3 February 2020 - Central League Division 1

Stirling A		v		Grangemouth A
Kabir Pandit Steve Smith Graham Anderson Bill Cook John Blake	1753 1662 1592 1531	0 - 1 1 - 0 0 - 1 0 - 1 1 - 0	2146 1970 1816 1735 1319	Uby Archibong Alan Bell Dougie Will David Wallace Hugh Hanlon
		2 - 3

Uby and Kabir were first finished, in a game which seemed to me to consist of swapping off pieces. Both promoted pawns in the end game, but with Uby's pawn being further advanced he triumphed. David got Bill into a right guddle in the corner, and Bill then resigned. John beat Hugh in a game I saw nothing of. Both Steve and my games went right down to the last minutes. Alan dropped a rook in time trouble, and my game - well, it's below.

[Event "Stirling A v Grangemouth A"] [Site "Stirling CC"] [Date "2020.02.03"] [Round ""] [White "Anderson, G"] [Black "Will, D"] [Result "0-1"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 h6 5. c3 d6 6. Be3 g5 7. Qc2 { Stockfish recommends 0-0 but there's no way I'm castling into those pawns. } 7... Bg7 8. Nbd2 O-O 9. O-O-O Na5 10. d4 Qe8 11. Bd3 { I was happy enough with this move, trying to keep my pieces on the board, until about a minute later I saw 11 dxe5 dxe5 12 Bc5. } 11... Ng4 12. Nf1 b6 13. h4 { An attempt to break up the g and h pawns and get some play towards the King. } 13... Nxe3 14. Nxe3 g4 15. Nh2 h5 { I had initially intended f3 to this but I've only just spotted Bh6 as the reply. } 16. d5 { To close the game off. Black's white squared Bishop and Knight on a5 aren't going far. } 16... Nb7 17. g3 { Still hoping to get f3 in at some point. } 17... Nc5 18. Be2 Bh6 19. Nf1 f5 { I'd missed this, forgetting that the Knight on e3 is pinned. } 20. Kb1 fxe4 { Where I'd been quite comfortable up until now, I'm feeling the game slipping away from me here. } 21. b4 Na4 22. Rh2 a5 23. b5 Nc5 24. Nd2 Bxe3 25. fxe3 Bf5 { Really stuck for a move here } 26. Nb3 Nd3 27. a4 Bg6 28. Nc1 Nc5 29. Rhh1 Qe7 30. Rde1 Rf6 31. Qd1 Raf8 { I'm pretty much resigned to losing here, so let's get rid of the two pawns preventing me from getting near Black's King. } 32. Bxg4 hxg4 33. Qxg4 Kh8 34. h5 Bh7 35. Qh4 Nxa4 { I hadn't even considered this, but if I let him, this allows Black to get the Knight back to d5 and protect the Queen. } 36. Ne2 R6f7 37. Qxe7 { I don't really have a choice about this. } 37... Rxe7 38. g4 Rf2 39. Kc2 Ref7 40. g5 R7f3 41. Kd1 Rxe3 42. g6 Nxc3+ 43. Nxc3 Rd3+ 44. Kc1 Rxc3+ { It's the gaining of the tempo capturing the Knight back that Dougie is really good at - and I am not. } 45. Kb1 Bg8 46. h6 Ra3 47. g7+ Kh7 48. Rc1 Bxd5 49. Rxc7 Bg8 50. Rc8 Rb3+ 51. Kc1 Ra3 52. Kb1 Ba2+ 53. Kc1 Be6 54. Rh8+ Kg6 55. Rg1+ Kf6 56. Rf8+ Bf7 57. g8=Q Ra1# { In fairness, we're both down to seconds here. In my excitement, and having been behind for so long, I was that excited at getting to promote the pawn that I completely forgot to look at the whole board. The winning move for White is 56 Rxf7+. If 56 ... Kxf7 57 g8=Q+ (getting the tempo that I need) and if 56 ... Ke6 57 Rxf2 Ra1+ 58 Kc2 Rxg1 59 h7 and one of the pawns will promote. } 0-1

Thanks to John Blake for providing the game below, where he had Black against Hugh Hanlon.

[Event "Stirling A v Grangemouth A"] [Site "Stirling CC"] [Date "2020.02.03"] [Round "?"] [White "Hanlon, H"] [Black "Blake, J"] [Result "0-1"] 1. e4 b6 2. Bc4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb7 4. d3 g6 5. O-O Bg7 6. Be3 Bxb2 7. Nbd2 Bg7 8. Bd4 Bxd4 9. Nxd4 a6 10. f4 c5 11. N4f3 Ne7 12. d4 d5 13. exd5 exd5 14. Be2 Nf5 15. Rf2 O-O 16. dxc5 bxc5 17. Nb3 c4 18. Nbd4 Nxd4 19. Qxd4 Nc6 20. Qc3 f6 21. Nh4 f5 22. Qg3 Qf6 23. Rb1 Na5 24. Bf3 Rab8 25. Re2 Ba8 26. Rd1 Rbe8 27. Re5 Rxe5 28. fxe5 Qe6 29. Bh5 Kg7 30. Re1 d4 31. Qa3 gxh5 32. Qxa5 d3 33. cxd3 cxd3 34. Nf3 Bxf3 35. gxf3 Re8 36. Kf2 Kf7 37. f4 Rc8 38. Ke3 Kg7 39. Rd1 Qc4 40. Rxd3 Qe4+ 41. Kd2 Qxf4+ 42. Ke2 Qxh2+ 43. Ke3 Qg3+ 44. Kd4 Qf4+ 0-1