Message from David Reid regarding John Thompson of Glasgow Montrose Chess Club who passed away in early January 2024:

John Thompson first appeared on the Glasgow chess scene in the late 70s, when he bumped into David and Kenneth Reid, in Possil Library, when we were browsing the fine collection of chess books to be found there. We met gain shortly after, when a local tournament was staged for a street festival, and become firm friends. John was kind enough to invite us to his home to play with his pals, George Rooney, Jimmy McKelvie, "Mad" Malky and a Polish guy who's name was "Chess". They pretty much all followed John into Glasgow Montrose ranks in due course.

Those Friday nights were great fun; they had cracking stories! The tale of the KGB intercepting their correspondence game cards with postal players in Moscow was wonderful. The personal notes inside had been redacted! George reckoned he was being followed by the security services one time. John replied he didn't think they could find their way to Saracen Street!! Setting off to East Kilbride (might have been Irvine!) for a chess tourney they ended up lost in Kilmarnock!! Etc. etc. Great entertainment. Johns' quick wit and dry sense of humour were assets to the club. His comedy double act with George Rooney lives long in the club memory. He was a decent player too - well booked up on his favourite openings. The Stonewall Dutch, Bird's Opening, the QGD were at his command, and he had a very annoying habit of accepting the Queens Gambit pawn and then bloody-mindedly keeping it. 

He married the charming Helen and went on to have 3 fine sons, who preferred golf and snooker to chess, probably to their Dad's relief, as they soon surpassed him in those. John did not enjoy the best of health in recent years, and so his time in the club was limited. He is still to be seen on the GMCC website - reminder to our current members of happy days, enjoyable evenings and the ease with which he could bring a smile to any of our faces. He will be missed by all those who knew him, and by Glasgow Montrose Chess Club in particular.

Yet again another congress appears in the calendar with "details to follow" and already almost all the available accomodation has gone before we know anything that might help decide if we want to enter or not.  So the only answer is to book and hope for the best.  Surely the organisers could at least inform us of when each round is and what the time control will be.

Chess Scotland regrets to announce that Supratit Banerjee, one of the top players in the world for his age, has transferred from Scotland to England.

This will allow him to benefit from advanced training and subsidised travel through the generous funding provided to the English Chess Federation (ECF) by the British Government. Unfortunately, the Scottish Govt, has declined the invitation to provide similar funding to Chess Scotland.

Supratit is second in the world for his age with a rating of 2137, only one point behind the leader and almost 200 points above the player in third place.

We wish him well in the future.

On the February 2024 FIDE list :
Freddy is 15th in World Rankings (born 2010 or later), headed by Yagiz Erdogmus of Turkey
Supratit is 2nd in World Rankings (born 2014 or later), one ELO point behind Marc Llari of France

Hi all,

As part of canvassing views from the Chess Scotland community, we are going to be convening focus groups - one of which would ideally be an LGBTQ+ group. These focus groups will be looking at recognition and further development of the diversity of our chess community here in Scotland. 

If you are a chess player in Scotland who is part of the LGBTQ+ community, I would be really interested in hearing from you. Please feel free to get in touch with me at ruairidh.mckay@yahoo.co.uk.

Ruairidh McKay
Admin Director

P.S. If you would like to give anonymous feedback, this will also be accepted and I will not divulge anything to others without permission.

My goodness where has January gone!

I hope you are well on the way to getting your full teams ready for this Sunday. No one has informed me that they are unable to come so I am expecting a full house.
 
The dogs are having a weekend holiday with my friend so will not be attending.

Look forward to seeing you all

GG

FIDE ARBITER SEMINAR AND EXAM 23-25 February 2024
Chess Scotland is running an online FIDE arbiter seminar (and exam) the weekend of 23 – 25 February 2024. The FIDE lecturer is Chess Scotland Principal Arbiter, IA Alex McFarlane.
This gives members a chance to gain a norm towards the FIDE Arbiter title. Please note that to take part you must be a Licensed National Arbiter.

Anyone interested please contact the Chess Scotland Arbiter and Rules Director, Alistair Maxwell in the first instance at alistair.maxwell34@gmail.com and put the text “CS FIDE ARBITER Seminar 2024” in the subject field of the email. The maximum number for the seminar is 20 and places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. (NB there is already interest from overseas).
The Schedule is as follows:
FRIDAY 23rd February
Laws of Chess                                     18.00-22.00
 
SATURDAY 24th February
Laws of Chess                                       10.00-12.00
Chess Clocks                                        12.15-13.00
Title Regulations                                   13.30-14.30
Arbiter Titles                                        14.30-15.00
Rating Regulations                                15.00-16.30
FIDE Pairing                                         16.45-19.00
 
SUNDAY 25th February
FIDE Pairing                                         10.00-10.30
Systems of Games/Competition Rules    10.30-11.30
Tie-breaks                                             11.30-12.30
Fair Play                                               12.30-13,00
Revision                                               14.00-15.00
Exam                                                    15.00-19.00
 
The fee for the course for Chess Scotland Members is available on request.
The course is also available to non-members and people from other countries and the fee for the course for those is as per the notice  https://arbiters.fide.com/news/event/152...e_id=17756
Alistair Maxwell
Arbiter and Rules Director

4 days to go until our next allegro and we may have 2 places available over the next day or so. Keep an eye out, we do not keep a list and it will be first come gets the place.

Thanks to all of you for entering, now please turn up or, if you have a problem crop up which stops you coming, please let us know as soon as possible if you cannot make it.

If you don't and just don't bother turning up and contacting us before or after that may have consequences if you then try to enter other events we organise.

Chess results go here.  For no ads or cookies go here for Open and here for Inter.

Several of you do not have a fin, please go here, fill out the form and send it off before Sunday.

Enter early as we cannot "squeeze" another entry in no matter how often you email having missed out.

From Bill Gray of Grangemouth Chess Club:

Shortly after midnight on Saturday 13 January, George MacKay died suddenly at home after suffering a seizure. He was 49 and leaves behind a young family.

He used to be a member of the Bon Accord club but his work took him away from chess a number of years ago. He had played top board in the SNCL for a strong BA team, and their website tells me he was their club allegro champion over two consecutive seasons between 2002 and 2004, a feat that the unassuming George would never mention.

I came to know him over 4 years ago when he and his family moved to a neighbouring house. Despite my best efforts, he could not be persuaded to join the local Grangemouth club, due initially to work commitments and, more recently, because of family illness.

Aside from being a formidable chess player, George was a quiet, kind and considerate neighbour and, above all else, a dedicated family man.