2026-02-17 Stirling E win at Dunfermline

   Dunfermline B         2-3  Stirling E

1. Calum Newton    1508  0-1  Sandy Carmichael 1357
2. Douglas Rew     1369  1-0  Mick Murphy      1087
3. George Webb     1316  0-1  Mick Bloor       1084
4. Gordon Handy    u/g   0-1  Stewart Cairns   719
5. Michael Spriggs u/g   1-0  Elsa Liu         u/g

Stirling had White on boards 1,2 and 3

Graham has provided the commentary and games from this tremendous win.

Thanks to Dunfermline for hosting, and a very entertaining match.

I feared the worst when Stirling E went 2-0 quite quickly. Elsa lost after missing a Queen and Rook skewer, and then missing the opportunity to get it back a couple of moves later.

Mick M resigned after a 'remove the defender' tactic gave Douglas three connected passed pawns in the endgame.

Mick B pulled a point back with an unstoppable mating attack (which, in a first for him, did not involve any wild sacrifice).

[Event "Dunfermline B v Stirling E"] [Site "Dunfermline CC"] [Date "2026.02.17"] [Round "?"] [White "Bloor, M.."] [Black "Webb, G.."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B01"] [WhiteElo "1084"] [BlackElo "1316"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [BlackFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "69"] [GameId "2279692142084218"] [EventDate "2026.??.??"] 1. e4 d5 2. e5 Bf5 3. d4 e6 4. Bd3 Bg6 5. Nf3 Nd7 6. Nc3 a6 7. a3 Ne7 8. Be3 c6 9. Bxg6 hxg6 10. Qd2 Nb6 11. O-O-O Nc4 12. Qe2 Qb6 13. Na4 Qa5 14. b3 Nxa3 15. Bd2 Qc7 16. Kb2 Nb5 17. Bb4 a5 18. Bc5 Nc8 19. Bxf8 Rxf8 20. c4 Nba7 21. cxd5 cxd5 22. Rc1 Qd7 23. Rc3 Nb5 24. Rc2 Nca7 25. Rhc1 Qe7 26. Rc5 Qd7 27. Nb6 Qd8 28. Nxa8 Qxa8 29. Rxb5 Nc6 30. Qc2 Kd7 31. Qc5 Rd8 32. Ng5 Ke8 33. Nh7 Ne7 34. Qc7 Nc6 35. Rxb7 {Black resigns.} 1-0

Stewart was two backward pawns up when a catastrophic error from Gordon gave away a rook and the game.

[Event "Dunfermline B v Stirling E"] [Site "Dunfermline CC"] [Date "2026.02.17"] [Round "?"] [White "Handy, G.."] [Black "Cairns, S.."] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "D02"] [BlackElo "719"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [BlackFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "81"] [GameId "2279692600692872"] [EventDate "2026.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. e3 e6 4. Bd3 Nf6 5. O-O Bd6 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. c4 b6 8. a3 Bd7 9. Re1 Re8 10. e4 dxe4 11. Nxe4 Nxe4 12. Bxe4 Rb8 13. Qc2 g6 14. Bg5 Be7 15. h4 Bxg5 16. hxg5 e5 17. d5 Nd4 18. Qd3 Nxf3+ 19. Qxf3 Qxg5 20. d6 cxd6 21. Bd5 Be6 22. Bxe6 Rxe6 23. Qd5 a5 24. Re2 Rc8 25. b3 Rc5 26. Qa8+ Kg7 27. Rb1 Qf5 28. Rd1 h5 29. Qa6 Rc6 30. b4 axb4 31. axb4 e4 32. f3 exf3 33. Rxe6 Qxe6 34. gxf3 h4 35. Rd4 Qe3+ 36. Kg2 Qxd4 37. Kh3 g5 38. Qa2 Rxc4 39. Qg2 Qf4 40. b5 Rc3 41. Qb2 {White resigns. 41 ... Qg3#} 0-1

This left the game on board 1, the longest game of the match. Calum elected to prevent Sandy from castling at the expense of Queen side development, and with the match score at 2-1 for Dunfermline, Sandy passed up an opportunity to take a draw by perpetual to go for the win. This eventually came with a checkmate.

[Event "Dunfermline B vs. Stirling E"] [Site "?"] [Date "2026.02.17"] [Round "?"] [White "Carmichael, S.."] [Black "Newton, C.."] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D20"] [WhiteElo "1357"] [BlackElo "1508"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [BlackFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "73"] [GameId "2279688274182234"] [EventDate "2026.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e4 e5 4. d5 c6 5. Bxc4 Bb4+ 6. Nc3 Bxc3+ 7. bxc3 cxd5 8. Bxd5 Qc7 9. c4 Nf6 10. Nf3 Nxd5 11. cxd5 Qc4 12. Nd2 Qd4 13. Rb1 f5 14. Bb2 Qd3 15. Bxe5 O-O 16. Rb3 Qa6 17. Rg3 g6 18. Qh5 Nd7 19. Bc3 Nf6 20. Qh6 Rf7 21. Bxf6 Qxf6 22. O-O fxe4 23. Nxe4 Qe5 24. Re3 Bf5 25. Ng5 Qxd5 26. Nxf7 Qxf7 27. a3 Rc8 28. h3 Rc6 29. Rd1 Rc8 30. Qg5 Qf8 31. Re7 h6 32. Qe3 Bc2 33. Qe6+ Kh8 34. Rdd7 g5 35. Qe5+ Kg8 36. Rg7+ Qxg7 37. Qxg7# 1-0