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.
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.
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.
Isaac Browning reports:
In a tense and thrilling final that came down to the last board to finish, Stirling edged out Grangemouth by 4-3 to win the Cup.
In a not altogether uncommon occurrence this season, John was last to arrive but first to finish his game. Alan B had a pleasant grip on the dark squares but missed a sudden tactic that lost him a piece.
Next, William won after gaining an extra pawn against Dougie. I then drew with John after squandering a clear middlegame advantage by some questionably timed exchanges and weakening moves. Alan P pulled a point back for Grangemouth with a fine attacking win over Bill.
Sean and Pranav drew after an interesting middlegame featuring an attempt by Sean to trap the opposing queen left his own rook in a vulnerable location. Later, the game simplified to a level endgame with rook and bishop each. Graham exchanged queens early on and gradually wore down Leo to level the match at that stage.
This meant it all came to board six. Fortunately for Stirling, Richard had netted an extra exchange and despite Duncan's best efforts to find counterplay in their mutual time trouble, Richard advanced a passed pawn up the board to force resignation and win the match.
Central League Cup Final
Stirling 4-3 Grangemouth
1. Isaac Browning 2054 ½-½ John McLay 2016
2. John Iwuozor 2020 1-0 Alan Bell 1948
3. Leo Gardner 1889 0-1 Graham Hamilton 1905
4. William Spiers 1758 1-0 Dougie Will 1839
5. Sean Flanagan 1698 ½-½ Pranav Hariharan 1747
6. Richard Warcup 1637 1-0 Duncan Glassey 1722
7. Bill Cook 1544 0-1 Alan Petrie 1683
Stirling had white on the even boards
Graham provided this report on the David Brodie Trophy, the annual competition for the junior members of Stirling Chess Club
On Monday past, the juniors competed in an allegro tournament for the David Brodie Trophy. There were 14 competitors, playing five rounds with 15 minutes for each game. Some great chess was played, and the destination of the trophy wasn't decided until the last match of the last round.
Victor, having declined a draw offer which would have seen him win the competition outright, played on in a fairly closed position having just opened the h file. However, it turned out to be Elsa who managed to take advantage of this and get her Queen in behind Victor's defences to first win a piece, then chase Victor's King into the middle of the board where she delivered checkmate with less than 30 seconds remaining on her clock.
This means that the trophy is shared between Elsa, Victor, and Kai. Well done to them, and well done to all the competitors, some of whom where playing in a proper competition for the first time.
Thanks to Julie for taking the photographs, thanks to Grishma for providing the participation awards, thanks to Grishma and Jim for helping with queries, and special thanks to Marissa (David's daughter) for presenting the awards and trophy.
Thanks also to Richard for providing the crosstable.
2025/2026 Division 2 Champions, Stirling C finished their programme on a high note with a victory at Grangemouth.
Central League Division 2
Grangemouth C 1-4 Stirling C
1. Joe Johnstone *1450 1-0 Nathaniel Loch 1515
2. Sean Gray *1383 0-1 Kenny MacPherson 1506
3. Harry Leishman 847 0-1 Tom Wallace 1313
4. William Walker u/g 0-1 Toby Geyer 1302
5. Allan Mitchell u/g 0-1 David Fowler 1300
* Live Rating
Stirling had White on boards 1, 3 and 5
Bill Gray sent through the grapevine a brief report and photograph of the League winners with the trophy.
Top board looked to be heading for an endgame draw until a discovered check cost Nathaniel his remaining rook. Kenny checkmated Sean after the latter had erred.
I missed the finale of board 3 where Tom had been enjoying an edge. Young William missed a probable draw v Toby by allowing an exchange of Queens which left him in a disadvantageous endgame.
Allan lost a Bishop for two pawns early on and David's active pieces won the day against an uncastled King.
A bittersweet night for our visitors who had already sealed the division 2 title; an achievement tinged with sadness due to the absence of their much missed former captain (and friend of mine), the late Dave Hewitt.
Stirling Chess Club has won both Divisions of the Central League, but there remain a few matches left to play before the League season is wrapped up.
We start with two matches from the second tier.
Central League Division 2
Stirling E 2-3 Clackmannanshire
1. Rudra Pardhi 930 1-0 Glen Wilson 1047
2. Josh Heesom u/g 1-0 Joseph Lambert u/g
3. Samay Banakar u/g 0-1 Aiden Cameron u/g
4. Jamie Scanlon u/g 0-1 Roman Quinn u/g
5. Aarika Pawar u/g 0-1 Catherine Lambert u/g
Stirling had White on boards 3 and 4
Graham reports:
A first win of the season for Clackmannanshire - congratulations to them! It was great to see so many juniors - 8 - involved in this match.
Samay resigned early on, then Josh set a mating trap, with the lure of a Queen, for Joseph which he fell into.
Jamie missed a mate in two combination for five moves in a row before Roman swapped Queens, and the extra pawns made the difference.
Aarika got slowly strangled by Catherine before a back rank mate. Rudra - Glen will hopefully be on the club website soon.
Central League Division 2
Stirling D 2½-2½ Badgers Brook B
1. Tom Wallace 1313 ½-½ Antonio La Gamma 1269
2. David Fowler 1300 ½-½ David Lawrence 1180
3. Mick Bloor 1084 0-1 Connor George 977
4. Victor Lui 928 ½-½ Douglas Scott 973
5. Elsa Lui u/g 1-0 Peter Woollven 907
Stirling had White on boards 4 and 5
Tom reports:
Elsa secured an early point with a good win against Peter.
Mick blew a winning position and lost a rook and eventually the game.
Victor and Douglas drew a Knight and pawn ending.
I had managed to draw with Antonio in a Knight and Bishop ending with lots of blocking pawns to force the draw.
The last game was an agreed draw with Stirling's David’s clock dropping but Badgers David only had a knight left. David F should have claimed a draw with under 2 minutes left and Kenny pointed out the King and Knight could theoretically mated with David’s rook and pawn in the corner. The 2 David’s had agreed a draw so all square in the end.
In Division 1, Stirling B's last match of the season against Badgers Brook A resulted in a 3.5 -1.5 win for the visitors:
Central League Division 1
Stirling B 1½-3½ Badgers Brook A
1. Richard Warcup 1637 0-1 Kenny McGeoch 2014
2. Brad Duthie 1552 0-1 Suzy Cooke 1902
3. Bill Cook 1544 ½-½ Jonathan Rowney 1543
4. Steve Smith 1549 0-1 Graham Kerr 1482
5. Kenny MacPherson 1506 1-0 Colin Matthews 1394
Stirling had White on Boards 2 and 4
Bill reports:
Kenny MacP was a piece up fairly early on and converted to bring the first point. Suzy also won a piece and was the second game to finish.
I didn't see the end of the Board one game but apparently Richard had four pawns for two pieces but with only a couple of minutes left Kenny McG still managed to win.
I won a pawn and had possibly a winning advantage but spent some time trying a failing to see a way through and with both of us having about one minute left we agreed a draw.
In the last game to finish Steve won a pawn but Graham conjured up a mating attack.
Thanks to Badgers for a good match - slightly closer than the final score indicated.
To illustrate Bill's final point, here is the Board one game - a complicated and fluctuating encounter, which eventually ended up in the notorious KBN -v- K endgame. At this point, Kenny McG's endgame technique was up to a challenge which has proved too much for many club players and even much stronger ones.
The D Team travelled to Grangemouth where the final score-line probably did not reflect a more closely contested match.
Central League Division 2
Grangemouth 4-1 Stirling D
1. Joe Johnstone u/g* 1-0 Harry Feather 1461
2. Ethan Young u/g 1-0 Tom Wallace 1313
3. Harry Leishman 939 1-0 David Fowler 1300
4. William Walker u/g 1-0 Victor Liu 928
5. Allan Mitchell u/g 1-0 Elsa Liu* u/g
Grangemouth had White on boards 1 and 2
* Live Ratings
Joe Johnstone 1410
Elsa Liu 766
Also taking place the same night at Grangemouth was the second semi-final in the Central League Cup between the home team and an under-strength Dunfermline. The hosts had a convincing 6-1 win.
As Stirling travelled and Grangemouth were at home in the semi-finals, the final will be held at Stirling on Monday 11 May.