Graham has provided the game from board 1 of the D v E match on Monday - the deciding game as the score was poised at 2-2. Both players were down to under 5 minutes at the end. Graham has added in some engine analysis of the closing stages. Great game, and part of a fantastic win for the E team.
Stirling Chess Club meets at Park Church (formerly St Columba's), Park Terrace, Stirling on a Monday night at 7pm. We welcome players of all ages and abilities. We field teams in the Central League, Central Allegro League, and the Scottish National League.
Wednesday, 14 October 2026
Game from the Match between the D and E Teams
Thursday, 23 April 2026
2026-04-20 Three Home Matches
Stirling Chess Club has won both Divisions of the Central League, but there remain a few matches left to play before the League season is wrapped up.
We start with two matches from the second tier.
Central League Division 2
Stirling E 2-3 Clackmannanshire
1. Rudra Pardhi 930 1-0 Glen Wilson 1047
2. Josh Heesom u/g 1-0 Joseph Lambert u/g
3. Samay Banakar u/g 0-1 Aiden Cameron u/g
4. Jamie Scanlon u/g 0-1 Roman Quinn u/g
5. Aarika Pawar u/g 0-1 Catherine Lambert u/g
Stirling had White on boards 3 and 4
Graham reports:
A first win of the season for Clackmannanshire - congratulations to them! It was great to see so many juniors - 8 - involved in this match.
Samay resigned early on, then Josh set a mating trap, with the lure of a Queen, for Joseph which he fell into.
Jamie missed a mate in two combination for five moves in a row before Roman swapped Queens, and the extra pawns made the difference.
Aarika got slowly strangled by Catherine before a back rank mate. Rudra - Glen will hopefully be on the club website soon.
Central League Division 2
Stirling D 2½-2½ Badgers Brook B
1. Tom Wallace 1313 ½-½ Antonio La Gamma 1269
2. David Fowler 1300 ½-½ David Lawrence 1180
3. Mick Bloor 1084 0-1 Connor George 977
4. Victor Lui 928 ½-½ Douglas Scott 973
5. Elsa Lui u/g 1-0 Peter Woollven 907
Stirling had White on boards 4 and 5
Tom reports:
Elsa secured an early point with a good win against Peter.
Mick blew a winning position and lost a rook and eventually the game.
Victor and Douglas drew a Knight and pawn ending.
I had managed to draw with Antonio in a Knight and Bishop ending with lots of blocking pawns to force the draw.
The last game was an agreed draw with Stirling's David’s clock dropping but Badgers David only had a knight left. David F should have claimed a draw with under 2 minutes left and Kenny pointed out the King and Knight could theoretically mated with David’s rook and pawn in the corner. The 2 David’s had agreed a draw so all square in the end.
In Division 1, Stirling B's last match of the season against Badgers Brook A resulted in a 3.5 -1.5 win for the visitors:
Central League Division 1
Stirling B 1½-3½ Badgers Brook A
1. Richard Warcup 1637 0-1 Kenny McGeoch 2014
2. Brad Duthie 1552 0-1 Suzy Cooke 1902
3. Bill Cook 1544 ½-½ Jonathan Rowney 1543
4. Steve Smith 1549 0-1 Graham Kerr 1482
5. Kenny MacPherson 1506 1-0 Colin Matthews 1394
Stirling had White on Boards 2 and 4
Bill reports:
Kenny MacP was a piece up fairly early on and converted to bring the first point. Suzy also won a piece and was the second game to finish.
I didn't see the end of the Board one game but apparently Richard had four pawns for two pieces but with only a couple of minutes left Kenny McG still managed to win.
I won a pawn and had possibly a winning advantage but spent some time trying a failing to see a way through and with both of us having about one minute left we agreed a draw.
In the last game to finish Steve won a pawn but Graham conjured up a mating attack.
Thanks to Badgers for a good match - slightly closer than the final score indicated.
To illustrate Bill's final point, here is the Board one game - a complicated and fluctuating encounter, which eventually ended up in the notorious KBN -v- K endgame. At this point, Kenny McG's endgame technique was up to a challenge which has proved too much for many club players and even much stronger ones.
Thursday, 16 April 2026
2026-04-15 Events at Grangemouth
The D Team travelled to Grangemouth where the final score-line probably did not reflect a more closely contested match.
Central League Division 2
Grangemouth 4-1 Stirling D
1. Joe Johnstone u/g* 1-0 Harry Feather 1461
2. Ethan Young u/g 1-0 Tom Wallace 1313
3. Harry Leishman 939 1-0 David Fowler 1300
4. William Walker u/g 1-0 Victor Liu 928
5. Allan Mitchell u/g 1-0 Elsa Liu* u/g
Grangemouth had White on boards 1 and 2
* Live Ratings
Joe Johnstone 1410
Elsa Liu 766
Also taking place the same night at Grangemouth was the second semi-final in the Central League Cup between the home team and an under-strength Dunfermline. The hosts had a convincing 6-1 win.
As Stirling travelled and Grangemouth were at home in the semi-finals, the final will be held at Stirling on Monday 11 May.
Thursday, 26 February 2026
2026-02-25 Stirling D Team win in Alloa
Central League Division 2
Clackmannanshire 0-5 Stirling D
1. Glen Wilson 1047 0-1 Harry Feather 1461
2. Joseph Lambert u/g* 0-1 Tom Wallace 1313
3. Evan Laing u/g 0-1 David Fowler 1300
4. Roman Quinn u/g 0-1 Kai Austin 946
5. Lewis Wyper u/g 0-1 Elsa Liu u/g*
Clackmannanshire had White on boards 3 and 4
* Live ratings: Joseph Lambert 1006
Elsa Liu 802
Wednesday, 4 February 2026
2026-02-02 A busy Monday night, home and away
At the first club meeting of the month, our A team were in action against the Grangemouth B team.
Here are Isaacs's comments on the match:
A well-fought match ultimately went the way of the visitors despite Stirling being able to put out our strongest team so far this season.
Boards 3,4, and 5 all came to a conclusion in quick succession. Dougie broke through with a queenside attack against Leo, William steered things and wore down Nicolas. The battle of the two Seans saw an interesting piece sacrifice that didn't immediately break through but the resulting pressure proved too much for Stirling's Sean.
John and Daniel also played out a very interesting game with significant complications. Eventually Daniel's passed d-pawn and kingside initiative outshone John's two queenside passers.
This result clinched the match and, despite my best efforts I was unable to overcome Alan's resistance and had to settle for a draw.
Congratulations to Grangemouth B, a fine win against the grading deficit!
Central League Division 1
Stirling A 1½-3½ Grangemouth B
1. Isaac Browning 2054 ½-½ Alan Bell 1948
2. John Iwuozor 2020 0-1 Daniel Kitaev 1927
3. Leo Gardner 1889 0-1 Dougie Will 1839
4. William Spiers 1758 1-0 Nicolas Kitaev 1121
5. Sean Flanagan 1698 0-1 Sean Gray u/g
Stirling A had white on boards 1 and 4.
There were also games in the internal Lindsay Club. Graham sent in the moves from two games, both wins by our ever-improving juniors.
Meanwhile, in Broxburn, two Stirling teams had travelled there to face two from the Badgers Brook club. The out-graded Stirling B team came through some late drama to clinch a win in their match so that the night ended with a match honours even between the clubs.
Central League Division 1 Badgers Brook A 2-3 Stirling B 1. Kenny McGeoch 2014 1-0 Brad Duthie 1552 2. Stuart Ward 1868 ½-½ Richard Warcup 1637 3. David James 1517 ½-½ Ross Warcup 1494 4. Mark Brown 1456 0-1 Bill Cook 1544 5. Corey Dolan 1198* 0-1 Steve Smith 1549 * Live Rating Badgers Brook A had white on boards 1 and 4 Central League Division 2 Badgers Brook B 4-1 Stirling D 1. Graham Kerr 1482 1-0 Harry Feather 1461 2. Collin Matthews 1394 ½-½ Tom Wallace 1313 3. Kevin Brown 1318 ½-½ Kai Austin 978 4. David Lawrence 1180 1-0 Victor Liu 951 5. Peter Woollven 907 1-0 William Feather 905
Tuesday, 27 January 2026
2025-01-26 Match between the Stirling D and E teams
Central League Division 2
Stirling D 3-2 Stirling E
1. Harry Feather 1461 1-0 Mick Murphy 1087
2. David Fowler 1300 0-1 Mick Bloor 1084
3. Tom Wallace 1313 1-0 Rudra Pardhi 930
4. Kai Austin 946 1-0 William Feather 875
5. Andreas Hoelin u/g 0-1 Chris Woodhouse u/g
Tom Wallace's comments on course of the match:
Kai finished 1st quite quickly and I managed to get the better of Rudra after his Kingside attack.
Chris beat Andreas on board 5 and Harry beat Mick M in a tight game on board 1.
Mick B sacked a knight on g5 to set up a Kingside onslaught which eventually paid off.
Thursday, 15 January 2026
2026-01-12 The return match between the C and D teams
Central League Division 2 Match
Stirling C 4-1 Stirling D
1 Nathanael Loch 1515 1-0 Douglas Heatlie 1563
2 Kenny MacPherson 1506 1-0 Harry Feather 1461
3 Toby Geyer 1302 1-0 Sandy Carmichael 1357
4 Mick Bloor 1084 1-0 David Fowler 1300
5 Josh Heesom u/g 0-1 Victor Liu 928
The Sirling D team had White on Boards 2, 4 and 5
C Team captain Nathanael provided this report:
All five games were quite aggressive all around. The only pairing I did not witness was Josh vs Victor, but Victor came out with a quick win (less 30 minutes if I recall correctly), so I presume some sort of opening trap led to Victor-y (pun intended).
Board 4 featured a level game for a long time, until eventually David pressed for a mating attack which ultimately failed to manifest. In doing so, about 2 pawns fell and the endgame was ultimately lost in R vs R.
Board 3 is one I didn't see the beginning of, but during the middlegame, Toby somehow ended up with 2 extra pieces, but things were not so cut and dry. Sandy held the game until the very end as losing at that point would have meant a guaranteed win for Stirling C. The two rooks kept chances in the air, but the material proved too strong even after Toby sacced a bishop back, winning RRN vs RR.
Board 2 seemed very level to me until at one point a sequence led to Kenny having two bishops for a rook (with pawn interest), and due to both bishops looking at the castled king protected by only an f-pawn remaining, the bishops proved stronger than the rooks, leading to a situation where Harry would have to lose a piece by force after trading queens; hence the endgame was too dire to play out to the end.
Board 1 was tense the whole way. Douglas traded his knight for my bishop (g3) which opened my h-file on move 11. The result was a constant attack on the castled king (kingside) until eventually I was able to sacrifice a knight to break through with the pieces. Not quite a true sacrifice as taking would lead to Qh7# supported by the rook on h1. The engine showed White was for choice the whole attack, but Douglas did have one move to get a -0.2 evaluation from Stockfish. Unfortunately, this was not found in the game.
Tuesday, 9 December 2025
2025-12-08 Match between the Stirling D and C Teams
Central League Division 2 Stirling D 1½-3½ Stirling C 1. Harry Feather 1461 0-1 Nathanael Loch 1515 2. David Fowler 1304 1-0 Kenny MacPherson 1506 3. Tom Wallace 1313 0-1 Kelechi Nwosu u/g 4. Josh Heesom u/g 0-1 Toby Geyer 1302 5. Victor Liu 928 ½-½ Rudra Pardhi 930 Stirling D had white on boards 1 and 4
Tuesday, 11 November 2025
2025-10-10 Two Matches against Dunfermline
Stirling hosted a double-header against Dunfermline, and both home teams ended the evening victorious.
Central League Division 1 Match Stirling A 4-1 Dunfermline A Isaac Browning 2054 1-0 Volodymyr Tushynsky 2176 John Iwuozor 2020 ½-½ Ian Robertson 2059 Leo Gardner 1889 1-0 John McBride 1715 William Spiers 1758 1-0 Calum Smith 1599 Sean Flanagan 1698 ½-½ Gregor McCloskey 1571 Stirling had white on boards 3 and 5
The Stirling A team had a strengthened line-up with Leo Gardner winning on his first appearance for the club. Isaac Browning, the Stirling A captain, reports:
A tighter match than the score line would perhaps suggest.
Ian and John Iwuozor (who had arrived ten minutes late) drew what seemed to be a fairly peaceful game; Sean and Gregor likewise.
Leo, Stirling's newest recruit, managed to get the better of John McBride from a position with queens and two minor pieces each.
I beat Volodymyr after emerging from a very complicated opening with an extra pawn, which eventually became two due to white's problematic structure.
William was down a pawn at one point but managed to regain it and ultimately caught Calum's king in a mating trap to round off the match.
Central League Division 2 Match Stirling D 3-2 Dunfermline B 1. Harry Feather 1461 0-1 Euan Bell 1429 2. David Fowler 1300 ½-½ Douglas Rew 1369 3. Tom Wallace 1313 1-0 Daniel Lynch 1239 4. Kai Austin 946 ½-½ Ali Shuttleworth 1207 5. Victor Liu 928 1-0 Barrie Dempster 896 Dunfermline had white on boards 3,4 and 5
The Junior players for both sides put in strong performance. Tom Wallace reports:
A very close game tonight between Stirling D and Dunfermline B.
Stirling Junior Kai Austin drew with Ali Shuttleworth with a perpetual quite quickly on board 4. David Fowler and Douglas Rew on board 2 swapped off pieces to leave a rook and 5 pawn draw. Another Stirling Junior Victor Liu won on board 5 against Barrie Dempster.
On board 1 Dunfermline Junior Euan Bell beat Harry Feather which left the score 2-2 with my game on board 3 against Daniel Lynch deciding the overall result.
I had black and put a lot of pressure on white until a miscalculation with not a lot of time left on both sides where Daniel had a dangerous passed d-pawn with only the queens and 4 pawns each. I sacrificed a b-pawn and Daniel quickly moved his queen up the queenside to capture more pawns and leaving his King to a back row mate which I gladly grabbed.
Monday, 22 September 2025
15-09-25 Stirling E -v- Stirling D
Stirling E 2½-2½ Stirling D Gordon Allcock 1230 0-1 Harry Feather 1461 Mick Bloor 1084 1-0 Tom Wallace 1313 Mick Murphy 1087 0-1 David Fowler 1300 Charles Thomson u/g ½-½ Kai Austin 946 Stewart Cairns 719 1-0 Josh Heesom u/g
Monday, 10 February 2025
10-02-25 Stirling E v Stirling D
| Stirling E | v | Stirling D | ||
| Kai Austin Mick Murphy Rudra Pardhi Stewart Cairns Grishma Bannakar |
900 1101 738 |
0 - 1 0 - 1 ½ - ½ 0 - 1 0 - 1 |
1472 1406 1264 1102 851 |
Dave Hewitt Toby Geyer David Fowler Mick Bloor Cameron Anderson |
| ½ - 4½ |
Monday, 20 January 2025
20-01-25 Stirling D v Stirling C
| Stirling D | v | Stirling C | ||
| Toby Geyer Dave Hewit David Fowler Mick Bloor Cameron Anderson |
1422 1198 1133 847 |
0 - 1 1 - 0 ½ - ½ 0 - 1 0 - 1 |
1555 1481 1464 742 1352 |
Richard Warcup Kenny MacPherson Harry Feather Ross Warcup Tom Wallace |
| 1½ - 3½ |
Thanks to Dave for providing this game from board 2, where Dave had White against Kenny.
Tuesday, 26 November 2024
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.
Sunday, 10 November 2024
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 |
Wednesday, 30 October 2024
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 |
Wednesday, 16 October 2024
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 |
Friday, 27 September 2024
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 |
Wednesday, 24 April 2024
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 |
Tuesday, 16 April 2024
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 |
Tuesday, 2 April 2024
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 |