03-04-2023 Central League Cup Stirling v Badgers Brook

Stirling		v		Badgers Brook
Shubham Lakudkar Sam Coates William Spiers Steve Smith Dave Hewitt Nathanael Loch Sean Flanagan	2040 1843 1722 1621 1562 1513 1487	1 - 0 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0	2007 1998 1841 1689 1666 1292 894	Andrew Newton Kenny McGeoch Andrew McHarg Steven McHarg John Smith Gordon Walker Peter Woollven
		4 - 3

Thanks to Dave for providing the game below, where he was Black against John Smith.

[Event "Neil Giffen Cup, Stirling vs Badgers Brook"] [Site "Stirling CC"] [Date "2023.04.03"] [White "John Smith"] [Black "Dave Hewitt"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "1666"] [BlackElo "1562"] [ECO "C01"] [Opening "French Defense: Exchange Variation"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Bd3 Nf6 5. h3 Be7 6. Nf3 O-O 7. O-O Nbd7 8. Re1 c5 9. c3 Re8 10. Bf4 cxd4 11. cxd4 Bb4 12. Nc3 Bxc3 13. bxc3 Ne4 14. Qc2 f5 15. c4 Ndf6 16. Rab1 b6 17. Be5 Bb7 18. Nd2 Rc8 19. Nf1 dxc4 20. Bxc4+ Bd5 21. Bxd5+ Nxd5 22. Qb3 Kh8 23. Qf3 Qg5 24. Rb5 Rc3 25. Ne3 Nxe3 26. Rxe3 Rec8 27. Rxc3 Rxc3 28. Qf4 Qg6 29. Rd5 Rc8 30. Rd7 Nf6 31. Rxa7 Nh5 32. Qf3 Rc1+ 33. Kh2 h6 34. Ra8+ Kh7 35. Qd5 Nf6 36. Qd8 Qg5 37. g3 Qd2 38. Kg2 Rc2 0-1

Dave writes: I picked a good time to win my first game in a Stirling match in 11 attempts this season. Was lucky - was in proper trouble early on, then got back levellish before missing a win at move 26: I was getting short of time but thought there was something good, and rather than doubling Rs I should have played 26 ...Rc1+ followed by Nd2 and Nf1+, winning the Q. However I missed this, and John then played a whole series of good moves to be well on top again. I thought he probably shouldn't have grabbed the pawn with 31 Rxa7, but the computer likes this and he was winning all the way to move 37, when Qh8+ followed by the hard to spot 38 Ra3 wins. John's actual 37 g3 allows a forced mate for black - fortunate, as I was down inside my last minute for the final four or five moves, and clinging on.