Giffnock Chess Club has lost a long-time stalwart in the death of David McDonald who passed away suddenly at home on Friday, 7th January.
 
David was a long-time member, he was certainly there when I arrived 20 years ago, who gave enormous service to the club in his role as treasurer over many years.  As well as an enthusiastic club player who never missed an evening David was a regular player in the Glasgow, Dumbarton & District and SNCL leagues where he was known for his calm, polite ways, and his infectious laugh and warm smile.
 
The funeral service for David, husband to Dorothy and dad to Andrew and Katie, will take place at 10am on Tuesday 1st February at the Linn Crematorium, following which the family invite you to celebrate his life, share stories and music at the Redhurst Hotel in Giffnock.
 
There is a link to watch the service live if anyone would prefer or cannot make it in person.
 
Joe Jordan
Secretary
Giffnock & Clarkston Chess Club

updated rules and regulations for the SNOCL and Chess teams Challenge 
1. Games will be run on the chess.com team format using the teams setup provided by chess.com     
2. The SNOCL is a five man team event which will run , two rounds per day on a Sunday with dates already mentioned on the Chess Scotland Calendar and Chess Scotland website. The CTC is a four man team played two rounds on the same night between the same players using the chess.com teams format. 
3. For the Chess Teams Challenge (CTC), there will be two games per player, one Black and one White, Each game will last 20 minutes plus 5 second increment. For the Scottish National Online Chess League, the time control is 25 minutes plus 10 second increment. 
4. Games will be screened for fair play by Chess Scotland and graded on the Chess Scotland allegro grading system. 
5. The online league will be run based on the existent format of the typical over the board chess league.
6. In the case of a dispute on either tournament, there will be an initial attempt to resolve between the teams by the SOCO committee after the match, failing that an appeals committee shall be set up.
7. Games will be submitted for Chess Scotland Allegro grading.
8. It is envisaged at least one match is played each month, probably two matches per month, preferably during the week although weekend matches would be acceptable.
9. Any teams wishing a practice run should contact me and I will arrange friendlies.
10. If there is sufficient interest over the country then we will regionalise the leagues with a finals format. If not then will compile league based on playing strength.
11. Entries to be sent to Ian.brownlee@systemsit.co.uk. 
12. The management system for the league will be the LMS system operated by the Scottish Online Chess Organisation, administered by Ian Brownlee and Willie Hulme
13.   All players will be required to have a chess.com user account and join the SOCO club on chess.com. Anyone joining the SOCO online club should contact myself or Willie Hulme (Ian.brownlee@systemsit.co.uk) using their username, actual name and email address. Anyone aged 21 or under should also supply their year or birth. For the chess teams challenge, 
14. Clubs will also be required to set up their own online club at chess.com. This is to facilitate the automatic challenge between clubs for the Chess Teams Challenge
15. Anyone who has their chess.com account suspended for any reason should contact the committee immediately. If the suspension is a result of violating either Chess Scotland or chess.com fair play procedures, then all games played by themselves will have the results of their individual games marked as a loss. 
16. We reserve the right to transfer teams between leagues according to average playing strength even if team is due promotion/relegation - to facilitate the smooth and fair distribution of teams / running of the tournament. 
17. Lastly, but not by all means least team captains will be responsible for having a good working knowledge of the chess.com systems for both tournaments, including ensuring each of their players are able to contact opponents, setting their opponent challenge level to infinity etc. There will be a zoom meeting on Tuesday 25th January at 7.30 pm for team captains to explain these fine details and to offer pre match assistance.

I notice that when looking at your games the grading page no longer shows how your grade was calculated. Will this be returning along with best win, worst loss etc?

Thanks

Advance notice that Edinburgh Chess Club's auction sale of surplus magazines is planned for 7th April 2022 - see http://edinburghchessclub.co.uk/blog/new...l-2022.php.

Takes place from the Sunday to Tuesday this time. Usual events available, we have tweaked a couple of events for different slots.

Enter soon to avoid the late entry fee, apparently we are keeping that a secret this time.

Have a good New Year then come out fighting.

Recently added games from:

• Glasgow Congress 1979
  
• Glasgow Junior International 1979 
  

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/d...e-obituary

CSC Chess in Prisons on Channel 4 News 
 
Tonight at 7pm Channel 4 News will broadcast a feature on our prison’s programme from  HMP Wandsworth. 

Our Prison’s Coordinator Peter Sullivan runs two regular chess clubs there. 

You can watch the broadcast on Channel 4 or via their website by following the link [/url][url=https://chessinschools.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b5b3ef6ad07c3c4b018a0e9e1&id=59b6978b7e&e=f3125b02f2] 

A.H. Thomson of Poly played in the Glasgow Congress 1977. Someone with the same name played in the Guernsey Festival, October 1987. Can anyone tell me if this is the same person? His first name might have been Alan.
Thanks

Bye today, went to thermal baths