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.

   <b>Central League Under 1500 Cup Semi-final
   Clackmannanshire        ½-4½ Stirling</b>

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.

2026-09-07 Season Opening Blitz

After the conclusion of the club's Annual General Meeting, there was time for the traditional Blitz tournament to be held over five rounds. The time-limit was 3 minutes per player plus a 2 second increment. We are grateful to Steve taking on the task of doing the pairings, without computer assistance but still with at a speed consistent with the fast playing format.

Just as happened last year, 16 players took part and Isaac won with a perfect score. William and Nathanael finished as joint runners-up and everyone got at least victory on the scoreboard.

Final Crosstable

No Name               Total    1    2    3    4    5  

1  Isaac Browning       5      8:W  4:W 10:W  2:W  6:W
2  William Spiers       4     14:W  3:W  9:W  1:L  4:W
3  Nathanael Loch       4     12:W  2:L  5:W 10:W  9:W
4  Kenny MacPherson     3      7:W  1:L 14:W 11:W  2:L
5  Graham Anderson      3     13:W  9:L  3:L  7:W 11:W
6  Sean Flanagan        3     15:W 10:L 16:W  9:W  1:L
7  Brad Duthie          2.5    4:L  8:D 15:W  5:L 12:W
8  Steve Smith          2.5    1:L  7:D 11:L 14:W 10:W
9  Harry Feather        2     16:W  5:W  2:L  6:L  3:L
10 Bill Cook            2     11:W  6:W  1:L  3:L  8:L
11 Ian Macrury          2     10:L 15:W  8:W  4:L  5:L
12 Leith Macrury        2      3:L 14:L 13:W 16:W  7:L
13 Claire Donald        2      5:L 16:L 12:L 15:W 14:W
14 Mick Bloor           1      2:L 12:W  4:L  8:L 13:L
15 Andy Hoehne          1      6:L 11:L  7:L 13:L 16:W
16 Jim Shemilt          1      9:L 13:W  6:L 12:L 15:L

Annual General Meeting 2026

The Stirling Chess Club AGM will take place at 7 p.m. on Monday 7 September at the Park Church.

Agenda

1. President’s welcome

2. Minutes of previous AGM

3. Minutes of Special General Meeting

4. Matters arising

5. Officers’ reports

5. Election of Office Bearers

6. Any other business

7. Date of next AGM

The AGM will be followed by the opening night lightning tournament. Last year we had time for five rounds at a time rate of three minutes, plus 2 seconds increment and 16 played.

Chess in the Park and next season start date

The club is now closed for the summer.

However, the usual outdoor chess will take place every Monday evening (weather permitting) in King's Park. It  begins on 6th July and will run until the end of August (either the 24th or 31st). Douglas Heatlie has taken over as the organiser.

The 2026/2027 season begins with the Club AGM on Monday 7th September at 7.00 p.m. A blitz tournament will be held after the conclusion of the AGM. 

2025-2026 Season Review

Our 2025-2026 season ended with a meeting at the Cowane Centre on Monday 1st June, which included the final of the Lindsay Cup.

The Club had been in a state of shock last November following the sudden death of Dave Hewitt who had done so much for the Club. Such was Dave's contribution that this required considerable reorganisation. Thanks to all members who rallied round to help - in particular Steve who took over as Competition Secretary and kept everything to schedule as well as continuing all his other work for the Club.

Despite everything, the season turned out to be one of the most successful in the Club's history.

Stirling won the quadruple of Divisions 1 and 2 of the Central League, the Neil Giffen Cup and the Allegro League; the A, Cup and Allegro teams captained by Isaac and the C team by Nathanael.

At the recent Central League AGM, Ian Robertson presented two of the trophies to Bill (Neil Giffen Cup) and Steve (Division 1 Trophy).

Unusually, for the first time for many years, the Under 1500 Cup was not won by Stirling, the honours going to Grangemouth who beat Dunfermline in the final.

Individual competitions

The final standings in the Richardson Cup (the Club Championship) were John 5.0; Isaac and Sean 4.0; Bill and William 2.5; Brad and Richard 1.5

Toby won the Thornton Cup by beating Gordon in the Final. Richard presented the trophy to Toby and took this photograph of him with it.

Ross won against Nathanael in the final of the Lindsay Cup. After a fluctuating encounter, though with no strong winning chances either way, Nathanael was pressing in a major-piece endgame, but missed a trap which would have resulted in at least losing Queen for Rook, so he resigned.

[Event "Lindsay Cup Final"] [Site "?"] [Date "2026.06.01"] [Round "?"] [White "Warcup, Ross"] [Black "Loch, Nathanael"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C02"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [BlackFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "65"] [GameId "2318716860829728"] [EventDate "2025.11.28"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bd7 6. dxc5 Bxc5 7. Bd3 Nge7 8. b4 Bb6 9. b5 Nb8 10. O-O a6 11. Na3 Qc7 12. Bd2 Ng6 13. Qe2 Bc5 14. Nc2 axb5 15. Ncd4 b4 16. Nb5 Bxb5 17. Bxb5+ Nc6 18. cxb4 Be7 19. a3 O-O 20. Rfe1 Rfc8 21. Bd3 Ra7 22. Bxg6 hxg6 23. Qd3 Rca8 24. Qb3 Ra4 25. Bc3 Qb6 26. Bb2 Bc5 27. Rf1 Nd4 28. Nxd4 Bxd4 29. Bxd4 Qxd4 30. Rfe1 b5 31. g3 Rc8 32. Qe3 Qc3 33. Rec1 1-0