18-12-2023 Keddie Cup

Monday night saw the latest installment of the annual handicap tournament, the Keddie Cup. Sixteen players started in four groups of four. From Group A Ross and Kenny qualified, from Group B, Cameron and Dave qualified, from Group C Kai and Nicholas (Nicholas on the drawing of lots), and from Group D Nathanael and Sam qualified.

Ross 1-0 Dave
Cameron 1-0 Kenny
Kai 1-0 Nathanael
Sam 1-0 Nicholas
The highest graded player, Sam, along with the three lowest graded players,qualified for the semi-finals.

Ross 1-0 Kai
Cameron 1-0 Sam
Thus, the final was Ross v Cameron.

There was only 33 grading points difference between the two, so Cameron started with Black and 9 minutes. Ross won a knight earlier on, calculating a big swap-off well before setting a fine discovered check attack on an undefended Rook - which also led to checkmate.

Congratulations to Ross, seen here receiving the trophy from club president Gordon Allcock. Well done Ross! Other thanks go to Dave for the organisation, Steve for the raffle, and Jim who organised a similar tournament for the youngsters downstairs. The club is closed for the next two weeks, and reconvenes on 8 January for the New Year blitz. Merry Christmas!

11-12-23 Stirling E v Stirling C

Stirling E		v		Stirling C
David Fowler Harley Lang Thomas Forsyth Cameron Anderson Kai Austin	1133 1096 947	0 - 1 0 - 1 1 - 0 0 - 1 0 - 1	1542 1513 1440 1492 1476	Richard Warcup Dave Hewitt Kenny MacPherson Bill Cook David McAlister
		1 - 4

Thanks to Thomas for the game below, where he had White against Kenny. A second fine win for Thomas this season.

ChessBase

Forsyth, T–MacPherson, K1–0Stirling E v Stirling CStirling CC11.12.2023

1.d4 d5 2.f3 f6 3.g5 e6 4.e3 c5 5.c4 cxd4 6.exd4 a5+ 7.d2 b4 8.a3 e4 9.xb4 b6 10.e2 a5 11.c3 dxc4 12.0-0 c7 13.bd2 xc3 14.bxc3 b5 15.b1 a6 16.e1 0-0 17.c2 c6 18.g5 f5 19.xe6 d6 20.xf8 xf8 21.f3 g5 22.xc6 xc6 23.e5 b7 24.f3 g4 25.xf5 gxf3 26.xf8+ xf8 27.f5+ Black resigns 1–0

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04-12-2023 Stirling B v Stirling A

Stirling B		v		Stirling A
Graham Anderson Brad Duthie Dave Hewitt Nathanael Loch Kenny MacPherson	1703 1520 1513 1504 1440	0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 ½ - ½	1988 1755 1632 1542 1492	Isaac Browning William Spiers Steve Smith Richard Warcup Bill Cook
		½ - 4½

29-11-23 Grangemouth C v Stirling E

Grangemouth A		v		Stirling E
Bill Gray Alasdair Sandham Crawford Welsh Roman Kuznetsov Harry Leishmann	1526 1434 1199 1161 750	1 - 0 0 - 1 0 - 1 1 - 0 1 - 0	1133 1096 947	David Fowler Harley Lang Thomas Forsyth Stewart Cairns Cameron Anderson
		3 - 2

Thanks to Harley for providing the game below, where he had Black against Alasdair on board 2.

ChessBase

Sandham, A–Lang, H0–1Grangemouth C v Stirling EGrangemouth CC29.11.2023

1.d4 d5 2.f4 e6 3.e3 d7 4.c4 c5 5.c3 f6 6.b3 c6 7.f3 d6 8.e5 dxc4 9.xc6 xc6 10.xb7 0-0 11.xc6 xf4 12.exf4 c8 13.f3 cxd4 14.e4 xe4 15.xe4 a5+ 16.d1 a4+ 17.c2 a6 18.a3 d3 19.c3 fd8 20.d2 b6 21.f3 f2+ 22.d1 d2 23.xc4 xg2 24.c2 d1# 24 ... Rf1 keeps White in it. 0–1

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UPDATE: Thanks to Thomas for providing the game below, where he had White against Crawford.

ChessBase

Forsyth, T–Welsh, C1–0Grangemouth C v Stirling BGrangemouth CC29.11.2023

1.d4 e6 2.c4 f5 3.f3 f6 4.c3 c6 5.f4 g6 6.e3 g7 7.d3 0-0 8.0-0 h6 9.h3 b6 10.e1 b7 11.a4 c5 12.dxc5 xf3 13.gxf3 bxc5 14.d6 f7 15.xc5 c6 16.f4 h7 17.c2 d6 18.a3 g5 19.e2 f6 20.ad1 g7 21.b3 gxf4+ 22.f1 fxe3 23.fxe3 h4 24.f4 xe1 25.xe6 h4 26.xg7 xh3+ 27.g2 xg2+ 28.xg2 xg7 29.xe1 f6 30.xd6 d8 31.c5 g5 32.f1 b4 33.xf5+ e6 34.b1 xa2 35.e5+ f6 36.xa2 xd6 37.cxd6 xe5 38.d7 e6 39.b4 d8 40.b3 e4 41.f2 d3 42.b5 h5 43.g3 xe3 44.h4 d4 45.xh5 c5 46.c2 xb5 47.g6 c6 48.f5 a5 49.f6 a4 50.e7 b7 51.e4+ c7 52.xb7 xb7 53.d8 a3 54.d2 b6 1–0

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27-11-2023 Stirling A v Dunfermline A

Stirling A		v		Dunfermline A
Shubham Lakudkar Isaac Browning William Spiers Steve Smith Nathanael Loch	2142 1988 1755 1632 1504	1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0 ½ - ½ 1 - 0	2109 1636 1652 1624 1229	Ian Robertson Scott Kilgour Gordon Grieg Calum Smith Mark McLintock
		4½ - ½

UPDATE: thanks to Shubham for providing the game below, where he had Black against Ian on board 1.

ChessBase

Robertson, I–Lakudkar, S0–1Stirling A v Dunfermline AStirling CC27.11.2023

1.d4 f6 2.f3 g6 3.c3 d5 4.f4 g7 5.d2 c6 6.h6 xh6 7.xh6 f5 8.0-0-0 bd7 9.h3 a5 10.g5 b6 11.g4 e6 12.xe6 fxe6 13.e3 d7 14.d3 ag8 15.g5 b4 16.a3 d6 17.e4 dxe4 18.xe4 xe4 19.xe4 f8 20.f3 d5 21.d2 f4 22.de1 c7 23.e3 g5 24.h4 h5 25.hxg5 hxg4 26.xh8 xh8 27.e1 g3 28.fxg4 xg4 29.g6 e8 30.b1 d6 31.e3 xe4 32.xe4 xe4 33.xe4 h1+ 34.a2 g1 35.b3 xg6 36.c3 d6 37.a4 g5 38.h4 e5 39.dxe5+ xe5 40.h8 a5 41.d8+ c5 42.d7 b6 43.b3 e3+ 44.d2 e6 45.c3 e5 46.d8 d5 47.e8 e5 48.e7 b5 49.axb5 cxb5 50.c7+ d6 51.h7 e4 52.h4 e3 53.h6+ c5 54.e6 b4+ White runs out of time here. I believe Ian played the 20 or so moves with about 3 minutes on the clock. 0–1

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20-11-2023 Stirling D v Dunfermline B

Stirling D		v		Dunfermline B
Harry Feather Tom Wallace Sandy Carmichael Mick Bloor Tom Nimmo	1342 1335 1242 1117	0 - 1 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0	1403   1229	Gregor McCluskey Douglas Rew Euan Bell Mark McLintock Harris Dowie
		4 - 1

Thanks to Tom for the game below from board 2, where Tom had Black against Douglas Rew.

ChessBase

Rew, D–Wallace, T0–1Stirling D v Dunfermline CStirling CC20.11.2023

1.f3 f6 2.g3 g6 3.g2 g7 4.0-0 0-0 5.c4 d5 6.cxd5 xd5 7.c3 e6 8.b3 c6 9.d3 d7 10.xd5 exd5 11.e3 e8 12.fe1 c7 13.d4 xd4 14.xd4 c5 15.c3 e6 16.xe6 xe6 17.d4 d7 18.ac1 g4 19.f3 f5 20.b4 g4 21.a4 ac8 22.xg4 xg4 23.e3 h5 24.c5 h4 25.d6 e4 26.f6 hxg3 27.hxg3 h3 28.e2 ce8 29.b5 4e6 30.h4 xh4 31.gxh4 cxb5 32.axb5 e4 33.a2 xh4 34.xa7 ee4 35.c8+ g7 36.xb7 hg4+ 37.f1 g5 38.d7 f5 39.c5 39 b6! xe3 40.dxd5 f6 41.c6 f4 42.b6 b3 43.d7 b2 44.b7 fxf2+ 45.e1 45 Kg1 saves this for White - allowing time for the rook to come back to c1. h2 46.c2 b1+ White resigns 47 Rc1 Rxc1# 0–1

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Central League Game

Here is a game from the recent Central League match between Stirling C and Badger's Brook B. My thanks to Stockfish 14 for its help with the annotations.

ChessBase

Scott, Douglas–McAlister, David0–1A05Central League Div 213.11.2023McAlister

1.f3 f6 2.g3 d6 3.g2 e5 4.0-0 g6 5.d3 g7 6.e4 0-0 7.c3 c6 8.d4 c7 9.d5 bd7 10.b4 cxd5 11.xd5 xd5 12.exd5 f5 I tried (and failed) to find a way to exploit the long diagonal after it was weakened by White's 10th move and here the best way to do that was 12...b6 threatening ... Bg4 followed by ... e4. Best now is probably 13.b1 Both 13.h3 e4 14.d4 xd5 and 13.h4 e4 14.b1 c4 15.e1 f5 seem to give Black a clear advantage. 13.b1 f6 14.g5 e4 15.f3 There now develops a battle to maintain a Black pawn on e4. White only seems to be prepared to capture on e4 if exchanges on that square lead him to going a pawn up. e8 16.e1 h6 17.h3 f7 18.c4 b6 19.b2 d7 20.xf6 xf6 21.e3? d4! 22.e2? White had to play 22.f2 but after exf3 23.xf3 xe3 24.xe3 xc4 (threatening Bd4) 25.d1 e8 26.d3 If 26.b3 then d4+ 27.xd4 xd4+ and it is mate in four) 26...xb4 Black is winning. 22...exf3 23.xf3 xe3+ I thought 23...xe3 was probably even better but erred on the side of caution by going a Rook up plus ensuring the Queens were off the board. 24.xe3 xe3 25.g2 ae8 26.f4 f7 27.f1 c3 28.b5 c2 29.a4 a2 30.b4 White's efforts to retain his Queenside pawns allow me to end the game quickly. d4+ 31.h1 e1 and it is at most mate in three. Black resigned. 0–1

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20-11-23 Badgers Brook A v Stirling B

Badgers Brook A		v		Stirling B
Kenny McGeoch Mark Cooke Andrew McHarg Douglas Scott Peter Woollven	2039 1864 1838 988 962	1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0 0 - 1 ½ - ½	1557 1520 1504 1492 1476	Sean Flanagan Brad Duthie Nathanael Loch Bill Cook David McAlister
		3½ - 1½

13-11-23 Stirling C v Badgers Brook B

Missed this one from last week.

Stirling C		v		Badgers Brook B
Richard Warcup Dave Hewitt Kenny MacPherson David McAlister Harry Feather	1542 1513 1440 1476 1342	½ - ½ ½ - ½ 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0	1298 1263   988 962	Colin Matthews Gordon Walker Antonio La Gamma Douglas Scott Peter Woollven
		4 - 1

15-11-23 Grangemouth A v Stirling A

Grangemouth A		v		Stirling A
Alan Bell John McLay Graham Hamilton David Wallace Alan Petrie	1949 1948 1936 1776 1572	½ - ½ 1 - 0 ½ - ½ ½ - ½ 1 - 0	1755 1771 1703 1632 1520	William Spiers Jim Shemilt Graham Anderson Steve Smith Brad Duthie
		3½ - 1½

Below is my game from board 3, where I had Black against Graham H. It got very complicated in parts, and for the benefit of the juniors (who think this term is hilarious), it includes a majestic Bishop.

ChessBase

Hamilton, G–Anderson, G½–½Grangemouth A v Stirling AGrangemouth CC15.11.2023

1.d4 f6 2.g5 e6 3.e4 e7 4.e5 d5 5.d2 d6 6.c4 b6 7.g4 dxe5 8.dxe5 g6 Stockfish prefers g5. 9.f3 8d7 10.c3 c5 Heading for d3. 11.0-0-0 d3+ 12.xd3 xd3 Now that I'm here, I'm not so convinced it's good. The pawn on c4 is hanging - 13 b3 falls to 13 ... Ba3#. 13.b5 All of the black holes around f6/g7/h6 make this tricky for Black. The next move is an attempt to block White's black squared bishop from getting to them. h5 14.f4 d8 14 ... 0-0 falls to 15 Bb4 Qxc4+ 16 Qxc4 Nxc4 17 Bxe7 15.a5 Analysis after the game found 15 Bc3 - which prevents 15 ... Qxc4 being check. xc4+ 16.xc4 xc4 17.xc7 d7 18.d6+ xd6 19.xd6 e7 19 ... Bc6 looks good, but my first priority was to get rid of the strong-looking Bishop on d6. 20.b1 xd6 21.xd6 c6 22.hd1 d5 The rook on d6 is now trapped. 23.e1 e7 24.f3 This just seemed like a wasted move. My reply isn't much better... f6 25.f4 fxe5 26.fxe5 hf8 Stockfish recommends Rad8 instead, but I still think I can win this rook. 27.d3 f5 28.c5 xe5 28 ... b6 puts the Knight back in its box 29.d7+ f6 30.xb7 b8 31.d6 e2 32.b3 a5 33.f1+ g5 34.f7+ g4 35.a7 xg2 36.xa5 xh2 37.a4+ g3 Draw agreed, although Stockfish has Black as at least +2 here. ½–½

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Game

Thanks to Dave for providing this game from a couple of weeks ago, where he had Black against Brad in the qualifying rounds for the Richardson Cup.

08-11-23 Grangemouth B v Stirling B

Granegmouth B		v		Stirling B
Dougie Will John Smith Ian Mason Bill Gray Harry Leishman	1870 1652 1603 1526 750	1 - 0 1 - 0 0 - 1 1 - 0 0 - 1	1696 1557 1542 1520 1440	Matthew Demmon Sean Flanagan Richard Warcup Brad Duthie Kenny MacPherson
		3 - 2

Game

Thanks to Bill Cook for providing the game below. This was played a couple of weeks ago, in the B team match against Grangemouth A. Apologies to Bill for taking so long to post it.

ChessBase

Kuznetzov, R1161–Cook, B14920–1E70Stirling B v Grangemouth AStirling CC09.10.2023

1.d4 f6 2.c4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.e4 d6 5.d3 0-0 6.ge2 bd7 7.0-0 e5 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.f4 exf4 10.xf4 c5 10...h5 11.c2 c6 12.d6 b6 12...e6 13.xf8 xf8 14.h3 c5+ 15.h1 d7 13.xf8 cxe4+ 13...xf8 14.d4 g4 15.h3 g7 16.d6 xe4+ 17.c5 xc5 18.h1 e3 14.c5 xc5 15.xc5 xc5+ 16.d4 e7 17.ad1 e6 18.d6 xd6 19.xd6 d5 20.xd5 cxd5 21.b3 e5 22.xd5 xd5 23.xd5 f8 24.xb7 xb2 25.f4 d4+ 26.h1 g7 27.g3 b8 28.d1 xb7 29.xd4 b1+ 30.g2 b2+ 31.h3 xa2 32.d5 a5 33.c3 a3 34.a4 h5 35.g2 g5 36.h4 f6 37.c5 a2+ 38.f3 a3+ 39.d3 a4 40.hxg5 fxg5 41.d6 b3 42.e4 a3 43.a6 h4 44.gxh4 gxh4 45.f2 h3 46.g4 b4+ 47.f3 xg4 48.xg4 h2 49.a7+ f6 50.h7 a2 51.xh2 a1 52.f2+ e5 53.e2+ d5 54.d2+ c4 55.f3 c3+ 56.e2 h3 57.c2+ b3 58.d2 h2+ 59.d3 xc2+ 0–1

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Bill writes: I was a whole rook down after 15 moves with no compensation, but gradually clawed my way back, first by just being only a piece down, (22...Bxd5) and then after 31...Rxa2, had a passed pawn to play with. The rook sacrifice 47....Rxg4 ensured the a pawn finally queened.

25-10-23 Allegro League Grangemouth Tigers v Stirling Bruce

Grangemouth Tigers 5½-10½ Stirling Bruce
Round 1
Alan Petrie	0 - 1	Isaac Browning
John McLay	1 - 0	Bill Cook
Harry Leishman	0 - 1	Kenny MacPherson
Zya Dolan	0 - 1	Dave Hewitt
Round 2
Alan Petrie	1 - 0	Bill Cook
John McLay	1 - 0	Kenny MacPherson
Harry Leishman	0 - 1	Dave Hewitt
Zya Dolan	0 - 1	Isaac Browning
Round 3
Alan Petrie	0 - 1	Kenny MacPherson
John McLay	1 - 0	Dave Hewitt
Harry Leishman	0 - 1	Isaac Browning
Euan Binnie	0 - 1	Bill Cook
Round 4
Alan Petrie	1 - 0	Dave Hewitt
John McLay	½ - ½	Isaac Browning
Harry Leishman	0 - 1	Bill Cook
Euan Binnie	0 - 1	Kenny MacPherson

25-10-23 Allegro League Grangemouth Lions v Stirling Wallace

Grangemouth Lions 7-9 Stirling Wallace
Round 1
Ian Mason	1 - 0	Graham Anderson
Bill Gray	0 - 1	Tom Wallace
Thomas Frew	0 - 1	William Feather
John Smith	0 - 1	Harry Feather
Round 2
Ian Mason	0 - 1	Harry Feather
Bill Gray	½ - ½	Graham Anderson
Thomas Frew	0 - 1	Tom Wallace
John Smith	1 - 0	Cameron Anderson
Round 3
Ian Mason	1 - 0	William Feather
Bill Gray	½ - ½	Harry Feather
Thomas Frew	0 - 1	Cameron Anderson
John Smith	1 - 0	Tom Wallace
Round 4
Ian Mason	0 - 1	Tom Wallace
Bill Gray	1 - 0	Cameron Anderson
Thomas Frew	0 - 1	Harry Feather
John Smith	1 - 0	Graham Anderson

23-10-23 Stirling C v Stirling D

Stirling C		v		Stirling D
Dave Hewitt Kenny MacPherson Bill Cook Sandy Carmichael Cameron Anderson	1513 1440 1492 1242	½ - ½ 1 - 0 1 - 0 0 - 1 0 - 1	1342 1335   1133 1071	Harry Feather Tom Wallace Tom Nimmo David Fowler Callum Richardson
		2½ - 2½

22-10-23 Scottish National Chess League

The Forth Valley A team had their first match postponed (due to their opponent's difficulties travelling from the North East after the recent storm), and lost the afternoon match 4½-½ to Dundee City A. Full scorecard here.

Forth Valley B drew 2½-2½ with Oban in the morning (scorecard here), and lost 3-2 to Dundee City B in the afternoon (scorecard here).

Forth Valley C beat Troon 4-1 in the morning (scorecard here), and drew 2½-2½ with Phones in the afternoon (scorecard here).

Thanks to Tom for the game below, where he had White against Aditya Srivastava.

ChessBase

Wallace, T–Srivastava, A1–0SNCLDunfermline23.10.2023

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.g5 g7 5.h3 0-0 6.f3 c6 7.d2 b5 8.a3 bd7 9.h6 a5 10.xg7 xg7 11.d3 b8 12.0-0 b7 13.ae1 b4 14.axb4 axb4 15.d1 a5 16.b3 e5 17.b2 exd4 18.c4 c5 19.f4 d5 20.d6 dxe4 21.xe4 d5 22.c4 h5 23.xd4 xe4 24.xe4 c5 25.e7 h8 26.xd7 cxd4 27.f6+ g8 28.xf7+ Black resigns 1–0

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16-10-23 Robert Togneri Trophy

Time control: 15 minutes each for all moves

	Name	Grade	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Place
1	Steve Smith	1638	0 W 8	1 B 12	2 W 2	2½ B 4	2½ W 6	=7
2	Graham Anderson	1594	1 B 9	1½ W 5	1½ B 1	2½ W 13	3½ B 3	=3
3	Kenny MacPherson	1546	1 W 10	2 B 4	3 W 8	4 B 6	4 W 2	=1
4	Bill Cook	1546	1 B 11	1 W 3	2 B 5	2½ W 1	2½ B 7	=7
5	Dave Hewitt	1544	1 W 12	1½ B 2	1½ W 4	2½ B 10	2½ W 8	=7
6	David McAlister	1484	½ B 13	1½ W 7	2½ B 9	2½ W 3	3½ W 1	=3
7	Sandy Carmichael	1410	1 W 14	1 B 6	2 W 10	2 B 8	3 W 4	=5
8	Gordon Allcock	1362	1 B 1	2 W 13	2 B 3	3 W 7	4 B 5	=1
9	Harry Feather	1260	0 W 2	1 B 14	1 W 6	2 B 11	3 B 13	=5
10	Mick Bloor	1103	0 B 3	1 W 11	1 B 7	1 W 5	2 B 14	=10
11	Stewart Cairns	1058	0 W 4	0 B 10	1 W 14	1 W 9	1 B 12	13
12	Thomas Forsyth	858	0 B 5	0 W 1	0 B 13	1 W 14	2 W 11	=10
13	Cameron Anderson	680	½ W 6	½ B 8	1½ W 12	1½ B 2	1½ W 9	12
14	Jonathan Pont		0 B 7	0 W 9	0 B 11	0 B 12	0 W 10	14

Club Secretary Bill presents the trophy to Gordon (l) and Kenny (r). This is Kenny's first win in this tournament, and Gordon's first since 2006. Well done both!

10-10-23 Dunfermline B v Stirling C

Dunfermline B		v		Stirling C
Douglas Rew Anthony Milligan Dimitris Giannakopoulos Calum Newton Mark McLintock	1403 1345 1330   1229	1 - 0 ½ - ½ 0 - 1 1 - 0 1 - 0	1513 1440 1492 1476 1335	Dave Hewitt Kenny MacPherson Bill Cook David McAlister Tom Wallace
		3½ - 1½

09-10-2023 Stirling D v Badgers Brook B

Stirling D		v		Badgers Brook B
Harry Feather Tom Wallace Tom Nimmo Sandy Carmichael Mick Bloor	1342 1335   1242 1117	1 - 0 1 - 0 0 - 1 1 - 0 1 - 0	1263 988   962 963	Gordon Walker Douglas Scott David Lawrence Peter Woollven David Mabon
		4 - 1

Thanks to Tom for the game below, where he had White against Douglas Scott.

ChessBase

Wallace, T–Scott, D1–0Stirling D v Badgers Brook BStirling CC09.10.2023

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.f3 h6 5.d3 xd3 6.xd3 e6 7.0-0 a6 8.a3 c5 9.c4 cxd4 10.xd4 c5 11.e3 e7 12.xe6 fxe6 13.xc5 bc6 14.e1 0-0 15.c3 b6 16.xe7 xe7 17.cxd5 fd8 18.d6 f7 19.e2 e7 20.ae1 g6 21.g3 d7 22.e4 f8 23.c6 b8 24.a4 b5 25.c5 a7 26.d7 e7 27.d6 d8 28.d1 28 Nxe6 d5 29.xe6 axd7 30.xf7+ xf7 31.ed2 df8 32.xd5 xf2 33.d8 xd8 34.xd8+ f8 35.xf8+ xf8 36.xa6 f7 37.c7 e7 38.xb5 e6 39.f2 xe5 40.e3 d5 41.d3 c5 42.c3 g5 43.e4+ b5 44.h4 a4 45.c2 g4 46.f6 h5 47.xh5 Black resigns 1–0

Download PGN

09-10-23 Stirling B v Grangemouth A

Stirling B		v		Grangemouth A
Matthew Demmon Sean Flanagan Brad Duthie Nathanael Loch Bill Cook	1696 1557 1520 1504 1492	0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 1 - 0	1949 1948 1776 1572 1161	Alan Bell John McLay David Wallace Alan Petrie Roman Kuznetsov
		1 - 4

02-10-23 Badgers Brook A v Stirling A

Badgers Brook A		v		Stirling A
Kenny McGeoch Stuart Ward Jonathan Rowney David Lawrence Douglas Scott	2039 1774 1591   988	0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1	2142 1988 1755 1632 1513	Shubham Lakudkar Isaac Browning William Spiers Steve Smith Dave Hewitt
		0 - 5

02-10-23 Stirling E v Stirling D

Stirling E		v		Stirling D
Gordon Allcock Harley Lang Thomas Forsyth Euan Tortolano Stewart Cairns	1240 1096 947 792	1 - 0 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1	1342 1335 1117 1071	Tom Nimmo Harry Feather Tom Wallace Mick Bloor Callum Richardson
		1 - 4

25-09-23 Stirling C v Grangemouth C

Stirling C		v		Grangemouth C
Dave Hewitt Bill Cook Kenny MacPherson Harry Feather Tom Wallace	1513 1492 1440 1342 1335	1 - 0 0 - 1 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0	1434 1199 1161	Alasdair Sandham Crawford Welsh Roman Kuznetsov Keith Morley Thomas Frew
		4 - 1

Thanks to Dave for the game below. I'm trying something new here - embedding from lichess...

19-09-23 Dunfermline A v Stirling B

Dunfermline A		v		Stirling B
Volodymyr Tushynskyi Ian Robertson Gordon Greig Scott Kilgour Calum Smith	2268 2109 1652 1636 1624	1 - 0 1 - 0 ½ - ½ 1 - 0 0 - 1	1771 1703 1696 1513 1440	Jim Shemilt Graham Anderson Matthew Demmon Dave Hewitt Kenny MacPherson
		3½ - 1½

19-09-23 Dunfermline B v Stirling E

Dunfermline B		v		Stirling E
George McCluskey Euan Bell Brian Easton Harris Dowie Melinda Kindeur	1046	1 - 0 ½ - ½ ½ - ½ 0 - 1 1 - 0	1096 947   792	Harley Lang Thomas Forsyth Stewart Cairns Euan Tortolano Cameron Anderson
		3 - 2

04-09-2023 AGM Blitz

A slightly belated report on the traditional post-AGM blitz - played over five rounds at a time rate of 3 minutes + 2 seconds increment. Sean won with 4/5 and there was a four-way tie for second place between Richard (who beat Sean in the last round), Nathanael, Tom and Dave. Nine people played the full tournament and Stewart and Shubham each played one round.

Previous winners:

September 2006: John Blake 5/5 (12 players)
September 2007: Steve Smith 5½/6
September 2008: John Blake, Harvey Kelly, Alex Scott all 5/6 (17 players)
September 2009: Kenny McGeoch 5½/6 (14 players)
September 2010: Kenny McGeoch 6½/7
September 2011: Paul Prescott, Kenny McGeoch both 4½/5 (10 players)
September 2012: Paul Prescott 4½/5 (10 players)
September 2013: Paul Prescott 6/6 (14 players)
September 2014: John Blake, Bill Cook both 4/5 (9 players)
September 2015: Dave Hewitt 6½/8 (10 players)
September 2016: Robert Leckie 4/5 (9 players)
September 2017: John Blake, Brad Duthie, Richard Warcup all 4/5 (11 players)
September 2018: Graham Anderson 3½/4 (8 players)
September 2019: Kabir Pandit 4/4 (10 players)
September 2021: Kenny MacPherson, Richard Warcup 6/7 (11 players)
September 2022: Brad Duthie 5/5 (14 players)

18-09-2023 Stirling A v Grangemouth B

A full strength Stirling A team started the defence of their Central League Division 1 title at home against a strong Grangemouth B team.

Stirling A             3.0-2.0  Grangemouth B

Shubham Lakudkar 2142    0-1    Dougie Will     1870
Isaac Browning   1988    0-1    Daniel Kitaev   1669 
Sam Coates       1852    1-0    John Smith      1652  
William Spiers   1755    1-0    Ian Mason       1603
Steve Smith      1632    1-0    Nicholas Kitaev 1037

Richardson Cup

Congratulations to Shubham, winner of this seasons Richardson Cup (club championship), with a perfect 5/5. Well done Shubham!

07-06-2023 Lindsay Cup Final

On Wednesday night, Kenny MacPherson played Dave Hewitt in the final of the Lindsay Cup. This was hosted by Grangemouth CC - thanks to them for facilitating this.

This was the game.

ChessBase

Kenny MacPherson1418–Dave Hewitt15621–0A15Lindsay Cup Finalhttps://lichess.org/smTsVfin07.06.2023

1.c4 f6 2.g3 e6 3.g2 c6 4.c3 e7 5.d4 d5 6.cxd5 exd5 7.f3 0-0 8.0-0 f5 9.h4 e6 10.d3 c8 11.e4 dxe4 12.xe4 xe4 13.xe4 f5 14.f3 xh4 15.gxh4 f4 16.d5 d7 17.d6 a6 18.b3 b4 19.d2 d5 20.a3 ad8 21.fe1 f6 22.e5 f7 23.ae1 g6+ 24.h1 f7 25.1e2 h8 26.e1 d7 27.g4 h6 28.xd7 xd7 29.e8+ h7 30.2e6 xe6 31.xe6 f3 32.e4+ g6 33.h5 f5 34.hxg6+ g7 35.xf5 1–0

Download PGN

Congratulations to Kenny, seen here with the trophy

22-05-2023 Robert Togneri Trophy

Time control: 15 minutes each for all moves

	Name	Grade	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Place
1	Shubham Lakudkar	2041	1 W 14	2 B 8	3 W 6	4 B 5	5 W 3	1
2	Graham Anderson	1655	½ B 15	1½ W 17	2 B 7	3 W 9	3 B 27	=7
3	Steve Smith	1636	1 W 16	1½ B 11	2½ W 4	3½ B 7	3½ B 11	=4
4	Harley Lang	1585	½ B 17	1½ W 15	1½ B 3	2½ W 20	3½ B 12	=4
5	Brad Duthie	1581	1 W 18	2 B 12	3 W 27	3 W 1	3 B 10	=7
6	Sean Flanagan	1579	1 B 19	2 W 9	2 B 1	2 W 10	3 B 15	=7
7	Bill Cook	1507	1 W 20	2 B 13	2½ W 2	2½ W 3	3½ B 11	=4
8	Nathanael Loch	1447	1 B 21	1 W 1	2 B 18	2 W 12	3 B 19	=7
9	Kenny MacPherson	1399	1 W 22	1 B 6	2 W 11	2 B 2	3 W 17	=7
10	Ruaridh Simpson	1373	1 W 23	1 B 27	2 W 16	3 B 6	4 W 5	=2
11	Sandy Carmichael	1349	1 B 24	1½ W 3	1½ B 9	2½ W 15	2½ W 7	=15
12	Gordon Allcock	1346	1 W 25	1 W 5	2 B 19	3 B 8	3 W 4	=7
13	Harry Feather	1333	1 B 26	1 W 7	1½ B 20	2½ W 18	2½ B 14	=15
14	Kris Dimitrov	1309	0 B 1	1 W 21	2 B 25	2 W 27	3 W 13	=7
15	Mick Bloor	1114	½ W 2	½ B 4	1½ W 17	1½ B 11	1½ W 6	=20
16	Stewart Cairns	1099	0 B 3	1 W 23	1 B 10	2 W 21	3 B 18	=7
17	Thomas Forsyth	750	½ W 4	½ B 2	½ B 15	1½ W 24	1½ B 9	=20
18	Cameron Anderson	685	0 B 5	1 W 26	1 W 8	1 B 13	1 W 16	=23
19	William Feather		0 W 6	1 B 22	1 W 12	2 B 25	2 W 8	=17
20	Calum Tortolano		0 B 7	1 W 24	1½ W 13	1½ B 4	1½ -	=20
21	Josh Rodger		0 W 8	0 B 14	1 W 23	1 B 16	2 W 25	=17
22	Victor Liu		0 B 9	0 W 19	0 B 24	0 -	0 -	=26
23	Elsa Liu		0 B 10	0 B 16	0 B 21	0 -	0 -	=26
24	Kai Austin		0 W 11	0 B 20	1 W 22	1 B 17	2 Bye	=17
25	Graham Tuck		0 B 12	1 Bye	1 W 14	1 W 19	1 B 21	=23
26	Oleks Vynnytskyi		0 W 13	0 B 18	1 Bye	1 -	1 -	=23
27	Dave Hewitt	1512	1 Bye	2 W 10	2 B 5	3 B 14	4 W 2	=2

Shubham (left) receives the trophy from club president Gordon Allcock. Well done Shubham!

15-05-2023 Central League Cup Stirling v Grangemouth

Stirling		v		Grangemouth
Shubham Lakudkar Isaac Browning William Spiers Graham Anderson Steve Smith Brad Duthie Sean Flanagan	2040 1934 1722 1670 1621 1523 1487	1 - 0 ½ - ½ 0 - 1 ½ - ½ 0 - 1 0 - 1 ½ - ½	2066 1979 1953 1833 1727 1711 1626	John McLay Graham Hamilton Alan Bell Dougie Will David Wallace Alan Petrie Ian Mason
		2½ - 4½

Congratulations to Grangemouth!

Thanks to Shubham and Sean for providing the games below.

ChessBase

McLay, J–Lakudkar, S0–1CL Cup Stirling v GrangemouthStirling CC15.05.2023

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 xd5 3.c3 d6 4.d4 f6 5.f3 a6 6.c4 c6 7.h3 e6 8.g5 b5 9.d3 b7 10.0-0 e7 11.a4 b4 12.e4 d7 13.e1 h6 14.xf6+ gxf6 15.f4 0-0-0 16.c3 b8 17.e2 e5 18.e3 exd4 19.cxd4 hg8 20.xa6 xg2+ 21.xg2 g8+ 22.h2 d6+ 23.e5 fxe5 24.b5 e4+ White resigns 0–1

Download PGN

ChessBase

Anderson, G–Will, D½–½CL Cup Stirling v GrangemouthStirling CC15.05.2023

1.e4 e5 2.f3 c6 3.c4 f6 4.d3 h6 5.e3 d6 6.c3 g6 7.bd2 g4 8.h3 xe3 9.fxe3 g7 10.e2 0-0 11.f2 a5 12.b5 d7 13.xd7 xd7 14.d4 c5 15.0-0 b5 16.ab1 ac8 17.d5 c4 18.e2 a3 19.c4 xc4 20.xc4 a5 21.c3 d8 22.a4 f5 23.c2 a6 24.exf5 gxf5 25.h2 e4 26.xe4 fxe4 27.xe4 e8 28.g6 g5 29.xg5 hxg5 30.g4 c4 31.f6+ xf6 32.xf6 xe3 33.g6+ h7 34.xg5 b3 35.e1 Draw agreed. I am very short of time, and have no ideas on how to win this. All I can think is Re6 which gives perpetual check. ½–½

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ChessBase

Mason, I–Flanagan, S½–½D16CL Cup Stirling v GrangemouthStirling CC15.05.2023

1.d4 f6 2.c4 c6 3.f3 d5 4.c3 dxc4 5.a4 e6 6.g5 h6 7.xf6 xf6 8.e3 b4 9.xc4 c5 10.0-0 xc3 11.bxc3 0-0 12.e2?! Inaccuracy. Ne5 was best. 12.e5 d7 13.f4 xe5 14.fxe5 g5 15.f3 d7 16.g3 h4 17.d3 c6 18.f1 e4 12...cxd4 13.cxd4 b6 14.e5?! Inaccuracy. Rfc1 was best. 14.fc1 d7 15.b5 d8 16.c6 b8 17.c2 b7 18.ac1 xc6 19.xc6 f6 20.e5 d5 14...d7 15.xd7 xd7 16.b5 e7 17.h3 c8 18.a6 b7 19.xb7 xb7 20.fb1 ab8 21.b2 fc8 22.ab1 c6 23.a5 c7 24.g3 c1+ 25.xc1 xc1+ 26.h2 c3 27.axb6 axb6 28.b5 c7 29.e2 d7 30.b5 xb5 31.xb5 f8 32.g2 e7 33.f3 d6 34.e4 c6 35.b2 b5 36.d3 f5 37.c2+ d6 38.b2 c6 39.c2+ b6 40.c5 b7? Mistake. Ra8 was best. 41.c3? Mistake. Re5 was best. a5 42.b3 h5?! Inaccuracy. g5 was best. 43.h4 g6 44.c6 b6?? Blunder. Re7 was best. 44...e7 45.c5 45.c8?? Blunder. Rxb6 was best. 45.xb6 xb6 46.b4 a6 47.f3 b6 48.e4 c6 49.a5 d6 50.xb5 e5 51.c4 f4 45...b7? Mistake. Rd6 was best. 45...d6 46.g8 e5 47.dxe5 e6 48.g7 xe5 49.xg6 e4 50.g5 b4+ 51.c3 c4+ 52.d3 46.a8+ b6 47.d8?? Blunder. Re8 was best. c7?! 47...c6 48.g8 d5 49.xg6 e7 50.h6 e4 51.f6 d5 52.f8 h7 53.b4 a7 54.d8+ 48.d6+ a5 49.xe6 b4?? Blunder. Rc1 was best. 49...c1 50.xg6 f1 51.f4 b4 52.g5 b1+ 53.c2 g1 54.xf5+ a4 55.f8 b3+ 56.b2 50.b2? Mistake. Re5+ was best. 50.e5+ b6 51.xb4 c6 52.c5 d6 53.c4 b7 54.d5 a6 55.d4 a2 56.c6 xf2 50...c3 51.xg6 d3 52.g5? Mistake. Rg8 was best. 52.g8 b5 53.b8+ a4 54.a8+ b5 55.c2 c3+ 56.d2 c6 57.b8+ c4 58.c2 c7 52...a4? Mistake. Rd2+ was best. 52...d2+ 53.b3 53.c2 c3+ 54.b2 b3+ 55.c2 c3+ 56.b2 b3+ 57.c2?? Blunder. Kc1 was best. c3+ ½–½

Download PGN

08-05-2023 Stirling v Dunfermline (Under 1500 Cup Final)

Stirling		v		Dunfermline
Bill Cook Sean Flanagan Ruaridh Simpson Kenny MacPherson Tom Wallace	1489 1487 1483 1418 1358	1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0	1234   1207 1080	Mark McLintock Jim Wallace Glynis Grant Brian Easton Mike Skicko
		5 - 0

Well done all!

(l-r) Sean, Kenny, Ruaridh, captain Bill with the trophy, Tom

Thanks to Ruaridh, Kenny, and Tom for the games below. I don't have the board 1 and 2 games, because these went on much longer than the players recorded for.

ChessBase

Grant, G–Simpson, R0–1U1500 Cup Stirling v DunfermlineStirling CC08.05.2023

1.e4 c5 2.c3 c6 3.f4 d6 4.f3 g6 5.b5 d7 6.xc6 xc6 7.d3 g7 8.0-0 f6 9.h1 c4 10.b1 0-0 11.e5 dxe5 12.fxe5 d7 13.d4 b6 14.e3 d5 15.xd5 xd5 16.c3 h6 17.d2 h7 18.f2 e6 19.bf1 e4 20.e1 ad8 21.c1 f6 22.f4 fxe5 23.xf8 xf8 24.xf8 xf8 25.dxe5 xe5 26.d4 f5 27.g1 b6 28.e3 e5 29.xb6 axb6 30.xb6 g4 31.c7+ g7 32.f7 f5 33.a7 d1 34.f2 h5 35.h3 h6 36.h2 f4+ 37.g3 d2 38.xd2 xd2 39.f3 c1 40.xe5 xb2 41.xc4 xc3 42.a4 d3 43.b6 c2 44.d5 a5 45.h4 xa4 46.f6+ g7 47.e4 c6 48.g5 f6 49.g1 f5 50.h2 c7 51.h3 d8 52.f7 c7 53.h6+ e4 54.f7 f3 55.g5+ f2 56.g4 g2# 0–1

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ChessBase

MacPherson, K–Easton, B1–0U1500 Cup Stirling v DunfermlineStirling CC08.05.2023

1.d4 c5 2.d5 b6 3.c4 f6 4.c3 d6 5.e4 bd7 6.f4 g6 7.f3 g7 8.d3 b8 9.d2 a6 10.e2 c7 11.0-0 g4 12.h3 d4+ 13.xd4 cxd4 14.hxg4 dxc3 15.xc3 f8 16.f5 d7 17.e3 b7 18.h6 0-0-0 19.xh7 c5+ 20.f2 e3 21.h3 c5 22.b4 c7 23.e3 gxf5 24.gxf5 f6 25.d4 h8 26.c1 dg8 27.e2 g7 28.f3 gh7 29.f1 h1+ 30.e2 xc1 31.xc1 d8 32.e3 e8 33.c2 d8 34.c5 f7 35.c6 e5 36.cxb7 g8 37.xe5 fxe5 38.d3 e8 39.c8 b5+ 40.c4 h1 41.xb5 axb5 42.b8 d1+ 43.xd1 Black resigns. 1–0

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ChessBase

Skicko, M–Wallace, T0–1U1500 Cup Stirling v DunfermlineStirling CC05.08.2023

1.e4 c5 2.c4 e6 3.f3 d5 4.d3 c4 5.e2 c5 6.d4 cxd3 7.xd3 dxe4 8.xe4 xd1+ 9.xd1 xf2 10.bd2 f6 11.d3 0-0 12.b3 c6 13.c3 d8 14.e2 b6 15.c4 c7 16.e3 h6 17.h4 e5 18.fd2 g4+ 19.f3 e4 20.c2 exf3+ 21.gxf3 h5 22.hg1 f8 23.b4 d5 24.c5+ g8 25.b5 xc3+ 26.f2 xb5 27.g2 bd4 28.e4 f5 29.d3 xf3 30.gg1 b6 31.a3 e4 32.xe4 fxe4 33.d2 e3+ 34.xe3 c2+ 35.e2 xa3 36.af1 e8+ 37.d1 f8 38.g6 xf1+ 39.xf1 d8+ 40.d2 e5 41.g3 b1 42.c1 xd2 White resigns. 0–1

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08-05-2023 Stirling Douglas v Stirling Wallace

Stirling Douglas 6-10 Stirling Wallace
Round 1
Brad Duthie	1 - 0	David McAlister
Stewart Cairns	0 - 1	Nathanael Loch
Dave Hewitt	1 - 0	Gordon Allcock
Kai Austin	0 - 1	William Feather
Round 2
Brad Duthie	1 - 0	William Feather
Stewart Cairns	0 - 1	David McAlister
Dave Hewitt	0 - 1	Nathanael Loch
Kai Austin	0 - 1	Gordon Allcock
Round 3
Brad Duthie	1 - 0	Gordon Allcock
Stewart Cairns	0 - 1	William Feather
Dave Hewitt	0 - 1	David McAlister
Kai Austin	0 - 1	Nathanael Loch
Round 4
Brad Duthie	1 - 0	Nathanael Loch
Stewart Cairns	0 - 1	Gordon Allcock
Dave Hewitt	1 - 0	William Feather
Kai Austin	0 - 1	David McAlister

Well done to Brad for a fine 4/4, and good to see juniors Kai and William making their allegro league debuts.

08-05-2023 Thornton Cup Final

The final of the Thornton Cup was played last night, where Kris Dimitrov had White against Harry Feather.

This is the game.

ChessBase

Dimitrov, K–Feather, H1–0Thornton CupStirling CC08.05.2023

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.c4 b6 4.d4 d6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.f3 g4 7.h3 h5 8.e2 c7 9.b3 8d7 10.0-0 e5 11.d5 e7 12.c3 a6 13.a3 c5 14.d2 g6 15.h5 0-0-0 16.xg6 hxg6 17.b4 cd7 18.c5 dxc5 19.de4 c4 20.bxc5 xc5 21.xc5 xc5 22.a4 d4 23.c1 b5 24.ac3 b6 25.c2 b7 26.f3 f5 27.g5 e4 28.g3 d7 28 ... Be5 traps the White Queen. 29.e6 xc3 30.xc3 c8 31.d1 d6 32.b2 32 Qxc8+ Nxc8 33 Nc5+ xc2 33.xc2 e3 34.fxe3 xe3+ 35.h1 c4 36.a4 b6 37.c3 e3 38.b4 xd5 39.e7+ c6 40.c7# 1–0

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Congratulations to Kris, seen here receiving the trophy from club president Gordon Allcock. Well done Kris!

01-05-2023 Stirling Douglas v Grangemouth Tigers

Stirling Douglas 5-11 Grangemouth Tigers
Round 1
Richard Warcup	0 - 1	John McLay
Sandy Carmichael	0 - 1	Alan Bell
Adam Fenwick	0 - 1	Daniel Kitaev
Kenny MacPherson	1 - 0	Ryan Herron
Round 2
Richard Warcup	1 - 0	Ryan Herron
Sandy Carmichael	0 - 1	John McLay
Adam Fenwick	0 - 1	Alan Bell
Kenny MacPherson	½ - ½	Daniel Kitaev
Round 3
Richard Warcup	½ - ½	Daniel Kitaev
Sandy Carmichael	0 - 1	Ryan Herron
Adam Fenwick	0 - 1	John McLay
Kenny MacPherson	0 - 1	Alan Bell
Round 4
Richard Warcup	0 - 1	Alan Bell
Sandy Carmichael	1 - 0	Daniel Kitaev
Adam Fenwick	0 - 1	Ryan Herron
Kenny MacPherson	1 - 0	John McLay

01-05-2023 Stirling Wallace v Grangemouth Lions

Stirling Wallace 6-10 Grangemouth Lions
Round 1
Gordon Allcock	0 - 1	Dougie Will
Nathanael Loch	1 - 0	Alan Petrie
Tom Wallace	1 - 0	Ian Mason
Tom Nimmo	0 - 1	Nicholas Kitaev
Round 2
Gordon Allcock	1 - 0	Alan Petrie
Nathanael Loch	1 - 0	Ian Mason
Tom Wallace	0 - 1	Nicholas Kitaev
Tom Nimmo	0 - 1	Dougie Will
Round 3
Gordon Allcock	0 - 1	Ian Mason
Nathanael Loch	½ - ½	Nicholas Kitaev
Tom Wallace	0 - 1	Dougie Will
Tom Nimmo	0 - 1	Alan Petrie
Round 4
Gordon Allcock	1 - 0	Nicholas Kitaev
Nathanael Loch	½ - ½	Dougie Will
Tom Wallace	0 - 1	Alan Petrie
Tom Nimmo	0 - 1	Ian Mason

26-04-2023 Grangemouth C v Stirling E

Grangemouth C		v		Stirling E
David Fowler Scott Dickson Roman Kuznetsov Ryan Herron Michael Campbell	1181 1022	0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 1 - 0 1 - 0	1097 1082 1079	Callum Richardson Harley Lang Mick Bloor Stewart Cairns Cameron Anderson
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