27 May 2019 - Richardson Cup and Allegro

Congratulations to Steve Smith, winner of the Richardson Cup for the second year in a row with 4½/6! Congratulations also to Richard Warcup, who defeated Tom Wallace in the final of the season long allegro competition!

27 May 2019 - Lindsay Cup Final

On Monday night, the Lindsay Cup Final was played between Tom Wallace (left) and Kenny MacPherson. The game played out as follows, with Tom as White.

[Event "Lindsay Cup"] [Site "Stirling CC"] [Date "2019.05.27"] [Round "F"] [White "Wallace, T"] [Black "MacPherson, K"] [Result "1-0"] 1. d4 c5 2. d5 f5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 d6 5. e3 e5 6. dxe6 Bxe6 7. Be2 Be7 8. Bf3 Qb6 9. Rb1 O-O 10. Nge2 Nbd7 11. Nf4 Bf7 12. Bd5 h6 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. Bxf7+ Rxf7 15. Ncd5 Qa5+ 16. c3 Qxa2 17. O-O Ne5 18. b3 Qa6 19. Qh5 Bd8 20. Ne6 Qc6 21. Rfd1 Qd7 22. Nxc5 Qe8 23. Nxb7 Bc7 24. Nxc7 Rxc7 25. Qxe8+ Rxe8 26. Nxd6 Rd8 27. Nxf5 Rxd1+ 28. Rxd1 Rxc3 29. Nd4 Nc6 30. Nxc6 Rxc6 31. g3 Rb6 32. Rb1 a5 33. Kf1 a4 34. Ra1 Rxb3 35. Rxa4 Kf7 36. Ra6 Rb4 37. Ke2 g6 38. Kf3 Rb7 39. h4 Kg7 40. g4 g5 41. h5 Rf7+ 42. Kg3 Re7 43. Ra3 Kf7 44. f4 gxf4+ 45. exf4 { Black resigns } 1-0

Bill Cook (right) presents Tom with the trophy.

27 May 2019 - Chessercise

On Monday night, the juniors participated in the very first Chessercise session - possibly the very first in the world. Taking inspiration from chess boxing, they played 6 minutes of chess followed by 1 minute of "carefully" chosen exercises. Kudos to Samay for a backward plank on one hand and foot, Alex for making more noise than everyone else put together while mooing like a cow, Ross for his touch "mooove" jokes, and Gordon for making the whole session seem effortless.

When they achieve their GM norms, I'll upload the videos to Youtube...

I hope you all enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to next year's session.

27 May 2019 - Trophy Presentation

Congratulations to the B team, seen here with the Central League Division 2 shield. Left to right: Tom Wallace, Dave Hewitt (captain), Bill Cook, Brad Duthie, Richard Warcup, Gordon Allcock. Absent: Tony Pitson (top scorer) and Craig Manson. Well done all!

20 May 2019 - Trophy Presentation

It's two years this week since Stirling chess club stalwart David Brodie died aged just 56. He remains much missed, so it was very good to see his daughters Marissa and Nadine at the club to present their father's memorial trophy to the current leading junior, Alex Brimlow.

David was a great encourager of keen young players and would have loved to have seen the recent surge in membership at the club, both in terms of juniors and adults.

It was great to see Alex receive the trophy - which will be contested each season from now on - and it was lovely to meet Marissa and Nadine again and to be able to recall happy memories of their father's years at the club.

13 May 2019 - Robert Togneri Trophy

Time control: 15 minutes each for all moves

	Name	Grade	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Place
1	Graham Anderson	1695	1 W 10	1½ B 5	2½ W 4	3 B 3	4 W 7	1
2	David McAlister	1634	1 B 11	1½ W 6	1½ B 5	2½ W 4	3½ W 3	=2
3	Steve Smith	1582	1W 12	1B 8	2 W 11	2½ W 1	2½ B 2	=8
4	Bill Cook	1562	1 B 13	1½ W 7	1½ B 1	1½ B 2	2½ W 12	=8
5	Dave Hewitt	1530	1 Bye	1½ W 1	2½ W 2	2½ B 7	3½ B 9	=2
6	Robert Leckie	1497	1 W 14	1½ B 2	1½ -	1½ -	1½ -	14
7	Brad Duthie	1494	1 W 16	1½ B 4	2½ W 10	3½ W 5	3½ B 1	=2
8	Richard Warcup	1493	1 B 15	2 W 3	3 B 9	3 -	3 -	=5
9	Aaron Nobile	1398	1 B 17	2 W 13	2 W 8	3 B 12	3 W 5	=5
10	Gordon Allcock	1342	0 B 1	1 W 15	1 B 7	2 W 14	3 B 11	=5
11	Martin Pringle	1251	0 W 2	1 B 14	1 B 3	2 W 16	2 W 10	=10
12	Robert Togneri	1164	0 B 3	1 W 17	2 B 16	2 W 9	2 B 4	=10
13	Ross Warcup	858	0 W 4	0 B 9	1 W 17	1 -	1 -	=15
14	Craig Thomson	725	0 B 6	0 W 11	1 B 15	1 B 10	2 W 17	=10
15	Douglas Pringle	400	0 W 8	0 B 10	0 W 14	0 B 17	0 B 16	17
16	Glen Wilson		0 B 7	1 Bye	1 W 12	1 B 11	2 W 15	=10
17	Garth Armitage		0 W 9	0 B 12	0 B 13	1 W 15	1 B 14	=15

Because there's just not enough photos of me being presented with a trophy, here's another one.

29 April 2019 - David Brodie Junior Trophy

Monday night saw the inaugural David Brodie Junior Trophy - an allegro competition for the juniors. Unfortunately, Gordon couldn't make it for the start of the competition, but did get a couple of games when Ross retired after round 4.

Time control was 12 minutes, with 5 second increment, for all moves.

Round 1
Idris 0 - 1 Alex
Douglas 0 - 1 Ross

Round 2
Ross 0 - 1 Idris
Alex 1 - 0 Douglas

Round 3
Idris 1 - 0 Douglas
Ross ½ - ½ Alex

Round 4
Alex 1 - 0 Idris
Ross 0 - 1 Douglas

Round 5
Idris 1 - 0 Gordon
Douglas ½ - ½ Alex

Round 6
Douglas 1 - 0 Idris
Alex 1 - 0 Gordon

Congratulations to Alex on his unbeaten 5/6, and winning the trophy! There were some very entertaining games played, especially Ross - Idris in round 2 when Ross fought back from a Queen down to gain equality, and Douglas - Alex in round 5, when, with a bit more time, I'm sure Douglas would have gone on to win. Well done all! Thanks to Dave and Jim for their support and organisation on the night.