221  ½-½  David Fowler     1219 
4. Brian Easton            967   1-0  Mick Bloor       1143 
5. Barrie Dempster         931   0-1  Tom Nimmo        1169

Tom provided this game from Board 2. His queenside pressure forced an error, winning the exchange and then he finished the game off with a nice pseudo-sacrifice, exxploiting a back rank mating possibility.

[Event "Central League Div 2 26/27"] [Site "?"] [Date "2026.10.06"] [Round "?"] [White "Wallace, Tom"] [Black "Shuttleworth, Ali"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B12"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [BlackFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "63"] [GameId "2364793445888105"] [EventDate "2025.11.28"] [WhiteTeam "Stirling"] [BlackTeam "Dunfermline"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. h3 Bf5 6. Nf3 e6 7. Be2 cxd4 8. cxd4 Nge7 9. O-O Bg6 10. Nc3 Nf5 11. a3 Qb6 12. Na4 Qc7 13. b4 Be7 14. Bb2 O-O 15. Rc1 Qd8 16. Bb5 Rc8 17. Bxc6 Rxc6 18. Rxc6 bxc6 19. Qd2 Qc8 20. Rc1 Qa6 21. Nc5 Bxc5 22. Rxc5 Qb7 23. Qc3 Ne7 24. Nd2 Rb8 25. Nb3 Qa6 26. Ra5 Qb7 27. Nc5 Qc7 28. Na6 Qb6 29. Nxb8 Qxb8 30. Qc5 Nc8 31. Qxc6 Nb6 32. Rxa7 1-0

2026-09-29 Central League Under 1500 Cup Final

In this Knock-out tournament, Stirling had previously defeated Grangemouth at home and Clackmannanshire away and again travelled for the Final.

   Dunfermline              1-4  Stirling

1. Calum Newton     (1448)  1-0  Toby Geyer    (1491)
2. Douglas Rew      (1341)  0-1  Harry Feather (1471)
3. George Webb      (1283)  0-1  Steve Smith   (1460)
4. Ali Shuttleworth (1234)  0-1  Doug Heatlie  (1377)
5. Daniel Lynch     (1221)  0-1  Tom Nimmo     (1169)

Steve provides this brief report on the Cup Final victory:

Stirling came back from Dunfermline with the trophy after a 4-1 win.

Board 4 finished first and was quickly followed by 5. Dunfermline reduced the arrears when Toby's opening advantage was lost after Calum got his queen active with a check.

Board 2 was looking like an opposite coloured bishop draw for a while, but Harry somehow got it down to a won pawn ending and Stirling's win was assured. A few moments later George resigned as his passed pawns could be stopped whereas mine couldn't.

2026-09-28 Home and Away victories in Division 1

The League season got underway with the B Team hosting Grangemouth.

   Central League Division 1
   Stirling B             3-2  Grangemouth 

1. Brad Duthie      1562  0-1  Alan Bell        1939
2. Bill Cook        1552  ½-½  Dougie Will      1859
3. Kenny MacPherson 1525  1-0  Duncan Glassey   1676
4. Nathanael Loch   1525  ½-½  Pranav Hariharan 1712 
5. Toby Geyer       1491  1-0  Mark Monaghan    1706 

B team Captain Bill reports:

Despite being outgraded by a combined total of over 1000 points, Stirling managed to win an exciting and close match played in a good spirit.

My game was the first to finish - Dougie built up a attack which I fended off until we were left with a blocked position. Alan won two pieces for a rook with a nice tactic and although Brad resisted for a long time he had to resign - this was the second game to finish. Meanwhile Kenny had been building up pressure against Duncan, winning a couple of pawns and eventually delivering mate.

Nathanael appeared to be winning, a piece up with a strong attack on Pranav's exposed king, but he allowed his rook to be taken, and for a while was losing, but Pranav's king was still vulnerable and he was forced to repeat moves with perpetual check.

The last game to finish was Toby v Mark. Toby was two pawns up at one stage but allowed Mark back into the game before finally queening a pawn at which point Mark resigned.

Meanwhile, the A Team were in Broxburn and also took overall victory by the minimum margin.

   Central League Division 1
   Badgers Brook         2-3  Stirling A

1. Kenny McGeoch   2041  0-1  Isaac Browning 2053
2. Ian McLean      1883  1-0  Leo Gardner    1889
3. Stuart Ward     1866  0-1  William Spiers 1766
4. Graham Kerr     1599  1-0  Richard Warcup 1630
5. Jonathan Rowney 1512  0-1  Harry Feather  1471

2026-09-23 Under 1500 Cup and Richardson Cup Qualification

On Monday club-night, there were a number of friendly games played in the main room and junior coaching downstairs. The only competitive action was in the Richardson Cup with two semi-finals in the four-player qualifier to find the seventh player for the Club Championship.

Brad played the Fianchetto Variation against Kenny's King's Indian Defence. Kenny allowed one of his pawns to be taken, thinking it could easily be recovered but in a tactical sequence, there was a sting in the tail allowing Brad to snaffle a Rook with Kenny then immediately resigning.

In the other game Bill played the Advance Variation against Nathanael's French Defence. Bill was able to exploit a weak square on the King's side and won a pawn. Nathanael's King was caught in the centre, but he re-grouped and tried to exploit an open file for a King's side attack of his own. However, instead of just defending the threat, Bill re-routed his Queen and forced resignation with checkmate unavoidable.

On Wednesday night our Under 1500 team travelled to Alloa for the semi-final, and below is captain Steve's report on proceedings.

   Central League Under 1500 Cup Semi-final
   Clackmannanshire        ½-4½ Stirling

1. Glen Wilson       1106  ½-½  Toby Geyer    1491
2. Joseph Lambert    1043  0-1  Harry Feather 1471
3. Roman Quinn       u/g   0-1  Steve Smith   1460
4. Catherine Lambert u/g   0-1  Tom Nimmo     1169
5. Coupar Thomson    u/g   0-1  Rudra Pardhi  995

Clackmannanshire gave a debut to a 10 year old on board 5 and a game played at junior speed finished first. A mistake in the opening had cost Roman material and I managed to build on my advantage. Board 4 was fairly level until Catherine overlooked a knight fork and an aggregate win for Stirling was ensured.

Boards 1 and 2 were longer struggles. Harry eventually went a couple of pawns up and ground Joseph down. On board 1 after Glen had defended well against a dangerous king side attack it looked as if Toby would get into a won ending, but Glen spotted a check which led Toby to accept a repetition as the alternative was to lose his rook.

It was my first visit to Clackmannanshire's venue and I was impressed. It's a fine building and there was a thriving junior coaching session going on. The friendly volunteers told me about the work that's going on developing school chess in the county so there should be a good future for our game there.

The result means that Stirling will be travelling to Dunfermline for the final next Tuesday.

2026-09-15 Neil Giffen Cup Semi-Final

A closely-fought match in the 7-board Central League Knock-out Cup ended with the match score equal, with Dunfermline going through on board count.

Dunfermline                 3½-3½ Stirling         
                                               
1 Volodymyr Tushynskyi 2116  1-0  Leo Gardner      1889
2 Ian Robertson        2008  ½-½  William Spiers   1766
3 John McBride         1721  0-1  Jim Shemilt      1675
4 Euan Bell            1543  1-0  Brad Duthie      1562
5 Gordon Grieg         1571  ½-½  Bill Cook        1552
6 Gonzalo Forero       1553  ½-½  Kenny MacPherson 1525
7 George Webb          1283  0-1  Toby Geyer       1491
                              
Dunfermline had White on boards 2. 4 and 6

2026-09-14 Stirling -v- Grangemouth Under 1500 Cup

The Central League season started with the opening Under 1500 Cup Match. The League Committee decided to begin the 2026-2027 season with the Cup competitions, whereas previously they had been played in the Spring.

Stirling             3½-1½ Grangemouth

Harry Feather   1471  1-0  Bill Gray      1411
Steve Smith     1460  1-0  William Walker 1453
Douglas Heatlie 1377  ½-½  Sean Gray      1311
Tom Nimmo       1169  1-0  Jim Stallard   1293
Mick Bloor      1143  0-1  Crawford Welsh 1281

Stirling had White on boards 2 and 4

Stirling captain Steve provided this report:

Tom was first to finish [when his kingside attack led to checkmate]. He was followed by board 1 when Harry won a piece. Grangemouth pulled one back when Crawford found a winning fork.

I blundered a piece at move 8. I was fortunate that William worried too much about me getting a wheen of pawns for it and his lack of development allowed me to regain the piece with a much better position.

That left board 3 where Doug was in trouble for a while but got back to being a pawn down in an opposite coloured bishop ending which was a clear draw.

The result means that Stirling will visit Clackmannanshire next Wednesday 23rd for the semi-final.