21 January 2019 - Central League Division 1

Stirling A		v		Dunfermline A
Steve Smith Graham Anderson David McAlister Bill Cook Tony Pitson	1712 1667 1634 1576 1456	0 - 1 1 - 0 ½ - ½ ½ - ½ ½ - ½	2045 1612 1468 1434 1396	Ian Robertson Calum Smith Stewart Brisbane Gonzalo Ferero Gordon Greig
		2½ - 2½

I was first to finish (see the game below, where I had Black), then David and Stewart agreed a draw, followed by Steve losing on board 1. Bill and Tony were both winning, but very short on time. Tony's clock ran out as his Queen and King hunted down Gordon's King - this finished a draw as Gordon had no material left. Bill was two pawns up in a Queen and Pawns ending, but with less than two minutes left didn't have enough time to convert this to a win, and a draw was agreed.

[Event "Stirling A v Dunfermline A"] [Site "Stirling CC"] [Date "2019.01.21"] [Round ""] [White "Smith, C"] [Black "Anderson, G"] [Result "0-1"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 Bc5 5. Nf3 d6 6. O-O Bg4 7. d3 Nd4 8. Be3 a6 9. Rb1 Qd7 10. Re1 h5 11. Bxd4 Bxd4 12. Qd2 O-O-O { A mistake. 12 ... Bb6 keeps the bishop on the strong diagonal. I concentrated too much on connecting the rooks. } 13. Nxd4 exd4 14. Ne2 h4 { Let's just go for it... } 15. Nxd4 hxg3 16. fxg3 Bh3 17. Bf3 Rh7 18. Re2 { Stockfish prefers 18 b4. } 18... Rdh8 19. c4 c5 20. Nc2 Bg4 21. Ne1 Nh5 22. b4 Nxg3 23. hxg3 { Stockfish prefers 23 Rg2. } 23... Bxf3 24. Nxf3 Rh1+ 25. Kf2 Rxb1 26. bxc5 dxc5 27. Qc2 Rb6 28. Qc3 Rf6 29. Ke3 Qg4 { White resigns. } 0-1

14 January 2019 - Central League Division 2

Stirling C		v		Stirling B
Craig Manson Tom Wallace Martyn Roe Gordon Allcock Robert Togneri	1436 1385 1379 1226 1243	0 - 1 0 - 1 ½ - ½ 0 - 1 ½ - ½	1576 1488 1550 1456 1456	Bill Cook Brad Duthie Dave Hewitt Richard Warcup Tony Pitson
		1 - 4

7 January 2019 - New Year's Blitz

Dave Hewitt writes:- Congratulations to Steve, who won the new year blitz tournament last Monday with a score of 6/7. He started with four straight wins, was then pegged back by a loss to Graham (which meant that Steve, Graham and Richard were tied for the lead after five rounds), but two wins to finish brought him the title after Graham beat Richard in r6 but could only draw with Bill in r7. Graham was thus second, while Richard and Tony (who started with three wins) were joint third. It was Steve's second win in club blitz events - he also won the agm blitz in September 2007.

There were some good scores for players further down the grading order, notably Nikolai and Kenny who each finished with 4/7, and Idris with 3.5/7. Everyone managed at least one win - always good to see - and it was also good that all 18 players, including the juniors, stayed for the full seven rounds.

Full cross-table results