2026-03-25 Double-header at Grangemouth

   Central League Division 2
   Stirling C             3-2  Grangemouth C

1. Douglas Heatlie  1563  1-0  Jim Stallard   1330
2. Nathanael Loch   1515  1-0  Crawford Welsh 1243
3. Kenny MacPherson 1506  1-0  Joe Johnstone  u/g  
4. Toby Geyer       1302  0-1  William Walker u/g
5. Kai Austin       946   0-1  Harry Leishman 847

Stirling had white on boards 2 and 5
Live rating: Joe Johnstone 1334

Stirling C, despite being the home team, travelled to Grangemouth on Wednesday to assist with scheduling the internal club tournaments.

Nathanael, the C Team captain had released Douglas to Stirling B who were playing that same night, but when one of the other C's players couldn't make it, he asked for Douglas back.

It was a close match and it was Douglas who decided it at the end.

Giving back Douglas left the B Team with only four players, but despite this, the outcome was a remarkable victory against the Grangemouth A Team.

   Central League Division 1
   Grangemouth A         2-3  Stirling B

1. Alan Bell       1948  0-1  Brad Duthie    1552
2. Graham Hamilton 1905  1/2  Richard Warcup 1637
3. Alan Petrie     1722  0-1  Bill Cook      1544
4. Bill Gray       1496  1/2  Steve Smith    1549
5. Sean Gray             1-0  Default 

Stirling had white on boards 3 and 4

All our players made an important contribution, but Brad's turnaround win on Board 1 was pivotal in securing at least a drawn match, and then Richard played accurately with little time left for an endgame draw in the final game to finish for the team victory.

Here is Brad's game. Alan was better for most of the game. Brad was left with a difficult endgame, but decided to muddy the waters with his 39.g5 and then Alan's 44...Kh4 was the fateful mistake.

[Event "Grangemouth A v Stirling B"] [Site "?"] [Date "2026.03.25"] [Round "?"] [White "Duthie, Brad"] [Black "Bell, Alan"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E11"] [WhiteElo "1552"] [BlackElo "1948"] [WhiteFideId "-1"] [BlackFideId "-1"] [PlyCount "107"] [GameId "2292626377019418"] [EventDate "2025.11.28"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Qe7 5. a3 Bxd2+ 6. Nbxd2 d6 7. e3 O-O 8. Bd3 e5 9. dxe5 dxe5 10. Qc2 Re8 11. Ne4 Nbd7 12. O-O h6 13. b4 a5 14. Qc3 Nxe4 15. Bxe4 Nf6 16. Nd2 Rd8 17. f3 Qd6 18. Nb3 Nxe4 19. fxe4 a4 20. Nc1 Bg4 21. c5 Qd2 22. Qxd2 Rxd2 23. Ra2 Rad8 24. Rxd2 Rxd2 25. h3 Bh5 26. Kh2 Bg6 27. Kg3 Bxe4 28. Rf2 Rxf2 29. Kxf2 Kf8 30. Ne2 Ke8 31. Nc3 Bc2 32. g4 Kd7 33. e4 c6 34. Ke2 g6 35. Kd2 Bb3 36. h4 f6 37. Ke3 Ke6 38. Kf3 Bc2 39. g5 hxg5 40. hxg5 f5 41. Ke3 fxe4 42. Nxe4 Kf5 43. Nd6+ Kxg5 44. Nxb7 Kh4 45. Nd8 g5 46. Nxc6 g4 47. Nxe5 g3 48. Ke2 Be4 49. Kf1 Kg5 50. c6 Kf5 51. c7 Bb7 52. Nc4 Kg4 53. Nb6 Kh3 54. Kg1 1-0