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

2026-02-16 Lindsay Cup game

There were no Central League matches at home on Monday night, but there was action in the club tournaments. Graham sent in a game from from the Lindsay Cup where young Victor Liu beat Douglas Heatlie, despite a grading difference of over 600 points.

[Event "Lindsay Cup"] [Site "Stirling CC"] [Date "2026.02.16"] [Round "?"] [White "Liu, V.."] [Black "Heatlie, D.."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C46"] [WhiteElo "928"] [BlackElo "1563"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [BlackFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "71"] [GameId "2279677609537610"] [EventDate "2026.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Bc5 4. Bb5 Nge7 5. O-O O-O 6. d3 a6 7. Ba4 b5 8. Bb3 Bb7 9. Bg5 Kh8 10. Bd5 f6 11. Bh4 g5 12. Bg3 Nxd5 13. Nxd5 d6 14. a3 Ne7 15. Nxe7 Qxe7 16. b4 Ba7 17. c3 Rf7 18. Re1 Raf8 19. d4 h5 20. h3 h4 21. Bh2 Qd8 22. d5 f5 23. Nxe5 dxe5 24. Qh5+ Kg7 25. Bxe5+ Rf6 26. Qxg5+ Kf7 27. exf5 Rg8 28. Qh5+ Kf8 29. Bxf6 Rxg2+ 30. Kxg2 Qxd5+ 31. Kf1 Qg2+ 32. Ke2 Qxf2+ 33. Kd3 Qg3+ 34. Kc2 Qg2+ 35. Re2 Be4+ 36. Kd2 {Black resigns.} 1-0

2026-02-09 A double-header against Dunfermline

   Central League Division 1
   Stirling B           3-2  Dunfermline A 

1. Richard Warcup 1637  0-1  Ian Robertson    2059 
2. Brad Duthie    1552  1-0  Gregor McCluskey 1571
3. Ross Warcup    1494  1-0  Calum Smith      1599
4. Bill Cook      1544  0-1  Euan Bell        1429
5. Steve Smith    1549  1-0  Gonzalo Ferero   1556

Stirling were white on Boards 2 and 5

Bill provided these comments on the match.

Dunfermline were missing their strongest player, Volodymyr. Dunfermline had two promising young players and Stirling a fast improving one.

Ross won quickly in only about 20 moves. I didn't see much of the top board and that finished fairly quickly to make it 1-1.

Brad established a pawn wedge and eventually won Gregor's queen and his pawn was going to promote when Black resigned.

Steve and Gonzalo had what looked like a fairly level game but after Steve won a pawn he went on to win.

Euan sacrificed a piece against me and I had to give it back to prevent mate, but still two pawns down. I did get back to equality but started to get short of time and Euan took advantage well.

A closely fought match played in a good spirit.

   Central League Division 2
   Stirling C             4-1  Dunfermline B 

1. Douglas Heatlie  1563  0-1  Calum Newton            1508
2. Nathanael Loch   1515  1-0  Dimitris Giannakopoulos 1400
3. Kenny MacPherson 1506  1-0  Daniel Lynch (default)  1239
4. Toby Geyer       1302  1-0  Glynis Grant            1180
5. Kelechi Nwosu    u/g   1-0  Brian Easton            999

Stirling were white on Boards 1 and 3

Nathanael provided these comments on the match.

Dunfermline B had some player troubles as their A-team needed some B-team players to play that same evening. Daniel Lynch sadly couldn't make it, hence Kenny -v- Daniel was a defaulted result.

I was quite engrossed in my game until the end, so I missed other people's matches in full. On board 1, I believe Calum won with a cheeky knight fork picking up a full queen.

On board 2, I thought I was doing quite well the whole game, but the engine showed that I won by the only winning line for me, all others completely losing! But a difficult positional game for both sides, so details are expected to be missed.

On board 4, it looked like an equal endgame to me, two bishops and a queen, equal pawns on both sides. Unfortunately I didn't see how this ended.

On board 5, Kelechi did well out the opening having a full rook by the time I was observing. But Brian did well to actually win material back with some knight tricks. Sadly Kelechi had about 4 pawns extra on top of the piece advantage. But a good try from Brian; without the pawns, it certainly would have been a clutch!

2026-02-02 A busy Monday night, home and away

At the first club meeting of the month, our A team were in action against the Grangemouth B team.

Here are Isaacs's comments on the match:

A well-fought match ultimately went the way of the visitors despite Stirling being able to put out our strongest team so far this season.

Boards 3,4, and 5 all came to a conclusion in quick succession. Dougie broke through with a queenside attack against Leo, William steered things and wore down Nicolas. The battle of the two Seans saw an interesting piece sacrifice that didn't immediately break through but the resulting pressure proved too much for Stirling's Sean.

John and Daniel also played out a very interesting game with significant complications. Eventually Daniel's passed d-pawn and kingside initiative outshone John's two queenside passers.

This result clinched the match and, despite my best efforts I was unable to overcome Alan's resistance and had to settle for a draw.

Congratulations to Grangemouth B, a fine win against the grading deficit!

   Central League Division 1
   Stirling A          1½-3½ Grangemouth B

1. Isaac Browning 2054  ½-½  Alan Bell      1948
2. John Iwuozor   2020  0-1  Daniel Kitaev  1927
3. Leo Gardner    1889  0-1  Dougie Will    1839
4. William Spiers 1758  1-0  Nicolas Kitaev 1121
5. Sean Flanagan  1698  0-1  Sean Gray      u/g

Stirling A had white on boards 1 and 4.

There were also games in the internal Lindsay Club. Graham sent in the moves from two games, both wins by our ever-improving juniors.

[Event "Lindsay Cup"] [Site "Stirling CC"] [Date "2026.02.02"] [Round "?"] [White "Woodhouse, Chris"] [Black "Pardhi, Rudra"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B23"] [BlackElo "930"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [BlackFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "30"] [GameId "2273968022925344"] [EventDate "2026.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bc4 d6 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. O-O Nf6 6. h3 Bh5 7. d3 a6 8. Nd5 Nd4 9. c3 Nxf3+ 10. gxf3 Qc8 11. Nb6 Qxh3 12. Qa4+ Kd8 13. Re1 Bxf3 14. Qd7+ Nxd7 15. Nxa8 Qg2# 0-1

[Event "Lindsay Cup"] [Site "Stirling CC"] [Date "2026.02.02"] [Round "?"] [White "Liu, Elsa"] [Black "MacPherson, Kenny"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B30"] [BlackElo "1506"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [BlackFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "33"] [GameId "2273968221392932"] [EventDate "2026.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Bc4 Bg7 5. O-O e6 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nb5 e5 8. Ng5 Nh6 9. Nd6+ Ke7 10. Ngxf7 Qg8 11. Nxh8 Qf8 12. Nhf7 Nxf7 13. Nxf7 h6 14. c3 d6 15. b3 Be6 16. Nxd6 Kxd6 17. Ba3+ {Black resigns.} 1-0

Meanwhile, in Broxburn, two Stirling teams had travelled there to face two from the Badgers Brook club. The out-graded Stirling B team came through some late drama to clinch a win in their match so that the night ended with a match honours even between the clubs.

   Central League Division 1
   Badgers Brook A     2-3  Stirling B

1. Kenny McGeoch 2014  1-0  Brad Duthie	   1552	
2. Stuart Ward   1868  ½-½  Richard Warcup 1637		
3. David James   1517  ½-½  Ross Warcup	   1494	
4. Mark	Brown    1456  0-1  Bill Cook      1544
5. Corey Dolan	 1198* 0-1  Steve Smith	   1549	

* Live Rating		 
Badgers Brook A had white on boards 1 and 4

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

1. Graham Kerr     1482  1-0  Harry Feather   1461
2. Collin Matthews 1394  ½-½  Tom Wallace     1313
3. Kevin Brown     1318  ½-½  Kai Austin      978
4. David Lawrence  1180  1-0  Victor Liu      951
5. Peter Woollven  907   1-0  William Feather 905

2025-01-26 Match between the Stirling D and E teams

   Central League Division 2
   Stirling D       3-2  Stirling E

1. Harry Feather  1461  1-0  Mick Murphy     1087
2. David Fowler   1300  0-1  Mick Bloor      1084
3. Tom Wallace    1313  1-0  Rudra Pardhi    930
4. Kai Austin     946   1-0  William Feather 875
5. Andreas Hoelin u/g   0-1  Chris Woodhouse u/g  

Tom Wallace's comments on course of the match:

Kai finished 1st quite quickly and I managed to get the better of Rudra after his Kingside attack.

Chris beat Andreas on board 5 and Harry beat Mick M in a tight game on board 1.

Mick B sacked a knight on g5 to set up a Kingside onslaught which eventually paid off.

[Event "Stirling D v Stirling E"] [Site "Stirling CC"] [Date "2026.01.26"] [Round "?"] [White "Bloor, M."] [Black "Fowler, D."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B06"] [WhiteElo "1084"] [BlackElo "1300"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [BlackFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "63"] [GameId "2271377084424222"] [EventDate "2026.??.??"] 1. e4 g6 2. d4 d6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Nf3 Nd7 5. Bc4 e6 6. Be3 Ne7 7. Qd2 h6 8. h4 b6 9. O-O-O Bb7 10. Ng5 hxg5 11. hxg5 Nc6 12. Rxh8+ Bxh8 13. Rh1 Bg7 14. Rh7 Kf8 15. f4 Kg8 16. Rh3 Na5 17. Bd3 c5 18. d5 e5 19. f5 Bc8 20. Qf2 c4 21. Be2 Nc5 22. Qh4 gxf5 23. Qh7+ Kf8 24. exf5 f6 25. Rg3 b5 26. gxf6 Qxf6 27. Rg6 Qf7 28. Bh6 Bxh6+ 29. Qxh6+ Ke8 30. Qh8+ Qf8 31. Rg8 Nd7 32. Bh5+ {Black resigns.} 1-0