Online Voting went live at 12:01 this morning, first vote was in at 2am!

For members who will not make the AGM and still want to vote, log into the main website and the link is under the membership tab.

There will be an informal, combined rapid/blitz match taking place this Sunday in Glasgow, starting just after 3pm and finishing at roughly 6pm. 

Six leading Scottish players (myself, Jacob Aagaard, Alan Tate, Neil Berry, Steve Mannion and our newest FM Murad Abdulla) will be taking on six strong GMs/IMs from various parts of the world, who are all here for a training camp hosted by Jacob. 

Spectators are welcome to drop in, enjoy some entertaining chess and have a few laughs. Venue is All Bar One in Glasgow city centre, where we have been granted the use of the entire upstairs area.

The new grading 2017-2018 season has been uploaded and includes Scottish Championships, Glorney, Bowes-Lyon. There do not appear to be any problems with the display. Please let us know if anything does not look right "grading at chessscotland.com"

Area graders should be able to download a new master.zip and set up the new season - initial database will be tagged August 3.

Printed Grading List
The print run of the grading list will be limited to those who have pre-ordered a copy. These can be purchased now via the online membership system - cost £5. https://www.chessscotland.com/membership/join/

There will only be a few copies available after the initial orders are fulfilled.  

Complimentary pdfs will be emailed to area graders and congress organisers and it should be available as a purchase option soon from the online membership page.

Is anyone watching? Xmas just came early for Craig Pritchett just now 

It's now official  https://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=2403757 

Congratulations!!!

Great to see Scotland and Dundee get the headlines on chessbase today

http://en.chessbase.com/post/greet-is-gr...nniversary

In addition to Desperate Dan, it was also particularly good to see Peter Walsh get a mention. I remember him while he was writing his book on the 1867 tournament and telling anyone who would listen all about his latest findings in the bar at Dundee Chess club in the 1980s. Good times.

Hi folks,

This will be held in Acqui Terme, Italy from 6th November 2017 to 19th November 2017 - anyone interested in playing please contact me abburnett (at) hotmail.com

Some information for prospective players...

http://www.scaccomattissimo.eu/seniores2017/

If anyone has recently turned 50 and is eligible for senior chess, please contact me if you want to be added to the e-mailing list for senior events and discussions.

Andy Burnett
(CS International Director)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-40761806

Rachel and I will be playing, and I see Callum (another regular) is also going. I'll be playing myself too, though given John Nunn(!) is in my section I'd suggest we focus on the kids games!

It would be great to see more of our youngsters playing in this, but I know it's hard - wouldn't it be great if someday Scotland was part of Britain.

Anyway, fingers crossed.
[Sarah's having a break this year - crazy busy summer]

Grand Prix 2016-2017

https://www.chessscotland.com/grading/grand-prix/

The Grand Prix figures are finalised July 27 after the addition of the 2017 Scottish Championships. These are included twice in GP calculations as last event of 2017 and first of 2018 season. They will only count for grading in the new 2018 season.

Congratulations to the prizewinners. Prize distributions will start at Marymass - all will be notified.

Meanwhile if anyone spots any errors in calculations please let us know immediately: "grading at chessscotland.com" The individual winner list will appear shortly as a website news item after these final checks.

Thanks to our sponsors: Chessbase, New in Chess magazine and Chess Essentials bookstall. All have agreed to continue their support into the new 2018 season. 

Thanks to programmers Gordon Rattray and Andrew McHarg who continue to provide invaluable support to the grading system - of which the GP is an offshoot.