Just reposting this here.

Scottish Championships 2012 Announcement

Chess Scotland is pleased to announce that the 2012 Scottish Championships will be greatly enhanced thanks to the support of an anonymous benefactor.

This person wishes to remain unknown and we will honour that request. I am not able to say how much the arrangement is for, other than it is a significant amount which should enable a large number of titled players to take part. The ambitious target figure is to have 10 GMs and 10 IMs competing and a total field of at least 80 players.

I hope to be able to confirm dates and a venue within the next few weeks. I will then contact our titled players with offers of ‘conditions’. Thereafter other titled players will be approached.

The provisional dates are 7th-15th July. (It may be the week before.)
With some luck we will be able to put on an event to rival, if not better, Edinburgh 2009.

There is the potential for this deal to be extended to three years. It also means that we can now make a realistic bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Championships.

The website for the event is already on line and can be found at: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.chessscotland.com/scottishchampionship2012/">http://www.chessscotland.com/scottishchampionship2012/</a><!-- m -->

As part of the sponsorship deal Chess Scotland will be able to get 8 sensory boards. However, whilst this money can be used initially it must be returned to the Scottish Championship fund. This does allow us to get the boards and start the process of live games.

The AGM unanimously passed a vote of thanks to benefactor. Anyone else wishing their appreciation to be recorded should contact Alex McFarlane.

Work has started on the 2012 Prestwick Airport Congress website, which I hope will be an improvement on the 2011 site.

The site is still at <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.ayrshirechesscongress.co.uk">http://www.ayrshirechesscongress.co.uk</a><!-- m -->.

Obviosuly, there's still a lot of content to add and a lot of work to do but I hope it gives a flavour of what's to come. There will be the usual suspects of entry information, list of entrants, venue details, how to get there and so on. I am looking for fresh, innovative ideas for pages and for the congress too, so if anyone has any suggestions feel free to post here.

This could be the most exciting Scottish chess season for years with the recent news about the Scottish Championships, Prestwick is aiming to add to that with some new ideas, whilst retaining the parts that worked well in 2011. We hope to have all 8 sensory boards in operation at Prestwick, as well as coaching for juniors, many other ideas borrowed from succesful events at home and abroad and we'll maybe implement a few novel ideas of our own, such as everyone playing the last round in fancy dress. Those not entering into the spirit will be defaulted. Themes we are considering are animal antics, pirates of the Caribbean, Knights of the round table and Romans v Greeks. 8)

The website will be updated on a regular basis, so add it to your favourites and keep up to date with developments.

I like this new board - here's to a successful future with it.