28 October 2019 - Central League Division 2

Stirling B		v		Grangemouth B
Brad Duthie Dave Hewitt John Blake Richard Warcup Martyn Roe	1494 1547 1531 1463 1425	½ - ½ 0 - 1 ½ - ½ 1 - 0 1 - 0	1572 1341 1319 1281 1161	Ian Mason Alasdair Sandham Hugh Hanlon Crawford Welsh David Fowler
		3 - 2

Grangemouth had white on boards 3, 4 and 5.

There's now quite a long gap until the final B team match of the first half of the season - we're way at Cumbernauld B on Thursday 12 December.

21 October 2019 - Central Allegro League

Stirling Wallace 7 - 9 Dunfermline Minnows
Round 1
Kabir Pandit	½ - ½	Ian Robertson
David McAlister	1 - 0	Gonzalo Forero
Richard Warcup	1 - 0	Stewart Brisbane
Tom Wallace	½ - ½	Gordon Grieg
Round 2
Tom Wallace	0 - 1	Ian Robertson
Kabir Pandit	1 - 0	Gonzalo Forero
David McAlister	1 - 0	Stewart Brisbane
Richard Warcup	0 - 1	Gordon Grieg
Round 3
Gordon Allcock	0 - 1	Ian Robertson
Tom Wallace	0 - 1	Gonzalo Forero
Kabir Pandit	1 - 0	Stewart Brisbane
David McAlister	0 - 1	Gordon Grieg
Round 4
David McAlister	0 - 1	Ian Robertson
Gordon Allcock	0 - 1	Gonzalo Forero
Tom Wallace	0 - 1	Stewart Brisbane
Kabir Pandit	1 - 0	Gordon Grieg

14 October 2019 - Central League Division 2

Stirling C		v		Badgers Brook B
William Spiers Gordon Allcock Martyn Roe Tony Pitson Robert Togneri	1640 1284 1425 1413 1236	0 - 1 0 - 1 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0	1644 1497 1485 877	John Smith Dave McGilvray Mark Brown Peter Woollven Craig van der Heever
		3 - 2

Gordon's appearance on board 2 (out of grading order) was to the late arrival of Craig M back from holiday - Gordon stood in when it seemed as if Craig wasn't going to make it.

14 October 2019 - Central League Division 2

Stirling E		v		Stirling B
Aaron Nobile Tom Wallace Kenny MacPherson Mick Bloor Craig Thomson	1398 1389 1326 1158 824	½ - ½ 0 - 1 ½ - ½ 0 - 1 0 - 1	1494 1567 1547 1531 1463	Brad Duthie David McAlister Dave Hewitt John Blake Richard Warcup
		1 - 4

Stirling B had white on boards 3, 4 and 5.

The Stirling C team were also in League action at home to Badgers Brook B and recorded a 3 -2 win. Hopefully further details on this match will follow.

9 October 2019 - Central League Division 1

Grangemouth A		v		Stirling A
Graham Hamilton Alan Bell Dougie Will David Wallace Ian Mason	1984 1970 1816 1735 1572	1 - 0 1 - 0 ½ - ½ 0 - 1 1 - 0	1793 1753 1662 1592	Kabir Pandit Jim Shemilt Steve Smith Graham Anderson Bill Cook
		3½ - 1½

This is my game from board 4, where I had White against David Wallace. A very topsy-turvy game - after 18 g4 I felt I had he initiative, but handed it back with 22 Qh5 and 25 Qh6. 29 Ne5+ saved my bacon.

[Event "Grangemouth A v Stirling A"] [Site "Grangemouth CC"] [Date "2019.10.09"] [Round "-"] [White "Anderson, G"] [Black "Wallace, D"] [Result "1-0"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Bd3 Bxd3 6. Qxd3 Qb6 7. O-O Ne7 8. Nbd2 Nf5 9. Nb3 Nd7 10. Be3 Be7 11. c3 O-O 12. Bg5 Bxg5 13. Nxg5 h6 14. Nf3 { David said afterwards that he was dreading 14 g4, something I didn't even consider here. 14 ... hxg5 (pretty much forced) 15 gxf5 } 14... c5 15. Qd2 { To avoid c4. } 15... c4 16. Nc1 Rfc8 17. Ne2 Nf8 18. g4 { This has been coming for a while. } 18... Ne7 19. Ng3 { Preferred to g5, to prevent h5. } 19... Qd8 20. g5 hxg5 21. Qxg5 { Stockfish prefers Nxg5 instead, and now reckons Black can switch play back to the Queen-side with b5 or Rc6. } 21... Neg6 22. Qh5 { I regretted this move almost instantly, and began to see the Queen getting trapped. } 22... f5 23. exf6 { I wasn't sure what to do here. Stockfish recommends Ne2 instead, followed by Kh1 then Rg1, and gives White the advantage with this. } 23... gxf6 { I had expected Qxf6 instead. } 24. Rae1 Rc7 25. Qh6 Rh7 26. Qd2 { White has lost the advantage now. Stockfish preferred 25 Kh1 Rh7 26 Qg4 instead. } 26... Qd6 27. Kh1 Kf7 28. Rg1 Nf4 29. Ne5+ { This came to me out of the blue... } 29... fxe5 30. dxe5 Qe7 31. Qxf4+ Ke8 32. Ne2 Kd7 33. Nd4 Rf7 34. Qg3 Nh7 35. f4 { Black resigns. Black cannot prevent f5 and the subsequent pressure on e6. } 1-0

7 October 2019 - Central League Division 2

Updated 9 October 2019

Stirling B		v		Stirling C
Brad Duthie David McAlister Dave Hewitt John Blake Richard Warcup	1494 1567 1547 1531 1463	½ - ½ 0 - 1 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0	1425 1398 1389 1413 1284	Martyn Roe Aaron Nobile Tom Wallace Tony Pitson Gordon Allcock
		3½ - 1½

Dave Hewitt has annotated his game, describing it as "the first really lively one I've had for a while, after a series of quiet encounters."

[Event "Central League Division 2"] [Site "?"] [Date "2019.10.07"] [Round "?"] [White "Wallace, Tom "] [Black "Hewitt, Dave"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C00"] [Annotator "Hewitt"] [PlyCount "44"] [EventDate "2019.10.07"] [SourceVersionDate "2019.10.08"] {[%evp 0,44,16,28,55,-4,-9,-6,-6,-49,-49,-86,-40,-57,-47,-119,-81,-54,-17,-10, 21,-23,-38,-49,-34,-63,-31,-45,-53,-71,-47,-276,-198,-198,0,-1652,-1706,-2169, -2209,-2375,-2876,-2491,-29990,-29991,-29992,-29995,-2290]} {My game against Tom was an interesting scrap which, as often in suddenly unstable positions, included a defensive resource (for White) which we both missed and which would potentially have led to equality. The first crucial point came at move 15. Before that it was pretty quiet - Tom got behind in development but I didn't manage to take the initiative.} 1. e4 e6 2. b3 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. h3 Be7 6. Nf3 O-O 7. c4 Re8 {This was a rudimentary trap, as something such as 8 Bb2 allows 8 ...Bb4#, not that Tom was ever going to fall for that (and I felt slightly bad/rude about setting it up at the time, as 8 ...c5 would have been better long-term).} 8. Be2 c6 9. O-O Nbd7 10. Re1 Ne4 11. a3 Ndf6 12. Bd3 Bf5 13. c5 h6 14. Bf4 Nh5 15. Bxh6 {I'd expected 15 Bh2 (which, like Be3 or Be5, gives White a slight edge according to the computer), but after quite a long think Tom opted to liven things up with 15 Bxh6. This doesn't work, and the machine reckons I should just have taken the piece, but I'd been eyeing-up an f2 sac of my own and now, with the dark-squared Bishop having gone elsewhere, it proved too tempting to resist, hence} Nxf2 16. Kxf2 ({Tom had to take this - if the Queen moves, eg} 16. Qd2 {then} Nxd3 {wins without much fuss but there now came the second key moment.}) 16... Bh4+ {Instead of this check, I should have taken one of the pieces - 16 ...Bxd3 or ...gxh6, with a solid advantage. However, 16 ...Bh4+ looked obvious and I played it without much analysis.} 17. Nxh4 {After this capture it's just lost - once the Queen comes in with check it's too strong and everything collapses quickly, as the Bd3 drops with check and can't be recaptured because of 19 ...Rxe1#.} ({But after 16 ...Bh4+, Tom had scope to play the calm} 17. Kg1 {the point being that after } Bxe1 {White has} 18. Bg5 {and then after} f6 {the loose Bf5 (which I'd been worried about throughout the combination) drops, viz.} 19. Bxf5 fxg5 20. Nxe1 { and White is OK. Complicated stuff, but instructive given that there's so often a moment like this within an attack when the defender can fend things off.}) 17... Qxh4+ 18. Kf1 Bxd3+ 19. Re2 Bxe2+ 20. Qxe2 Ng3+ 21. Kg1 Nxe2+ 22. Kh2 Qxh6 {White resigned.} ({At the end - which is horrible for White, as suddenly all of black's pieces are on the right squares - I thought I'd missed a mate, not that it mattered by then, and indeed I had} 22... Qg3+ 23. Kh1 Qe1+ 24. Kh2 Qg1#) 0-1

2 October 2019 - Central League Division 2

Grangemouth B		v		Stirling C
Ian Mason Alaisdair Sandham Hugh Hanlon Crawford Welsh David Fowler	1572 1341 1319 1281 1161	½ - ½ 1 - 0 ½ - ½ 0 - 1 1 - 0	1640 1448 1398 1326 1158	William Spiers Craig Manson Aaron Nobile Kenny MacPherson Mick Bloor
		3 - 2

Thanks to Kenny for providing the game below, where he was Black and facing Bird's opening for the first time.

[Event "Grangemouth B v Stirling C"] [Site "Grangemouth CC"] [Date "2019.10.02"] [Round ""] [White "Welsh, C"] [Black "MacPherson, K"] [Result "0-1"] 1. f4 d5 2. Nf3 c5 3. e3 Nc6 4. Bb5 a6 5. Bxc6+ bxc6 6. Ne5 Qd6 7. O-O f6 8. Qh5+ g6 9. Nxg6 hxg6 10. Qxh8 Nh6 11. b3 Kf7 12. Rf3 Bg7 13. Qh7 Bf5 14. Bb2 g5 15. fxg5 Bxh7 16. gxh6 Bxh6 17. Rh3 Kg7 18. Nc3 Bxc2 19. Rf1 Rh8 20. Rff3 Kf7 21. Ne2 Bd1 22. Ng3 Bxf3 23. Nf5 Qe6 24. Nxh6+ Kg6 25. Rxf3 Rxh6 { White resigns } 0-1

Richardson Cup

Thanks to David for providing this game, played recently as a qualifier for the Richrdson Cup (club championship), and for the new format for showing games.

[Event "Richardson Cup qualifying"] [Site "Stirling"] [Date "2019.09.25"] [Round "1"] [White "McAlister, David"] [Black "Duthie, Brad"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C01"] [Annotator "McAlister"] [PlyCount "56"] [EventDate "2019.09.23"] [EventCountry "SCO"] [SourceVersionDate "2009.11.12"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bd3 Bd6 6. O-O O-O 7. c4 c6 8. Nc3 Bg4 9. Bg5 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Be7 11. Qd3 Bxf3 12. Qxf3 Qxd4 {White has probably sufficient compensation for the sacrificed pawn.} 13. b3 h6 ({A mistake.} 13... Nbd7 {would have been better here.}) 14. Rad1 Qe5 15. Bh4 Nbd7 16. Rfe1 Qc5 17. Rxd7 {This combination leads to a winning advantage for White.} Rae8 ({If} 17... Nxd7 18. Bxe7 Rae8 ({or} 18... Qb6 19. Bxf8 Rxf8 20. Re7) ({or} 18... Rfe8 19. Bxf7+ Kh8 20. Bxe8 Rxe8 21. Qf7 Qxc3 22. Qxe8+ Kh7 23. Bd6) 19. Bxc5 Rxe1+ 20. Bf1 Nxc5) 18. Bxf6 gxf6 ({If} 18... Bxf6 19. Bxf7+ Rxf7 20. Rxe8+ Rf8 21. Rxf8+ Kxf8) 19. Qg4+ Kh8 20. Qh4 Kg7 21. Re3 b5 22. Rg3+ Kh7 23. Bd3+ f5 24. Qh5 Bg5 25. Rxf7+ Kh8 26. Rxf8+ Qxf8 27. Rxg5 Re1+ 28. Bf1 Qd6 {Black lost on time.} 1-0

30 September 2019 - Central League Division 2

Badgers Brook B		v		Stirling B
Mark Brown Dylan Gillies Gordon Walker Peter Woollven Craig van den Heever	1485 1378 1267   877	0- 1 ½ - ½ ½ - ½ 0 - 1 0 - 1 1 - 4	1494  1567  1547  1531  1463	Brad Duthie David McAlister Dave Hewitt John Blake Richard Warcup

Thanks to Brad for providing the game below, where he had White against Mark Brown.

[Event "Badgers Brook B v Stirling B"] [Site "Badgers Brook CC"] [Date "2019.09.30"] [Round "-"] [White "Duthie, B"] [Black "Brown, M"] [Result "1-0"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c6 4. e3 a6 5. a3 Nd7 6. Nc3 Be7 7. cxd5 cxd5 8. Bd3 h6 9. O-O b5 10. Bd2 Nb6 11. e4 Nf6 12. e5 Nfd7 13. Ne2 O-O 14. Qc1 Nc4 15. Bxh6 Nxb2 16. Bxg7 Nxd3 17. Qh6 f5 18. Qh8+ Kf7 19. Bxf8 Nxf8 20. Ra2 b4 21. Rd2 Nxf2 22. Rxf2 bxa3 23. Nf4 Ke8 24. Ng6 Kd7 25. Nxe7 Qxe7 26. Qf6 Qxf6 27. exf6 Nh7 28. Ne5+ Ke8 29. f7+ Kf8 30. h4 a5 31. g4 Nf6 32. Rg2 Nxg4 33. Nxg4 fxg4 34. Rxg4 Kxf7 35. Rf2+ Ke7 36. Rg8 Rb8 37. Ra2 Rb1+ 38. Kh2 Bd7 39. Rg7+ Ke8 { The recording of the moves is unclear from here, but Brad thinks it may have been 40. Rxa3 a4 41. h5 e5 42. h6 Rb6 43. h7 Rh6+ 44. Kg3 exd4 45. Rg8+ Ke7 46. h8=Q Rxh8 47. Rxh8 Kd6 48.Kf4 Kc5 49. Rg3 Kc4 50. Rg7 Bb5 51. Ra8 d3 52. Ke3 Kc3 53. Rc7+ Kb3 1-0 } 1-0