Cherie Booth QC Award

for the Scottish Girl Player of 2009

January 15, 2010

Rhian Hughes – the 2009 winner

Rhian had a very successful year in chess at school, club, national and international level.

She played 36 games last season including Challenger (Grangemouth, Glasgow & Edinburgh) and Open (Perth & Hawick) events. At the end of the 08-09 playing season Rhian's grade of 1801 was the 2nd highest ever achieved by a female junior player of comparable age (also achieved in the 07-08 season).

She played Board 1 for James Gillespie's High School chess team who won the 2009 Scotsman cup. This success resulted in a very chess-friendly article in the Times Higher Education Supplement on junior chess at James Gillespie's High School.

She played for the Edinburgh Chess Club 2 team and played a key role in their promotion to the Premier league. She also represented Edinburgh Chess Club in the Chess Edinburgh Allegro League. She competed in the Scottish Championship and represented Scotland in the Liverpool Quadrangular event.

She was Board 1 and captain of the Scottish team who won the 2009 Faber cup at Strathclyde University.

The pinnacle of the season was representing Scotland in the Womens Olympiad in Dresden in November 2008 where she scored 6 out of 9 (4 wins & 4 draws) with a performance rating of 2071. As a result of this remarkable achievement she was awarded the WFM title and became the joint youngest female in Scotland ever to be awarded a FIDE title.

2004 Award

2005 Award

2006 Award

2007 Award

2008 Award