28 January 2013 - Central Allegro League

Stirling Bruce 11½ - 4½ Grangemouth
Round 1
Douglas Bain	0 - 1	Dougie Will
Paul Prescott	1 - 0	Ian Mason
Bill Cook	1 - 0	Bill Gray
Dave Hewitt	1 - 0	Hugh Hanlon
Round 2
Douglas Bain	1 - 0	Hugh Hanlon
Paul Prescott	½ - ½	Dougie Will
Bill Cook	1 - 0	Ian Mason
Dave Hewitt	1 - 0	Bill Gray
Round 3
Douglas Bain	1 - 0	Bill Gray
Paul Prescott	1 - 0	Hugh Hanlon
Bill Cook	½ - ½	Dougie Will
Dave Hewitt	0 - 1	Ian Mason
Round 4
Douglas Bain	½ - ½	Ian Mason
Paul Prescott	1 - 0	Bill Gray
Bill Cook	1 - 0	Hugh Hanlon
Dave Hewitt	0 - 1	Dougie Will

23 January 2013 - Central League Division 1

Dunfermline A v Stirling A
Ian Robertson   Iain Sneddon   Gavin Saxton   Michael Roy   Bryan O'Rourke	2102   1835   1748   1689   1412	1 - 0   ½ - ½   1 - 0   ½ - ½   1 - 0	1708   1625   1589   1564   1283	Steve Smith   Robin Hayles   Dave Hewitt   Tony Pitson   David Brodie
		4 - 1

14 January 2013 - Central League Division 2

Stirling C v Stirling B
Gordon Allcock   Craig Manson   David Brodie   Robert Togneri   Robert Leckie	1416   1330   1283   1267	0 - 1   0 - 1   0 - 1   0 - 1   1 - 0	1575   1589   1564   1465   1309	Bill Cook   Dave Hewitt   Tony Pitson   Martyn Roe   Jonathan Blake
		1 - 4

Lothians Allegro

Congratulations to Dave Hewitt, who came joint first in the Major section of the Lothians Allegro last Saturday with 4½/5. A final round draw against Bill Platts, the only other player with 4/4, secured a top place finish for both players.

A full list of results is here. This is Dave's last round game, White against Bill Platts.

17 December 2012 - Keddie Cup

Thanks to all who took part in the Keddie Cup - good to see everyone, hope it was enjoyable. Particular thanks to those who donated raffle prizes and foodstuffs - much appreciated.

As for the chess, there were 18 entrants, the same as in 2011. Nick Blake's defence of the title ended at the quarter-final stage, where he lost to his brother - who in turn lost to Graham Anderson in the semis. In the other half of the draw Dave Marshall - a very welcome visitor from Badgers Brook - made steady and impressive progress, beating Martyn Roe and John Blake en route to the final.

The final proved to be an exciting affair, with Dave starting a N and two minutes ahead courtesy of the handicap and for quite a while looking well placed to be the first non-Stirling member (at least that I can remember) to win the cup. Graham then uncorked a candidate for the move of the night, playing a7 when his own Q was attacked and thus threatening mate on the move. The momentum of the game seemed to shift at that point, although Dave continued to create chances which Graham carefully parried. Not sure when there was last a game of any kind played at Stirling which saw three Qs on the board in a middlegame situation for somewhere close to 20 moves. Eventually the situation simplified, and faced with a Q against pawns Dave resigned - meaning that Graham won the cup for the first time, having previously lost a couple of semis.

So congratulations to Graham - a fine achievement, all the more so because he had to play ten games (quite possibly an unprecedented number): the four actual group games, two playoff games, then the quarter-final and replay followed by the semi and the final.

10 December 2012 - Central Allegro League

Badgers Brook 5½ - 10½ Stirling Bruce
Round 1
Kenny McGeoch	0 - 1	John Blake
Stuart Ward	½ - ½	Bill Cook
David Marshall	0 - 1	Graham Anderson
Dave McGilvray	0 - 1	Dave Hewitt
Round 2
Steve Monaghan	0 - 1	John Blake
Kenny McGeoch	1 - 0	Bill Cook
Stuart Ward	1 - 0	Graham Anderson
Dave Marshall	0 - 1	Dave Hewitt
Round 3
Dave Marshall	0 - 1	John Blake
Steve Monaghan	0 - 1	Bill Cook
Kenny McGeoch	1 - 0	Graham Anderson
Stuart Ward	1 - 0	Dave Hewitt
Round 4
Stuart Ward	0 - 1	John Blake
Dave Marshall	0 - 1	Bill Cook
Steve Monaghan	0 - 1	Graham Anderson
Kenny McGeoch	1 - 0	Dave Hewitt

A fine 4/4 from John Blake. Well done, John!

3 December 2012 - Central League Division 1

A difficult match turned into a convincing win for Badgers Brook. I nearly managed to swindle a draw against Kenny, but once he found the correct combination, he went on to win convincingly.

Stirling A v Badgers Brook
Steve Smith   Graham Anderson   Dave Hewitt   Bill Cook   Tony Pitson	1708   1574   1589   1575   1564	0 - 1   0 - 1   1 - 0   0 - 1   0 - 1	1927   1839   1821   1723   1546	Mark Cooke   Kenny McGeoch   Jonathan Rowney   Andrew McHarg   Graham Kerr
		1 - 4