31 March 2014 - Central League Cup

Badgers Brook v Stirling
Mark Cooke   Fabio Biancalana   Martin Clancy   Andrew McHarg   Kenny McGeoch   Stuart Ward   Graham Kerr	1942   1927   1904   1792   1776   1630   1629	½ - ½   ½ - ½   1 - 0   1 - 0   ½ - ½   1 - 0   ½ - ½	1750   1670   1660   1657   1616   1559   1458	Steve Smith   Graham Anderson   Robin Hayles   Neil Irving   Bill Cook   John Blake   Martyn Roe
		5 - 2

It would have been a big surprise if Stirling had managed to progress against such a strong team. My lucky underpants were worked overtime on board 2, after I missed a very strong reply to my attempt to get rid of an isolated d pawn. Fabio won two pawns, then in a time scramble to get to 30 moves lost a bishop. His three queenside pawns still looked to be very strong against my lonely-looking b pawn. Further analysis suggested he should probably have won.

24 March 2014 - Richardson Cup

On Monday night, John Blake (with White) and Bill Cook fought out this 87 move epic in the Richardson Cup.

Blake - Cook

24 March 2014 - Central Allegro League

Stirling Wallace 6 - 10 Dunfermline Minnows
Round 1
Robin Hayles	0 - 1	George Webb
Steve Smith	0 - 1	Jim Webster
Jim Shemilt	½ - ½	Ian Robertson
David Brodie	0 - 1	Ben Volland
Round 2
Robin Hayles	½ - ½	Jim Webster
Steve Smith	0 - 1	Ian Robertson
Jim Shemilt	1 - 0	Ben Volland
David Brodie	½ - ½	George Webb
Round 3
Robin Hayles	0 - 1	Ian Robertson
Steve Smith	1 - 0	Ben Volland
Jim Shemilt	1 - 0	George Webb
David Brodie	½ - ½	Jim Webster
Round 4
Robin Hayles	1 - 0	Ben Volland
Steve Smith	0 - 1	George Webb
Jim Shemilt	0 - 1	Jim Webster
David Brodie	0 - 1	Ian Robertson

19 March 2014 - Central League Division 1

Grangemouth A v Stirling A
Alan Bell   Dougie Will   John Smith   Ian Mason   Crawford Welsh	1946   1912   1739   1733   1259	½ - ½   1 - 0   0 - 1   1 - 0   0 - 1	1810   1750   1670   1660   1657	Jim Shemilt   Steve Smith   Graham Anderson   Robin Hayles   Neil Irving
		2½ - 2½

A tough match, the result of which does more for Stirling than Grangemouth. Again, Stirling got all their points from the White pieces. I was first to finish (game below), quickly followed by Steve resigning against Dougie on board 2. Ian then defeated Robin, leaving us 2-1 down. Neil converted his three pawn majority to a win, leaving Jim battling it out with Alan Bell on board 1. I couldn't really tell who was doing what, and Jim and Alan agreed a draw just after the time control.

The game below is from board 3, where I had White against John Smith.

Anderson - Smith

10 March 2014 - Central League Division 2

Dunfermline C v Stirling B
Bryan O'Rourke Peter Horne Matthew Stewart Derek Rodger Ben Volland	1474 1342 1300 1239 1090	½ - ½ 0 - 1 1 - 0 1 - 0 0 - 1	1810 1616 1559 1520 1518	Jim Shemilt Bill Cook John Blake Tony Pitson Dave Hewitt
		2½ - 2½

I'm a bit late with this, but below is Dave Hewitt's game from board 5 where he had White against young Ben Volland.

Hewitt - Volland

Allegro Game

The game below is Paul Prescott v Ian Mason, from the last round of last week's Allegro match against Grangemouth. This was the first game of the round to finish, and put the score at 7½ - 5½ in favour of Stirling Bruce. This left Bill, John and I just needing a draw for Bruce to retain the title.

Prescott - Mason

5 March 2014 - Stirling Bruce retain the Central Allegro League title!

With 5 wins out of 5, Stirling Bruce retain the Central Allegro League title. Once the other teams complete their fixtures, I'll post the final table.

Grangemouth Tigers 7 - 9 Stirling Bruce
Round 1
Dougie Will	1 - 0	Paul Prescott
Ross Heenan	0 - 1	John Blake
Keith Kleinman	0 - 1	Graham Anderson
Ian Mason	1 - 0	Bill Cook
Round 2
Dougie Will	0 - 1	Bill Cook
Ross Heenan	1 - 0	Graham Anderson
Keith Kleinman	0 - 1	Paul Prescott
Ian Mason	0 - 1	John Blake
Round 3
Dougie Will	1 - 0	John Blake
Ross Heenan	½ - ½	Paul Prescott
Keith Kleinman	0 - 1	Bill Cook
Ian Mason	1 - 0	Graham Anderson
Round 4
Dougie Will	1 - 0	Graham Anderson
Ross Heenan	0 - 1	Bill Cook
Keith Kleinman	½ - ½	John Blake
Ian Mason	0 - 1	Paul Prescott