Take a break from Christmas shopping and come to the Glasgow Allegro tomorrow for 6 rounds of action-packed chess. Details on calendar page. Entries close at midnight. A list of entrants so far, with grades:

OPEN
Alan Grant 2168
Graeme Nolan 2134
Michael Green 2011
Jim Doyle 1929
Peter Smith 1832
Rosie Giulian 1825
Alan Jelfs 1765
Norman Lindsay 1708
Thomas Gilmour 1700
Leonardo Sani 1673
Daniel Breslin 1591
David Hewitson 1521
Tunde Lashore UG

MAJOR
Michael Roth 1692
Callum Watt 1674
Evis Perdikou 1670
Tony Dunlop 1646
Alan Sharp 1645
Mark Monaghan 1637
Luke Barker 1627
James Watson 1602
Colin Paterson 1581
Stuart Marchbank 1569
Dick Heathwood 1552
Tom Tait 1535
Frankie Murray 1529
Paul Shafi 1503
Dave Hewitt 1502
Roy Smeeton 1488
Declan Shafi 1469
Walter Pearson 1431
Calum McGillivray 1419
Gilbert Alomenu 1324
Erik Tayar UG

MINOR
James McDonald 1398
Monica Espinosa 1384
David McDonald 1358
Rakhel Kumar Parida 1344
Bernard Cassidy 1309
Ben Volland 1243
Robin Johnson 1155
David Congalton 1127
Steven Monaghan 1115
Hutch Williams 1112
Thomas Wills 806

Good luck to our guys! They'll be up against it but will put up a good fight I'm sure

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Scotland-Turkey



Morrison, Graham Solak, Dragan
Muir, Andrew J Esen, Baris
Tate, Alan Yilmaz, Mustafa
Grant, J. Firat, Burak

I'm surprised there's been no thread on this so far ... so here goes!

Both players were among my five "Heroes of Classical Chess" (along with Rubinstein, Smyslov and Fischer). See Everyman Chess books.

They both play powerfully direct classical chess, which I loosely define (never forget that "style" in chess is an essentially fluid and intrinsically elusive quality) as: "a kind of universality ... that embraces all styles, in a sense, and transcends narrow boundaries ... based on such overarching attributes as clarity, energy, toughness, ambition and a fundamental sense of analytic 'correctness' ..."

For much more discussion and exploration of this style of play through history, read the book!

I expect Carlsen to shade it!!

Hi

I've had more than my fair share of coincidences in chess.

Here are just two, I have dozens like it.

Once I drew a cartoon for my magazine where one player (Phil Condie)
knocked another player (Danny Kopec) off his bike.

Two weeks later Danny actually skidded and fell off his bike.
The next car to come along stopped to see if Danny was OK. It was driven by Phil Condie.
That is 100% true.

In 1990 I made a chess videa where I beat Bob Ford in a made up game with
me on the Black side of a Sicilian winning in 15 moves.
About 6 months later I played Bob in a league game and won as Black with a Sicilian in 15 moves!

On the Red Hot Pawn Blog I introduced a Duck as a sidekick to bounce ideas off.
It would ask the daft questions or crack silly jokes etc..etc...

Eventually The Duck set off on a tour around the world staying with RHP members
for a few days them moving on. USA, Canda, Mexico, Vietnam, South Africa, New Zealand...

This link was just sent to me.

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It's not a fake.

Funny old world.

Child Protection and Chess : What you need to know

For the benefit of members who do not subscribe to Scottish Chess magazine, I am providing a link to an article in the October 2013 issue.

Any enquiries should be emailed to me <!-- e --><a href="mailto:membership@chessscotland.com">membership@chessscotland.com</a><!-- e --> in the first instance, thanks.

I can announce that these events - if they can be called that now - will be incorporated within the Edinburgh and Ayr Congresses this season.

Keith
<!-- e --><a href="mailto:homedirector@chessscotland.com">homedirector@chessscotland.com</a><!-- e -->

Kramnik & Klitschko

Stephen Hilton asked me to post this on his behalf as he is in Germany.

Mick,
Can you put the following, on the noticeboard

Today at a meeting in Dresden, Stephen Hilton was elected as Secretary of this FIDE committee.
I am honoured to be elected to this position.


Best Wishes
Stephen

Petition on human rights in mental health in Scotland - please sign

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In 2003 the Scottish Parliament enacted the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act. However we do not believe that it complies with European Human Rights legislation and needs radically changed.

Four patients have their experiences of this Act online:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/434639/Scots-widow-of-wrongly-sectioned-duke-calls-for-mental-health-overhaul">http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/434639 ... h-overhaul</a><!-- m -->

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/375182/Health-board-probe-after-tragic-hill-death">http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/375182 ... hill-death</a><!-- m -->

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/dad-defends-wife-who-fled-1352528">http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scott ... ed-1352528</a><!-- m -->

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://news.stv.tv/west-central/132003-dumbarton-woman-sues-health-board-over-detention-in-psychiatric-ward/">http://news.stv.tv/west-central/132003- ... tric-ward/</a><!-- m -->

The horrific stories above, which are the tip of the iceberg, should not be happening in a so called civilised society.

The Act is a very bad piece of legislation. In 2009 a survey showed that at the end of their course of treatment only about 50% of people thought that it was right for them to have been sectioned.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/05/06155847/0">http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications ... 06155847/0</a><!-- m -->

The admission process in Scotland is very weak, relying on a single assessment by a doctor, with the patient having no legal representation. In England two doctors’ signatures are required.

In continental Europe a potential patient has much more rights. Anders Breivik in Norway killed 77 people. A 243 page report stated that he was a paranoid schizophrenic. However he was able to stand up in court and lucidly defend his actions publicly. He was able to examine the evidence and get excellent legal assistance and proved that he should not be placed and treated in a psychiatric institution.

Our tribunal system is very poor and heavily biased against the patient. A tribunal is typically held in private, with the patient heavily sedated and the panel consisting of a psychiatrist, a lawyer and a health official. We are calling for public hearings with the composition of the panel being made up of ordinary citizens.

The policing of our Act is non-existent too. Making a false statement on a document is an offence under section 318. However no-one has ever been charged.

If this Act is changed it could influence the position in England and perhaps the rest of the Western world

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The team lists are out, Scotland seeded 35th out of 36 teams, only ahead of Wales. Many tough games ahead.
2750+ Stars are: Grischuk, Aronian, Adams, Mamedyarov , Caruana