Badgers Brook - Chess Club - Livingston & West Lothian

01/06/2026

🚤 Just a reminder that the club will be closed for the summer (Reopening the first Monday of September). The junior activities will continue as normal during summer period 6-7pm♟️

11/12/2024

It is with deep regret that we inform you that Dave McGilvary passed away on Monday 9th December. He was a deeply valued member and will be sorely missed.

The earliest record of his chess exploits comes from Alan Bell who said the following. We played in the same school team, Whitburn Academy, going back to 1968. He was a good player from way back then. There he played with Robert McCord who was also in that team and learnt from Frank McDonald who was the teacher/coach and generally responsible for encouraging us all to play. Dave was always a gentle giant. Nicknames are things we usually drop once we get into adulthood but you might be interested to know that throughout school years Dave was known as ‘Big Dove’.

At Badgers Brook Dave was always happy to welcome new members and make them feel at home. He provided encouragement for new members and always had time for people that needed help (whether chess related or not). He also occupied several posts including being club secretary and captaining various teams. Under his stewardship the Edinburgh League 2nd Division Team twice secured promotion having guided the team from Division 3 to Division 1. He also was part of the winning team several times in his chess career in leagues and cups with the following being examples of his success:

1998-99 U1500 Cup winner with Livingston
2010-11 U1500 Cup winner with Badgers Brook (Was also Team Captain)
2014-15 Division 1 winner with Badgers Brook
2015-16 7 Board KO winner with Badgers Brook
2018-19 7 Board KO winner with Badgers Brook

He also did well in individual events. His most recent of many achievements was finishing joint second in the club allegro competition held in October 2023.

Dave also played online chess and often played in the weekly competitions organised by Dave Hewitt where he recounts that Dave was an absolute stalwart of the Thursday online tournament and will be much missed there as a likeable presence and good player. For the record, he played in 178 of the 243 tournaments, the fourth-highest total of anyone, and he did well in them: six wins (the best by any Badgers Brook player) plus another 35 podium finishes. He rarely had a poor tournament and was almost always in contention for one of the top three places. I played Dave 103 times on Thursdays and it was always enjoyable and a good scrap - and he won the last one. Ian Mason played him 94 times and it appears that Dave's very last game was against Ian in r5 on Thursday just a fortnight ago. It's hard to believe he won't be seen there again.

We would like to pass on our deepest condolences to his friends and family.

11/12/2024

Dunfermline 3-2 Badgers Brook

The match started on a sombre note when we learnt from Dave McGilvary's brother that he passed away on Monday morning just as the match was about to start. He had let us know last week that he was in hospital and they were giving him the best treatment they could. He'll be sorely missed by everyone at Badgers Brook and beyond.

As far as the match goes I drew the colours and while occasionally missing the box eventually drew white on all the odd boards so it was WBWBW for Badgers Brook.

We were heavily outgraded but match went right down to the wire with the last 3 games ending with players under 5min left. As far as games went Andrew fell into an opening trap in a Caro-Kann so lost. Then I won my game that was very sharp as Volodymyr sacrificed a piece for 2 pawns for an attack but I just about managed to fend it off and then he missed a royal fork while trying to preserve the initiative. Next game to finish was Colin's where he was a rook up and threatening mate. At this point we were 2-1 up and last two games we were a bit worse and Ian and Calum duly converted their games to win the match for Dunfermline.

3-2

Thanks!

Kenny

01/07/2024

Adult Chess Club

01/07/2024

Junior Chess Club

20/03/2024

A great intro guide prepared by one of our top player Kenny for whom wants to improve their game as beginner or intermediate level. Let share your thoughts!

For someone new to chess the first thing to learn is how to set up the board and how to move the pieces. A good guide can be found at here that will show how to setup the board, move pieces etc. The next step is learning how to checkmate the opponent. Practically as a beginner you should at least kn...

03/12/2023

19/10/2023

Hello all,

It was a close game and it could have swung either way. On the the bottom boards Grangemouth were better for most of the game and duly converted. Badgers Brook looked better on the top two boards and 3rd board looked quite close. In my game I was a bit disappointed as I did all the hard work and won a piece for a pawn and then discovered Dougie had good chances of escaping with a perpetual. At first I played it well with engine having my at +5 at once point but then I made a couple of inaccuracies and drifted into a draw but Dougie did well to fight on in what at first seemed a hopeless position. Mark got in time trouble so only drew his game despite being a piece up for much of the game. Stuart got the lone win for Badgers Brook.

Badgers Brook have white on 1, 3 and 4. I believe it's the first time I have drawn white since pre Covid times and I'll blame the shock of it for my result

Thanks to Grangemouth Chess Club for their hospitality

Kenny

07/09/2023

The internal Badgers Brook Swiss warm up tournament ended up with a very close finish. With 11 people turning up on the last night Kenny McGeoch took a bye and the remaining 5 matches were all very close.
The tournament itself was also very close with Kenny McGeoch, Mark Cooke and Colin Matthews finishing top with 3.5/5 with a further 4 players half a point back.
Results available on the website

https://badgersbrookchessclub.jimdofree.com/2023/09/04/swiss-tournament-round-5-results/

Well done everyone!