Good luck to Ali Roy in the World Youth 2013 - First Round tomorrow at 15.00 local time or 11.00 in UK.

I have often highlighted some of the good things from the world of swimming but here is a bad 'un.

In chess we have the 'Zero-Tolerance' rule so that if you arrive 1 second late after the round starts you are defaulted, well this weekend I discovered that in swimming there is a 'negative tolerance' rule. Swimming in the short course national champs at the Commie pool my son, after waiting three hours poolside, went up to muster for his race 15 mins before the start and was told he was five minutes late for the muster and so was disqualified. Another swimmer disqualified for the same reason had come all the way from Dumfries for that single race!

Frustrating!

I'm writing this a frustrated CS member. There seems to be a lot slipping through the cracks and it's leading to an increasing sense of frustration in some members. Actions promised aren't being done, emails are being ignored and questions on the forum are not being answered. I have received a couple of emails today from people who are in this boat and I have sent emails that have been ignored by 3 directors over the past few months.

I'm not writing this to have a go at anyone. Everyone has lot of other commitments, family, work and other things. The members appreciate and understand that. Most of us are in the same situation. There's no shame in saying that you're too busy at the moment. The Directors need to appreciate that there are people out there willing to lend a hand if they are asked. You don't need to do everything yourselves. If you don't then you will find these people just walking away from Chess Scotland and you will end up losing assets unnecessarily.

I would suggest the following:

- all emails are acknowledged within 4 days with a timescale of when a detailed reply will be given
- questions raised to directors on the forum are answered within a week
- minutes of meetings are issued within 2-3 weeks so that everyone is aware of their action points
- delegate! Form sub-committees if you are too busy to do something. You don't need to be on them. Just have them report through to you. Even just ask someone else to form it if you are too busy yourselves.

Please remember that everything improves through communication.

We are about to go into 2014 which will be a big year for chess in Scotland with the hosting of the Commonwealth and Glorney tournaments. If we get the simple stuff right and get everybody on-side and not frustrate and annoy them then we can move into the new year as a team and with a renewed sense of enthusiasm.

Or, to give it the correct title, Dundee & Angus Allegro. The second running will take place on Sunday June 15th 2014 at David Lloyd Leisure Monifieth - same as the Congress.

All the details will be announced in the early months of next year. The event website will carry updates as and when - http://dundee-allegro.co.uk.

The age limits for senior chess used to be 60 for males and 50 for females.
This has all changed in 2014. The new age limits are 50 and 65 for both sexes.
Players may wish to consider the following two events :

1. European Senior Championship - Oporto, Portugal, 8/3/14-18/3/14
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.fpx.pt/escc2014/">http://www.fpx.pt/escc2014/</a><!-- m -->

2. European Senior Team Championship - Sibenik , Croatia 31/3/14-10/4/14

I shall put a selection notice up when website available

----- Original Message -----
From: ETSC Sibenik 2014
To: Alan Borwell
Cc: Andy Muir ; Craig Pritchett
Sent: Friday, December 13, 2013 3:17 PM
Subject: Re: Regulations

Dear Mr Borwell,
Dear Mr Pritchett,


I am sorry for the delayed reply. Namely, we were waiting for the official ECU decision about the right of participation of players and teams in this tournament. Let me present to you this decision:


In the European Senior Team Championship are persons who shall have reached the age of 50 years by December 31st 2014.

Each team will be composed of four or five players (as usual) who shall have reached the age of 50 years by December 31st 2014 , but out of whom at least one or two (respectively) shall have reached the age of 65 years by December 31st 2014.


The official championship’s regulations will be published on Tuesday, 17 December. The dates and other details will of course stay the same.


Best regards,


Dinko Buric
Tournament Manager

It is 2.30pm where I am, but I think about 7.30pm your time. I am listening to Christmas Carols and the temperature outside is 89F. The sun is blazing, the palm trees sway gently, and people are walking about with Santa Claus hats on. It's a funny old world! I played the first over the board game I have had in about 3 years last night, in a fast food joint, and the guy played the London System. It's a small world as well.

I hope you all have a great Christmas!

John

There are still spaces available for Hamilton Club's Coaching day this Sunday.

Membership is not required.

Far far better to enter in advance than to turn up on the day; e Mail entries to <!-- e --><a href="mailto:chesstutor@uwclub.net">chesstutor@uwclub.net</a><!-- e -->

We have been unable to make the weekly upload to refresh online grades scheduled for December 11. The problems are persisting into a second day. The programmers are working on a fix.

Meanwhile the tournament crosstables are all uploaded as normal - this is a separate process from the refresh of online grades. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://chessscotland.com/event2014/events2014.htm">http://chessscotland.com/event2014/events2014.htm</a><!-- m -->

The master.zip used by area graders was also updated as normal.

The forum is now back online, can I ask everyone to read the stickied post at the top.

Post

I still don't believe I had to lock the forum for 24 hours because of the type of posting we have had in the last few days.

Despite several warnings, people are still using the forum for personal attacks. The moderation team will no longer accept this type of behaviour and posting bans will be implemented for offenders. These will increase with subsequent repeat offences until ultimately a permanent ban.

This is the final warning. Both Hugh and I will no longer tolerate the nonsense that has gone on. There will be no discussion on this. This is now policy agreed at the executive level of Chess Scotland

You have been warned