East of Scotland – No longer a standalone tournie?

[David G Congalton]

Thanks Ken for the information on the West of Scotland Championships.

I can’t just sit back and accept that a Championship that dates back to 1872 can’t be one of the most prestigious Scottish chess titles to win, second only to the Scottish Championship itself and of equal standing with it’s East Coast counterpart.

I’d like to have a go at reviving both the West and East of Scotland Championships , breathing some life into them, creating an excitement and interest to play in them and an enthusiasm to be involved with them.

I have an initial outline of formats for both and some initial thoughts on a plan, which would provide stability for the events, take both events through to the 2019-20 season, encourage players to enter weekend congresses who wished to be part of the overall strategy, benefit players who take part and ultimately achieve an overall objective of providing worthy champions of the West and of the East.

Among the subsidiary objectives I would set for both would be to see participants from every county across the country take part and where possible to have every county champion take part, at some stage.

I am willing to commit to the organisation of both events for the next eight years, commencing with 2012-13, if I have the approval of Chess Scotland (as both tournaments are under their jurisdiction).

The format for both Championships would be the same and the major part of the plan would be to hold a finals weekend, which would have supporting tournaments like a normal weekend congress, with an added incentive of a qualification place for the latter stages of the following year’s Championship.

The finals would either be head-to-head between two finalists who would resolve the destination of the title over a number of games, which would be my preferred option, all-play-all featuring four qualifiers, or a swiss event among a small group of around sixteen. The latter is not my preferred option but is an alternative if cutting the numbers to two or four proved difficult because of calendar congestion.

I envisage three sections and three Championship finals. An open section, for which the current trophies would be awarded and two grading limited sections, for which trophies would also be awarded.

Looking at the Chess Scotland calendar, I am thinking that the “first” finals could take place in May, or September 2013, depending on a few things, such as whether Grangemouth takes place or not, will Glasgow take place in May or November (I don’t know when it has traditionally taken place), if Prestwick is replaced by the West finals weekend or they could be scheduled for early in June, if it didn’t impinge on any other planned events.

In order to give an example of how my preferred two finalists would be arrived at, I’ll set the finals for the weekend of the 31st May to the 2nd of June 2013. The process of qualifying for the finals would start on the 1st June 2012, although whether the top players of the 2011 or the 2012 weekend congress qualify (see below) may subject to the timing of a round of matches, where the qualifiers are cut to those who will battle it out at the finals.

From the Scottish Championship 2012, the top player for a west coast club would qualify for the West Championship and the top from an East Coast club would go into the East Championships.

Other qualifiers would come from weekend congresses who wished to be part of the qualification process (I’m partial to a place in each event being up for grabs at each congress, irrespective of where the weekend congress takes place, perhaps encouraging more West Coast residents to take part in East Coast events and East Coast residents to play on the right side of the country).

There would also be a place for the top players, of any CS organised individual events, such as the MacIsaac or Nancy Elder.

There would also be places for a number of current county champions, with play-offs to decide which county champions take the places.

The idea is, by a combination of the above, to arrive at 16 players per event, who would be invited to take part in a knock-out tournament to decide the two finalists. This part of the process could be three rounds of one match, over a weekend at one venue, although there are alternatives which may be more cost-effective.

I’d like to see high quality games, with players having a chance to prepare for opponents and an incremental time control, in use where possible.

With regard to venues for the knock-out rounds and the finals weekend I’m in favour of holding them in a different city/town each year. On the West Coast there’s Glasgow obviously, several venues in Ayrshire, Dumfries, Stranraer, Oban, Fort William, Ullapool, Portree and Stornoway. On the East, Hawick, North Berwick, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen, Inverness, St Andrews and John O Groats (why not?).

As for the rewards, the winner would take all. On top of the title, the prestige and the
Trophy, there would be a financial incentive that would tempt every player in Scotland to seriously consider being part of their Championships.

Okay, so there’s still an awful lot of meat to be put on the bones and logistical nightmares to negotiate but I’m confident that I can set up something special for both the West of Scotland and East of Scotland Championships and would welcome any comments, questions, feedback, criticism, suggestions and input.