President’s
report
My first year as President of Chess Scotland has contained both
disappointments and positive developments.
The greatest disappointment has been a lack of progress in closing the
rift between Chess Scotland and Scottish Junior Chess – but I think I may have
been too optimistic. Informal contacts I have had with individuals in SJC have
been amicable, and I will always be willing to discuss any matter with them on
an informal basis. As well as discussions, there have also been events where CS
and SJC officials have worked together in harmony. So even though formal
meetings appear to be unproductive, I believe there is a willingness to
cooperate in both organisations, and I think progress is being made, even if
only slowly.
Another disappointment has been the poor turnout at the 2007 Scottish
Championships (in progress in Cumbernauld as I write this). It seems that the
current format is no longer attractive to enough people, and we must now try
something quite different (more on this later).
Turning to the positives, the Report on Junior Chess in Scotland produced by
Frances Benton Consultancy contained a plan which I believe can result in a
very bright future for chess in Scotland. The coming year
will, I hope, see the appointment by the SJCA Educational Trust of a full-time
Junior Co-ordinator. And it seems to me that some of the Report’s
recommendations are as valid for Chess Scotland as a whole as they are in the Junior field: professional fundraising and the use of a
charitable trust as a means of boosting the value of donations are steps I
think we should take as soon as possible. (Perhaps we should also examine the
possibility of abolishing membership fees as such, making membership of CS
effectively automatic for all players who contribute through grading fees by
playing graded games.)
Our magazine, Scottish Chess, has also improved in both content and
punctuality since the appointment of the new editorial
team. The “paper or electronic” debate continues, and rightly so – like CS
itself, Scottish Chess exists to benefit the chess community in Scotland, and
we must be willing to change the way we provide services to that community.
The Scottish Championships of 2008, to be held in Glasgow and organised by
the Glasgow Chess League, should see a new format being tried out, with the
introduction of an International Open Tournament incorporating the various
national championships. The opportunity to compete with strong foreign players
in Scotland must be an
incentive for Scottish players to take part.
Contacts with the media in the past year have included some
disappointments (a reporter from the Sunday Post was quite interested in some
“human interest” chess stories I offered him back in September, but his editor
rejected them; and in June this year a Belfast company, DoubleBack
Films, approached CS for material that might be made into a television
documentary for Channel 4 – the film company liked the stories/subjects I
suggested, but Channel 4’s commissioner lost interest as soon as the word
“chess” was mentioned), but also some unexpected good publicity: the Sports
Editor of the Sunday Herald quoted comments of mine from a telephone
conversation in an article on recognition as a sport, and one Saturday in June
the Scotsman devoted its two centre pages entirely to Junior chess.
Finally, I wish to express my gratitude to the Directors and paid
officials of Chess Scotland, and to the volunteers who fall into neither
category, for the work they have done over the past year – I am indebted to
them, Chess Scotland is indebted to them, and the entire chess community in Scotland is indebted to
them.
Donald Wilson
President
Schools development report
I shall keep this brief. The year has been dominated by the Junior Chess
Review, about which there have been several prominent reports on the CS
homepage. The homepage should now carry the Review’s executive summary. Please
see my covering comments on that and the summary itself. I will be pleased to
field questions on any aspect of the report at the CS AGM on 19 August.
I am pleased to confirm that five Chess Scotland presenters will be
delivering presentations at the upcoming conference on chess in schools and
communities organised by Aberdeen University. This promises
to be a first-class event, with many international contributors. Details about
all the Chess Scotland and other presentations can be found at the link to
“CISCONN” in the newsbox on the CS homepage.
Supported by Donald Wilson, my own presentation at the conference will
provide an opportunity to consider Chess Scotland’s future role in developing
the schools and junior game. See the abstract below. If in the light of both
this and the Junior Review,
anyone feels that they have any
good ideas, I’d be pleased to hear from them at schools@ChessScotland.com
This debate is so important that I think I shall stop at this stage,
having simply flagged it up. We have excellent volunteers in the chess
community, but unfortunately not nearly enough of them and not nearly enough
financial resource. How do we all move forward?
I gave more detail on a range of other matters in my report to the CS
Council meeting earlier in the year – see the minutes of the meeting at the
Chess Scotland info link. All of these have moved on more or less as described
in that report and as expected. I shall be happy to speak further about any of
these, too, at the AGM.
Abstract: Promoting more
chess in schools – Chess Scotland’s challenges – as drafted April 2007
Craig Pritchett and Donald Wilson propose to present on the above
challenges. They will build on an article (by CP) on “Chess in Schools: the
Aberdeen Project – a way forward?” (Chess, May 2005 - www.chessscotland.com/junior/cpchessmay05.htm).
Written in the light of the University of Aberdeen Rowan Group’s research
report on the Aberdeen Chess in Schools project (January 2005), the article
took stock of the wider prospects of promoting the “visiting chess coach”
concept advocated by the Aberdeen researchers.
The article in Chess argued that there were “good chances for roll-out …
but there remain a great many questions about resources.” The presenters will
argue that this general conclusion still holds but will also point to a number
of recent grounds for increasing optimism.
Recent experience indicates that more schools and local education
authorities may be prepared to finance / part-finance more chess in schools
projects if they can be matched with an appropriate “coach”. More such coaches
also appear to be increasingly active.
Chess teaching currently relies overwhelmingly on volunteers, who
themselves overwhelmingly operate for relatively small periods of time in
single school clubs. There are still few “coaches” prepared to commit
themselves to larger, multi-school / area-wide projects. In part this is
because of economic insecurities, career path inadequacies and / or lack of
professional recognition. There are also project design, negotiation and
quality assurance issues and within schools, particularly secondary schools,
there may be “crowding-out” because of curriculum pressures.
Against this background, in 2006-07, Chess Scotland commissioned
consultants, financed by an Awards for All grant, to
review the support it offers to schools, local education authorities,
volunteers and “coaches”, and its business planning for junior chess. The
presenters will outline Chess Scotland’s main responses, which [are likely] to
include commitments to: sharpen business planning; appoint professional
fund-raisers; create an active charitable Trust Fund; and develop a regional
coordinator role to help facilitate more chess in school projects [detail
subject to final report by consultants].
The presenters will conclude with a view on how this improved set of
developments - at schools / local education authorities, among potential larger
chess in schools project “coaches” and within the national federation - is
likely to help promote more chess in schools over the medium to longer-term and
invite debate and comment.
Craig Pritchett
Schools Development Director
Financial Review
Despite the lack
of any sponsorship for the 2006 Scottish Congress at Troon other than the Local Council reducing the
rent for the playing venue we managed to organise an event that didn’t require
funding from the general account. This was, in the main, due to the generosity
of a number of donors, bequest money and organising costs being kept to the
minimum. It is all credit to Alex and his team that the last couple of
Championships have managed to be organised and run at nearly half the costs of
the Championships four or five years previously. The overall deficit for the
event was under £300 rather than a possible £2,000 to £3,000 and this left a
balance of just £100 as a reserve for the future. This is a major area of
concern and it was agreed that £2000 would be transferred this year from the
General Account to support the Scottish Championships. This, however, is only a
stopgap and a more permanent solution is required.
In the General
Account our income for the year was boosted by our successful application for a
grant of £5000 from Awards for All and by a number of significant donations. In
addition income from members in the way of subscriptions and magazine sales
both increased significantly over the year. On the debit side League and
Congress income both fell. Although the numbers in some leagues did increase
the overall numbers fell by 56 team boards. The fall in grading income is due
to the timing of some events and some of the smaller events either not taking
place or are struggling to attract the numbers. Club affiliations remained
steady although it is disappointing there was no increase in junior club
affiliations despite the reduced fee.
As advised last
year the costs of the delayed issues of Scottish Chess magazine meant that the
publication costs would be inflated in these accounts. The cost of these two
additional issues is included in the publication costs. Our international
expenditure was much less than anticipated because, for various reasons, we
didn’t participate in a couple of events and the costs of one event were much
less than originally estimated. Also as reported last year some of the
expenditure for the Olympiad that took place early in the financial year was
recorded in the previous year’s accounts due to payment being made in that
period. Expenditure for schools chess was also much less than expected and our
membership secretary, who should be complimented, succeeded in carrying out all
his duties well below the anticipated expenditure. One of the main items of
expenditure was the Junior Chess Business Plan but the Awards for All Grant plus
a donation of £400 covered most of this cost.
Thanks to the Aagaard Training Fund a number of training sessions were
held during the year when players benefited from the tutorials given by Yusupov and Marin. The Walter Munn Fund supported the
Junior Grand Prix and we also benefited from an additional £200 grant from the
Scottish Executive to assist with the costs of inflation.
The overall result
is that we ended the year with a healthy surplus rather than the expected
deficit.
We are once again indebted to all those who contributed to the funds and
to many who gave their time and effort voluntarily without making any claim for
the expenses they incurred and, on behalf of Chess Scotland, I thank them all.
L.R. McKenzie
Finance Director
Executive
Director’s report
Donald Wilson and
I agreed it made sense in terms of continuity and support to the new President
to remain as Executive Director for a year.
I’m delighted to say it was a year in which very little support was
needed! I was however glad to be able in
my last year as a Director to organise a celebration of the triple British
Championships wins by GM Jonathan Rowson, having
failed to do so in the previous two years.
On 2 June, Jonathan
gave a simultaneous display over 20 boards in the main entrance hall of
Glasgow’s Art Gallery (winning 19 and losing to Chris
Macdonald). In the afternoon, he gave an
inspirational talk to the youth squad meeting organised by Donna Officer at the
same venue, and played a joint display with Steve Mannion. In the evening, he was guest of honour at a
dinner in central Glasgow and gave an entertaining and well received
talk on the influences which had brought him to his current strength.
Jonathan also
presented the trophy which bears his name to its first winner, Chris Macdonald
both at a photo-opportunity in the entrance hall of the Gallery and, more informally,
at the dinner in the evening. Chris is
the first holder of the Scottish Boy Player of the Year trophy, donated by
Donna Officer. Jonathan also presented
the Cherie Booth trophy - also twice! - to Amy Officer
as Scottish Girl Player of the Year!
I would like to
acknowledge the support we received from Glasgow Museums including the
provision of the venue free (with only a small charge for the tables we used),
and the significant donation towards the event received from the Scottish
Junior Chess Association Educational Trust.
On a
constitutional point, the Management Board have agreed the maximum continuous
term of service for the President should be three years. A constitutional change to give effect to
this will be proposed at the AGM.
John Glendinning
Executive Director
Scottish
Championship organiser report
This year's Scottish was held at St Maurice's, Cumbernauld. The venue was given by North Lanarkshire
Council as part of the the new town's 50th anniversary celebrations. The event had a truely international flavour
with players from Denmark, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Norway and Spain
as well as Scots competing. The entry
was up significantly from the previous year, though higher numbers still would
have been appreciated.
Championship
Championship was a ten player all-play-all.
It had been decided in advance, as the result of a poll conducted
amongst chess players, that in the event of a tie, the title would be shared. Interestingly, had the tournament been run as
a Swiss then the vote was in favour of a rapid-play play-off!!
The event itself was a 10 player all-play-all and produced an emphatic
victory for Andy Muir with the impressive score of 8/9.
Unfortunately, as there were only 3 titled players no norms were available.
FIDE Open
The Open
was a keenly contested affair, and whilst there were a number of draws on the
top boards these were generally hard fought.
Scottish Senior
Champion – Alastair White 6/7
Under 1800 Championship - shared between Donald Heron
and Paul McQuillan
Under 1500 Championship - Ali Roy won this
event and with it two titles as she also retained her Scottish Girls' title
Scottish Under 1500 Champion and Scottish Girls'
Champion:- Ali Roy 5/7
Scottish Under 1500 Boys' Champion – Joseph McGreechin 4½
Weekend Open - 1st= Jacob Aagaard, Harald Borchgrevink 4/5
Weekend Major - 1st
Stephen Hamilton
Weekend Minor - 1st David Brodie
Thanks go to the following people/organisations:
North Lanarkshire Council, Staff of St Maurice's, Ronnie Wallace, Donald
Wilson, Simon Gillam, Lara Barnes, George Anderson without all of whom I would
not have been able to organise the event.
It is certainly time to consider the future of this event in its current
format. The Championship is nowhere near
as strong as it should be and this is having a knock-on effect on the FIDE Open
which loses its top players to the Championship. I for one would welcome an experimental
period where an international open event was organised with the title going to
the top Scot.
The
Scottish Championships in its current format seems to have run its course. The top players do not seem to be
interested. Despite a survey saying
otherwise, holiday venues are no longer popular with the 'ordinary' chess
players. Over the last two years there
were a number of requests for a venue in the central belt. St Maurice’s
in Cumbernauld provided such a venue.
Whilst the venue was not ideal it would be a struggle to find a better
venue at no cost.
Let
me quote Ian Marks in an e-mail
“I
didn’t get the chance to speak to you before I left, so I’d like to take this
opportunity to thank you and all your colleagues for your efforts in organising
and controlling such a successful, enjoyable and smoothly run event.
I
must point out, however, that my performance owed nothing at all to poor play
but was due entirely to the lousy location (Nightlife!? Golden
sands? The lap dancers? How
can you possibly expect chessplayers to do well if
they can’t party till dawn or dance the night away?), the shabby venue
(Windows, for God’s sake! How can we concentrate with natural
light streaming in?), the quietness (Where were all the screaming juniors,
chattering masses, piped muzak, banging doors?
Call this a chess venue?) and, most odious of all, the
horror of the nightmare five-minute daily commute! If there had been any B&Bs I’d have been better off in one!! Oh – and what
happened to the dedicated sauna suite which, I was led to believe, the venue
possessed? It is a well-known fact that I only perform at my best if I can have
a steam bath every fifteen minutes while enjoying the ministrations of
bare-breasted young nubiles. Be assured that I shall
be asking some pretty searching questions at the AGM.”
Other
positive comments also appeared on the CS Noticeboard.
Again
most of the criticism came from those who were not present. As a result of adverse comments on the noticeboard a potential weekend congress in Cumbernauld has
taken a step back and is now unlikely to be organised!!
The
Board/AGM should consider the future of the event.
A
weak championship means that no title norms are possible. It also has a knock-on effect on the Open,
with players who should be at the top end of the Open
competing in the Championship then the Open is a less attractive option for
1800+ players.
I
would suggest the following:
The
Championship should normally alternate between venues in Edinburgh and
Glasgow,
with occasional visits elsewhere.. (The next two events should show if this is a
feasible long term objective)
The
Championship should be contained within an International Open. The Scottish Champion would be the highest
placed Scot. I believe that as this may
result in several players on the same score there should be some form of tie
break. Ideally, with sponsorship this
should be a play-off. As there is
unlikely to be sufficient funds for this my second preference would be for the
player with the best tournament performance.
Fees
for titled players should be awarded according to title and rating.
Whilst
this requires some more thought the basic idea would be:
GMs £75; IMs £50; FMs
£25.
2301-2350,
£25; 2351-2375,
£50; 2376-2400, £75; 2401-2425, £100;
2426-2450; £125; 2451-2475, £150; 2476-2500, £175; 2501-2525; £200; 2526-2550, £225;
2551-2575,
£250; 2576-2600, £300; >2600, £500
The
money would be allocated on a first come first served basis until exhausted.
Next
year’s Scottish will be held in Glasgow
with the venue provided by the Glasgow Chess League as part of its centenary
celebrations. Edinburgh is
being investigated for 2009.
At
present I am considering that the 2009 Congress could be my last as
organiser. If anyone is willing to take
on the post they may wish to work with me during the next two years. I am willing to consider forming a congress
committee for this reason.
Alex McFarlane
Scottish Congress Organiser
Home
Director (Junior) Report
Junior chess in Scotland is in a pretty healthy state at present
and junior chess activity has increased over recent years. There are numerous
opportunities for young people to play in individual and team events during the
year in local, regional, open, SJC or Chess Scotland events. In addition, a
number of Scottish juniors have acquitted themselves absolutely superbly in
various national and international events. For example, Scotland has 2006 British Champions at both senior
and junior level and won the Faber Cup in 2007 for only the 3rd time
since 1968. Many Scottish juniors competed superbly in the UK chess challenge gigafinal
in Manchester in July with many reaching the final stage
of this national event. Also, many juniors will have recently competed in (and
hopefully won) various events at the 2007 British Championships. Well done to
them all! When I first came to Scotland in 2000, there was a minimal Scottish
junior presence in the final stages of the UK Chess Challenge competition or
the British Championships but now Scottish junior players are a real force and
this should be celebrated by all. Also, junior events and players have received
significant coverage in the media and many events have been supported by
councillors, MSPs or MPs. The fact that chess is on
the radar screen of the media and politicians must be good for junior chess in Scotland and should be built upon in the future.
Regarding Chess
Scotland affairs, Amy Officer has continued her excellent work maintaining her
excellent Chess Scotland Juniors website which contains a very entertaining and
informative mix of reports, pictures, anecdotes and reminiscences. I am sure
that juniors and ‘older people’ will continue to send her material for the
website.
Stephen O’Donnell
continues to send information regarding CS events to schools including the
Junior Scene Newsletter and is the organiser for the Scottish Secondary Schools
Team Championship (the Scotsman trophy). The 2007 event was composed of 22
teams and is fiercely competitive as it contains some of the strongest junior
players in Scotland.
Other important
Chess Scotland junior events include the very successful Primary Team
Championship organised by Christine MacGregor.
Primary teams qualify from regional heats while the P5 and Under
teams gain direct entry to the final. This year Grangemouth
Community Education Centre hosted 12 qualifying primary teams and 13 P5 and Under teams (100 players in total). John and Lynsey Shovlin organised the
Scottish Girls Team and Individual Championship that was held at the delightful
Beatrix Potter Centre in Birnham. I organised the
Chess Scotland Scottish Schools Individual Chess Championship that was held at
George Heriot’s School. This free invitational event
consisted of 100+ competitors who had qualified on merit from various junior
events across the country by achieving a 50% score. This event therefore acts
to link many junior events throughout Scotland and I am delighted that the Association of
Certified Public Accountants of Great Britain (APCA) sponsors this national
final. Kevin Henry, chief executive of APCA, made a special trip to Edinburgh to open the tournament and we will see him
again next year. I also helped to organise the Chess Scotland Primary
Individual Championship that was held in a very wet Donnolly
Adventure Centre in Aberfeldy with Norrie and Maureen Mathie, Donna
and Amy Officer and Jim Anderson in attendance. This is a very tough event and
comprised 32 top juniors from primary schools right across Scotland.
Chess Scotland acknowledges the achievements of juniors
through the Jonathan Rowson and Cherie Booth QC
awards. This year’s winners were Christopher MacDonald and Amy Officer who are
both superb role models for juniors throughout Scotland.
I have been
involved along with many others in several meetings over recent months as part
of the Junior Chess Business Review funded predominantly by a successful
application to the Awards for All fund. I think that this has been a very
useful exercise and I am convinced that junior chess in Scotland will significantly benefit in the future
from implementation of the recommendations made.
Lastly, I would
like to thank all of the junior chess organisers chess
in every chess organisation, club and school throughout Scotland (including the parents of players who
support their children so well) who give up their time to generate opportunities
for young people to play chess. In particular, all those involved in running
the various Scottish ‘megafinals’ are to be
particularly praised - these events are daunting in size (200+ children) but
are key events that facilitate Scottish juniors playing in the national stage
of the biggest junior chess event in the UK.
Jeremy Hughes
Home
Director (Junior)
Membership
Report
Individual Membership
The table below
gives the Membership numbers for this year and last at the 30 April.
