Due to a change of server, the Glasgow Chess League website and the East Kilbride website have moved. The domain names still work but if you have favourites marked you may need to do them again if they point to pages on the old sites. Use the following links:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.glasgowchess.com">http://www.glasgowchess.com</a><!-- m --> and <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.ekchess.org.uk/">http://www.ekchess.org.uk/</a><!-- m -->

Both the GCL and the Dunbartonshire League <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.ddca.org.uk/">http://www.ddca.org.uk/</a><!-- m --> now have Club Entry Forms for the coming season available on their "Downloads" pages. These should be filled in by Club Secretaries intimating how many teams are entering which divisions, the names and telephone numbers of Captains etc. and then returned.

The GCL Fixtures Meeting is on Wednesday 11 September at 7.30 in the Polish Club (Phones), 4/5 Parkgrove Terrace, Glasgow G3 7SD and the entry form MUST be returned by the Friday before, 06/09/13.

The DL Fixtures Meeting is on Wednesday 18 September at 7.30 in the Larkfield Centre, 39 Inglefield Street, Glasgow G42 7AY and the entry form MUST be returned by the Saturday before, 14/09/13.

The Lanarkshire League usually schedules their Fixture Meeting for the week after, Wednesday 25 September.

This year's European Youth Chess Championships takes place in Budva, Montenegro from the 28th of September until the 9th of October. The Scotland squad is now registered with the organisers and listed on the website.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.budva2013.org">http://www.budva2013.org</a><!-- m -->

Our friends in Montenegro have been superb to deal with so far and have assisted us greatly. If the help and support we have received so far is anything to go by, then the Euroyouth Championships are going to be a spectacular success.

Hi Guys
I'm due to play Phil Thomas as Black in the 3rd round of the Lanark open Does anyone know what he plays as Black especially against 1.d4

I had the pleasure of witnessing many junior players playing at this weekends Marymas tournament. Their manners and chess etiquette were first class. The chess ability was of a very high standard and their maturity over the board was astonishing. I saw some wonderful games and win, lose or draw there were no tantrums or huffs
Congratulations to their parents and coaches for the wonderful job they are doing with their boys and girls.

Special mention to masters Howie and Stewart, I watched some of their games, they are certainly going to be very special players.

Submissions for proxy votes closed at midnight last night. Only posted votes that are postmarked before today will now be accepted.

This will take me a bit of time to sort through as I have received 146 proxy votes this year! Next job is to contact all the holders and check lists for mistakes and confirm people are members.

See you next year!!!

The position of Chief Grader (CG), Membership Secretary, Webmaster and Magazine Editor are not up for formal election at the AGM – they are classed as appointments. However in the absence of detailed up to date job descriptions it might be useful to explain who does what in the organisation. The manifesto for CG would be to continue with the tasks.

The CG is responsible for all aspects of grading and along with membership are the two functions where players are most likely to have direct contact with CS.

The CG liaises with around 50 area graders round the country to assist with the operation of the grading program, the importing of result data and maintaining the accuracy of the results and player database. CG deals with the upload of results and the maintenance of the FIDE database of Scotland players.

CG is in regular contact with the membership secretary to import the weekly update of current CS members to create the valid list of people able to consult the online system. CG liaises with tournament organisers and entries secretaries to identify newcomers and visitors and assign appropriate grades. CG liaises with the programmers in relation to the online system and the programs created to import and upload data. CG liaises with treasurer to issues invoices for grading fees and maintain a database of outstanding bills. CG creates the year end printed grading list and arranges printing.

Other issues:
Web news: CG updates some of the news stories on the website along with Dick Heathwood and Andy Howie. The range of people posting information in the news list was meant to expand so that directors could have control over the frequency and content of the news and web reports on their area of responsibility – this now looks to be a likely welcome development with the issue specifically mentioned in some manifesto descriptions.
100 Club: CG liaises with treasurer and membership secretary to maintain database of subscribers and select winners.
Grand Prix: CG arranges current sponsorship and liaises with Home director, Junior Home and the programmers on the operation of the competition.

Background: CS grader for over 20 years. SCM editor in the 1990s. Started CS website in 1997.

Guys
I've thought long and hard on thisI think we may be missing a trick here to stop the bickering and other such negativity. Insteading of putting this on the president or executive commitee, couldnt we have a director, e.g the customer services director try to handle these minor grievances informally (as a primary remit for him/her) and then have the grievance escalated (possibly to the executive committee) if the grievance is unresolved. This would allow the president and others to perform his/her duties more effectively and not worry about accusations of bias etc and would hopefully reduce the vitriol on the forums. Members on all sides are obviously not happy with the present setup and feel they do not have a voice. Moderators having to step down in this environment is just not good enough. Within Chess Scotland we have a wide wealth of talent at our disposal, so let's use it productivity. We all love chess to the point sometimes it blinkers our rationale =)

We have an accommodation option that will directly benefit Congress funds. It is a four-bedroom (all doubles) apartment in the City Quay area that has been ‘loaned’ to us in lieu of cash sponsorship. If we can let the rooms – which we will do as individual units – all receipts, less cleaning & laundry costs, will go to our funds.

Full details, photos and a video can be viewed at http://www.dundee-congress.co.uk/cityQuay.htm. We are offering the rooms for the two days of Friday and Saturday (no single nights):

Ground floor bedroom - £60
One en-suite bedroom (2nd floor) - £80
Each of two bedrooms (2nd floor) - £70

For comparison, Travel Inn and Travelodge City Centre hotels are on offer (at 15th Aug) for £136 and £81 for the two nights.

Contact me directly if you are interested – <!-- e --><a href="mailto:director@dundee-congress.co.uk">director@dundee-congress.co.uk</a><!-- e --> or 01382 534863 or 07957 761653

Keith Rose

Manifesto of Calum MacQueen for IJD

Apologies to David Deary for stealing his structure 

Aims/Objectives

I have a few ideas of what the role of IJD entails. I feel the major responsibilities are

• Improve the strength of our juniors
• Send competitive squads to international tournaments including “home” internationals such as the Glourney

Only two overall objectives but I think most ideas I have fall under these two categories.

I have many plans with regards to helping our juniors reach their potential. Firstly, over the past few years we’ve seen the introduction of an online coaching set up where players up and down the country can receive good quality coaching from some of Scotland’s strongest and most motivated players. I really believe this is helping and I would like this scheme to continue to go from strength to strength. For this, I’ve enlisted the help of Andrew Green as it was his idea. He’s got some big plans moving forward and I have total confidence that he’ll keep up his good work.
Training days are also important and I’m looking into organising regular ones. I’ve been in contact with some GMs who said they’d be interested but would need some firm details before making a decision and obviously I can’t promise that just now. Online group coaching is potentially an option as well, I did some a couple of years ago for the team who went to Brazil and I think it worked well.

Selections are always a controversial policy and that’s just the nature of the beast. I’m very confident in the selectors we’ve got currently and I am in favour of allowing them as much access to information as possible which is why I’m in favour of the new selection criteria.

Experience

I’ve just “graduated” after many years as a Scottish junior after starting to play when I was 6 years old and I have seen first-hand where I think there are weaknesses in the international junior scene. I’m very passionate about junior chess and currently have 6 students online and worked in 4 schools while at university.
I totally accept that I’m a bit light in this area but I’ve got great support from some of Scotland’s old hands so I don’t think that can be a serious problem.

Why I am running?

I find some of the most satisfying moments in my chess career are ones where my students or other young Scots have done well. It’s with this in mind that I believe I’ve got the drive and ability to make a difference in the lives of young chess players.
I was delighted to hear David Deary and June Underwood were also running for their respective posts: two people I have spoken to about junior chess who have similar goals and I think we’ll make a great team taking things forward.

Cheers
Calum


Ps. Maybe my manifesto is a bit light but I’m very wary of stepping on the toes of David and June. Let me say that I fully support David’s manifesto and will help in any way that I’m needed.

From the motion on the Standing Operating Procedures of the Standards Committeee

"6. Competency of Complaints
The Committee will not investigate a complaint unless it is of the opinion that all appropriate direct routes for its resolution, if any, have been exhausted by the complainant. Where appropriate, the Committee will advise the complainant that resolution of the dispute/complaint may be best effected by other means.

Complaints which refer to an incident which occurred more than 42 days before receipt of the complaint will be time-barred, unless, in the opinion of the Panel, exceptional reasons exist for not presenting it earlier."

It's reasonable for the Standards Committee (not a very light or relaxed option) to be the last resort and not the first recourse - but I would have thought that the 'appropriate resolution' of many complaints would often take more than 42 days? If so, the SC might not do much business. Should this timescale/deadline be longer?