A.H. Thomson of Poly played in the Glasgow Congress 1977. Someone with the same name played in the Guernsey Festival, October 1987. Can anyone tell me if this is the same person? His first name might have been Alan.
Thanks

Bye today, went to thermal baths

Excellent article on Tony Miles below. I can hardly believe it is already 20 years since he died. I used to love his newspaper column and even took up 1...a6 briefly, inspired by his famous win with it over Karpov. At the time, the idea of a British player beating Karpov was simply inconceivable. RIP Tony.   

https://britishchessnews.com/2020/11/12/...crHn5O-2GU

From John Montgomery, on the passing of Steve Clark, a major loss for Chess , we all know what a character he was.

"Steve Clark a long time member of Irvine chess club passed away yesterday 1st November 2021 after a long illness
 
Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends"

Another month, another tournament.

Late fee after today so get your entry in to create more fireworks on the board than there will be outside.

Tournament page here.

Links to Chess Results and ad free Vega results sites will appear later.

The North East chess community was dealt another severe blow this week with the sudden death of David Burke. At the early age of 58, David succumbed to a massive heart attack while being driven to Banff hospital following some slight chest pains. Efforts to resuscitate him at the hospital were regrettably unsuccessful. David was an avid chess fanatic, a love only second to his family.  The latter always knew what to buy him for birthdays and Xmas – another chess book or video! He was an active member of the Newmachar club and regularly turned out on the top boards in both the long and Allegro versions of the game. The club team was based on a parody of characters from the Lord of the Rings going into battle over the 64 squares and his moniker was Lord Burke – a title that caused much mirth from his wife.  He also was a regular attendee at Congresses such as Dundee, Perth, Edinburgh and Oban, often with his sparring partner and chauffeur the late Steve Sawaryn. During the Covid pandemic he set up a Lichess online club so that club players could receive their weekly ‘fix’ of the Royal Game and benefit from his coaching skills. He was also passionate about encouraging juniors to play the game and was ever-present at NEJCA events, where he helped as an assistant arbiter, coach between rounds and always ready to give any ‘byes’ a game of chess (with lots of instruction included). As well as contributing to local chess activity and acting as tutor to club members, he was also keen to improve his own game and recently had been under the tutelage of Hamish Olson. He was forever regaling we mere wood-pushers about the different perspective that Hamish brought to the game.

In life, David was a very honest and gentle person (but over the board do not give him the slightest chance of a king hunt!). He also had a very self-deprecating sense of humour, and his emails are littered with anecdotes and comments where he is the butt of his own jokes. Those who knew him well were proud to call him a friend and that makes his loss all the harder to bear. His early death has had a massive impact on his family and currently they have not decided how they prefer to mourn his passing, possibly at a private funeral.

The European Youth (hybrid) Championships have just started and there is a strong representation from Scotland

https://chess-results.com/tnr582087.aspx...ES&flag=30

Best of luck to all the players.

One cannot help noticing that Freddy Gordon has made a good start.

The trustees of the Scottish Junior Chess Educational Trust (SJCAET) have obtained the approval of the Scottish Charities Regulator (OSCR) to close the trust with effect earlier this month after some 52 years of the trust's operation in support of a wide range of Scottish junior chess educational purposes. 

The trust's remaining assets (some £4,900) have as part of the approved closure process been transferred to Chess Scotland for the agreed (ring-fenced) purpose of helping to defray the future costs of the Glorney Gilbert International Junior Chess matches when next held in Scotland. The Trust has frequently provided grants for this purpose for many years (most recently for the Glorney Gilbert events held in Paisley 2018).

In due course, the trustees plan to draft a brief note in celebration of the trust's work since its inception in 1969 for the CS historical archive. 

We most warmly thank all of those donors who have contributed greatly to the promotion of the trust's purposes over that half-century. You can rest assured that support by grants made by the trust have been much appreciated by junior chess club organisers in schools and in the community, as well as the individual junior players who have benefitted and their parents.

Junior chess giving will, of course, continue in very many other already-existing (often quietly voluntary) forms. The trustees have merely come to the conclusion that the trust's charitable model has run its effective course. And we wish good luck to all in the future!

More historic games (with very familiar names!) available to download now:

* Glasgow Junior International 1970
* Glasgow Congress Open 1967

https://www.chessscotland.com/features/game-downloads/

Thanks again to Alistair Maxwell and Alan McGowan for providing these!

I'm aware some clubs are meeting face-to-face. I notice there was an OTB congress in Northumbria recently and that Andy Burnett did well in the recent European Seniors in Sardinia (reported on chessbase but not here). Beyond chess, the post vaccinated UK is slowly returning to normal with indoor events across many activities restarting. But what is going on with chess in Scotland? It is mid-October, 
- There are no congresses, 
- Are there are any local leagues restarting? 
- I assume there is no National League?
- What about Richardson and Spens Cup?  
- Will the 2019-20 events be played out in same way Olympics and Euros football were? 
- More generally, is there anything going on at all?
I'm conscious chess in Scotland has been in a slow decline over many years and the pandemic has been an accelerator in many areas. Is OTB chess one of those areas accelerated to extinction or are there people out there working to bring things back up?