I'm pleased to say that the MacIsaac trophy (sans plinth) has resurfaced. The MacIsaac tournament as was is no longer so I'm looking for suggestions for what we might do with it. It can either be presented for some achievement but without a dedicated tournament or we can invent a new event. We'll keep the spirit of the old event and make it for grades over 1850. If preference is for a new event we should not overlook potential running costs, so cheap or self-financing.

I did get some suggestions last year:

I do not like a KO system, at least not for individuals. IMO, that
doesn't lend any sort of 'thereness' to the tournament. Who knows
what's going on on an individual basis? If it was feasible to hold
it as weekend Swisses in regional locations, with qualifiers
meeting in a 'final' in a central location later in the season,
that would give it much more prestige and surely raise awareness.

I've always thought that mid-week is an absolute no-no. 'Normal'
chess club activity, plus people have many other commitments on
weeknights (I know I do). I couldn't really contemplate anything
'extra' on a mid-week basis. If others are in a similar boat,
you're not going to get a full uptake.

My 'regional' idea was to divvy the country into four (probably)
Swisses, basically N, S, E & W, with, say, the top three in each
playing a Swiss to provide the champ of champs. The big drawback,
though, would be division of strength, given that most of the
strongest players are based in the Glasgow & Edinburgh areas.
Or maybe it could be run (even as a pilot) as ONE w/end Swiss, open
only to club champs or subs, in a roving location from year to year.

Any other suggestions?

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I have been in touch with Sarunas Sulskis who will be playing for the Kaunas team. He says he will be wearing his MacSulskis tartan kilt, munching haggis and swilling down whisky from the distillery at Lochranza in Arran.

What some folks will do to become an honorary Scot!

Seriously, he is really looking forward to meeting folks from Scotland again which he so enjoyed visiting.

By the way, don't drink any of that Lithuanian vodka if he offers it to you unless you wish to have your teeth whitened cheaply.

I was waiting until after the EU Youth (fantastic event for us) was over before posting on this topic. I am hoping Andy Howie can keep us up to date on the present situation.

The way I see it at the moment (and I am more than happy to be corrected) is that the official Fide Trainer title (FT) only affects the World Youth event for now ( free accommodation for a coach as long as they have the full FT qualification). Obviously, this situation could easily change in the future for other events.

If we consider that the World Youth only takes place in Europe every two or three years, the question has to be asked...

How much money do ChessScotland wish to spend pursuing and supporting this qualification? If the World Youth event is in say, somewhere like Brazil, is it economic for CS to send a qualified Fide Trainer?

Here is a link to the World Youth accommodation regulations for South Africa 2014....

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Effectively, at present, we are paying for folks to try and achieve the full Fide Trainer qualification in order for us to obtain free accommodation for one person at one event, the World Youth.

This is a link to the Tromso Olympiad Fide trainers course....

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Are we getting value for money? More accurately, where do we draw the line at the number of fully qualified Fide Trainers CS wish to have and how does CS decide who to send on the official courses?

Remember, CS have to pay a fee to renew the qualification for each trainer every four years for life.

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Sep 8-14 - Radisson Blu
I think I'll go and spectate. Entry fee is £1000 per team (bit more expensive than chess)

The GCL now has its Club Registration Form for the coming season available on the "Downloads" page of the website <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://glasgowchess.com/">http://glasgowchess.com/</a><!-- m -->

It should be filled in by Club Secretaries intimating how many teams are entering which divisions, the names and telephone numbers of Captains etc. and then returned.

Please note a new box for notifying us (well before the fixtures meeting) of dates you DON'T want, such as those set aside for your Club Championship etc. is now included. Something like "First Thursday of every month" or "Venue closed throughout April" is required.

The GCL Fixtures Meeting is on Wednesday 10 September at 7.30 in the Polish Club (Phones), 4/5 Parkgrove Terrace, Glasgow G3 7SD and the entry form MUST be returned by the Friday before, 05/09/14.

The DL Fixtures Meeting will be the following Wednesday, 17 September, venue to be confirmed.

Cheers,
Jim

does anyone know anything about this

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In the AGM topic, on Aug 21st, George Neave posted:

It would be fine if we had level playing field for preparing for these games. Some time back Keith Rose suggested I make a proposal on this with Andy B. Unfortunately due to other commitments we both had over the summer this was not submitted before now. Here is where we got to:

Clubs entering the Richardson Cup should submit their team pool in board playing order. This order is entirely at discretion of the club. There is no requirement to order players based on rating taken from any grading system.
The team must, however, adhere absolutely to this board order for duration of the event.
Team pools should include a minimum 8 players and a maximum of 16 players.
Team Pools will be made available to team captains 2 weeks prior to the first round.
A team may add a maximum of 2 players to their initial pool during the course of the event on condition it does result in list size exceeding the maximum 16. Players already listed cannot be removed to “make way” for new players.
To add a new player, submission should be made to event controller indicating where this player will slot into order of existing list. Assuming eligibility criteria are met the revised list becomes effective 2 weeks after publication by the event controller. The event controller is obliged to publish the revised pool to team captains within 1 week of submission. The practical implication is a team captain will need to notify the controller 3 weeks prior to a match it they wish to play someone who is not listed in their existing team pool.

I will not be in Glasgow for the AGM but if anyone would be willing to put it to the room I would be grateful. As always would be interested to hear any feedback here also.

Can anyone say if this topic was discussed and if so what, if any, conclusions were arrived at?

Regardless of that, are there any opinions out there? If there is to be a change along these lines I'll need to know soon that there is enough support.

Both Clement and Mikey G doing well in France.

Mikey on a 2268 TPR, and Clement has recovered from a disappointing loss to a 1900 player, gaining 4.5 points in the following five rounds. He beat IMs Kukov and Ivanov and drew with GM Lalic. One round to go...!

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Starts today. Four Scots kids taking part.

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I received this message today from organiser Laszlo Nagy and thought I'd pass it on...

Quote:Pls tell the GM-candidates around you, for our First Saturday 6th-16th Sept Budapest we have a vacancy for the player 2400 ELO