27 April 2022 - Central League Cup

What was presumably the second semi-final in the seven-board cup was played at the neutral venue of Grangemouth and saw an experimental Stirling B team, including several new recruits, beat an experienced Dunfermline line-up in a close match. While normally players would be in grading order, allowance has been made for player improvements that are not yet reflected in their grade. Many thanks to Harry and Alan at Grangemouth for hosting.

Stirling		v		Dunfermline
Isaac Browning Sam Cook Richard Warcup Kenny MacPherson Dave Hewitt Nathanael Loch Ruaridh Simpson	1497 852 1477 1372 1531	1 - 0 ½ - ½ 0 - 1 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0	1563 1566 1555 1243 1412 1215 1315	Gordon Greig Fred Ossowski Gonzalo Ferero Mark McLintock Doug Rew Glynis Grant Peter Horne
		5½ - 1½

Thanks to Ruaridh for this game, where he had Black against Peter Horne.

ChessBase

Horne, P–Simpson, R0–1A01Central League Cup - Stirling v Dunfermlinehttps://lichess.org/CP90JoYa27.04.2022

1.b3 f6 2.b2 d5 3.f3 c5 4.g3 c6 5.g2 f5 6.0-0 d7 7.d3 h3 8.bd2 xg2 9.xg2 0-0-0 10.c4 d4 11.a3 e5 12.e4 e7 13.fg5 df8 14.h3 h6 15.c1 h7 16.f4 f5 17.d2 g5 18.fxe5 xe5 19.f3 g6 20.hg1 f6 21.e3 g4 22.exd4 gxf3+ 23.xf3 hg8 24.xf5 h4+ 0–1

Download PGN

Many thanks to Alan Bell of Grangemouth for these photos of the night.

25 April 2021 - Keddie Cup

Dave Hewitt writes: Monday evening saw the first OTB Keddie Cup since December 2019 (the December 2020 one was an online Chess960 tournament as people will recall), and there was a joint-record turnout: 29 people played in the 2017 Keddie and 29 played in this latest one. There were five preliminary groups - four of six and one of five - with all group winners going through to the quarter-finals plus the three best runners-up (the two unlucky people in that regard with Robbie and Harley, who both did well nonetheless). Isaac went right through the tournament with a 100% record, scoring 5/5 in his group then continuing his good form into the KOs - congratulations to him on taking home the silverware, a fine result at his first attempt. Gordon gave Isaac a proper scare in the final however, before going wrong in some late-game complications. He thus finished as tournament runner-up for the third time in eleven years, although happily he has won the Keddie during that same period too. Sam Cook and Richard both put in excellent efforts in two very hard-fought semis, and with all four semi-finalists being quite close in grade the latter stages of the tournament felt suspiciously like normal chess. Special mention should be made of Nadzieja and Callum qualifying for the KO phase - an excellent effort by both. Congratulations too to Kalina, whose tenth birthday coincided with the Keddie - she kindly brought along some snacks and Happy Birthday was duly sung. Thanks to Dave for organising the ties, and to Jim for the raffle prizes.

Some early action.

Isaac (left) and Sam in the semi-final.

Gordon and Richard in the other semi-final.

Gordon (left) and Isaac in the final.

Gordon, as club president, presents the trophy to Isaac. Congratulations Isaac!

20 April 2022 - Central League Cup

The first action in the Central League Cup - a seven board knock-out - in three years. It's still unclear exactly what form this competition will take, and even who else will enter it, but this was the first match played in it. While normally players would be in grading order, allowance has been made for player improvements that are not yet reflected in their grade.

Grangemouth		v		Stirling
Alan Bell John McLay Dougie Will Ian Mason Daniel Kitaev David Fowler Harry Leishman	1926   1823 1625 879 1153 622	1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1	1580 1795 1722 1657 1657 1542 1486	Sam Coates Jim Shemilt Steve Smith William Spiers Graham Anderson Bill Cook Brad Duthie
		3 - 4

Thanks to William for this game, where he had White against Ian Mason.

ChessBase

Spiers, W–Mason, I1–07 board KO Grangemouth v StirlingGrangemouth CC20.04.2022

1.c4 e5 2.c3 d6 3.g3 f5 4.g2 f6 5.e3 e7 6.d4 e4 7.ge2 c6 8.d5 0-0 9.0-0 a6 10.f3 exf3 11.xf3 c5 12.f4 c7 13.a4 b8 14.c2 a6 15.e4 fxe4 16.xe4 g4 17.h3 e5 18.g2 d7 19.b3 f5 20.b2 d7 21.g4 xe4 22.xe4 f6 23.f5 e8 24.g5 d7 25.xh7+ h8 26.g6+ xh7 27.f8+ Black resigns. 27 ... Kh8 28 Qh7# 1–0

Download PGN

4 April 2022 - Under 1500 Cup

Stirling		v		Grangemouth
Isaac Browning Brad Duthie Kenny MacPherson Harry Feather Gordon Allcock	1497 1486 1372 1330 1256	1 - 0 1 - 0 0 - 1 1 - 0 1 - 0	1303 1143	Crawford Welsh Davd Fowler Colin Neilson Thomas Hamilton Kieran Marshall
		4 - 1