Report by arbiter Alex McFarlane

For the first time in many years the Scottish Boys’ and Girls’ Championship was held outside the Glasgow area when it was held in the Summerhill Community Centre in Aberdeen over the weekend of 18th-20th June, 2004.

Whilst many in Aberdeen welcomed the move north due to clashes with various school activities this was not reflected in the number of entries. With only two or three players from the central belt willing to travel north there were only twelve players at the event. The attitude of Adam Bremner in coming back early from a school outing to prepare for the event was commendable.

In grading terms the favourite was quite clearly Christopher Macdonald. He had few problems in scoring 6/6 and only Adam Bremner provided any significant opposition.
Unfortunately for Adam he faded towards the end and finished down the order.

Despite having only two girls taking part the Girls’ Championship was a closely fought contest. Lynsey Shovlin won her first two games to establish a lead which was to last until the second last round when she met Natalie Donohue. When the dust had settled Natalie had a slender lead. Her reward for her efforts was a last round encounter with Christopher Macdonald.

With Natalie losing this game there was a possibility for Lynsey to take the title. Unfortunately for her she started badly against Stuart MacLeod. When Stuart fell for Lynsey’s ‘cheapo’ he soon accepted her draw offer and the event was over with the Girl’s Championship shared.

The Challengers event was tied between Alastair Grant and Stuart MacLeod.