Chess Scotland
Juniors
designed by kids,
for kids!
“Junior-friendly” Clubs
I’m sure that most juniors know the feeling – you decide to
go to a new club and…you walk in to a smoky bar, all eyes on you. Why? Because you’re the only junior
there! Not a nice feeling. For this reason and many more I have decided
to make a page ESPECIALLY for “junior-friendly” clubs. I will try to include clubs from as many
different areas as I can. Although,
this would be quite difficult seeing as I only live in one area! If you think that your club fits the title
of “junior-friendly” (or you know of a club that does) could you please let
me know in an e-mail together with either a web address for the club or a
small description of the club (amy_sitemanager@yahoo.co.uk).
UPDATED: Bearsden
Junior Chess Club (13/10/07)
Carse of Gowrie Chess Club
– Meets on a
Thursday night from 6.30pm – 10pm.
Coaching by Alan Borwell for the first
hour. Four teams in the TAFCA league including
two junior teams. A team in the
SNCL. Venue is spacious, situated
upstairs in the Inchture Hotel (you don’t have to
go through the bar but you can still buy refreshments!) Contact Alan Borwell or go to http://www.carsechess.org.uk/
Dunfermline Chess Club - We meet at
the Dell Farquharson Institute, Netherton
Broad Street, Dunfermline on Monday nights 7pm - 9.45pm Dunfermline
has about six juniors at the moment all Primary beginner level. We meet in a
non smoking community centre and have a room to ourselves so no-one bothers
us. We are keen to accept juniors but tend to let them learn by playing
and doing rather than formal training. They can take part in the club
championship and allegro. If we get enough juniors we usually do a junior
trophy at the end of the year to encourage them. We take them to congresses
if they show enthusiasm and when they improve they may get a chance to play
in the league teams if appropriate.
For more details contact Glynis Grant.
Lanark
Chess Club - We have a junior section with 20+ members, run
and coached by Tom Donohue. The juniors meet in their own room, which
allows them to be as noisy as young people tend to be while the adults
can play in a quiet environment. As juniors' skills
develop they can and do play in competitions with the
adults. Several times during the season the whole club comes
together in fun five minute chess evenings. For more information go to www.LanarkChessClub.org.uk or contact Ian McLachlan.
Carrick Chess Club - The Carrick
Chess Club plays at the Town Hall in Maybole on Wednesdays
- beginners from 7 - 8 p.m., experienced from 7 - 10 p.m.. The club offers
friendly games and club competitions as well as tuition and league
games. For more information regarding
the Carrick Chess Club go to http://www.maybole.org/Community/Organisations/chess/chessclub.htm.
Edinburgh Chess Club - Edinburgh Chess Club is
probably the 2nd oldest club in the world and should be considered junior
friendly. The club offers the chance for juniors to play in two junior teams
in the Chess Edinburgh
Leagues. Training is being organised by the club but senior members of the
club are usually present at league matches to go over games. Geoff Chandler
was present as our top junior team took on our adult counterparts in the Edinburgh Division 2
and wrote the following report - http://www.chessedinburgh.co.uk/chandlerarticle.php?ChandID=85.
Bearsden
Junior Chess Club - The Junior
Club (formed in 2006) meets on Tuesdays at 6:00pm from mid-September to
end-April at Cairns Church Halls in Milngavie.
Secondary school juniors normally start later (7:00)
while the old fogeys (sorry, seniors) come in at
7:45, as the younger juniors head off home. We mostly play chess, stage
various club competitions and take part in Lanarkshire
League and Glasgow
League team competitions, amongst other things. We manage to do a bit of
coaching (mostly informal) too. If you're keen on chess, then find out more information
from our website:
www.bearsdenchessclub.freeserve.co.uk.
Cumbernauld
Chess Club - Cumbernauld is a Junior friendly
Chess Club. We only have a few juniors, but have a team in the Glasgow Junior League and some Juniors play in the Adult
Glasgow
Division 5 League. We meet at the Muirfield Centre,
Brown Road
on Mondays and some Wednesdays. Any Juniors
wishing to join should contact Derek McAteer. The
contact phone number is on the web site - http://homepages.tesco.net/~kelsor/index.htm.
Greenwood Chess Club – Meets at Greenwood Academy, Irvine on Thursdays from 18.30 hours. We have about 55 junior members at present
not all of whom come at any one time!
Contact stephen.taylor@talk21.com for further
information.
Glenrothes Junior Chess Club
- We meet every Monday at the CISWO club in North Street Glenrothes. We start at 6.15 and finish at 7.30. The venue is upstairs, so you don’t have to
go through the bar to get there. It
goes without saying that nobody smokes!
A typical evening would be to spend the
first twenty minutes or half an hour on training – this could practising
check mates, building up opening repertoires, adults playing simultaneously
against a few juniors at a time – it varies! Of course, the kids come to
play, so the second part usually consists of juniors playing games against
each other; these games are sent in to Chess Scotland for grading.
We have around sixteen juniors at the club
– though the top three tend now to play only in the adult club. On top of this, another three who still
attend the junior club entered this year’s senior club championship – we
expect a lot more to enter next year!
About once a month, the senior club plays
quick games for the allegro championship, and juniors are invited to stay on
for this and take part. We also run
‘handicap tournaments’ a few times a year – about ten of our juniors entered
the last one and had a great time – everybody has a chance of winning a
prize.
The stronger juniors play for the Glenrothes teams in the local (TAFCA) chess league.
At the moment there is no charge for
attending the junior club, though we are thinking of introducing a yearly
charge of around £5 for next season.
Anyone
interested can contact Stuart Blyth on 01592 760437 or srb2@blueyonder.co.uk or see our
website www.schools.chessglenrothes.co.uk
Troon Chess Club - Everyone meets
on a Wednesday (Sep.-May), juniors at 7:00pm to 8:00pm, seniors at 7:30pm-10:30pm.
We meet in the Railwayman’s Club, Shore road. The junior club organizer/coach
Len Wier usually does a small 15 minute lesson with
a few puzzles to get everyone warmed up.
Then it’s time to play!
The juniors play in competitions including the Junior
Championship and the Pairs Championship. Juniors also have the opportunity to
take part in the seniors’ competitions and sometimes in the Ayrshire League.
While everyone is playing, Len is watching carefully for
any mistakes that are being made. After a game is finished and the score has
been handed in, Len will go through the game and point out better things that
the players could have done.
Then to cool down, everyone has a couple of friendly
games and they talk about their games.
If you want to find out more about Troon
Chess Club, go to www.troonchessculb.co.uk or contact Len Wier (01292 312404).
 
|
