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

1 February 2016 - Central League Division 1

Tonight's match v Grangemouth was effectively a title decider. Grangemouth, on 4 wins out of four, could only be caught by us, as both Dunfermline and Cumbernauld have already lost at least twice.

Stirling A v Grangemouth A
Shivan Murdochy   Jim Shemilt   Steve Smith   Graham Anderson   Bill Cook	1912   1778   1702   1671   1666	0 - 1   0 - 1   0 - 1   0 - 1   ½ - ½	2224   1956   1944   1946   1719	Uby Archibong   Alan Bell   Graham Hamilton   Dougie Will   Ian Mason
		½ - 4½

When Dougie Will sits down on board 4, it's always going to be tough...Bill and Ian finished with a draw first. I felt I was struggling from move 8 onwards, although according to Stockfish I had my chances at various points. The rest of the games all finished within a few minutes of each other, and all in favour of Grangemouth.

Congratulations to Grangemouth on their league title!