25 February 2019 - Central Allegro League

Stirling Bruce 3½-12½ Grangemouth
Round 1
Graham Anderson	½ - ½	Uby Archibong
Bill Cook	½ - ½	Dougie Will
Brad Duthie	0 - 1	Ian Mason
Richard Warcup	0 - 1	Hugh Hanlon
Round 2
Graham Anderson	0 - 1	Dougie Will
Bill Cook	0 - 1	Ian Mason
Brad Duthie	1 - 0	Hugh Hanlon
Dave Hewitt	1 - 0	Uby Archibong
Round 3
Graham Anderson	0 - 1	Ian Mason
Bill Cook	0 - 1	Hugh Hanlon
Brad Duthie	0 - 1	Uby Archibong
Dave Hewitt	0 - 1	Dougie Will
Round 4
Graham Anderson	0 - 1	Hugh Hanlon
Bill Cook	0 - 1	Uby Archibong
Brad Duthie	0 - 1	Dougie Will
Dave Hewitt	½ - ½	Ian Mason

 

Stirling Wallace 8-8 Dunfermline Sharks
Round 1
Steve Smith	1 - 0	Fred Ossowski
David McAlister	½ - ½	Stewart Brisbane
Tony Pitson	0 - 1	Mark McLintock
Gordon Allcock	1 - 0	Derek Rodger
Round 2
Steve Smith	1 - 0	Derek Rodger
David McAlister	0 - 1	Fred Ossowski
Tony Pitson	0 - 1	Stewart Brisbane
Gordon Allcock	1 - 0	Mark McLintock
Round 3
Steve Smith	0 - 1	Mark McLintock
David McAlister	1 - 0	Derek Rodger
Tony Pitson	½ - ½	Fred Ossowski
Gordon Allcock	0 - 1	Stewart Brisbane
Round 4
Steve Smith	0 - 1	Stewart Brisbane
David McAlister	1 - 0	Mark McLintock
Tony Pitson	1 - 0	Derek Rodger
Gordon Allcock	0 - 1	Fred Ossowski

18 February 2019 - Central League Division 2

Stirling C		v		Grangemouth B
Craig Manson Tom Wallace Gordon Allcock Kenny MacPherson Tom MacKay	1436 1385 1226   766	½ - ½ 0 - 1 1 - 0 ½ - ½ 0 - 1	1720 1620 1351 1337 1104	Duncan Glassey Ian Mason Crawford Welsh Hugh Hanlon David Fowler
		2 - 3

18 February 2019 - Central League Division 1

Badgers Brook A		v		Stirling A
Suzy Cooke Kenny McGeoch Mark Cooke Fabio Biancalana Mark Brown	1997 1966 1964 1705 1483	½ - ½ 1 - 0 ½ - ½ 1 - 0 0 - 1	1771 1712 1667 1576 1488	Jim Shemilt Steve Smith Graham Anderson Bill Cook Brad Duthie
		3 - 2

With nearly as many as call-offs as the Scotland squad, we travelled in hope more than expectation. Bill and Brad finished pretty much together, at 1-1, then Jim finished with a draw on the top board. I offered a draw with both of us down to three minutes - I had hoped that my passed a5, b5 and c5 pawns would win the game, but see below. In time trouble at the very end, down to seconds, Steve blundered his Bishop (which was waiting to take Kenny's last remaining pawn and thus secure the draw) to give Badgers Brook the victory.

ChessBase

Anderson, G–Cooke, M½–½Badgers Brook A v Stirling ABadgers Brook CC18.02.2019

1.e4 c5 2.f3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4 f6 5.c3 c6 6.e3 b4 7.d3 d5 8.xc6 bxc6 9.exd5 cxd5 10.d2 Not my finest opening, and I'm feeling quite deflated here. 0-0 11.0-0 e5 12.a3 e7 13.b4 e4 14.b5 b7 Although this seems fairly innocuous (it prevents Bc6), this move seems to be the cause of Black's later problems. 15.e3 Although Black's d5 and e4 pawns look commanding in the centre of the board, they now can't really go anywhere. c8 16.a4 Aiming for c5. a6 17.e2 d7 18.c1 Looking to disrupt Black's pawns with c4. e5 19.c5 xc5 20.xc5 e8 21.d4 c6 22.b2 g5 23.fd1 e5 24.e3 g6 25.d4 c4 26.b6 c6 We're both short on time to get to the time control, and only after I played my next move did I realise I could have just taken on b7... 27.d4 f6 28.f1 g4 29.xg4 xg4 30.a7 White makes the time control with seconds to spare. c6 31.xa6 g6 32.g3 h3+ I'm not sure I can hang on to the pawn, but let's give it a shot. The option was for the King to run to the Queen side. 33.g1 h5 34.f1 g4 35.b5 b7 36.a4 h4 37.a5 Stockfish recommends Rd2 instead. hxg3 38.hxg3 d7 39.c4 d6 40.c5 xg3+ 41.fxg3 xg3+ 42.h1 e5 43.g2 h5+ 44.g1 xe3+ 45.f2 We're both down to three minutes here, and I offered a draw, which was accepted after a minute. White will have to sacrifice the Queen for the Rook, and Black has a lot of checks. Stockfish, however, has other ideas - Black wins. 45 ... Rg5+ 46 Kf1 Qh3+ 47 Ke2 Rg2 48 Qxg2 Qxg2+ 49 Ke3 Qf3+ 50 Kd4 Qf6+ 51 Ke3 d4+ 52 Rxd4 Qf3+ 53 Kd2 Qf2+ 54 Kc3 Qe3+ 55 Kc4 Qxc1+ 56 Kb4 e3 57 Rd8+ Kh7 58 c6 e2 59 Re8 e1=B+ 60 Rxe1 Qxe1+ 61 Kc4 Bc8 62 b6 Qe2+ 63 Kc5 Qe5+ 64 Kc4 Ba6+ 65 Kb3 Qb5+ 66 Kc2 Qxc6+ 67 Kb3 Qb5+ 68 Kc2 Qxa5 69 b7 Bxb7 70 Kb3 Ba6 ½–½

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Thanks to Brad for the game and (heavily edited) analysis below, where he had Black against Mark Brown.

ChessBase

Mark Brown–Brad DuthieBadgers Brook A v Stirling ABadgers Brook CC18.02.2019

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 C01: French Defense: Exchange Variation, 3...exd5 4.c3 f6 5.g5 (+0.13 ? -0.53) Inaccuracy. A better move was 5. Bd3. 5.d3 d6 6.f3 0-0 7.0-0 c6 8.e1 e8 9.g5 xe1+ 5...e7 (-0.48 ? +0.22) Inaccuracy. A better move was 5... Bd6. 5...d6 6.d3 6.d3 h6 7.f4 g4 8.f3 (+0.18 ? -0.50) Inaccuracy. A better move was 8. Nf3. 8.f3 0-0 9.0-0 d6 10.xd6 xd6 11.h3 xf3 12.xf3 bd7 8...e6 (-0.78 ? -0.20) Inaccuracy. A better move was 8... Bd7. 8...d7 9.e2 c5 10.0-0 c6 11.a3 c4 12.c2 a5 13.g3 9.e2 bd7 10.b4 h5 11.e3 d6 12.0-0 h4 13.f4 g4 14.d2 (-1.01 ? -2.62) Inaccuracy. A better move was 14. Na3. 14.a3 e7 14...e7 15.f2 (-2.26 ? -4.06) Inaccuracy. A better move was 15. Bf2. 15.f2 xf4 15...h4+ 16.g1 e7 17.f2 xf4 18.f3 xf3 19.gxf3 g5+ 20.g3 (-2.90 ? -7.19) Mistake. The best move was 20. Bg3. 20.g3 20...h3+ (-7.74 ? -1.76) Blunder. The best move was 20... h5. 20...h5 21.g2 f4+ 22.h1 0-0-0 23.e3 h5 24.g1 f6 25.c2 (-2.33 ? -3.51) Inaccuracy. A better move was 25. Nf5. 25.f5 xd3 25...h4 (-2.76 ? -1.49) Inaccuracy. A better move was 25... g6. 25...g6 26.d2 26.f5 h5 (-1.08 ? -0.41) Inaccuracy. A better move was 26... g6. 26...g6 27.d2 e6 28.xd6+ cxd6 29.f4 b6 30.d3 c4 31.af1 27.g5 g3+ 28.xg3 hxg3 29.xf6 xh2+ 30.g1 xf6 31.xd6+ cxd6 32.f5+ b8 33.e1 dh8 34.xg3 h1+ 35.g2 xa1 36.f2 (0.00 ? -5.87) Blunder. The best move was 36. Qxd6+. 36.xd6+ a8 37.c7 xa2+ 38.g1 a1+ 39.f2 a2+ 36...ah1 (-6.13 ? -3.38) Mistake. The best move was 36... Rhh1. 36...hh1 37.g3 (-4.13 ? -9.33) Mistake. The best move was 37. Qg3. 37.g3 c7 37...h5+ (-9.52 ? -5.91) Mistake. The best move was 37... R8h4. 37...8h4 38.d2 h5+ 39.f2 4h2+ 40.e3 xd2 41.xd2 g3 42.d3 38.g4 g6 39.d3 f6+ (-7.08 ? -3.47) Blunder. The best move was 39... f5+. 39...f5+ 40.g5 40.g5 h7+ 41.f4 f8 42.f1 e6+ 43.e3 f5 (-7.83 ? -4.96) Mistake. The best move was 43... g5. 43...g5 44.g2 f5 45.c4 8h2 46.cxd5 xg2 47.xg2 e1+ 48.f2 44.a4 (-4.74 ? -7.72) Inaccuracy. A better move was 44. f4. 44.f4 8h4 44...8h2 45.g2 f4+ (-9.12 ? -6.11) Inaccuracy. A better move was 45... Rc1. 45...c1 46.f4 g5 47.d2 g1 48.f3 g4+ 49.g3 hxg2+ 50.xg2 46.d3 d1+ (-7.22 ? -3.09) Blunder. The best move was 46... Ra1. 46...a1 47.a5 xd4 48.cxd4 a3+ 49.e2 a2+ 50.f1 a1+ 51.e2 47.c2 a1 48.b3 b1+ (-4.98 ? -3.04) Mistake. The best move was 48... a6. 48...a6 49.e2 c7 50.f2 ah1 51.b5 axb5 52.a5 a7 53.b4 49.a2 c1 50.b2 d1 51.a5 (-3.96 ? -6.01) Inaccuracy. A better move was 51. Kc2. 51.c2 51...g7 52.a6 (-5.75 ? -13.68) Inaccuracy. A better move was 52. Kc2. 52.c2 a1 52...f5 53.e2 (-16.29 ? -58.85) Inaccuracy. A better move was 53. c4. 53.c4 e3 54.e2 xg2 55.xg2 xg2 56.c5 bxa6 57.cxd6 e1 53...e3 54.b5 (-63.75 ? ? Mate in 7) Mistake. The best move was 54. Kb3. 54.b3 xg2 55.xg2 xg2 56.b5 e3 57.b2 d2+ 58.b1 c2 54...xg2+ 55.b3 b1+ 56.a3 c4+

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11 February 2019 - Central League Division 2

Stirling B		v		Badgers Brook B
Bill Cook Brad Duthie Dave Hewitt Tony Pitson Tom Wallace	1576 1488 1550 1456 1385	½ - ½ ½ - ½ ½ - ½ 1 - 0 1 - 0	1673 1547 1144	John Smith Dave McGilvray Gordon Walker Peter Woollven Craig van der Heever
		3½ - 1½

4 February 2019 - Central League Division 2

Stirling D		v		Stirling B
Kenny MacPherson Martin Pringle Idris Benwell Alex Brimlow Gordon Bowie	522 427	0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1	1576 1488 1550 1456 1456	Bill Cook Brad Duthie Dave Hewitt Richard Warcup Tony Pitson
		0 - 5

The juniors conducted themselves perfectly, and I was very proud of them. Idris lost the exchange early on, but through the middle stages of the game this didn't matter much. Dave's passed d pawn made steady progress up the board, and on promotion to a second Queen Idris resigned. Alex lost a pawn early on to Richard, but continued to fight on until he blundered the exchange, and with Richard's Rooks getting to the seventh, he was eventually checkmated in the corner. Gordon started brightly, looking to practice the pawn storm ideas we'd discussed over the last couple of weeks. Unfortunately he forgot to wait until Tony had castled to start advancing the pawns...

Thanks to Kenny and Martin for taking the harder games on boards 1 and 2. Martin in particular was unlucky not to finish with a draw, in a tricky Knight and three pawns ending.

30 January 2019 - Central League Division 2

Badgers Brook		v		Stirling C
Dave McGillvray Gordon Walker Peter Woolven Craig Van Der Heever	1430 1175	½ - ½ 1 - 0 1 - 0 0 - 1 0d - 1d	1436 1385 1228   1224	Craig Manson Tom Wallace Robert Togneri Nikolai Hermann Gordon Allcock
		2½ - 2½

28 January 2019 - Thornton Cup

In the Thornton Cup, the following game was played between Robert Togneri (White) and Gordon Allcock (Black). I'll let the moves speak for themselves...(because they have a lot to say)

ChessBase

Togneri, R–Allcock, G½–½Thornton Cup SFStirling CC28.01.2019

1.d4 d5 2.c4 f6 3.c3 e6 4.f3 c6 5.f4 b4 6.a3 xc3+ 7.bxc3 bd7 8.e3 e4 9.b3 a5 10.c1 df6 11.d3 0-0 12.d2 xd2 13.xd2 dxc4 14.xc4 e4+ 15.e1 f6 16.e5 d5 17.d6 e8 18.b4 d8 19.d1 h4 19 ... a5! wins the Bishop. 20.xd5 exd5 21.d6 xe3+ 22.f1 22 Bg4 keeps the pressure up. e6 23.g3 h6 24.f3 b6 25.f2 a6+ 26.g1 ae8 27.g3 e2 28.h3 e3+ 28 ... Rd2. If Whites moves the Queen 39 ... Ree2 29.h2 xf3 30.f1 e3 30 ... Rxg2+ 31 Qxg2 Re2 31.e1 d2 32.xe2 xe2 33.e1 e3 34.f2 e6 35.d2 d6+ 36.g3 xa3 37.e1 e7 38.a2 a5 39.b2 b5 40.a2 a4 41.d6 Both players have written this as the move, although it can't be correct... Qxd6+ e3 42.e5 xc3 43.xe2 f6 44.c2 b3 45.d6 xa2 46.xa2 e6 47.c5 f7 48.g3 g6 49.a3 h5 50.f3 g5 51.g3 f5 52.f2 e4 53.a1 f6 53 ... h4 gives Black the opportunity to create a(nother) passed pawn. 54.f3 g4+ 55.hxg4 hxg4+ 56.f2 g5 57.h1 This seemingly innocuous move is the start... e6 Stockfish recommends 57 ... f4 58 gxf4 Rxf4+. After 57 ... Re6, the evaluation (previously in Black's favour) has moved to dead drawn 58.h8 g6 59.c8 f7 60.c7+ g6 61.c8 f7 62.c7+ g6 63.c8 Draw by repetition... g7 64.c7+ g6 65.c8 g7 66.c7+ g6 67.c8 f6 68.g8+ f7 69.c8 g7 70.c7+ g6 71.c8 e6 72.g8+ f7 73.c8 f6 74.f8+ g7 75.c8 f7 76.c7+ g6 77.c8 f7 78.c7+ g6 79.c8 g7 80.c7+ g8 81.c8+ h7 82.c7+ g6 83.c8 f7 84.c7+ g8 85.c8+ h7 86.c7+ g6 87.c8 Stockfish has stopped analysing this. It's adjudicated it as a draw for the last 20 moves... The game continues, although the scoresheets conflict from here. For completeness, the moves recorded as follows (from Black's scoresheet):- 87 ... Rf6 (this can't be right, because it's already on that square) 88 Rc7 Re6 89 Rc8 Kg7 90 Rc7+ Kf6 91 Rc8 Kg6 92 Rg8+ Kh7 93 Rc8 Rf6 94 Rc7+ Kg6 95 Rc8 Kf7 96 Rc7+ Ke8 97 Rh7 Rf7 98 Rh8+ Kd7 99 Rg8 Kc7 100 Ra8 Rf6 101 Rg8 Kd7 102 Rg7+ Ke8 103 Rg8+ Kf7 104 Rc8 Re6 105 Rc7+ Kg6 White's scoresheet has 87 ... Rf7 88 Rc7 (which can't be right either, because 88 ... Rxc7) 89 Rc8 Kf7. The rest of the moves concur. And here, on move 105, White claims a draw on the basis that no capture and no pawn move has been made for 50 moves (55 hxg4+). White has made 49 consecutive Rook moves. ½–½

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Hopefully the replay will be an easier game to transcribe.