Hi to all, there will be a prize of £50 for the highest aggregate score in all the Hamilton Junior Congresses, score in all 6 events count.

Progressive totals will be available on <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.hamiltonjuniorchessclub.co.uk">www.hamiltonjuniorchessclub.co.uk</a><!-- w --> , updated shortly after each event.

Dates of the congresses are,

Sunday 15th September
Sunday 10th November
Sunday 8th December
Sunday 9th March
Sunday 11th May
Sunday 22nd June

This prize is provided by <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.helpfriendssavemoney.co.uk">www.helpfriendssavemoney.co.uk</a><!-- w --> .
Which this month is offering 6 months free broadband, see website.

Michael.

Is there a CS director with specific responsibilities for promoting/looking after ladies/girls chess?

While I am against the blatant sex discrimination that happens in chess, as the increased opportunities girls have over boys is unfair and has not worked, I am obviously not against what it is trying to do i.e. increase the number of female players. Clearly increased numbers of players is in itself a good thing but I suspect also that to achieve it one needs to improve some aspects of the way chess is played (less BO?) and that will in itself attract others. What those 'aspects' are is the million dollar question and needs I think someone dedicated to finding the answer.

A couple of weeks ago, I received this year's grading list through the post, and I realised it was 25 years since I first got a grade in the 1988 grading list.
So I did a comparison to see how things have changed in Scottish Chess over those years.

Personally, my new shiny 1988 grade of 1625 is now 1922, which is nice. And this year I played 72 graded games compared to 14 then.

In 1988, the top 5 players in the grading list were all IMs: Messrs Motwani, McKay, McNab, Pritchett and Condie.
In 2013, the top 5 are GMs: Aagaard, Rowson, Turner, Motwani and McNab.

There are many fewer players in the new list(2253) than in 1988(2855), but there is another interesting statistic.
Number of games processed for 1988 list: 34762. Now, the equivalent figure is 36072.
So there are fewer active players now, but they each play more games.

The most obvious difference between then and now is the decline in over-the-board league chess. In 1987/8 the Glasgow League had divisions 7a and 7b, the Lanarkshire League had 4 divisions and there was a Renfrewshire League.

As an illustration this (as I recall) was the line-up for Holy Cross in Division 4 of the Glasgow League for 1988/89:
P.Coffey, A.Stalker, M.Hanley, A.Jelfs, T.Coffey, D.Lonie, D.Ford, L.Freel. (Yes, we won the division!)

I dug out my scorebook for the 1987/88 and 1988/89 seasons to see which of my then opponents are still active.
I found the following names which are still in the current list:
D.Ross, P.Scullion, S.Smith, J.Banks, A.Gillies (a J16 graded 1990!) and D.Holmes.

Some things don't change though - in one of my games from 1988, where I'm Black in an e4/e5 game, I have added a note ?! to 5. ... Qe7. Twenty-five years on, I am still playing dubious Qe7 moves in e4/e5 games :-)

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://ajedrezenelbali.com/INGIndex.html">http://ajedrezenelbali.com/INGIndex.html</a><!-- m -->

Folks,

As usual there are a group of us going out to play at Benidorm this year. If anyone is interested in playing and requires more information, please free to contact me at robinmoore add 60 plus at btinternet dot com. A twin room at the Gran Bali venue will cost you around £350 per person for all-inclusive for ten nights. That includes your flights and transfers. The entry to the tournament is 80 Euros but you receive a 20 euro discount if you stay at the Bali venue. There are of course, plenty of other alternative accommodation options.

Hi folks,
am trying to compile all the games from this tournament as it was the Scottish Championship (as the Centenary International was on in Troon at the same time).

If any players who are not so shy and played in the event can send me their games in any format (Chessbase, word, textfile, e-mail, snail mail, anything!) then I would appreciate it. My plan was to try and document all the Scottish Championships and the recent opens have brought this to my mind again! I only have about 20 games from the event (yes Alan Grant I have all of yours!! ). The list of names is not to hand but if you played you know who you are (The play off was a six way between Bryson, Davis, Buchanan, Milligan, Thomson and Pyrich with Thomson emerging the winner). Many famous and infamous players played as well as some foreign dignatories. If I have no reply within 2 weeks I will post a full list of players - just to annoy you. You have been warned - send games now!!

Alistair Maxwell

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.worldsenior2013.rijekachess.com/en">http://www.worldsenior2013.rijekachess.com/en</a><!-- m -->

This event is open to all members of a FIDE national federation, but CS nominates one "official" CS representative, whose registration/entry fee it will pay (subject to budgetary constraints). All entrants must find their own travel and accommodation costs

Would any interested parties please register via the Rijeka organisers' website themselves (it's straightforward) and notify me by 15 September so that David Congalton can make a bulk transfer by end September.

This takes place 25 April - 4 May

Chess Scotland is entitled to nominate two players for this tournament. This would allow free entry to the tournament. If you are interested please contact me by 30 Novemebr. I already have one request.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.fide.com/index.php?option=com_fidecalendar&view=fidecalendar&ny=2014">http://www.fide.com/index.php?option=co ... ar&ny=2014</a><!-- m -->

These tournaments have struggled for interest of late which is a shame. It is clearly a time to revitalise them but how that can be done is a bit of a conundrum. There is at least one new idea under consideration but if there are any ideas that can go into the mix please let me know.

Do you qualify for one or the other (MacIsaac = club champion or substitute graded 1850 or more, Nancy Elder = under 1850 (1775 for juniors)) but won't take up your entitlement? If not, why not? What would encourage you to to take part?

Any thoughts?
Keith Rose

With so few norm opportunities in Scotland (usually only the Scottish) I was hopeful of hosting a norm tournament alongside a couple of events for other participants.
For the norm tournament the idea was to hopefully attract three GMs/IMs (some conditions available) and three FMs (free entry) with the other four spaces going to aspiring 2200+ players.

I've drawn up some rough details below and added a poll to try to gauge if there would be interest in the events below... Any comments/suggestions welcome

Scottish Winter Chess Festival

Edinburgh Chess Club

Friday December 27th – Sunday 5th January


Group A – FIDE rated 10 player closed all play all norm tournament

3pm starts each day except New Years Day (rest day)

1st - £500

Group B 1800 and over

3pm start each day except New Years Day (rest day)

10 players – all play all

1st – £400
2nd - £200
GP – £100

Group C 1800 and below

10am start each day except New Years Day (rest day)

1st – £350
2nd – £200
2 x GP – £100 each

A nine round swiss event (20 players maximum).


Entry Fees: £85 for all events

Glad to see the positive outflows with regards proxies and constitution but can I ask what the other priorities are for the coming months for CS, and what is the order of priority?

Personally I fear that a lot of energy and time could go into resolving problems we didn't know we had or which are not most significant on the list of problems, and which when solved will not actually contribute to resolving more fundamental problems e.g. funding, lack of progression of juniors, falling membership of clubs.

I have no doubt that CS would be a better organization if it had a dynamic agm that involved more of the members: that is certainly the first step towards getting more people involved and the proxy vote is part of that for sure but only part.

I personally feel that there has been a lack of transparency and engagement and that could be addressed without changes to rules&regulation.