15 May 2017 - Central League Cup

Badgers Brook v Stirling
Kenny McGeoch   Mark Cooke   David McConnell   Stuart Ward   Graham Kerr   Dave McGilvray   Gordon Walker	2060   1949   1812   1742   1617   1493   1188	1 - 0   ½ - ½   ½ - ½   1 - 0   0 - 1   0 - 1   0 - 1	1910   1845   1756   1692   1676   1657   1474	Shivan Murdochy   Neil Irving   Jim Shemilt   Graham Anderson   Steven Smith   Bill Cook   Dave Hewitt
		3 - 4

This is Stirling's first win in this competition since 2005/06. Bill won first after Dave resigned when his phone went off during the game. Shortly afterward Dave made it 2-0. Jim agreed a draw with David, then I lost. Steve finished shortly afterward with a win, leaving just the top two boards playing and Stirling needing just a half point to win. Shivan lost when Kenny's Queenside pawns marched through. Neil's game against Mark was down to Queen and Rooks with 7 pawns each in quite a closed position. Time ran down, and with about two minutes left each, Mark accepted Neil's draw offer.

L to R: Jim Shemilt, Dave Hewitt, Steve Smith, Bill Cook, Neil Irving, Graham Anderson (missing: Shivan Murdochy)

Thanks to Steve for providing the game and analysis below, where Steve was Black against Graham Kerr.

ChessBase

Kerr, G–Smith, S0–1Badgers Brook v StirlingBadgers Brook CC15.05.2017

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.c3 b4 4.e5 e7 5.a3 xc3+ 6.bxc3 c5 7.g4 c7 the most aggressive reply. Black's king side pawns disappear, but he gets one back plus active chances on the queen side. 8.xg7 g8 9.xh7 cxd4 10.e2 bc6 11.f4 d7 12.d3 dxc3 13.b1 f5 14.xc3 a6 15.g3 c8 leaving the king in the centre, but if 0-0-0 white can play 16 Qxa6 since if 16 .. bxa6 17 Bxa6 forces Qb7 and white has gained two pawns 16.d2 a5 Everything is fairly standard so far. I'm doubtful about white's next couple of moves. 17.h3 the bishop never gets into the game e7 18.d1 c4 19.b3 b5 20.e2 c6 21.e1 h8 22.g4 Black should now play N6xe5 23 dxe5 Rxh3 similar to the game 6a5 23.b1 now white loses decisive material. He had to play Bxa5, but after Qxa5 my computer gradually increases black's advantage as it looks futher ahead xd2 24.xd2 xh3 25.xh3 xc2+ 26.e3 c3+ White resigns. 0–1

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11 May 2017 - Under 1500 Cup

Cumbernauld v Stirling
Ronnie Wallace Derek McAteer Steven Monaghan Daniel McAteer Steven Gentleman	1460 1330 1284	½ - ½ 1 - 0 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1	1474 1454 1449 1387 1243	Dave Hewitt Gordon Allcock Brad Duthie Craig Manson Tom Wallace
		1½ - 3½

Dave Hewitt writes:- A tight and exciting cup final. Stirling went ahead early on due to Brad's quick win against Steven M courtesy of a Bxf7+ tactic, and the lead was extended after Tom beat the other Steven in a very sharp-looking game. Things looked good for Stirling at this stage, but Derek won an exchange against Gordon and duly converted the win, so that put things very much back in the balance. I'd perhaps been better for a while against Ronnie but lost my way a little against good defence and we found ourselves in drawish territory but without either of us being able to offer due to the match situation.

Meanwhile Craig and Daniel were having a right old scrap on board 4, with Craig having passed pawns and back-rank threats but starting to run short of time. I kept shuttling across the room to see what was what, and was relieved when a N exchange led to a clear win for Craig as he was able to queen two pawns in quick succession and then deliver mate with two minutes left on his clock. With the match now decided, Ronnie and I immediately shook hands and we all went home.

Thanks to Cumbernauld for their hospitality and good sportsmanship in a match that could have gone either way - a Cumbernauld win on board count was a distinct possibility for a while. Stirling thus win the u1500 cup for the the eighth time in the past ten seasons. This one was particularly nice for the club to win, on behalf of David Brodie who is still the u1500 captain but has been absent due to illness this past while as most of you will know - I've been acting as his stand-in.

L to R: Brad Duthie, Tom Wallace, Craig Manson, Gordon Allcock, Dave Hewitt

Thanks to Tom for providing his game.

ChessBase

Wallace, T–Gentleman, S1–0U1500 Cumbernauld v StirlingCumbernauld CC11.05.2017

1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.b3 e6 4.b2 d6 5.d4 cxd4 6.xd4 f6 7.xc6 bxc6 8.e5 d5 9.c4 a5+ 10.d2 b6 11.exd6 xd6 12.xg7 g8 13.h6 e5 14.h5 c3 15.d1 b7 16.e3 g7 17.h4 d7 18.f4 f6 19.h5 a6 20.d6 c8 21.c5 e5 22.c4 xd6 23.cxd6 f6 24.h4 xg2 25.f1 g4 26.d7+ xd7 27.e4+ e8 28.xf6+ f8 29.d7+ e8 30.xg4 d8 31.g8+ e7 32.g5+ e8 33.f6+ e7 34.e4+ f6 35.xf6+ e8 36.xd8# 1–0

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A couple of games

Thanks to Dave and Tom for providing the games below. The first is Tom as White against Scott Dickson of Grangemouth, from the recent Under 1500 Cup match. It's a strange case of when doubling rooks on an open file doesn't bring the expected result.

ChessBase

Wallace, T–Dickson, S1–0Under 1500 Cup - Grangemouth v StirlingGrangemouth CC19.04.2017

1.e4 e6 2.f3 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.h3 c5 5.d4 c6 6.e2 b6 7.c3 h6 8.0-0 f5 9.e1 e7 10.e5 cxd4 11.xc6 bxc6 12.cxd4 0-0 13.b3 f6 14.a3 xd4 15.e3 xe3 16.fxe3 xe3 17.c1 c2+ 18.h1 xe1 19.xe1 e8 20.f1 a5 21.h5 a7 22.e1 ae7 23.xf7+ f8 24.e6+ f7 25.xf7# 1–0

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This second game is from the recent Stirling Congress, Dave's round 4 clash as Black against Andrew Sutherland. When Andrew sat down at the start of the game Dave noticed a big book of tactical puzzles on top of his bag - so he endeavoured to get Qs off as soon as possible!

ChessBase

Sutherland, A–Hewitt, D0–1Stirling Congress4Stirling30.04.2017

1.c4 f6 2.g3 d5 3.cxd5 xd5 4.g2 c6 5.c3 e6 6.f3 d7 7.0-0 e7 8.a3 0-0 9.c2 f5 10.e4 xc3 11.bxc3 fxe4 12.xe4 c5 13.c2 d3 14.e1 xc2 15.xc2 e5 16.d4 f5 17.dxc5 xc2 18.e3 ad8 19.ac1 d3 20.fd1 e4 21.h3 e2 22.e6+ h8 23.xd8 xd8 24.d4 f6 25.e1 f3 26.xf6 gxf6 27.f5 e8 28.c1 g7 29.h4 b8 30.e1 e8 31.c1 d8 32.e1 d5 33.xe4 e5 White resigns. 0–1

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Stirling Congress

Congratulations to Dave Hewitt, who won the Challengers section of the Stirling Congress last weekend with an unbeaten 4/5.

Dave, on the right, receiving his prize from organiser Gary McPheator.