2 October 2019 - Central League Division 2

Grangemouth B		v		Stirling C
Ian Mason Alaisdair Sandham Hugh Hanlon Crawford Welsh David Fowler	1572 1341 1319 1281 1161	½ - ½ 1 - 0 ½ - ½ 0 - 1 1 - 0	1640 1448 1398 1326 1158	William Spiers Craig Manson Aaron Nobile Kenny MacPherson Mick Bloor
		3 - 2

Thanks to Kenny for providing the game below, where he was Black and facing Bird's opening for the first time.

[Event "Grangemouth B v Stirling C"] [Site "Grangemouth CC"] [Date "2019.10.02"] [Round ""] [White "Welsh, C"] [Black "MacPherson, K"] [Result "0-1"] 1. f4 d5 2. Nf3 c5 3. e3 Nc6 4. Bb5 a6 5. Bxc6+ bxc6 6. Ne5 Qd6 7. O-O f6 8. Qh5+ g6 9. Nxg6 hxg6 10. Qxh8 Nh6 11. b3 Kf7 12. Rf3 Bg7 13. Qh7 Bf5 14. Bb2 g5 15. fxg5 Bxh7 16. gxh6 Bxh6 17. Rh3 Kg7 18. Nc3 Bxc2 19. Rf1 Rh8 20. Rff3 Kf7 21. Ne2 Bd1 22. Ng3 Bxf3 23. Nf5 Qe6 24. Nxh6+ Kg6 25. Rxf3 Rxh6 { White resigns } 0-1

Richardson Cup

Thanks to David for providing this game, played recently as a qualifier for the Richrdson Cup (club championship), and for the new format for showing games.

[Event "Richardson Cup qualifying"] [Site "Stirling"] [Date "2019.09.25"] [Round "1"] [White "McAlister, David"] [Black "Duthie, Brad"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C01"] [Annotator "McAlister"] [PlyCount "56"] [EventDate "2019.09.23"] [EventCountry "SCO"] [SourceVersionDate "2009.11.12"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bd3 Bd6 6. O-O O-O 7. c4 c6 8. Nc3 Bg4 9. Bg5 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Be7 11. Qd3 Bxf3 12. Qxf3 Qxd4 {White has probably sufficient compensation for the sacrificed pawn.} 13. b3 h6 ({A mistake.} 13... Nbd7 {would have been better here.}) 14. Rad1 Qe5 15. Bh4 Nbd7 16. Rfe1 Qc5 17. Rxd7 {This combination leads to a winning advantage for White.} Rae8 ({If} 17... Nxd7 18. Bxe7 Rae8 ({or} 18... Qb6 19. Bxf8 Rxf8 20. Re7) ({or} 18... Rfe8 19. Bxf7+ Kh8 20. Bxe8 Rxe8 21. Qf7 Qxc3 22. Qxe8+ Kh7 23. Bd6) 19. Bxc5 Rxe1+ 20. Bf1 Nxc5) 18. Bxf6 gxf6 ({If} 18... Bxf6 19. Bxf7+ Rxf7 20. Rxe8+ Rf8 21. Rxf8+ Kxf8) 19. Qg4+ Kh8 20. Qh4 Kg7 21. Re3 b5 22. Rg3+ Kh7 23. Bd3+ f5 24. Qh5 Bg5 25. Rxf7+ Kh8 26. Rxf8+ Qxf8 27. Rxg5 Re1+ 28. Bf1 Qd6 {Black lost on time.} 1-0

30 September 2019 - Central League Division 2

Badgers Brook B		v		Stirling B
Mark Brown Dylan Gillies Gordon Walker Peter Woollven Craig van den Heever	1485 1378 1267   877	0- 1 ½ - ½ ½ - ½ 0 - 1 0 - 1 1 - 4	1494  1567  1547  1531  1463	Brad Duthie David McAlister Dave Hewitt John Blake Richard Warcup

Thanks to Brad for providing the game below, where he had White against Mark Brown.

[Event "Badgers Brook B v Stirling B"] [Site "Badgers Brook CC"] [Date "2019.09.30"] [Round "-"] [White "Duthie, B"] [Black "Brown, M"] [Result "1-0"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c6 4. e3 a6 5. a3 Nd7 6. Nc3 Be7 7. cxd5 cxd5 8. Bd3 h6 9. O-O b5 10. Bd2 Nb6 11. e4 Nf6 12. e5 Nfd7 13. Ne2 O-O 14. Qc1 Nc4 15. Bxh6 Nxb2 16. Bxg7 Nxd3 17. Qh6 f5 18. Qh8+ Kf7 19. Bxf8 Nxf8 20. Ra2 b4 21. Rd2 Nxf2 22. Rxf2 bxa3 23. Nf4 Ke8 24. Ng6 Kd7 25. Nxe7 Qxe7 26. Qf6 Qxf6 27. exf6 Nh7 28. Ne5+ Ke8 29. f7+ Kf8 30. h4 a5 31. g4 Nf6 32. Rg2 Nxg4 33. Nxg4 fxg4 34. Rxg4 Kxf7 35. Rf2+ Ke7 36. Rg8 Rb8 37. Ra2 Rb1+ 38. Kh2 Bd7 39. Rg7+ Ke8 { The recording of the moves is unclear from here, but Brad thinks it may have been 40. Rxa3 a4 41. h5 e5 42. h6 Rb6 43. h7 Rh6+ 44. Kg3 exd4 45. Rg8+ Ke7 46. h8=Q Rxh8 47. Rxh8 Kd6 48.Kf4 Kc5 49. Rg3 Kc4 50. Rg7 Bb5 51. Ra8 d3 52. Ke3 Kc3 53. Rc7+ Kb3 1-0 } 1-0

23 September 2019 - Central League Division 1

Stirling A		v		Badgers Brook A
Kabir Pandit Steve Smith Graham Anderson Bill Cook David McAlister	1753 1662 1592 1567	1 - 0 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1 0 - 1	1994 1943 1896 1497 1485	Kenny McGeoch Mark Cooke Andrew Newton Dave McGilvray Mark Brown
		1 - 4

Unfortunately Jim was unable to take his place on board 2 due to illness, and we hope he's feeling better soon. Well done to Kabir on board 1, playing his first ever over the board long form game, and saving the team from a whitewash!

16 September 2019 - Central League Division 2

Stirling B		v		Stirling Juniors
Brad Duthie David McAlister Dave Hewitt John Blake Richard Warcup	1494 1567 1547 1531 1463	1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 0	592 406	Glen Wilson Ross Warcup Alex Brimlow Gordon Bowie Douglas Pringle
		5 - 0

9 September 2019 - Central Allegro League

Stirling Bruce 9-7 Stirling Wallace
Round 1
Graham Anderson	0 - 1	Kabir Pandit
Bill Cook	0 - 1	Steve Smith
John Blake	1 - 0	David McAlister
Brad Duthie	½ - ½	Tom Wallace
Round 2
Graham Anderson	1 - 0	Tom Wallace
Bill Cook	0 - 1	Kabir Pandit
John Blake	1 - 0	Steve Smith
Brad Duthie	1 - 0	David McAlister
Round 3
Graham Anderson	0 - 1	David McAlister
Bill Cook	1 - 0	Tom Wallace
John Blake	½ - ½	Kabir Pandit
Brad Duthie	1 - 0	Steve Smith
Round 4
Graham Anderson	½ - ½	Steve Smith
Bill Cook	1 - 0	David McAlister
John Blake	0 - 1	Tom Wallace
Brad Duthie	½ - ½	Kabir Pandit

Great to have John back playing competitive chess again, and an impressive debut from Kabir.

Grading List 2019/20

Name	Grade	Allegro Grade
Neil Irving   Jim Shemilt   Steve Smith   Graham Anderson   Bill Cook   David McAlister   Dave Hewitt   John Blake   Robert Leckie   Brad Duthie   Richard Warcup   Craig Manson   Martyn Roe   Tony Pitson   Aaron Nobile   Tom Wallace   Kenny MacPherson   Nikolai Herrmann   Gordon Allcock   Robert Togneri   Mick Bloor   Martin Pringle   Craig Thomson   Tom McKay   Jordan Leach   Harry Gray   Ross Warcup   Garth Armitage   Alex Brimlow   Ross Coupland   Gordon Bowie   Douglas Pringle	1901   1793   1753   1662   1592   1567   1547   1531   1497   1494   1463   1448   1425   1413   1398   1389   1326   1317   1284   1236   1158   990   824   770   653   623   592   580   406	1757   1648   1542   1629   1549   1624   1536   1531   1502   1434   1602   1222   1407   1377   1389   1492   1308   1121   1388   1166   1164   1244   734   770   653   623   751   395   548   664   616   408