16-12-24 Keddie Cup

The annual Christmas handicap tournament, the Keddie Cup, was a well-attended event, with 26 competitors initially split across 5 groups. From Group A, Victor and Dave qualified. From Group B, Kenny qualified with Elsa just missing out. From Group C, Gordon and I qualified. From Group D, Kai qualified with Toby just missing out, and from Group E Rudra and Sean qualified.

Quarter-finals:
Victor Liu 0-1 Rudra Pardhi
Kenny MacPherson 1-0 Dave Hewitt
Gordon Allcock 1-0 Sean Flanagan
Kai Austin 1-0 Graham Anderson

Semi-final 1 - Kenny (left) starts a rook and c pawn down against Kai.

Semi-final 2 - Gordon (left) starts a rook down against Rudra.

Kenny MacPherson 0-1 Kai Austin
Rudra Pardhi 1-0 Gordon Allcock

And so to the Rudra - Kai final. With very similar gradings, Kai started off with 9 minutes and Black to Rudra's 10 minutes.

The crowd watch on in interest...

Thanks to Isaac and Dave for a Keddie Cup first - someone recorded a game!

ChessBase

Pardhi, R–Austin, K1–0E90Keddie CupStirling CC16.12.2024

1.d4 f6 2.c4 g6 3.c3 g7 4.e4 d6 5.g5 0-0 6.f3 g4 7.h3 d7 8.e2 c5 9.d5 a5 10.b3 c8 11.0-0 bd7 12.a4 xa4 13.xa4 e8 14.fe1 xe4 15.d3 xg5 16.xg5 e5 17.ad1 h6 18.e4 d7 19.ac3 f5 20.g3 a4 21.xa4 f4 22.f1 ab8 23.g3 f3+ 24.g2 xe1+ 25.xe1 f6 26.xg6 f8 27.gxf4 b5 28.cxb5 xb5 29.c3 xb2 30.e4 g7 31.xf6 xf6 32.b1 f7 33.a4 xf4 34.g3 xa4 35.h2 b3+ 36.g2 d4 37.c2 c3 38.e4 e6 39.dxe6+ xe6 40.f3 a4 41.c2+ d5 42.xa4 a3 43.d7 c4 44.d1+ c5 45.f5 b4 46.b1+ c3 47.c1+ b4 48.e6 c3 49.e1 a5 50.c2+ a4 51.xa3 xa3 52.xc3+ a4 53.b3+ b4 54.d3 c5 55.f1 d5 56.xd5+ b4 57.e1 xb3 58.xa5 b4 59.h5 c4 60.xh6 Black resigns. 1–0

Download PGN

Rudra receives the trophy from club president Gordon. Well done Rudra!

09-12-24 Stirling B v Stirling A

Stirling B		v		Stirling A
Nathanel Loch Kenny MacPherson Bill Cook Harry Feather Ross Warcup	1513 1481 1470 1464 742	0 - 1 0 - 1 1 - 0 0 - 1 0 - 1	2008 1807 1784 1555 1599	Isaac Browning William Spiers Oliver Twentyman Richard Warcup Steve Smith
		1 - 4

25-11-24 Stirling C v Stirling D

Stirling C		v		Stirling D
Richard Warcup Kenny MacPherson Harry Feather Sandy Carmichael Tom Wallace	1621 1489 1478 1357 1342	0 - 1 1 - 0 ½ - ½ ½ - ½ ½ - ½	1429     1106 832	Dave Hewitt Toby Geyer Felix Borzik Mick Bloor Cameron Anderson
		2½ - 2½

Thanks to Dave for providing the game below, where on board 1 Dave had White against Richard.

18-11-24 Robert Togneri Trophy

Time control: 10 minutes + 5 second increment each for all moves

	Name	Grade	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Place
1	Shubham Lakudkar	2125	1 W 12	2 B 24	3 W 4	4 B 2	5 B 11	1
2	William Spiers	1768	1 B 13	2 W 7	3 B 21	3 W 1	4 B 9	=2
3	Kenny MacPherson	1631	1 W 14	1 B 8	1 W 11	2 B 22	2 W 10	=13
4	Brad Duthie	1584	1 B 15	2 W 9	2 B 1	3 W 21	3½ B 5	=4
5	Bill Cook	1578	1 W 16	1½ B 11	1½ W 8	2½ B 15	3 W 4	=6
6	Steve Smith	1562	½ B 17	½ W 21	½ B 15	1½ W 18	1½ B 13	=18
7	Harley Lang	1521	1 W 18	1 B 2	2 W 12	3 B 10	4 W 8	=2
8	Richard Warcup	1501	1 B 19	2 W 3	3 B 5	3 W 11	3 B 7	=6
9	Nathanael Loch	1503	1 W 20	1 B 4	2 W 23	3 B 24	3 W 2	=6
10	Douglas Heatlie	1489	0 B 21	1 W 17	2 B 22	2 W 7	3 B 3	=6
11	Tom Nimmo	1393	1 W 22	1½ W 5	2½ B 3	3½ B 8	3½ W 1	=4
12	Dave Hewitt	1363	0 B 1	1 W 19	1 B 7	2 W 17	3 B 21	=6
13	Scott Keenan	1204	0 W 2	1 B 18	1 W 24	2 B 23	3 W 6	=6
14	Mick Murphy	1125	0 B 3	0 W 23	½ B 18	1½ W 19	1½ B 17	=18
15	Mick Bloor	1095	0 W 4	½ B 20	1½ W 6	1½ W 5	2 B 16	=13
16	Glen Wilson	1028	0 B 5	0 W 22	0 B 19	1 W 20	1½ W 15	=18
17	Kai Austin	719	½ W 6	½ B 10	1½ W 20	1½ B 12	2½ W 14	12
18	Jonathan Pont	713	0 B 7	0 W 13	½ W 14	½ B 6	½ B 20	24
19	Rudra Pardhi	644	0 W 8	0 B 12	1 W 16	1 B 14	1 B 23	=22
20	Elsa Liu	281	0 B 9	½ W 15	½ B 17	½ B 16	11½ W 18	=18
21	Felix Borzik	u/g	1 W 10	2 B 6	2 W 2	2 B 4	2 W 12	=13
22	Jia-Xi Chen	u/g	0 B 11	1 B 16	1 W 10	1 W 3	1 -	=22
23	Victor Liu	502	0 W 24	1 B 14	1 B 9	1 W 13	2 W 19	=13
24	Graham Anderson	1569	1 B 23	1 W 1	2 B 13	2 W 9	2 -	=13

Congratulations to Shubham, winning with 5/5 for the third time!

Shubham receives the trophy from previous winner Bill.

11-11-24 Stirling E v Badgers Brook C

Stirling E		v		Badgers Brook C
Tom Nimmo Mick Murphy Stewart Cairns Rudra Pardhi Advait Harikumer	1084 1125 738	1 - 0 1 - 0 0 - 1 ½ - ½ 0 - 1	1425 1256   1164 999	Mark Brown Gordon Walker William Mundie David Lawrence Peter Woollven
		2½ - 2½

Thanks to Rudra for the game below - a fantastic result on his league debut.

ChessBase

Lawrence, D–Pardhi, R½–½A48Stirling E v Badgers Brook CStirling CC11.11.2024

1.d4 f6 2.f3 g6 3.e3 g7 4.d3 d5 5.b3 c6 6.a3 a5 7.bd2 0-0 8.b2 e8 9.0-0 g4 10.e2 xf3 11.xf3 e6 12.c4 e7 13.e5 d7 14.f4 xe5 15.fxe5 dxc4 16.bxc4 a4 17.f3 h6 18.c2 f8 19.e4 f6 20.exf6 xf6 21.ad1 c6 22.d3 h7 23.g4 d7 24.d2 g5 25.e2 xf1+ 26.xf1 h5 27.f7+ h6 28.d5 g8 29.xe6 d8 30.f2 f8 31.d4 f6 32.e3+ g5 33.d4 f6 34.e3+ g5 Draw by repetition. Stockfish recommends 34 Qc5 instead, and when the black bishop is on f6, e5 seems to keep White going. ½–½

Download PGN

Games

A couple of games to post...thanks to Bill for the first one, from the SNCL where he had White against Shriya Madhu from the Edinburgh West 3 team. Bill writes: She was in a bind for a while but difficult to see a way through until I spotted the sacrifice on move 23. 24...Nh5  was the best defence and it took me a minute or two to see that swapping queens was the answer followed by Re8+ and Bf6+.

ChessBase

Bill Cook1470–Shriya Madhu14361–0B04SNCL v Ed West 327.10.2024

1.e4 f6 2.e5 d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 b6 5.f3 c6 6.exd6 cxd6 7.e2 f5 8.e3 d5 9.c5 d7 10.a3 g6 11.0-0 g7 12.d2 0-0 13.c3 f6 14.ad1 g4 15.h3 xf3 16.xf3 e6 17.fe1 e8 18.b5 e7 19.g5 a6 20.d6 c7 21.f4 d7 22.g4 h8 23.xe6 fxe6 24.xe6 h5 25.xd8 xf4 26.e8+ f8 27.f6+ g8 28.xa8 e6 29.e5 c7 30.c8 e7 31.b8 e6 32.xb7 xb7 33.xb7 c6 34.d6 xc5 35.dxc5 xe5 36.xd5 1–0

Download PGN

This second game was played between Toby and Kenny in the Lindsay Cup. The Queens are exchanged early on, only to both make a re-appearance later in the game.

ChessBase

MacPherson, K–Geyer, T½–½Lindsay CupStirling CC11.11.2024

1.d4 f6 2.c4 d5 3.c3 c6 4.g5 f5 5.e3 e6 6.c5 e7 7.f3 b6 8.b4 a5 9.a3 bxc5 10.bxc5 bd7 11.e2 e4 12.xe7 xc3 13.xd8 xd1 14.xd1 xd8 15.h4 c7 16.xf5 exf5 17.d3 g6 18.b1 f6 19.e2 hb8 20.xb8 xb8 21.b1 xb1 22.xb1 e4 23.xe4 fxe4 24.a4 d7 25.f3 e6 26.fxe4 dxe4 27.f2 h5 28.g3 g5 29.h4 gxh4+ 30.xh4 f5 31.g5 h4 32.xh4 f4 33.exf4 d5 34.f5 xd4 35.f6 e3 36.g3 d3 37.f7 e2 38.f8 e1+ 39.h3 h1+ 40.g3 e1+ 41.f2 e5+ 42.h3 h5+ 43.g3 g5+ 44.h2 h5+ 45.g1 d1+ 46.h2 xa4 47.f5+ c3 48.g4 d4 49.g5 a4 50.g6 a3 51.f3+ b4 52.xc6 xc5 Stockfish offers, as +52 for Black: 53 ... Qf4+ 54 Kg2 a2 55 Qb7+ Kc3 56 Qg7+ Kd3 57 Qa1 Qg4+ 58 Kh2 Qh5+ 59 Kg2 Qxg6+ 60 Kh2 Qh7+ 61 Kg3 Qg8+ 62 Kh4 Qc4+ 63 Kh5 Qxc5+ 64 Kg6 Qb6+ 65 Kf7 Qb3+ 66 Ke7 Qb1 67 Qh8 Qb7+ 68 Ke6 Qb6+ 69 Kd5 Qb5+ 70 Ke6 Qc6+ 71 Kf7 Qf3+ 72 Kg6 Qg2+ 73 Kf5 Qf2+ 74 Ke6 Qe3+ 75 Kf5 Qc5+ 76 Kg6 Qg1+ 77 Kf7 53.b7+ b5 54.f7 a2 Draw agreed. According to Stockfish, on 55 g7 White loses after Qe5+ or Qe2+. White holds the draw with 55 Qxa2. ½–½

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09-11-2024 GM Jacob Aagard Simultaneous

The fledgling Clacks County chess club hosted a simultaneous display with GM Jacob Aagard. Thanks to John Blake and Dave Hewitt for providing one of the games below, where John had Black. I don't know if there were any other performances as good as John's, but if there were please pass them on.

05-11-24 Dunfermline B v Stirling D

Dunfermline B		v		Stirling D
Calum Newton Doug Rew Mark McLintock Daniel Lynch Bartosz Belch	1518 1401 1228	½ - ½ 0 - 1 0 - 1 1 - 0 1 - 0	1422 1198 1084 1133	Dave Hewitt David Fowler Tom Nimmo Mick Bloor Josh Rodger
		2½ - 2½

04-11-04 Stirling A v Grangemouth A

Stirling A		v		Grangemouth A
Isaac Browning William Spiers Oliver Twentyman Sean Flanagan Steve Smith	2008 1807 1784 1575 1599	1 - 0 0 - 1 0 - 1 1 - 0 0 - 1	2011 1962 1801 1675 1628	John McLay Daniel Kitaev Pranav Ram Hariharan Alan Petrie Martin Moyo
		2 - 3

28-10-24 Stirling D v Badgers Brook B

Stirling D		v		Badgers Brook B
Dave Hewitt David Fowler Toby Geyer Mick Bloor Cameron Anderson	1422 1198   1133 847	0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1	1500 1361 1296	David James Colin Matthews Antonio La Gamma William Mundie John Forbes
		0 - 5

23-10-24 Grangemouth B v Stirling A

Grangemouth B		v		Stirling A
Alan Bell Dougie Will Duncan Glassey Bill Gray Crawford Welsh	1873 1857 1675 1521 1232	½ - ½ 1 - 0 0 - 1 ½ - ½ 0 - 1	2008 1897 1807 1759 1599	Isaac Browning Sam Coates William Spiers Jim Shemilt Steve Smith
		2 - 3

21-10-24 Lindsay Cup

Two of our promising juniors, Victor and Rudra, played out the following game on Monday night - a fine open game in which a mistake by Victor saw him lose the exchange, but he battled on and, with Rudra's King wide open and being chased around the board, the pair settled on a draw. The club is really proud of both players, and special mention must be made of the fact that I could read and follow the scoresheets!

ChessBase

Victor–Rudra½–½Lindsay CupStirling CC21.10.2024

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.c3 g6 4.g5 g7 5.xf6 xf6 6.d5 c6 7.d3 0-0 8.ge2 e5 9.0-0 g4 10.h3 xe2 11.xe2 cxd5 12.xd5 c6 13.fe1 d4 14.d1 g7 15.c3 c6 16.b4 e7 17.e3 d7 18.a4 f5 19.b5 c7 20.exf5 xf5 21.xf5 xf5 22.d2 e4 23.ac1 a6 24.f1 d5 25.a5 c8 26.e3 h6 27.g4 xe3 28.xe3 f3 29.d4 xc3 30.xd5+ f7 31.xc3 xc3 32.d8+ g7 33.d4+ f6 34.d7+ h6 35.d2+ g5 36.h4 g6 37.hxg5 c6 38.f3 exf3 39.d3+ g7 40.f5 b6 41.axb6 xb6+ 42.h2 e3 43.d7+ f8 44.d8+ f7 45.f6+ e8 46.h8+ e7 47.xh7+ d6 48.d7+ Draw agreed. ½–½

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21-10-24 Stirling C v Stirling E

Stirling C		v		Stirling E
Richard Warcup Kenny MacPherson Douglas Heatlie Tom Wallace Ross Warcup	1555 1481 1481 1352 742	1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0	1096 738	Harley Lang Stewart Cairns Felix Borzik Neander Didla Advait Harikumer
		5 - 0

Thanks to Ross for the game below, where Ross had Black against debutante Advait.

ChessBase

Harikumer, A–Warcup, Ross0–1Stirling C v Stirling EStriling CC21.10.2024

1.e4 c5 2.e5 c6 3.f3 g6 4.c4 g7 5.g5 e6 6.f3 xe5 7.xe5 xe5 8.a3 a6 9.d3 d5 10.f4 g7 11.b3 b5 12.c4 bxc4 13.dxc4 d4 14.f3 d7 15.0-0 e7 16.c2 0-0 17.e4 b8 18.d2 xb2 19.f2 c8 20.b1 c6 21.e1 xe4 22.xe4 f5 23.g4 e3 24.xe3 xf2 25.xf2 d3 26.d2 xa1 27.f5 exf5 28.gxf5 xf5 29.e3 g5+ 30.g3 xd2 31.e3 d1+ 32.e1 f3 I can't make out the last move, but White resigned after it. 0–1

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16-10-24 Grangemouth Lions v Stirling Bruce

Grangemouth Lions 7 - 9 Stirling Bruce
Round 1
Damien McGrory	1 - 0	Oliver Twentyman
Crawford Welsh	0 - 1	Kenny MacPherson
Harry Leishman	0 - 1	Bill Cook
Dougie Will	1 - 0	Dave Hewitt
Round 2
Damien McGrory	1 - 0	Dave Hewitt
Crawford Welsh	½ - ½	Oliver Twentyman
Harry Leishman	0 - 1	Kenny MacPherson
Dougie Will	1 - 0	Bill Cook
Round 3
Damien McGrory	0 - 1	Bill Cook
Crawford Welsh	0 - 1	Dave Hewitt
Harry Leishman	0 - 1	Oliver Twentyman
Dougie Will	1 - 0	Kenny MacPherson
Round 4
Damien McGrory	0 - 1	Kenny MacPherson
Crawford Welsh	½ - ½	Bill Cook
Harry Leishman	0 - 1	Dave Hewitt
Dougie Will	1 - 0	Oliver Twentyman

14-10-24 Stirling B v Grangemouth B

Stirling B		v		Grangemouth B
Brad Duthie Nathanael Loch Richard Warcup Bill Cook Tom Wallace	1545 1513 1555 1470 1352	0 - 1 ½ - ½ 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0	1873 1857 1521 1232 1152	Alan Bell Dougie Will Bill Gray Crawford Welsh Roman Kuznetsov
		3½ - 1½

07-10-24 Badgers Brook C v Stirling D

Update with names.

Badgers Brook C		v		Stirling D
David Lawrence William Mundie Peter Woollven Douglas Scott David Mabon	1164 1100 1003 981 931	0 - 1 1 - 0 0 - 1 ½ - ½ 1 - 0	1422 1198   1133 847	Dave Hewitt David Fowler Toby Geyer Mick Bloor Cameron Anderson
		2½ - 2½

07-10-24 Badgers Brook A v Stirling A

Badgers Brook A		v		Stirling A
Kenny McGeoch Mark Cook Stuart Ward Mark Monaghan David James	2029 1908 1810 1798 1500	0 - 1 1 - 0 1 - 0 0 - 1 1 - 0	2008 1784 1599 1575 1513	Isaac Browning Oliver Twentyman Steve Smith Sean Flanagan Nathanael Loch
		3 - 2

02-10-24 Richardson Cup Final

The delayed final of the club championship for season 2023-2024, the Richardson Cup, was played between Isaac Browning, with White, and Sam Coates.

Pre-game handshake - Isaac is on the left, Sam on the right.

Thanks to Dave for transcribing the game below.

Isaac with the trophy - congratulations Isaac!

Thanks to Grangemouth CC for hosting the game.

01-10-2024 Dunfermline B v Stirling C

Dunfermine B		v		Stirling C
Calum Newton Gregor McCluskey Barrie Dempster Dimitris Giannakopoulos Euan Bell	1518 1456   1354 1274	0 - 1 1 - 0 0 - 1 0 - 1 1 - 0	1555 1481 1464 1422 742	Richard Warcup Kenny MacPherson Harry Feather Dave Hewitt Ross Warcup
		2 - 3

Thanks to Dave for sharing his game on lichess. This was the match decider, the last game to finish...

30-09-24 Stirling E v Badgers Brook B

I don't have all of the players names, but I do have the two games below which scored Stirling's points in 3½-1½ win for Badgers Brook B. The first game is from board 1, where Tom had white against David James.

ChessBase

Nimmo, T–James, D1–0Stirling E v Badgers Brook BStirling CC30.09.2024

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 xd5 4.d4 e6 5.f3 c6 6.e3 cxd4 7.xd4 f6 8.e2 xd4 9.xd4 xg2 10.f3 g6 11.b3 e7 12.xb7 xb7 13.xb7 0-0 14.d2 fe8 15.0-0-0 a5 16.hg1 f5 17.g2 ab8 18.c7 d5 19.dg1 g6 20.c4 b7 21.b3 d7 22.c2 ec8 23.f3 d5 24.d3 xa2 25.b1 b3 26.c2 a4 27.xb3 xb3 28.d2 b7 29.c2 d5 30.a1 a8 31.gg1 f6 32.xf6 xf6 33.a2 ba7 34.c4 a6 35.f3 d7 36.ga1 c5 37.d2 b3 38.xb3 axb3+ 39.xb3 b6+ 40.c2 ab8 41.b1 g7 42.b4 f6 43.b3 f5 44.a7 8b7 45.xb7 xb7 46.f1 f4 47.c4 e5 48.d1 f6 49.c5 e7 50.c4 f5 51.b5 e5 52.c6 c7 53.c5 e4 54.fxe4 fxe4 55.b6 Black resigns 1–0

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This second game is board 5, where Calum, making his league debut, earned a draw with Black against D Scott.

ChessBase

Scott, D–Tortolano, C½–½Stirling E v Badgers Brook BStirling CC30.09.2024

1.f3 d5 2.c4 e6 3.g3 f6 4.g2 c5 5.d4 b4+ 6.d2 xd2+ 7.bxd2 c6 8.0-0 0-0 9.c5 b6 10.b3 e4 11.fd2 f6 12.xe4 12 Nxe4 seems preferable, with the follow up threats after 12 ... dxe4 13 Bxe4 dxe4 13.xe4 f5 14.c3 a6 15.e1 ad8 16.g2 c4 17.e3 e5 18.cxb6 cxb6 19.e4 d7 20.d5 xb3 21.xb3 d4 22.d1 fe8 23.e2 g4 24.f3 xf3+ 25.g1 e3+ 26.f1 f3+ 27.g1 e3+ 28.f1 Repetition draw agreed. However, Black seems to have better options with 28 ... Nf3 29 Nc3 Qg1+ 30 Ke2 Qg2+ 31 Ke3 Nxe1 32 Qxe1 Qxb2 ½–½

Download PGN

Update with names.

Stirling E		v		Badgers Brook C
Tom Nimmo Mick Murphy Kai Austin Stewart Cairns Calum Tortolano	1084 1135 893 738	1 - 0 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 ½ - ½	1500 1164   1003 981	David James David Lawrence William Mundie Peter Woollven Douglas Scott
		3 - 2

25-09-24 Grangemouth A v Stirling B

Grangemouth A		v		Stirling B
John McLay Daniel Kitaev Pranav Ram Hariharan Alan Petrie Mark Moyo	2011 1962 1801 1675	½ - ½ 1 - 0 1 - 0 0 - 1 ½ - ½	1759 1545 1513 1481 1470	Jim Shemilt Brad Duthie Nathanael Loch Kenny MacPherson Bill Cook
		3 - 2

23-09-24 Stirling D v Stirling E

Stirling D		v		Stirling E
Dave Hewitt David Fowler Mick Bloor Toby Geyer Cameron Anderson	1422 1198 1133   847	1 - 0 0 - 1 0 - 1 1 - 0 ½ - ½	1135 1084 893 877 734	Mick Murphy Tom Nimmo Kai Austin William Feather Stewart Cairns
		2½ - 2½

23-09-24 Stirling A v Dunfermline A

Stirling A		v		Dunfermline A
Isaac Browning William Spiers Oliver Twentyman Steve Smith Nathanael Loch	2008 1807 1784 1599 1513	0 - 1 1 - 0 1 - 0 ½ - ½ ½ - ½	2051 1662 1631 1594 1528	Ian Robertson Jamie O'Connor Gordon Greig Calum Smith Gonzalo Forero
		3 - 2

16-09-24 Stirling C v Badgers Brook C

Stirling C		v		Badgers Brook C
Richard Warcup Kenny MacPherson Harry Feather Tom Wallace Ross Warcup	1555 1481 1464 1352 742	1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0	142 1266 1164 1003 931	Mark Brown Gordon Walker David Lawrence Peter Woollven David Mabon
		5 - 0

Thanks to Tom and Ross for the games below. First is Tom, who had Black on board 4 against Peter.

ChessBase

Woollven, P–Wallace, T0–1Stirling C v Badgers Brook BStirling CC16.09.2024

1.e4 c5 2.f3 c6 3.c3 g6 4.d4 cxd4 5.xd4 d6 6.c4 e6 7.xc6 bxc6 8.0-0 d5 9.exd5 cxd5 Stockfish recommends 10 Nxd5 exd5 11 Bb5+ Bd7 12 Qxd5 Be7 13 Bxd7+. If the Queen recaptures, the Rook on a8 is en prise. 10.b3 h6 11.a3 d6 12.e1 e7 13.g4 g8 14.e2 c7 15.c3 xh2+ 16.h1 d6 17.c2 e5 18.f3 e4 19.e3 f5 20.d2 e7 21.f4 h4+ 22.h3 g3+ 23.fxg3 xg3 24.f2 h2# 0–1

Download PGN

This next game is from board 5, where Ross had White against David.

ChessBase

Warcup, Ross–Mabon, D1–0Stirling C v Badgers Brook CStirling CC16.09.2024

1.e4 e5 2.f3 d6 3.c4 f6 4.d3 c6 5.0-0 h6 6.a4 g4 7.h3 e6 8.xe6 fxe6 9.e1 a6 10.c3 d7 11.b4 c7 12.e3 b6 13.a5 b5 14.bd2 f7 15.c4 g5 16.d4 g4 17.hxg4 xg4 18.dxe5 dxe5 19.c5 g8 20.f1 h5 21.1h2 xh2 22.xh2 g6 23.h4 g7 24.xh5+ f7 25.xf7+ xf7 26.ad1 e7 27.f3 g7 28.xe5+ f6 29.xc6 h8+ 30.g1 gh7 31.d4+ f7 32.xh8 xh8 33.d7 e8 34.xc7 a6 Stockfish finds a mate in 9... 35 Rxe7+ Rxe7 36 Nxe7 Kxe7 37 Rd1 Kf6 38 c6 Kf7 39 c7 Kg6 40 c8=Q Kf6 41 Rd6 Kg5 42 Qxe6 Kh4 43 g3+ Kh5 44 Qf5# 35.xe7+ xe7 36.xe7 xe7 37.d1 e5 38.d6 e8 39.h2 e7 40.xa6 d7 41.b6 c7 42.a6 c8 43.a7 c7 44.a8 Black resigns 1–0

Download PGN

New season and AGM

The club starts back on Monday 2 September with the AGM, followed by a blitz tournament. The agenda for the AGM is as follows:-

Agenda for the 131st AGM to be held on 2nd September 2024 in The Park Church Stirling at 7.00 p.m.

Apologies for absence
1. President’s welcome
2. Minutes of previous AGM
3. Matters arising
4. Officers’ reports
5. Election of Office Bearers
6. Competitions for 2023/24
7. Any other business
8. Date of next AGM

Play proper starts on 9 September.

21-06-24 Lindsay Cup Final

The Lindsay Cup Final was played between Sean and Nathanael. Thanks to Dave for transcribing the game below.

Congratulations to Nathanael, seen below receiving the trophy from last year's winner Kenny MacPherson.

29-05-24 Cumbernauld v Stirling - Under 1500 Cup Final

Cumbernauld		v		Stirling
Chrysa Mitraka Derek McAteer Liam Heron Mark Heron Mark Bellamy-Collins	1187 1370 1301 1129 538	½ - ½ 0 - 1 ½ - ½ ½ - ½ 0 - 1	1499 1440 1492 1340	Douglas Heatlie Kenny MacPherson Bill Cook Harry Feather Tom Nimmo
		1½ - 3½

29-05-24 Stirling E v Grangemouth C

Stirling E		v		Grangemouth C
David Fowler Ross Warcup Stewart Cairns Cameron Anderson Nicholas Stevenson	1133 647	0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 ½ - ½ 1 - 0	1526 1199 1161 1037 750	Bill Gray Crawford Welsh Roman Kuznetsov Nicholas Kitaev Harry Leishman
		1½ - 3½

20-05-24 Badgers Brook B v Stirling C

Badgers Brook B		v		Stirling C
Colin Matthews Altamash Khan David Lawrence Connor George David Mabon	1298       912	0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 1 - 0	1542 1513 1440 1492 1242	Richard Warcup Dave Hewitt Kenny MacPherson Bill Cook Sandy Carmichael
		1 - 4

Bill Cook writes: Stirling needed to win by a large margin to have a chance of winning the league and managed it eventually after the final game on Board 1 was decided with Colin resigning after a long defence a piece down but making a final mistake with little time left. Dave and Kenny won a piece early on and my game was the first to finish once I had won the exchange and was two pawns up. David was a piece up with a passed pawn about to queen for some time before catching Sandy in a mating net. Thanks to Badgers hosting the match - nice to travel in the sunshine for a change!

13-05-24 Stirling Bruce v Grangemouth Lions

Stirling Bruce 10½ - 5½ Grangemouth Lions
Round 1
Shubham Lakudkar	1 - 0	Alan Bell
Isaac Browning	0 - 1	Dougie Will
Bill Cook	0 - 1	Pranav Ram
Kenny MacPherson	1 - 0	Ian Mason
Round 2
Shubham Lakudkar	1 - 0	Ian Mason
Isaac Browning	0 - 1	Alan Bell
Bill Cook	1 - 0	Dougie Will
Kenny MacPherson	1 - 0	Pranav Ram
Round 3
Shubham Lakudkar	1 - 0	Dougie Will
Isaac Browning	1 - 0	Ian Mason
Bill Cook	0 - 1	Alan Bell
Kenny MacPherson	0 - 1	Dougie Will
Round 4
Shubham Lakudkar	1 - 0	Dougie Will
Isaac Browning	1 - 0	Pranav Ram
Bill Cook	1 - 0	Ian Mason
Kenny MacPherson	½ - ½	Alan Bell

08-05-24 Grangemouth v Stirling (Central League Cup Final)

Grangemouth		v		Stirling
Alan Bell John McLay Graham Hamilton Dougie Will David Wallace Pranav Ram Hariharan Ian Mason	1949 1948 1936 1870 1776 1743 1603	0 - 1 ½ - ½ 0 - 1 1 - 0 0 - 1 1 - 0 0 - 1	2142 1988 1852 1771 1755 1703 1632	Shubham Lakudkar Isaac Browning Sam Coates Jim Shemilt William Spiers Graham Anderson Steve Smith
		2½ - 4½

Dougie presents the trophy to Steve.

The winning team: (l-r) Shubham, Isaac, William, Graham, Steve, Jim, Sam

Thanks to the team for the games below. I hope to add Sam's game as well, once I get the final few moves.

ChessBase

Lakudkar, S–Bell, A1–0CL Cup - Grangemouth v StirlingGrangemouth CC08.05.2024

1.d4 f6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.g2 e7 5.f3 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.a4 c5 8.dxc5 a5 9.c2 c6 10.a3 xc5 11.e3 h5 12.xc4 e5 13.g5 e6 14.xf6 xf6 15.d6 a5 16.c7 d8 17.c3 b3 18.ad1 f6 19.xb7 c8 20.b4 f7 21.xd8 fxd8 22.h4 d7 23.h3 cd8 24.xe5 xd1 25.xf7 xf1+ 26.xf1 xf7 27.f5 g6 28.c2 d2+ 29.e1 g7 30.b4 c4 31.e7 b8 32.b4 e5 33.b3 f3+ 34.d1 Black resigns 1–0

Download PGN

ChessBase

McLay, J–Browning, I½–½CL Cup - Grangemouth v StirlingGrangemouth CC08.05.2024

1.e4 c5 2.c4 c6 3.c3 g6 4.f3 g7 5.e2 d6 6.h3 e6 7.d3 ge7 8.e3 d4 9.0-0 0-0 10.d2 ec6 11.h6 xf3+ 12.xf3 d4 13.d1 d7 14.xg7 xg7 15.b1 a5 16.e2 xe2+ 17.xe2 c6 18.bd1 e5 19.f4 f6 20.e3 b6 21.d2 ae8 22.d1 d8 23.f5 g5 24.a4 g8 25.b3 f8 26.h5 e7 27.f2 eg7 28.e2 e7 29.h1 b6 30.d1 b4 31.e2 d8 32.g3 c7 33.b2 xa4 34.d2 xd2+ 35.xd2 c6 36.a1 a8 37.d1 b5 38.ba2 b6 39.e3 ga7 40.d2 h8 41.c3 h5 42.d2 h4 43.g4 ha8 44.c3 bxc4 45.bxc4 a4 46.a3 c7 47.c2 b8 48.b1 xb1 49.xb1 b6 50.c2 a5 51.a1 b7 52.a3 b4 53.a1 b8 54.a3 b4 55.a1 b8 56.a3 a8 57.d1 b6 58.c2 c7 59.d1 a7 60.c2 a8 Draw agreed ½–½

Download PGN

ChessBase

Spiers, W–Wallace, D1–0CL Cup - Grangemouth v StirlingGrangemouth CC08.05.2024

1.c4 e5 2.c3 c6 3.g3 f6 4.g2 b4 5.e4 0-0 6.ge2 d6 7.h3 a5 8.d3 d4 9.e3 c5 10.0-0 h6 11.xd4 xd4 12.xd4 exd4 13.e2 c5 14.f4 e8 15.d2 b8 16.a4 d7 17.b3 c6 18.ae1 c7 19.g4 d7 20.g3 f8 21.h4 be8 22.g5 hxg5 23.hxg5 g6 24.f3 f6 25.gxf6 xf6 26.g4 ef8 27.h2 g7 28.f5 e5 29.fxg6 xg6 30.xf8 xf8 31.h8+ Black's flag falls. 1–0

Download PGN

06-05-2024 Stirling Douglas v Dunfermline Minnows

Stirling Douglas 5½ - 10½ Dunfermline Minnows
Round 1
Brad Duthie	½ - ½	Jamie O'Connor
Steve Smith	0 - 1	Calum Smith
Jim Shemilt	0 - 1	Gordon Greig
Callum Richardson	1 - 0	Gonzalo Forero
Round 2
Brad Duthie	0 - 1	Gonzalo Forero
Steve Smith	0 - 1	Jamie O'Connor
Jim Shemilt	0 - 1	Calum Smith
Callum Richardson	0 - 1	Gordon Greig
Round 3
Brad Duthie	1 - 0	Gordon Greig
Steve Smith	1 - 0	Gonzalo Forero
Jim Shemilt	0 - 1	Jamie O'Connor
Callum Richardson	0 - 1	Calum Smith
Round 4
Brad Duthie	0 - 1	Calum Smith
Steve Smith	1 - 0	Gordon Greig
Jim Shemilt	1 - 0	Gonzalo Forero
Callum Richardson	0 - 1	Jamie O'Connor

Steve Smith writes: Despite Ian Robertson's absence on international duty, Minnows completed their Allegro league season with a decisive win by 10.5-5.5 over Stirling Douglas. This gave them a 100% match score so they are worthy champions. Well done Minnows!

29-04-24 Stirling Wallace v Dunfermline Minnows

Stirling Wallace 3 - 13 Dunfermline Minnows
Round 1
Nathanael Loch	0 - 1	Ian Robertson
Richard Warcup	0 - 1	Gonzalo Forero
Tom Nimmo	0 - 1	Gregor McCloskey
Ross Warcup	0 - 1	Euan Bell
Round 2
Nathanael Loch	½ - ½	Euan Bell
Richard Warcup	0 - 1	Ian Robertson
Tom Nimmo	0 - 1	Gonzalo Forero
Ross Warcup	0 - 1	Gregor McCloskey
Round 3
Nathanael Loch	0 - 1	Gregor McCloskey
Richard Warcup	0 - 1	Euan Bell
Tom Nimmo	0 - 1	Ian Robertson
Ross Warcup	0 - 1	Gonzalo Forero
Round 4
Nathanel Loch	1 - 0	Gonzalo Forero
Richard Warcup	½ - ½	Gregor McCloskey
Tom Nimmo	1 - 0	Euan Bell
Ross Warcup	0 - 1	Ian Robertson

23-04-2024 Dunfermline B v Stirling D

Dunfermline B		v		Stirling D
Gregor McCloskey Calum Newton Douglas Rew Mark McLintock Jim Wallace	1403 1229 1212	0 - 1 1 - 0 0 - 1 1 - 0 0 - 1	1342 1335 1117 1133	Harry Feather Tom Wallace Mick Bloor David Fowler Tom Nimmo
		2 - 3

22-04-2024 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	1 W 9	2 B 5	2 W 3	2 B 13	2½ W 6	=7
2	Bill Cook	1546	1 B 10	1½ W 8	2½ B 13	3½ B 3	4½ W 5	1
3	Kenny MacPherson	1546	1 W 11	2 B 7	3 B 1	3 W 2	4 W 13	2
4	Dave Hewitt	1544	1 B 16	1 W 13	1½ B 8	2½ W 11	2½ B 7	=7
5	Nathanael Loch	1510	1 B 12	1 W 1	2 B 9	3 W 8	3 B 2	=4
6	Richard Warcup	1485	0 W 13	1 B 15	1 W 16	2 B 12	2½ B 1	=7
7	Gordon Allcock	1362	1 B 14	1 W 3	1½ B 11	2½ W 16	3½ W 4	3
8	Tom Wallace	1293	1 W 15	1½ B 2	2 W 4	2 B 5	2 B 16	=11
9	Mick Bloor	1103	0 B 1	1 W 12	1 W 5	2 B 14	2 B 11	=11
10	Stewart Cairns	1058	0 W 2	0 B 16	0 W 14	0 W 15	0 W 12	16
11	Kai Austin	660	0 B 3	1 W 14	1½ W 7	1½ B 4	2½ W 9	=7
12	Ross Warcup	647	0 W 5	0 B 9	1 W 15	1 W 6	2 B 10	=11
13	Tom Nimmo	u/g	1 B 6	2 B 4	2 B 2	3 W 1	3 B 3	=4
14	David Borland	u/g	0 W 7	0 B 11	1 B 10	1 W 9	1 B 15	15
15	Josh Rodger	424	0 B 8	0 W 6	0 B 12	1 W 10	2 W 14	=11
16	Toby Geyer	u/g	0 W 4	1 W 10	2 B 6	2 B 7	3 W 8	=4

Congratulations to Bill, seen here being presented with the trophy by club president Gordon. Well done Bill!

21-04-2024 Game

Thanks to Tom for providing the game below, from the SNCL match against Dumfries B. Tom had Black against Daniel Bell.

ChessBase

Bell, D–Wallace, T0–1SNCL7Dunfermline21.04.2024

1.f3 f6 2.g3 g6 3.b3 g7 4.b2 0-0 5.g2 d6 6.d4 c6 7.0-0 f5 8.c3 b8 9.h4 d7 10.e4 e6 11.e1 e8 12.f3 e5 13.dxe5 xe5 14.d2 g4 15.f3 e6 16.e2 d7 17.ad1 h3 18.h1 e6 19.cb1 b5 20.d4 c6 21.f2 b4 22.c4 xa2 23.e5 h5 24.e3 xe5 25.f1 c3 26.xc3 xc3 27.d2 bxc4 28.bxc4 a5 29.d3 b4 30.e2 g7 31.e4 d8 32.g5 c8 33.f6+ h8 34.h6 f5 35.xg7+ xg7 36.xe8+ f8 37.d5 e6 38.xd6 xd6 39.g5 xc4 40.c2 b3 41.xd6 xc2 42.c6 f5 43.f6 g8 44.f4 d7 45.d5 xd5 White resigns 0–1

Download PGN

16-04-24 Dunfermline A v Stirling A

Dunfermline A		v		Stirling A
Ian Robertson Gonzalo Forero Dimitris Giannakopoulos Gregor McCloskey Euan Bell	2109 1530 1330	½ - ½ 0 - 1 0 - 1 ½ - ½ 0 - 1	1988 1771 1755 1635 1542	Isaac Browning Jim Shemilt William Spiers Steve Smith Richard Warcup
		1 - 4

15-04-24 Stirling v Grangemouth (Under 1500 Cup)

Stirling		v		Grangemouth
Bill Cook David McAlister Kenny MacPherson Sandy Carmichael Kai Austin	1492 1476 1440 1242	0 - 1 1 - 0 1 - 0 ½ - ½ 1d - 0d	1430 1191 1161	Alasdair Sandham Crawford Welsh Roman Kuznetsov Collum Herron
		3½ - 1½

15-04-24 Stirling B v Badgers Brook A

Stirling B		v		Badgers Brook A
Nathanael Loch Dave Hewitt Brad Duthie Cameron Anderson Mick Bloor	1505 1513 1520   1117	0 - 1 0 - 1 1 - 0 0 - 1 0 - 1	2039	Kenny McGeoch David James Antonio La Gamma Altamash Khan George Connor
		1 - 4

08-04-2024 Stirling D v Grangemouth B

Stirling D		v		Grangemouth B
Harry Feather Tom Wallace Sandy Carmichael Callum Richardson Tom Nimmo	1342 1335 1242 1073	1 - 0 0 - 1 1 - 0 1d - 0d 1d - 0d	1526 1434 1199	Bill Gray Alasdair Sandham Crawford Welsh
		4 - 1

08-04-24 Badgers Brook B v Stirling E

Badgers Brook B		v		Stirling E
Angus Dayle James David Ho Jay George Connor Aryaman Dandu		1 - 0 1 - 0 0 - 1 1 - 0 ½ - ½	1133 1096 647	David Fowler Harley Lang Ross Warcup Stewart Cairns Cameron Anderson
		3½ - 1½

01-04-24 Stirling D v Stirling C

Stirling D		v		Stirling C
Harry Feather Tom Wallace Sandy Carmichael Callum Richardson Tom Nimmo	1342 1335 1242 1073	½ - ½ ½ - ½ 1 - 0 1 - 0 0 - 1	1542 1513 1499 1440 1492	Richard Warcup Dave Hewitt Douglas Heatlie Kenny MacPherson Bill Cook
		3 - 2

25-03-24 Stirling A v Grangemouth A

The league decider. A win for Stirling meant that a further win against Dunfermline still gave them a chance of winning the league. A draw or a win for Grangemouth would see them take the title.

Stirling A		v		Grangemouth A
Isaac Browning Jim Shemilt William Spiers Graham Anderson Steve Smith	1988 1771 1755 1703 1632	½ - ½ 0 - 1 1 - 0 0 - 1 ½ - ½	1949 1948 1776 1669 1572	Alan Bell John McLay David Wallace Daniel Kitaev Alan Petrie
		2 - 3

Congratulations to Grangemouth!

Thanks to William for this game from board, where William had White against David Wallace.

ChessBase

Spiers, W–Wallace, D1–0Stirling A v Grangemouth AStirling CC25.03.2024

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 f5 4.c3 e6 5.g4 g6 6.ge2 c5 7.h4 h6 8.f4 h7 9.e3 cxd4 10.xd4 c6 11.b5 e7 12.h5 g6 13.f4 xh4 14.f3 g5 15.0-0-0 ge7 16.b1 a6 17.xc6+ xc6 18.c5 xe5 19.g3 c4 20.fxd5 d2+ 21.xd2 xd2 22.e5 xc3 23.xc3 Black resigns. 1–0

Download PGN

25-03-24 Stirling C v Stirling E

Stirling C		v		Stirling E
Dave Hewitt Douglas Heatlie Kenny MacPherson Bill Cook Mick Bloor	1513 1499 1440 1492 1117	1 - 0 0 - 1 1 - 0 1 - 0 0 - 1	1240       647	Gordon Allcock Stewart Cairns Cameron Anderson Kai Austin Ross Warcup
		3 - 2

UPDATE: thanks to Stewart for providing the game below from board 2, where Stuart had Black against Douglas.

18-03-24 David Brodie Junior Trophy

The David Brodie Trophy is a juniors/beginners allegro. This is the fourth time this trophy has been played for: Alex won it back in 2019, it was not awarded in 2020 or 2021 due to the pandemic, in 2022 it was shared between Cameron A, Alex, and Thomas, and last year was won by Thomas outright. Well done to everyone who played, we are very proud of all of you!

Time control: 15 minutes each for all moves

	Name		Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5
1	Thomas		0 W 6	1 B 11	2 W 2	3 B 4	4 W 5
2	William		1 B 7	2 W 3	2 B 1	2 W 6	3 B 11
3	Callum		1W 8	1B 2	1½ B 5	2½ W 11	2½ B 6
4	Cameron		1 B 9	2 W 10	2½ B 6	2½ W 1	3½ B 8
5	Kai		0 W 11	1 B 8	1½ W 3	2½ W 5	2½ B 1
6	Ross		1 B 1	2 W 12	2½ W 4	3½ B 2	4½ W 3
7	Victor		0 W 2	1 B 9	1 W 11	1 B 5	2 W 10
8	Elsa		0 B 3	0 W 5	1 B 10	2 Bye	2 W 4
9	Samay		0 W 4	0 W 7	0 B 12	0 B 10	1 Bye
10	Graham		1 Bye	1 B 4	1 W 8	2 W 9	2 B 7
11	Jonathan		1 B 5	1 W 1	2 B 7	2 W 3	2 W 2
12	Jia-Xi		½ Bye	½ B 6	1½ W 9	1½ -	1½ -

Congratulations to Ross on his victory! Thanks to Marissa and Nadine, David's daughters, for coming along to present the medals and trophy.

Thanks to everyone who played!