It is with deep sadness and regret that I learned today of the passing of Inverness Chess Club stalwart Robert Rough last night.

Robert was very much involved in making last weekend’s 1st Inverness Chess Congress happen and his enthusiasm and love of chess was clearly apparent when I met him in Inverness earlier this year to talk about the event.

Robert was also one of the first people to enter the 1st Prestwick Airport Congress and I know he took part in numerous chess event at home and abroad.

I would like to pass on my condolences to his family and friends at this sad time.

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Vladimir Putin appears to be relishing his role at the centre of the diplomatic manoeuvring over Syria - it reinforces his image as the strong man in the Kremlin. But just how strong is he?

A recent round of Russian municipal elections gave the anti-Putin movement a much needed morale boost. HARDtalk speaks to the opposition activist and former world chess champion, Garry Kasparov. Is there any serious challenge to the supremacy of Putinism?

There is a problem with online grades at the moment. Programmers will investigate ASAP.

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Have just read this

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on the ECForum. Hopefully Jonathan Edwards and the others are ok.

Hi to all, there will be a prize of £50 for the highest aggregate score in all the Hamilton Junior Congresses, score in all 6 events count.

Progressive totals will be available on <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.hamiltonjuniorchessclub.co.uk">www.hamiltonjuniorchessclub.co.uk</a><!-- w --> , updated shortly after each event.

Dates of the congresses are,

Sunday 15th September
Sunday 10th November
Sunday 8th December
Sunday 9th March
Sunday 11th May
Sunday 22nd June

This prize is provided by <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.helpfriendssavemoney.co.uk">www.helpfriendssavemoney.co.uk</a><!-- w --> .
Which this month is offering 6 months free broadband, see website.

Michael.

Is there a CS director with specific responsibilities for promoting/looking after ladies/girls chess?

While I am against the blatant sex discrimination that happens in chess, as the increased opportunities girls have over boys is unfair and has not worked, I am obviously not against what it is trying to do i.e. increase the number of female players. Clearly increased numbers of players is in itself a good thing but I suspect also that to achieve it one needs to improve some aspects of the way chess is played (less BO?) and that will in itself attract others. What those 'aspects' are is the million dollar question and needs I think someone dedicated to finding the answer.

A couple of weeks ago, I received this year's grading list through the post, and I realised it was 25 years since I first got a grade in the 1988 grading list.
So I did a comparison to see how things have changed in Scottish Chess over those years.

Personally, my new shiny 1988 grade of 1625 is now 1922, which is nice. And this year I played 72 graded games compared to 14 then.

In 1988, the top 5 players in the grading list were all IMs: Messrs Motwani, McKay, McNab, Pritchett and Condie.
In 2013, the top 5 are GMs: Aagaard, Rowson, Turner, Motwani and McNab.

There are many fewer players in the new list(2253) than in 1988(2855), but there is another interesting statistic.
Number of games processed for 1988 list: 34762. Now, the equivalent figure is 36072.
So there are fewer active players now, but they each play more games.

The most obvious difference between then and now is the decline in over-the-board league chess. In 1987/8 the Glasgow League had divisions 7a and 7b, the Lanarkshire League had 4 divisions and there was a Renfrewshire League.

As an illustration this (as I recall) was the line-up for Holy Cross in Division 4 of the Glasgow League for 1988/89:
P.Coffey, A.Stalker, M.Hanley, A.Jelfs, T.Coffey, D.Lonie, D.Ford, L.Freel. (Yes, we won the division!)

I dug out my scorebook for the 1987/88 and 1988/89 seasons to see which of my then opponents are still active.
I found the following names which are still in the current list:
D.Ross, P.Scullion, S.Smith, J.Banks, A.Gillies (a J16 graded 1990!) and D.Holmes.

Some things don't change though - in one of my games from 1988, where I'm Black in an e4/e5 game, I have added a note ?! to 5. ... Qe7. Twenty-five years on, I am still playing dubious Qe7 moves in e4/e5 games :-)

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Folks,

As usual there are a group of us going out to play at Benidorm this year. If anyone is interested in playing and requires more information, please free to contact me at robinmoore add 60 plus at btinternet dot com. A twin room at the Gran Bali venue will cost you around £350 per person for all-inclusive for ten nights. That includes your flights and transfers. The entry to the tournament is 80 Euros but you receive a 20 euro discount if you stay at the Bali venue. There are of course, plenty of other alternative accommodation options.

Hi folks,
am trying to compile all the games from this tournament as it was the Scottish Championship (as the Centenary International was on in Troon at the same time).

If any players who are not so shy and played in the event can send me their games in any format (Chessbase, word, textfile, e-mail, snail mail, anything!) then I would appreciate it. My plan was to try and document all the Scottish Championships and the recent opens have brought this to my mind again! I only have about 20 games from the event (yes Alan Grant I have all of yours!! ). The list of names is not to hand but if you played you know who you are (The play off was a six way between Bryson, Davis, Buchanan, Milligan, Thomson and Pyrich with Thomson emerging the winner). Many famous and infamous players played as well as some foreign dignatories. If I have no reply within 2 weeks I will post a full list of players - just to annoy you. You have been warned - send games now!!

Alistair Maxwell