28 October 2013 - GM Daan Brandenburg simultaneous

On Monday night, members of Stirling Chess Club were pleased to welcome visiting Dutch GM Daan Brandenburg, a visitor to Stirling. Daan had generously agreed to play a simultaneous display. Daan had White on each board, and one hour twenty minutes on the clock. Fifteen opponents had forty minutes each. Neil Irving built up a good position with two connected passed pawns on the Queen side, before Daan sacrificed a Bishop for two pawns on the King side and launched a strong attack, until Neil succumbed on time (see game below). Robert Togneri played quickly and built up a good time advantage, but Daan eventually triumphed here as well. The final game finished when Daan forced Jonathan Blake's King into the corner to mate him.

The final score was:-
Stirling Chess Club 0 - 15 Daan Brandenburg

Many thanks to Daan for taking the time to play us, and thanks to Dave Hewitt for the organisation.

Some pictures...

 

Early days...

 

A study in concentration...

 

 

Another study in concentration...

 

 

 

 

A crowd gathers around Neil Irving's game as it looks like he may have a chance...

 

 

 

 

Gordon Allcock's final position - Daan sacrifices his rook to make sure the pawn can Queen.

 

 

Jonathan Blake finishes

 

Some games with, hopefully, more to follow.

Brandenburg - Irving

 

Brandenburg - Anderson

27 October 2013 - Scottish National Chess League

East Kilbride v Forth Valley A
Alan Jelfs   Anthony Dunlop   Lennart Koehn   Jim Robertson   Tom Brisbane	1922   1696   1678   1602   1542	1 - 0   1 - 0   ½ - ½   ½ - ½   ½ - ½	1912   1750   1733   1660   1657	Dougie Will   Steve Smith   Ian Mason   Robin Hayles   Neil Irving
		3½ - 1½

Forth Valley A v Giffnock & Clarkston A
Dougie Will   Steve Smith   Ian Mason   Graham Anderson   Robin Hayles	1912   1750   1733   1670   1660	1 - 0   0 - 1   1 - 0   ½ - ½   0 - 1	2174   1836   1712   1694   1628	Phil Giulian   Neil Thomson   Andrew McQueen   Rosie Giulian   Iain Campbell
		2½ - 2½

A couple of short (in terms of number of moves, but not, of course, time) games from the afternoon session. The first game is from board 1, where Dougie had White against Phil Giulian.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This second game is from board 4, where I had Black against Rosie Giulian.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wandering Dragons v Forth Valley B
Richard Kynoch   Elliot Sloan   Donald Heron   Richard Carter   Chris Donkin	1844   1832   1800   1736   1547	1 - 0   1 - 0   1 - 0   1 - 0   1 - 0	1496   1442   1207   1182   764	Bill Gray   Hugh Hanlon   David Brodie   Robert Leckie   Ross Heenan
		5 - 0

Forth Valley B v Dumfries & District
Neil Irving   Bill Gray   Hugh Hanlon   David Brodie   Robert Leckie	1657   1496   1442   1207   1182	½ - ½   1 - 0   0 - 1   1 - 0   ½ - ½	2011   1519   1510   1404   1151	Michael Green   Karsten Saunders   Stavros Karampatos   Nikos Argyroudis   Robert Sim
		3 - 2

This final game is from board 4, where David Brodie had Black against Nikos Argyroudis.

21 October 2013 - Central League Division 1

Badgers Brook v Stirling A
Fabio Biancalona   Andrew McHarg   Kenny McGeoch   Steven McHarg   Kenny Aiston	1927   1792   1776   1414   1448	½ - ½   0 - 1   1 - 0   1 - 0   0 - 1	1750   1810   1660   1670   1518	Steve Smith   Jim Shemilt   Robin Hayles   Graham Anderson   Dave Hewitt
		2½ - 2½

16 October 2013 - Central League Division 2

Grangemouth B v Stirling B
Bill Gray Crawford Welsh Hutch Williams David Fowler Ross Heenan	1496 1259 1112   764	0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 ½ - ½	1810 1616 1559 1518 1383	Jim Shemilt Bill Cook John Blake Dave Hewitt Gordon Allcock
		½ - 4½

On board 4, Dave (as White) continues to have success with 1 b4.

14 October 2013

As well as the league match, some Richardson Cup matches were played. In the Qualifier Final, Dave Hewitt defeated Tony Pitson. Bill Cook won against Robin Hayles, and I beat John Blake. My game against John is below, where John has White.

14 October 2013 - Central League Division 2

Stirling C v Dunfermline C
Gordon Allcock Mick Bloor Robert Togneri David Brodie Tom McKay	1383 1323 1245 1207 831	1 - 0 0 - 1 ½ - ½ 0 - 1 0 - 1	1474 1388 1342 1300 1239	Bryan O'Rourke Terry Doherty Peter Horne Matthew Stewart Derek Rodger
		1½ - 3½

7 October 2013 - Stirling Wallace v Stirling Bruce

Stirling Wallace 4 - 12 Stirling Bruce
Round 1
Robin Hayles	0 - 1	Bill Cook
Steve Smith	0 - 1	Paul Prescott
Tony Pitson	0 - 1	John Blake
Mick Bloor	0 - 1	Graham Anderson
Round 2
Robin Hayles	0 - 1	John Blake
Steve Smith	1 - 0	Bill Cook
Tony Pitson	½ - ½	Graham Anderson
Mick Bloor	0 - 1	Paul Prescott
Round 3
Robin Hayles	½ - ½	Graham Anderson
Steve Smith	½ - ½	John Blake
Tony Pitson	0 - 1	Paul Prescott
Mick Bloor	0 - 1	Bill Cook
Round 4
Robin Hayles	0 - 1	Paul Prescott
Steve Smith	½ - ½	Graham Anderson
Tony Pitson	0 - 1	Bill Cook
Mick Bloor	1 - 0	John Blake

30 September 2013 - Central League Division 1

Stirling A v Cumbernauld A
Steve Smith   Robin Hayles   Neil Irving   Bill Cook   John Blake	1750   1660   1657   1616   1559	1 - 0   1 - 0   0 - 1   ½ - ½   1 - 0	1830   1703   1715   1500   1327	Steven Kelly   Ralph Stirrat   Mark Monaghan   John Pearston   Paul Hendry
		3½ - 1½