Alan Tate

CS Player of the Year

July 25, 2011

by Richard Heathwood

FM Alan Tate has been voted as the Chess Scotland Player of the Year, congratulations Alan. He is pictured right receiving the POY Shield from Lord Kirkwood during the recent Scottish Championships.

Every CS member was given the opportunity to nominate who they thought should be given this prestigious award and then voting was opened to all members. After 193 votes were individually counted, Alan emerged as the clear winner.

The main factors which influenced members to vote for Alan were:-

•  Over the board successes Grandmaster norm at Rijeka, Croatia in November and an IM norm at the Cappelle Open ending in March.

•  Extensive coaching work for international junior squads both at home & abroad over the past few years & most recently last October in Halkidiki, Greece & the lead up to the event.

As Membership Secretary, could I please repeat here the thanks previously recorded on the Noticeboard to everyone who took the time to participate whether by submitting a nomination or casting a vote.

The original shield was fully utilised with all metal plates being "used up" with engraved names. Rather than add more plates to the reverse of the shield a new shield was donated by an anonymous benefactor (who also donated cash to supplement the fund available for future years' awards).

If you have any suggestions on how the process of POY voting should be changed next year, please send an email to membership@chessscotland.com For example:-

•  Should nominations only be accepted where the person being nominated has given prior approval to his/her name going forward into the voting stage?

After the nominations phase has been completed, should there be any restriction on adding yet further names after the voting stage has commenced? For example, should additional names be added only if they have the support of, say, four members?

Player of Year list

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