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I have been following the World Youth event in Durban. There are ten live games from each section broadcast every round. I have been impressed by the standard of play of very young agegroups, namely the girls U8 section. Yes, they do make the odd howler but there are some cracking aggressive games.

Mongolia have six players in total at this event, two of whom are third and seventh in the girls U8 section and a boy who is fourth in the U8 boys section.

The Fide gaffer Kirsan is visiting Mongolia at the moment,

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Chess in schools? Yes please.

This is a really well-written article (not from a chess magazine) on the recent Sinquefeld Cup in the US

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A redacted version on ChessBase here

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I shall be voting YES tomorrow. Time to get my Scotland shirt on again and the saltire out.

http://www.fide.com/component/content/ar...chess.html

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Last chance to enter...
Just contact me here or by email, PM, whatever...

Current Entry list
[list=]Name Club Grade section
FM Alan Tate Wandering Dragons 2355 OPEN
IM Stephen R Mannion Paisley 2348 OPEN
George Neave Edinburgh West 2166 OPEN
FM Philip Giulian Giffnock 2157 OPEN
Walter Burnett Wandering Dragons 2034 OPEN
Alan G Grant Cathcart 2019 OPEN
Jamie Hookham Perth 1978 OPEN
Douglas Will Grangemouth 1954 OPEN
Alex Gillies Stepps 1922 OPEN
Nigel Chapman Bank of Scotland 1853 OPEN
Chris James Dunbar 1848 OPEN
Jim O'Neil Wandering Dragons 1836 OPEN
Jonathan Livingstone Dunbar 1687 OPEN
Julius Schwartz Inverness 1983 Challenger
Stephen Hogg Dundee Victoria 1930 Challenger
Mike Ridge Edinburgh 1881 Challenger
Richard Kynoch Wandering Dragons 1880 Challenger
James Moreby Newcastle 1860 (ECF160) Challenger
Rosie Giulian Giffnock 1806 Challenger
John S R Smith Edinburgh 1794 Challenger
Stephen H Smith Stirling 1782 Challenger
Lindsay McGregor Edinburgh 1754 Challenger
Christopher McIntee Edinburgh 1711 Challenger
Declan Shafi Castlehill 1621 J14 Challenger
Jamie Underwood Edinburgh 1568 J15 Challenger
Jim Robertson East Kilbride 1537 Challenger
Monica Espinosa Cancino Girvan 1527 J14 Challenger
Ian C Mason Grangemouth 1694 Major
Callum Watt Polytechnic 1679 Major
Rudolph Austin Edinburgh Civil Service 1668 Major
David Stewart Bank of Scotland 1641 Major
A.Keith Aitchison Edinburgh 1627 Major
Frankie Murray East Kilbride 1617 Major
Vipin Zamvar Einburgh 1603 Major
Howard Nimmo Wandering Dragons Est. 1600 Major
John M Pearston Cumbernauld 1568 Major
Ralph Jackson Edinburgh Civil Service 1563 Major
James Cunningham ARDROSSAN 1556 Major
Charles Nisbet Pentland Hills 1547 Major
Robert Loughran Irvine 1545 Major
James Turner Berwick 1530 (ECF135) Major
David Potts Belshill 1523 Major
Max N Turner Berwick 1520 (ECF134) Major
Ioannis Dabos-Doukas Tiger Cubs 1500 J13 Major
RAKHEL KUMAR PARIDA Corstorphine 1460 Major
Walter Pearson Pentland Hills 1454 Major
Stuart McKinney Gorgie/Dalry 1446 Major
Charles Gunn-Russell Balerno 1444 Major
Bernard Cassidy Hamilton 1444 Major
David Congalton Greenwood 1429 Major
Leston D'Costa Bon Accord 1421 J14 Major
Adam Walkowiak Wandering Dragons 1389 Major
Ben Volland Dunfermline 1273 J11 Major
Michael Bloor Stirling 1199 Major
Tariq Pasha North Juniors 1193 J14 Major
Craig Gillies Hamilton 1173 J14 Major
Douglas Harvey Perth 1131 Major
Peter Doris Bank of Scotland 1379 Minor
Martin O'Leary Hamilton 1310 Minor
Alex J Stewart Bon Accord 1287 Minor
Euan Dawson Castlehill 1278 J13 Minor
Charles Bird Edinburgh University 1270 Minor
Stephen L Clark Irvine 1255 Minor
Graeme Forbes  Stepps 1253 Minor
Ross Heenan Grangemouth 1245 J16 Minor
Ronnie Dunnett Musselburgh 1192 Minor
Robin Johnson Edinburgh West 1140 Minor
Andrew McCulloch Giffnock 1139 Minor
Mark John Smith Edinburgh 1127 Minor
Tom Constance Castlehill 1118 Major
Dave Watson Corstorphine 1094 Minor
Siddharth Berera 1088 J12 Minor
Shaughan Harward Wandering Dragons 1083 Minor
Morven Petrie East Kilbride 1082 J17 Minor
Peter Middleton Sandy Bells 1081 Minor
Robert Wilson Musselburgh 1075 Minor
Ruaridh McKay Musselburgh 1074 Minor
Callum Smith North Juniors 1057 J13 Minor
Rob Crawford Wandering Dragons 1052 Minor
Anne Donkin Wandering Dragons 1052 Minor
Rachel Lorna Smith Ayr 1041 J12 Minor
Darren Gillies Hamilton 956 J14 Minor
Andrew Gillies Hamilton 938 J14 Minor
Duncan Depasquale Bon Accord 937 J14 Minor
Lukah Connolly Sams Tiger Cubs 924 J12 Minor
James Crerar Corstorphine 922 Minor
David Alan Fowler Grangemouth 862 Minor
James Hartman Tiger Cubs 859 J9 Minor
Stuart Neave Tiger Cubs 809 Minor
Jonathan McKay Musselburgh 703 J11 Minor
Benjamin Ridge Tiger Cubs 685 J10 Minor
Sarah Elizabeth Smith Ayr 676 J13 Minor
Dietah Connolly Sams Tiger Cubs 657 J9 Minor
David J. Newton Inverness 557 Minor
Sai v Ritvik Dugyala UN Minor
Karthikeya Vundi UN Minor
Abhinav Jayanty UN Minor
Anjali Jayanty UN Minor
Ian Jackson Sandy Bells UN Minor
Shuvam Sarker Edinburgh UG J16 Minor
[/list]

Opening books aren't my cup of tea, but still good to see the Quality Chess guys doing well

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P.S. Jacob's 'Grandmaster Preparation' series of books are currently being used by both Sreeves and Burnett and come highly recommended.

Entries are invited for this season's Nancy Elder tournament. Clubs can enter as many players as they want at a cost of £5 for every three entries. You don't have to go through a club though, individual entry can be made at £3 each. See this website's home page for details on how to enter.

Rules will be sent to all entrants in due course but can be downloaded now from http://www.chessscotland.com/membership/...pt2014.pdf

We had 24 entries last year and I know already that there will be at least 10 entries from Castlehill and 2 from Dundee.

If you are a Richardson or Spens player and want to know what changes are afoot for this season, wonder no more. There are a number of changes to the rules of both, some of which are only of interest to captains but briefly:

Richardson and Spens (and Rosebowl)
• will be FIDE rated;
• Bona fide criteria have been clarified;
• Matches can be deferred from the scheduled date by a maximum of 8 days;
• Default arrival time is now specified - 30 minutes;
• Home teams are no longer advised to provide refreshments - this was never compulsory, only recommended; quality/quantity provided was variable and it added an additional financial burden to clubs;
• Captains must report teams and results within 48 hours and in a way that all will be revealed to everyone very quickly;

Richardson only - qualification criteria and procedure for the Euro Club Cup are now defined.

Spens - will now be five-board matches, not six. This is to enable one-car trips if desired.

Copies of the new rules have been sent to the captains of last year and can be downloaded from http://www.chessscotland.com/membership/...Events.htm

I'm pleased to say that the MacIsaac trophy (sans plinth) has resurfaced. The MacIsaac tournament as was is no longer so I'm looking for suggestions for what we might do with it. It can either be presented for some achievement but without a dedicated tournament or we can invent a new event. We'll keep the spirit of the old event and make it for grades over 1850. If preference is for a new event we should not overlook potential running costs, so cheap or self-financing.

I did get some suggestions last year:

I do not like a KO system, at least not for individuals. IMO, that
doesn't lend any sort of 'thereness' to the tournament. Who knows
what's going on on an individual basis? If it was feasible to hold
it as weekend Swisses in regional locations, with qualifiers
meeting in a 'final' in a central location later in the season,
that would give it much more prestige and surely raise awareness.

I've always thought that mid-week is an absolute no-no. 'Normal'
chess club activity, plus people have many other commitments on
weeknights (I know I do). I couldn't really contemplate anything
'extra' on a mid-week basis. If others are in a similar boat,
you're not going to get a full uptake.

My 'regional' idea was to divvy the country into four (probably)
Swisses, basically N, S, E & W, with, say, the top three in each
playing a Swiss to provide the champ of champs. The big drawback,
though, would be division of strength, given that most of the
strongest players are based in the Glasgow & Edinburgh areas.
Or maybe it could be run (even as a pilot) as ONE w/end Swiss, open
only to club champs or subs, in a roving location from year to year.

Any other suggestions?

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I have been in touch with Sarunas Sulskis who will be playing for the Kaunas team. He says he will be wearing his MacSulskis tartan kilt, munching haggis and swilling down whisky from the distillery at Lochranza in Arran.

What some folks will do to become an honorary Scot!

Seriously, he is really looking forward to meeting folks from Scotland again which he so enjoyed visiting.

By the way, don't drink any of that Lithuanian vodka if he offers it to you unless you wish to have your teeth whitened cheaply.