Apologies I have had trouble accessing this new forum. Finally discovered it was because my Wanadoo email has been removed by EE 

Please look at CS Home page for entry form and letter.  Send me an email with your team name and pay me on the day.

Big thx

GG

I read with interest in the Management committee minutes published today:

"Following the review of the Richardson Cup playing rules and their subsequent publication on the Chess Scotland website, these rules have now been formally passed to the Rules and Arbiters Committee for incorporation and publication....Chess Scotland will purchase Swiss Manager licenses to enable publication of teams and pairings for this event"

Intriguing. I'm wondering where I can read these rules. Apologies if I have asked this before. At the rules link on this site I see there is a document on Richardson Cup Rules but these look to be the rules that were in effect last season and so prior to the review referred to above.

I am getting queries from schools as to where to buy chess clocks. Are there any Scottish suppliers ? Who should I contact ?
Also does anyone know how much to purchase a trophy e.g.  in Glasgow Schools now 3 divisions but only 2 trophies.

The Adult Selection Criteria thread prompted me to post thoughts about our premier tournament, the Scottish Championship.

Context
I am a long-term supporter of the event - I started in the “Boys”, graduated to the “Open” and subsequently played in 23 “Championships”. I have seen the best and worst – having played in 27 and attended a further 2 –  of the last 34 years and believe it is worth having a debate on future direction. The Championship was run as a closed event (sometimes an all-play-all, sometimes a swiss for between 10 and 20 players) from well before I started competing until 2007. There were minimum entry requirements and the majority of the games were tough encounters as a consequence. In 2004 nearly all the main contenders played but after 3 years of more mixed entries across the wider event the organisers decided to reform. We’ve had 10 years, since 2008, when the Championship amalgamated with the Open to reflect on the format, what it has achieved and what it hasn’t.

State of play
The current format is an FIDE rated nine round International Open held in July with a small number of invited titled players to provide norm opportunities. The Open allows a wide spread of abilities to enter although there are side events as well. The Scottish Champion is the highest placed Scot within the Open with a performance tiebreak. Equipment used is generally good quality wooden sets and digital clocks with live transmission an increasing feature.  An experienced and committed team of arbiters mean that the event, once on-site, typically runs smoothly. Venues move from town to town around Scotland. For many years seaside towns were preferred although recently Edinburgh and Glasgow have featured heavily.

Strategy
“What is the point of the Scottish Championship?” You might think the easy answer – and mine - would be “To determine the strongest Scottish player”. However, there are aspects of the current format that mean, whether intentionally or not, this is not how things are set up. Indeed I hope the thread will result in an articulation of current CS strategy and provoke debate on what it should be.

My perceptions
Using the three criteria of tournament attractiveness for top players I set out in the selection criteria thread i.e. a) Financial; b) Strength of Opposition and c) Achievements (titles etc):

A)      Financial – there are two aspects i.e. “conditions” for titled players (money and/or accommodation/travel) and prize fund. Pros/Semi-Pros have a living to make so need to work out their range of potential returns and consider the two in conjunction. Hence organisers shape strategy and the type of tournament with the spending choices they make.
 
In recent events, both the prize fund and conditions were set up in a way that favoured invited foreign players. CS effectively outsourced to pros from countries where the £ goes further and English pros with low expenses. As these pros were typically higher rated the expected return for Scots was low. In addition the prizes reserved for Scots only are a low 1st prize and nothing for 2nd! These factors have combined to take money out of the Scottish chess economy and disincentivise top Scots. At the same time I see little evidence that it has increased level of competition or achievement for Scottish players so I conclude the financial approach is flawed.
 
B)      Strength of Opposition – This is about assessing the likely profile of opposition, best expressed as average rating, and also if the best players are going to be there. Additionally In rough terms, IM norm seekers are looking for 2250+ and GM norm seekers are looking for 2400+.

This event is taking place in Gujarat India 10-19th December.

Closing date for entries is 10 October

The team is 4 players plus 1 reserve - must include 1 girl.

Date used is 1 January 2017.

I hope to contact those being considered in the next few days, in the meantime if anyone is interested please contact me asap. 


Fiona Petrie
Junior Director

FIDE WORLD JUNIOR &GIRLS U 20 CHAMPIONSHIP


If any girl is interested in taking up  a place in this event in Italy 12-26 November 2017 and meets the criteria please contact me as soon as possible. unfortunately the player who had hoped to go is now unavailable.

Full details are available on FIDE website or by contacting me directly

The closing date for registering is 15 October

Fiona Petrie

Junior Director

At the 2017 AGM the following was announced: -

Glorney 2018.

Chess Scotland Management Board will put a working party (Glorney Committee) together to manage and organise at all arrangements for this event. The intention is to spread the workload away from a single individual.  This committee will be made up with CS Directors and, where necessary, volunteers (parents and others) with appropriate skills.  The members of this board will be announced at an appropriate time once the committee is complete and responsibilities are assigned.  Further details and updates will be posted on the Chess Scotland website as matters develop.


The Management Board met on 7th September and further details from this meeting on the Glorney 2018 will be announced in the coming days (once I get the minutes approved).

Jim Webster

Hi Guys
I am looking for someone to fill out the Youth Development Office post for Chess Scotland. Do we have have any takers or proposers for the post. I am really hoping to Kick start Youth Development, especially at the Secondary school level with the aim of linking adult chess clubs with secondary schools, and also to to develop a youth development policy

Hi all,

The final print issue of Scottish Chess magazine should be on its way to you this week. Apologies for the delay - we had to change our printers at short notice (many thanks to Peter Woods for stepping into the breach).

Also, a 48-page commemorative booklet of the Dundee 150th Anniversary event will soon be available via the CS website as a free pdf download, courtesy of the Dundee 150 Committee. Thanks once again to all who made this possible.

Andy Burnett

(CS magazine editor)

The city of Katowice, the Polish Chess Federation and the European Chess Union have the pleasure to invite you to participate in the European Blitz and Rapid Chess Championship 2017 which will be held in Katowice, Poland from 15th-17th December.

http://www.europechess.org/european-rapi...ship-2017/

As always, if anyone has any questions about overseas events please feel free to contact me via: abburnett (at) hotmail.com or thorugh the official emails available on the home page.