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