19 December 2016 - Keddie Cup

The Cake Defence

Twenty five people took part in Monday night's Keddie Cup. Kudos to Mrs Cook for providing the chess piece cupcakes! The Cake Defence was much in evidence, as was the Mince Pie Attack, and it was also good to see Lucky Christmas Jumper sacrifice. Carl and I made it through to the Final.

Having already beaten Carl in the group stage (the only person to have done so), I was frankly sceptical of lightning striking twice. So it proved, with Carl making mincemeat of my poorly structured attack, and even having time to make several mince pies out of it before I resigned.

Congratulations to Carl, seen here receiving the trophy from president Tony Pitson, and a special thanks to Dave Hewitt for all his organisation.

The club will reconvene on Monday 9 January 2017. Merry Christmas!

12 December 2016 - Robert Togneri Trophy

Congratulations to Kyle Kirkpatrick, winner of the club allegro on Monday with 4½/5. Kyle is seen (having to crouch, to fit into the photo) above receiving the trophy from Robert.

Time control: 15 minutes each for all moves

	Name	Grade	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Place
1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18	Graham Anderson   James Warwick   Steve Smith   Bill Cook   Tony Pitson   Dave Hewitt   Gordon Allcock   David Brodie   Kyle Kirkpatrick   Robert Togneri   Robert Leckie   Tom Wallace   Nick Bloor   Zihan Kang   Idris Benwell   Alex Brimlow   Craig Thomson   Joe Hirst	1689   1035   1637   1567   1524   1516   1467   1396   1360   1253   1250   1243   1206   803   362   344   u/g   u/g	1 W 10   0 B 11   1 W 12   1 B 13   1 W 14   1 B 15   1 W 16   1 B 17   1 W 18   0 B 1   1 W 2   0 B 3   0 W 4   0 B 5   0 W 6   0 B 7   0 W 8   0 B 9	1 B 6   0 W 13   2 B 8   2 W 7   1½ B 9   2 W 1   1 B 4   1 W 3   1½ W 5   ½ W 11   1½ B 10   1 W 18   1 B 2   1 W 17   1 B 16   0 W 15   0 W 14   0 W 12	1 W 12   0 B 17   2½ W 4   2½ B 3   2 W 6   2½ B 5   1 W 14   2 B 13   2½ B 11   1½ B 15   1½ W 9   2 B 1   1 W 8   2 B 7   1 W 10   0 B 18   1 W 2   1 W 16	2 W 17   1 Bye   3½ B 6   2½ W 9   3 B 12   2½ W 3   2 B 18   2 W 11   3½ B 4   2½ W 13   2½ B 8   2 W 5   1 B 10   -   -   -   1 B 1   1 W 17	2 B 8   -   3½ W 9   3 B 5   3½ W 4   2½ B 11   3 W 10   3 W 1   4½ B 3   2½ B 7   3½ W 6   2½ B 13   1½ W 12   -   -   -   1 W 18   2 B 17	=11   =15   =2   =5   =2   =8   =5   =5   1   =8   =2   =8   14   =11   =15   18   =15   =11

7 December 2016 - Central League Division 2

Grangemouth B v Stirling C
Crawford Welsh Scott McKenzie David Fowler Scott Dickson	1272 1070 1010 977	0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 ½ - ½ 1d - 0d	1387 1381 1267 1163	Craig Manson David Brodie Robert Togneri Mick Bloor
		1½ - 3½

A fine win for the C team, even with the default when Carl was unable to make it.

5 December 2016 - Central League Division 2

Stirling B v Dunfermline B
Tony Pitson Robert Leckie Dave Hewitt Gordon Allcock Martyn Roe	1553 1469 1474 1454 1428	½ - ½ 0 - 1 ½ - ½ 0 - 1 1 - 0	1642 1568 1512 1385 1196	Jamie O'Connor Calum Smith Stewart Brisbane Peter Horne Mark McLintock
		2 - 3

28 November 2016 - Central League Division 1

Stirling A v Cumbernauld A
Jim Shemilt   Graham Anderson   Steve Smith   Bill Cook   Tony Pitson	1756   1692   1676   1657   1553	0 - 1   ½ - ½   0 - 1   1 - 0   0 - 1	1729   1654   1624   1556   1284	Ralph Stirrat   David Johnston   Mark Monaghan   George Thomson   Steven Monaghan
		1½ - 3½

Jim lost first, uncharacteristically on time. I thought Tony had won, but he hadn't, and with Bill winning I thought we were winning 2-1. I performed the great escape against David, having been losing from move 5 onwards despite a 30 minute time advantage, and salvaged a draw. Steve finished with a loss, and only then did I realise what the match score was.

24 November 2016 - Central League Division 2

Cumbernauld B v Stirling B
		0d - 1d 0d - 1d 0d - 1d 0d - 1d 0d - 1d	1553 1474 1469 1428 1381	Tony Pitson Dave Hewitt Robert Leckie Martyn Roe David Brodie
		0d - 5d

21 November 2016 - Central League Division 2

Stirling C v Badgers Brook B
David Brodie Kyle Kirkpatrick Tom Wallace Robert Togneri Kang Zihan	1381 1360 1243 1267 803	0 - 1 1 - 0 0 - 1 1 - 0 0 - 1	1517 1306   1188	Graham Kerr Dylan Gillies Mark Brown Gordon Walker Ricky Payne
		2 - 3

It's worth mentioning Kyle's win on board 2, chasing the Black King on to c4, then mating. Very nice.

16 November 2016 - Central League Division 1

Grangemouth A v Stirling A
Uby Archibong   Alan Bell   Graham Hamilton   David Wallace   Scott Binnie	2196   1986   1938   1859   1692	½ - ½   1 - 0   1 - 0   1 - 0   1 - 0	1756   1692   1676   1474   1454	Jim Shemilt   Graham Anderson   Steve Smith   Dave Hewitt   Gordon Allcock
		4½ - ½

Bit of a drubbing, the only bright spot being Jim's continuing good form and results on board 1.

14 November 2016 - Central League Division 2

Stirling C v Dunfermline B
Craig Manson David Brodie Kyle Kirkpatrick Tom Wallace Mick Bloor	1387 1381 1360 1243 1163	0 - 1 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0 0 - 1	1642 1512 1490 1385 1196	Jamie O'Connor Stewart Brisbane Douglas Rew Peter Horne Mark McLintock
		3 - 2

31 October 2016 - Central League Division 1

Stirling A v Dunfermline A
Jim Shemilt   Graham Anderson   Steve Smith   Bill Cook   Tony Pitson	1756   1692   1676   1657   1553	1 - 0   0 - 1   1 - 0   1 - 0   1 - 0	2024   1662   1647   1626   1512	Ian Robertson   Michael Roy   Stuart Black   Ben Volland   Stewart Brisbane
		4 - 1

30 October 2016 - Scottish National Chess League

Division 1 - Forth Valley A v Giffnock & Clarkston
Dougie Will   Neil Irving   Jim Shemilt   Graham Anderson   Steve Smith	1913   1845   1756   1692   1676	½ - ½   ½ - ½   1 - 0   0 - 1   1 - 0	2054   1926   1902   1750   1396	Neil Thomson   Rosie Giulian   Loukas Kefalas   Andrew McQueen   David McDonald
		3 - 2

Jim's game from board 3 is worth looking at...

Shemilt - Kefalas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Division 1 - Edinburgh 1 v Forth Valley A
Neil Berry (FM)   Colin Georghiu   Julius Schwartz   Raj Bhopal   William Rutherford	2336   2300   2060   1958   1912	1 - 0   1 - 0   1 - 0   ½ - ½   ½ - ½	1913   1845   1756   1692   1676	Dougie Will   Neil Irving   Jim Shemilt   Graham Anderson   Steve Smith
		4 - 1

Division 3 - Perth v Forth Valley B
Martin Gourlay   David Hall   Michael Roth   John Warren   Ian Washington	1880   1819   1633   1465   1427	1 - 0   1 - 0   1 - 0   ½ - ½   1 - 0	1657   1527   1469   1394   1381	Bill Cook   Bill Gray   Robert Leckie   Hugh Hanlon   David Brodie
		4½ - ½

Division 3 - Forth Valley B v Pentland Hills
Bill Gray   Robert Leckie   Hugh Hanlon   David Brodie   David Fowler	1527   1469   1394   1381   1010	0 - 1   0 - 1   0 - 1   ½ - ½   0 - 1	1790   1735   1560   1376   1319	David Begg   Robin Bauld   Charles Nisbet   Walter Pearson   Andrew Clark
		½ - 4½

24 October 2016 - Central Allegro League

Stirling Bruce 2½ - 13½ Dunfermline Minnows
Round 1
Graham Anderson	0 - 1	Jim Webster
Bill Cook	0 - 1	Calum Smith
Robert Leckie	1 - 0	George Webb
Zihan Kang	0 - 1	Ian Robertson
Round 2
Graham Anderson	1 - 0	Ian Robertson
Bill Cook	0 - 1	Jim Webster
Robert Leckie	0 - 1	Calum Smith
Zihan Kang	0 - 1	George Webb
Round 3
Graham Anderson	0 - 1	George Webb
Bill Cook	0 - 1	Ian Robertson
Robert Leckie	0 - 1	Jim Webster
Dave Hewitt	0 - 1	Calum Smith
Round 4
Graham Anderson	0 - 1	Calum Smith
Bill Cook	0 - 1	George Webb
Robert Leckie	0 - 1	Ian Robertson
Dave Hewitt	½ - ½	Jim Webster

It may be Hallowe'en next Monday, but tonight was a real fright night for Bruce. It was scary how quickly my pieces dropped off the board...the lucky underpants are getting binned.

Game

Thanks to Steve for providing the game below and analysis from last week's match at Badgers Brook. Steve had White.

Smith - Biancalana

20 October 2016 - Central League Division 2

Stirling C v Cumbernauld B
David Brodie Robert Togneri Tom Wallace Zihan Kang Tom McKay	1381 1267 1243 803 765	½ - ½ 0 - 1 1 - 0 1 - 0 0 - 1	1330 1114 716 803 792	Derek McAteer Ulugbek Adurahmanov George Ford Martin Murphy Euan Wallace
		2½ - 2½

Although this was a home match for Stirling, it was played at Cumbernauld. Thanks to Dave for the game below, the board 4 clash between Martin Murphy (White) and Carl. This is the first, I hope of many, for Stirling, for young Carl.

Murphy - Kang

Games

Thanks to Dave, Jim and Robert for providing the games below. More to follow soon, as well. The first game provided below is from Stirling B v Granegemouth B match last week, between Hugh Hanlon (White) and Dave Hewitt.

Hanlon - Hewitt

The next game is from the Badgers Brook A v Stirling A match, the board 5 clash between Steven McHarg (White) and Robert Leckie.

McHarg - Leckie

The final game in this post is from the same match, the board 1 clash between Jim Shemilt (White) and Kenny McGeoch.

Shemilt - McGeoch

17 October 2016 - Central League Division 1

Badgers Brook A v Stirling A
Kenny McGeoch   Mark Cook   Fabio Biancalana   Andrew McHarg   Steven McHarg	2060   1949   1879   1854   1698	½ - ½   1 - 0   0 - 1   1 - 0   0 - 1	1756   1692   1676   1474   1469	Jim Shemilt   Graham Anderson   Steve Smith   Dave Hewitt   Robert Leckie
		2½ - 2½

10 October 2016 - Richardson Cup

The club championship got under way tonight, as I played the favourite Shivan. After about 10 moves, I thought I was doing OK, but my time and the game quickly slipped away. To add insult to injury, he 'stole' my pen...

Murdochy - Anderson

10 October 2016 - Central League Division 2

Stirling B v Grangemouth B
Tony Pitson Dave Hewitt Robert Leckie Gordon Allcock Martyn Roe	1553 1474 1469 1454 1428	½ - ½ 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0	1537 1394 1010 1070 977	Bill Gray Hugh Hanlon David Fowler Scott McKenzie Scott Dickson
		4½ - ½

26 September 2016 - Central Allegro League

Stirling Bruce 11½ - 4½ Stirling Wallace
Round 1
Graham Anderson	½ - ½	Steve Smith
Dave Hewitt	1 - 0	Gordon Allcock
Robert Leckie	0 - 1	David Brodie
Zihan Kang	1 - 0	Robert Togneri
Round 2
Graham Anderson	1 - 0	Robert Togneri
Dave Hewitt	0 - 1	Steve Smith
Robert Leckie	1 - 0	Gordon Allcock
Zihan Kang	1 - 0	David Brodie
Round 3
Graham Anderson	½ - ½	David Brodie
Dave Hewitt	1 - 0	Robert Togneri
Robert Leckie	1 - 0	Steve Smith
Zihan Kang	½ - ½	Gordon Allcock
Round 4
Graham Anderson	1 - 0	Gordon Allcock
Dave Hewitt	1 - 0	David Brodie
Robert Leckie	1 - 0	Robert Togneri
Zihan Kang	0 - 1	Steve Smith

19 September 2016 - Central League Division 2

Stirling B v Stirling C
Tony Pitson Dave Hewitt Robert Leckie Gordon Allcock Martyn Roe	1553 1474 1469 1454 1428	1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0	1381 1267 1243 765	David Brodie Robert Togneri Tom Wallace Tom McKay Joe Hirst
		5 - 0

15 September 2016 - Central League Division 1

Cumbernauld A v Stirling A
Steven Kelly   Ralph Stirrat   David Johnson   Mark Monaghan   George Thomson	1840   1729   1654   1624   1556	½ - ½   ½ - ½   1 - 0   1 - 0   ½ - ½	1756   1692   1676   1657   1553	Jim Shemilt   Graham Anderson   Steve Smith   Bill Cook   Tony Pitson
		3½ - 1½

Several of the Stirling players were complaining of rustiness before the game. Jim dealt with this best, by agreeing a draw in just 20 minutes. Next to finish was Bill, blundering against Mark. George and Tony agreed a draw, with things looking bleak for Stirling. Steve then resigned against David, after which Ralph agreed a draw. I thought I'd done OK, but Stockfish disagrees - see below.

Stirrat - Anderson

Grading List 2016/17

Name	Grade	Allegro Grade
Paul Prescott   Shivan Murdochy   Neil Irving   Jim Shemilt   Graham Anderson   Steve Smith   Bill Cook   John Blake   Tony Pitson   Dave Hewitt   Robert Leckie   Gordon Allcock   Martyn Roe   Craig Manson   David Brodie   Jonathan Blake   Robert Togneri   Mick Bloor   Michael Cook   David Little   Sam Cook   Kang Zihan (Carl)   Tom McKay   Carrick Simpson   James Warwick   Drystan Simpson	1975   1910   1845   1756   1692   1676   1657   1574   1553   1474   1469   1454   1428   1387   1381   1289   1267   1163   1102   1004   898   803   765   634   596   436	1812   1920   1750   1688   1689   1637   1567   1665   1524   1516   1469   1467   -   1169   1396   -   1253   1206   1472   1299   841   803   -   665   1035   -

20 August 2016 - Smith Art Gallery Open Day

On Saturday, at the Smith Art Gallery, some members from Stirling Chess Club braved the rain to play on the outdoor board. Thanks to Mick for the photos below. By his own admission, he needs to take some photography lessons, as he's managed to edit out the watching crowds. But not Steve's umbrella...

30 May 2016 - Finals night on the final night

Two finals were contested on the final night of this season. On the far board, Bill Cook (left) had White against Tony Pitson for the Lindsay Cup. On the near board, Craig Manson had White against Robert Togneri for the Thornton Cup. This game played out as follows...

Togneri - Manson

Congratulations to Craig! I did take a photo of him being presented the trophy, but it's too blurry to use.

In the other game, Tony triumphed over Bill. I don't have a note of that game, but I do have a photo of Tony presented his trophy. Well done Tony!

The club is now closed for the summer - we reconvene with the AGM on the first Monday in September.

Photos

Thanks to Gordon Walker (of Badgers Brook) and Bill Cook for the photos, below, of the winning Under 1500 team with their trophy.

L-R: Martyn Roe, Craig Manson, David Brodie, Gordon Allcock, Dave Hewitt

L-R: Robert Togneri, David Brodie, Mick Bloor

11 May 2016 - Under 1500 Cup Final

Badgers Brook v Stirling
Kenny Aiston Robert McCord Derek Raffan Gordon Walker Dylan Gillies	1442 1361 1251 1142	0 - 1 0 - 1 ½ - ½ 0 - 1 1 - 0	1486 1460 1458 1306 1301	Dave Hewitt Gordon Allcock Martyn Roe Craig Manson David Brodie
		1½ - 3½

Congratulations to the Under 1500 team on winning this trophy for the seventh time in nine years!

Thanks to Dave Hewitt for providing the game and analysis below, where he had White against Kenny Aiston.

Hewitt - Aiston

9 May 2016 - Robert Togneri Trophy

Congratulations to Steve Smith and Tony Pitson, joint winners of the club allegro on Monday with 4½/5. Steve (left) and Tony (right) are seen above receiving the trophy from Robert Togneri (centre).

Time control: 15 minutes each for all moves

	Name	Grade	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Place
1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12	Graham Anderson   Steve Smith   Tony Pitson   Dave Hewitt   David Brodie   Gordon Allcock   Robert Togneri   Mick Bloor   James Warwick   Sam Cook   Michael Cook   Zihan Kong	1630   1600   1473   1448   1389   1371   1238   1215   1075   (488)   u/g   u/g	1 W 7   1 B 8   1 W 9   1 B 10   0 W 11   1 B 12   0 B 1   0 W 2   0 B 3   0 W 4   1 B 5   0 W 6	2 B 4   2 W 6   2 B 11   1 W 1   0 B 9   1 B 2   1 W 10   0 B 12   1 W 5   0 B 7   1 W 3   1 W 8	2 W 2   3 B 1   3 W 4   1 B 3   1 bye   2 W 9   2 B 11   1 W 10   1 B 6   0 B 8   1 W 7   -	2 B 6   3½ W 3   3½ B 2   2 W 5   1 B 4   3 W 1   2 W 8   2 B 7   1 W 11   1 Bye   2 B 9   -	3 B 10   4½ B 11   4½ W 6   3 B 8   2 W 7   3 B 3   2 B 5   2 B 4   2 Bye   1 W 1   2 W 2   -	=3   =1   =1   =3   =6   =3   =6   =6   =6   =11   =6   =11

Thanks to Yong for this photo of the first round.

The can of Diet Coke didn't get an opponent, and stormed off in the huff.

28 April 2016 - Under 1500 Cup

Cumbernauld v Stirling
Ronnie Wallace Derek MacAteer Steven Monaghan David Flaherty George Ford	1455 1336 1181 1097 758	½ - ½ 0 - 1 ½ - ½ 0 - 1 0 - 1	1486 1460 1301 1219 1183	Dave Hewitt Gordon Allcock David Brodie Robert Togneri Mick Bloor
		1 - 4

Thanks to Dave for the game below, where he had White against Ronnie Wallace.

Hewitt - Wallace

20 April 2016 - Central League Division 2

Grangemouth B v Stirling C
Bill Gray Crawford Welsh David Fowler Scott Dickson Scott McKenzie	1460 1350 862	1 - 0 1 - 0 0 - 1 1 - 0 1 - 0	1301 1245	David Brodie Robert Togneri Michael Cook James Warwick Sam Cook
		4 - 1

18 April 2016 - Central League Division 2

Dunfermline B v Stirling B
Stewart Brisbane Douglas Rew Calum Smith Bryan O'Rourke Peter Horne	1530 1521 1529 1359 1357	0 - 1 ½ - ½ 1 - 0 0 - 1 1 - 0	1583 1562 1486 1460 1458	John Blake Tony Pitson Dave Hewitt Gordon Allcock Martyn Roe
		2½ - 2½

Dave Hewitt writes:- Congraulations to Dunfermline B, who drew with Stirling B on Monday evening and thus won division 2 - the two teams are both on 16 match points but Dunfermline have one more game point (and still have a match to play, against Grangemouth B next week). It was a hard-fought match, in which Stirling went two-up courtesy of a fine win by Gordon against Bryan and then a win by the back-in-form John against Stewart.

The other boards weren't looking so good for Stirling, however - I'd dropped an exchange in the opening against Calum and was trying and failing to drum up counterplay, Tony had an edge against Douglas but it looked fairly drawish, while Martyn - making a rare appearance for Stirling - was a piece down but had strong central pawns against Peter.

Tony and Douglas eventually drew, and Martyn now seemed to be close to winning but had next to no time left - he was looking for perpetuals but nothing appeared and in due course his flag fell. That just left me trying to fight my lost cause, but Calum's technique was solid and he eventually reduced it to a trivial pawn ending with 90 seconds left, whereupon I gave up.

Thanks to John Blake for provding the game and analysis below, where John had White against Stewart Brisbane.

Blake - Brisbane

11 April 2016 - Central Allegro League

The final fixtures of the Allegro League were played on Monday night. Dunfermline Minnows met Grangemouth Tigers, in a match which would decide the destination of the trophy, and Stirling Wallace met Dunfermline Sharks. Wallace, with a team of Steve Smith, Jim Shemilt, Gordon Allcock and David Brodie defeated the Sharks 8½-7½ for their first victory of the season.

Minnows defeated Tigers 11-5, which sees Minnows claim the title by a half board point from Stirling Bruce. Congratulations to the Minnows! The final league table is below.

	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Game Points	Match Points
Dunfermline Minnows   Stirling Bruce   Grangemouth Tigers   Stirling Wallace   Dunfermline Sharks	4   4   4   4   4	3   3   3   1   0	0   0   0   0   0	1   1   1   3   4	38   37½   36   23½   25	6   6   6   2   0

6 April 2016 - Central League Cup

Knowing that Grangemouth would be at pretty much full strength, and missing our top board Shivan, it seemed before the game that Stirling's best hope of victory lay in hoping that the janny wouldn't turn up.

Grangemouth v Stirling
Uby Archibong   Alan Bell   Graham Hamilton   Dougie Will   John Smith   Ian Mason   Bill Gray	2224   1956   1944   1946   1737   1719   1460	0 - 1   ½ - ½   ½ - ½   1 - 0   0 - 1   1 - 0   1 - 0	1778   1702   1671   1666   1583   1562   1486	Jim Shemilt   Steve Smith   Graham Anderson   Bill Cook   John Blake   Tony Pitson   Dave Hewitt
		4 - 3

As it turned out, it was a very close match, and had it been a league match Stirling would have won. I think John finished first, winning against John Smith. This was followed by two wins for Grangemouth on the bottom two boards, putting the score at 2-1. Steve and I agreed draws at pretty much the same time, after which Bill lost to Dougie. This gave Grangemouth the victory, before all attention turned to the game on board 1. Jim got two passed pawns to the 7th and 6th, before Queening one, and, after checking that Jim had enough to mate him, Uby resigned. Grangemouth go on to play Badgers Brook in the final.

The game below is from board 3, where I had White against Graham Hamilton.

Anderson - Hamilton

The game blow is from board 5, where John Blake had White against John Smith.

Blake - Smith

17 March 2016 - Central League Division 2

Cumbernauld B v Stirling B
Derek McAteer Steven Monaghan Brian Kerr Martin Murphy Luke Joyce	1336 1181 1094 485 657	0 - 1 0 - 1 ½ - ½ 1 - 0 1 - 0	1583 1562 1486 1183	John Blake Tony Pitson Dave Hewitt Mick Bloor Michael Cook
		2½ - 2½

Although this was played at Cumbernauld, this was treated as a home fixture for Stirling.

14 March 2016 - Central League Division 2

Stirling C v Badgers Brook B
David Brodie Robert Togneri Mick Bloor Craig Thompson Sam Cook	1301 1219 1183   488	1 - 0 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1	1577 1251 1142	Dave McGilvray Derek Raffan Gordon Walker Mark Brown Dylan Gillies
		1 - 4

7 March 2016 - Central League Cup

Stirling v Cumbernauld
Shivan Murdochy   Jim Shemilt   Steve Smith   Graham Anderson   Bill Cook   Tony Pitson   Dave Hewitt	1912   1778   1702   1671   1666   1562   1486	1 - 0   ½ - ½   0 - 1   1 - 0   1 - 0   1 - 0   1 - 0	1738   1630   1570   1543   1336   1181   1097	Mark Monaghan   Ralph Stirrat   David Johnstone   George Thomson   Derek McAteer   Steven Monaghan   David Flaherty
		5½ - 1½

It's been 10 years since Stirling won a match in the Central League Cup, and I believe it's the first time I personally have got a result in this competition - my game below.

Anderson - Thomson

3 March 2016 - Central League Division 2

Cumbernauld B v Stirling C
Derek McAteer Brian Kerr Ulugbele Abdurahmanov George Ford Aiden Connor	1336 1094   758 666	½ - ½ 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1	1306 1301 1183   488	Craig Manson David Brodie Mick Bloor Michael Cook Sam Cook
		½ - 4½

2 March 2016 - Central League Division 2

Grangemouth B v Stirling B
Bill Gray Hugh Hanlon Crawford Welsh David Fowler Keith Kleinman	1460 1406 1350 862	½ - ½ 1 - 0 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1	1583 1562 1502 1486 1460	John Blake Tony Pitson Robin Hayles Dave Hewitt Gordon Allcock
		1½ - 3½

29 February 2016 - Richardson Cup

Thanks to John Blake for providing this game from his Richardson Cup clash with Paul Prescott. John had Black.

Prescott - Blake

29 February 2016 - Central League Division 2

Badgers Brook B v Stirling C
Dave McGilvray Robert McChord Derek Raffan Dylan Gillies Mark Brown	1573 1361 1251	0 - 1 0 - 1 1 - 0 0 - 1 1 - 0	1306 1301 1219   488	Craig Manson David Brodie Robert Togneri Michael Cook Sam Cook
		2 - 3

29 February 2016 - Central League Division 1

Stirling A v Dunfermline A
Shivan Murdochy   Jim Shemilt   Steve Smith   Graham Anderson   Bill Cook	1912   1778   1702   1671   1666	½ - ½   1 - 0   ½ - ½   ½ - ½   1 - 0	2085   1607   1543   1530   1497	Ian Robertson   Stuart Black   Ben Volland   Stewart Brisbane   Matthew Stewart
		3½ - 1½

The final fixture of the season saw Stirling run out winners. Jim finished first with a win over Stuart, before Shivan and Ian drew on top board in a game I didn't see, and probably wouldn't have understood even if I had. I drew with Stewart a pawn up but well down on time, in a result which, if Stockfish could talk, would say was lucky. Steve then drew against Ben, holding an ending while down an exchange. In the final game, Bill triumphed over Matthew.

Stirling A finish second in Division 1 again, with the only losses coming to champions Grangemouth.

22 February 2016 - Central Allegro League

Dunfermline Minnows 7 - 9 Stirling Bruce
Round 1
Ian Robertson	0 - 1	Dave Hewitt
Jim Webster	½ - ½	John Blake
Ben Volland	0 - 1	Bill Cook
George Webb	0 - 1	Graham Anderson
Round 2
Ian Robertson	1 - 0	Bill Cook
Jim Webster	½ - ½	Dave Hewitt
Ben Volland	0 - 1	Graham Anderson
George Webb	0 - 1	John Blake
Round 3
Ian Robertson	½ - ½	Graham Anderson
Jim Webster	½ - ½	Bill Cook
Ben Volland	½ - ½	John Blake
George Webb	½ - ½	Dave Hewitt
Round 4
Ian Robertson	1 - 0	John Blake
Jim Webster	½ - ½	Graham Anderson
Ben Volland	1 - 0	Dave Hewitt
George Webb	½ - ½	Bill Cook

After taking a commanding lead from the first two rounds, and the unusual four draws in round 3, the score stood at 8-4 in favour of Stirling. At one end of the table, Dunfermline pulled it back to 8-6 with wins for Ian and Ben. Completely unaware of this, I offered Jim a draw in a very equal position well down on time which he accepted to give Stirling the match. Realising this, Bill and George agreed a draw to finish the match.

15 February 2016 - Central Allegro League

Stirling Bruce 10 - 6 Dunfermline Sharks
Round 1
Bill Cook	0 - 1	Stuart Black
Graham Anderson	1 - 0	Fred Ossowski
John Blake	0 - 1	Stewart Brisbane
Dave Hewitt	1 - 0	Peter Horne
Round 2
Bill Cook	1 - 0	Peter Horne
Graham Anderson	½ - ½	Stuart Black
John Blake	1 - 0	Fred Ossowski
Dave Hewitt	1 - 0	Stewart Brisbane
Round 3
Bill Cook	½ - ½	Stewart Brisbane
Graham Anderson	0 - 1	Peter Horne
John Blake	1 - 0	Stuart Black
Dave Hewitt	1 - 0	Fred Ossowski
Round 4
Bill Cook	0 - 1	Fred Ossowski
Graham Anderson	1 - 0	Stewart Brisbane
John Blake	1 - 0	Peter Horne
Dave Hewitt	0 - 1	Stuart Black

8 February 2016 - Central League Division 2

Stirling B v Badgers Brook B
Tony Pitson Robin Hayles Dave Hewitt Gordon Allcock Craig Manson	1562 1502 1486 1460 1306	1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0 ½ - ½ 0 - 1	1577 1360 1142 959	Dave McGilvray Robert McCord Gordon Walker Kevin Aitken Dylan Gillies
		3½ - 1½

Thanks to Dave for providing this game and analysis from his board 3 clash against Gordon Walker. Dave had White.

Hewitt - Walker

1 February 2016 - Central League Division 2

Dunfermline B v Stirling C
Ben Volland Stewart Brisbane Calum Smith Douglas Rew Peter Horne	1543 1530 1529 1521 1357	0 - 1 ½ - ½ 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0	1306 1301 1219   488	Craig Manson David Brodie Robert Togneri Michael Cook Sam Cook
		3½ - 1½

The game below is the board 1 clash between Craig Manson (with White) and Ben Volland.

Manson - Volland