Scottish Junior International Chess Tournament

Glasgow 1969

Held at Wolfson Hall, Glasgow, June 13-22

Extracts from the tournament brochure (with amendments):

The Tournament
The energetic promotion of the idea of the tournament came from Mr D.N.L. Levy, who enlisted the support of the Scottish Junior Chess Association and Scottish Universities' Chess Association in arranging the tournament and created the Organising Committee of Dr M.T. Partis (Chairman and Warden of Wolfson Hall), D.N.L. Levy (President), D.A. Watt (Secretary and Treasurer), M.J. Brodie (President, Scottish Universities' C.A.) and J.M. Glendinning (President, Scottish Junior C.A.).

The tournament was made financially possible by the invaluable donations of a number of players, to whom we are indebted ..... and by the magnificent support of the Corporation of Glasgow. We naturally hope now that the event can become an annual one, but this will only be possible if sponsorship can be found.

During the course of the tournament, an additional donation was received from G. Bonner.

The Venue
Couched snugly in the beautiful woods of Garscube Estate and dominated by the copper pyramidical roof over the dining area, WOLFSON HALL makes a superb venue for a chess tournament, having only one drawback - its distance (about 4 miles) from the city centre. The Hall, with accommodation for over 200 students, was gifted to Glasgow University by the Wolfson Foundation in 1964, and was the University's first mixed hall of residence. Its facilities - which are of a very high standard and include library, television room and games room - were all available to the competitors, thanks to the generous assistance of the Warden of the Hall, Dr M.T. Partis.

Opening Ceremony
The Tournament was opened by Baillie James Allan who, in a lively and interesting speech, very warmly welcomed the players to Glasgow and expressed his sincere hope that, as well as playing enjoyable chess in the Tournament, they would be able to see part of Glasgow and Scotland during their visit.

Players and organisers.
Source: Alistair Maxwell

The Competitors

Christofoor Baljon of Holland hails from Groningen. 15 years old, he came 1st equal in the North Netherlands Championship.

Rene Borngässer from Dusseldorf, West Germany came 6th equal in the 1968 German Junior Championship and is the Junior Postal Champion of Nordrhein-Westfalen. He is 17.

Rajko Čukić was seventh in the Yugoslavian Junior Championship and comes from Kragujevac. He became 19 during the tournament.

Pierre Dussol is the French Under-18 Champion - although he is 18 now - and hails from Montpellier.

Tom Ireton, aged 16, comes from Cork (Republic of Ireland) and finished 2nd equal behind D.C. Wilson in the 1969 Irish Schools' Championship. He will be in the Irish team taking part in the Glorney Cup Tournament in Ireland later this year.

Roderick McKay, at 17, has already a wide international experience, including fine scores in the Scottish teams taking part in the World Students' and Lugano Olympiad. On the home front, he finished equal second in the 1968 Scottish Championship behind D.N.L. Levy. He comes from Glasgow.

Peter Markland, aged 18, is the English Northern Counties Junior Champion and comes from Bolton. He played board one for the Bolton team which won the Sunday Times National Schools' Tournament in 1968.

Michael Rosenberg comes from Glasgow and is 15 years of age. He finished 1st equal with C.W. Pritchett in the 1968 Lanarkshire Open Tournament and has been selected for the Scottish Glorney Cup Team and the Scottish World Students' Team this year.

Ivan Sørensen, aged 18, is from Nejle in Denmark. In the recent Danish Individual Tournament, he qualified for the "elite class", the class below the Danish master class.

Heinz Wirthensohn hails from Riehen in Switzerland and finished 3rd in the 1968 Swiss Junior Championship. He is 18.

Left-right: Sørensen, Baljon, Borngässer, Rosenberg, Ireton, Cukic, McKay, Markland, Wirthensohn, Dussol.
Thanks to Roddy McKay with regards to identifying the players.
Photo: From John Glendinning, though he thinks it may have been taken by JBW Robertson.

Left-right: Roddy McKay, David Levy, Mike Partis, unidentified lady.

Left-right: David Watt, Rene Borngässer, David Levy, Heinz Wirthensohn, Peter Markland.

Additional note:
Michael Rosenberg, like Roddy McKay a member of Cathcart Chess Club (Glasgow), would later give up chess for Bridge, becoming on of the finest players in the world.

Further information about Roddy McKay can be found here.

 

Alan McGowan

updated 26/8/2022