How accessible is the AGM Venue, by that I mean is there on-site parking or public parking nearby?

I know it's a bit late to ask this but I'm just home from holiday.

also.....

If anyone from Fife (Glenrothes, Kirkcaldy, Dunfermline) want to go and need a lift then I have seats available in my car - just "pm" me or get my number from the Dunfermline club website.

Just noticed that various people have been posting manifestos to the discussion forum. This is a new departure, cannot recall doing this in previous years but, rather than be left out I have added a job description for Membership Secretary.

I am happy to announce the return of the Largs Congress after a 15 year hiatus. Part of the Viking Chess Festival, we are hoping that the congress will once again be a regular tournament on the Scottish circuit.

Venue

Vikingar, Greenock Road, Largs, KA30 8QL

Dates

Friday 13th - Sunday 15th September 2013

Tournaments

Open
Major (1850 and under)
Minor (1450 and under)

Time Control

4 hour sessions, 2 hours per player for all moves.

Playing Sessions

Round 1 - 6:45pm to 10:45pm
Round 2 - 11:15pm to 3:15pm
Round 3 - 4:15pm to 8:15pm
Round 4 - 11:15pm to 3:15pm
Round 5 - 4:15pm to 8.15pm

Entry Fees

£25 for all tournaments.

Family discount of £5 per each additional family member eg. 3 family entrants - £25 +£20 + £15 = £60

Entry fees to be paid at registration before Rounds 1 and 2.

Prizes

1st -£150
2nd - 5th - £50
2 x Grading - £25

Prizes will not be split and a tiebreak will be used to seperate those on the same score.

Prizes will be given out at the end of play in Round 5.

Entries to Gary McPheator

By email - <!-- e --><a href="mailto:gmcp3@hotmail.com">gmcp3@hotmail.com</a><!-- e -->
By phone - 07411196422 between the hours of 10am to 10pm each day

information required will be name, tournament, pnum, grade, contact details and whether or not a 1/2 point bye is required which is on offer in any round except the last.

Closing date for entries is Wednesday 11th of September 2013

Arbiters

We are very pleased to have Alex McFarlane, John McNicoll and David Deary as arbiters at this year's congress.

Facilities

There will be an analysis room set up in the Winter Garden Cafe where refreshments and snacks will be available. While there will be no meals on offer, the venue is happy for entrants to bring their own food (even takeaway) and eat in this area. Alternatively, there are plenty of eating venues close by.

There is a swimming pool available for those feeling like some exercise, ask at reception for details

The building has been designed to ensure that all facilities are fully accessible for wheelchair users.

Conditions

The organiser reserves the right to:

Increase or decrease prize money or number of prizes
Transfer entrants between tournaments
Split or merge events depending on numbers entered
Withold prizes from ungraded players if they play in a tournament below their known strength
Take any other mesure deemed necessary to ensure the smooth running of the congress.

We look forward to welcoming you all to Largs!

I would like to hope , with all the discussions this year, that we have a large attendance at the AGM this year with lots to discuss and vote on. I am actually optimistic that we could move forward on a positive note after the AGM. We have a lot of talent and resources to pull upon so lets get on with it chaps!

These comments are simply my thoughts on some of the issues that have been aired recently on this noticeboard. The arguments are spread over several threads, which makes following them (or, if that is any reader’s wish, avoiding them) a bit of a chore. So I’ve put my views in this separate heading – so much easier to find, ignore or delete. I don’t claim to have greater wisdom or more knowledge than anyone else, but I’ve been around for a long time; I haven’t done much in my life, but I’ve seen a lot, and I’ve read a lot. I hope therefore that these remarks may achieve some good.

A lot of heat appears to have been generated by an incident involving a Scottish junior and a Chess Scotland official at an international tournament in Slovenia last autumn. From what I have heard or read of the incident, the official’s action was totally unjustified and totally unacceptable. The official himself knows that, and acknowledges it. But it also appears to be the case that no physical harm was done – and that the official had no intention of doing harm and no desire to do harm. The matter was subsequently referred to Chess Scotland’s Standards Committee, whose eventual decision was that the official should be removed from the list of registered coaches, but should be allowed to apply for reinstatement after six months (note: not “reinstated” but “allowed to apply for reinstatement”; there is no suggestion that reinstatement will be in any way automatic or a mere formality – and unlike at least one person who has posted on this board I rather suspect that considerably more than the six months will elapse before any such application is made).

The “sentence” or, more properly, ruling by the Standards Committee may or may not have been appropriate, but unless there is hard evidence to the contrary (which nobody has produced) we should accept that the Committee examined the case placed before them and came to their decision in good faith without interference from outside.

This was the first big case handled by the Standards Committee, and nobody should be the least bit surprised that it exposed gaps and weaknesses in the Committee’s workings. (No new construct, from jet engines to computer programs, works perfectly first time; testing, failing, tweaking, retesting, reworking – it’s a constant process, and sometimes it seems to go on forever; but that process does not invalidate the original idea.) Flaws have been identified and are being addressed, and we can hope that the system will work more smoothly the next time it is called into action. At any rate, it is absurd for anybody to assume that because the “sentence” wasn’t as severe as they wanted there must be corruption or other dirty tricks involved – and not just absurd, but probably libellous as well if such accusations are made in print (as they have been).

I’m quite sure I don’t know the full facts of what happened in Slovenia, nor do I know what evidence and testimony was presented to the Standards Committee, and therefore I cannot presume to claim that their decision was wrong. And I strongly suspect that the people who are up in arms about that decision also do not know everything – but then, who has ever needed knowledge of the facts to justify a witch hunt?

(I have no doubt that the current attempts to get the Committee’s decision changed, i.e. made far more severe, are driven more by personal animosity than by any desire to see a just outcome or to protect children – there was open animosity long before the incident; and I don’t recall any mention in the first six months after the incident of alcohol playing any part in it, but now, in some people’s view, that’s the big issue that requires a reopening of the case.)

The word “assault” has been used (not, I believe, in any post visible on this board, but certainly in a widely circulated email) as a description of the action of the CS official involved in the incident. There is a case to be made for the use of that word, but it should be remembered that assault is a crime – on this occasion, an alleged crime which has not been reported to the police, and for which nobody has been charged, tried or convicted. In short, anybody who says in writing that the official carried out an assault is leaving himself wide open to legal action. Only a court of law can determine whether the official assaulted the junior – “innocent until proved guilty” applies.

A recent post on this board referred to the junior as a victim – although that term is often misused, I have no doubt that it is a legitimate term to use on this occasion. However, the writer then goes on to say that the junior’s mother, who was present, was also a victim. I’m sure that she was, at the very least, alarmed, offended, angered and deeply upset by what happened. But does that make her a victim? I understand the reasoning behind that assertion, but the logic is dangerous: there is a clear line that can be drawn between persons on whom hands are laid and persons on whom they are not, but there is no clear line that can be drawn between close observers, not-so-close observers, distant observers, and ultimately people who aren’t present but hear about the incident. Are we to consider that people who like or admire the junior in question (and I count myself in both categories) and who were dismayed to learn of the incident (again, that applies to me) were also victims of the official’s act? And if they were, why should that matter? If I were to kill somebody who had no friends, would that be any less of a crime than to kill somebody who had many friends?

Finally, there has been a lot of talk about censorship and freedom of speech. Now I’m opposed to censorship, and strongly in favour of freedom of speech – without it, most of us would be slaves toiling in the fields for a political/religious elite. But freedom is inseparable from responsibility – in the case of freedom of speech, that’s the responsibility not to tell lies, especially about other people. If we believe that so-and-so is a liar or a tyrant, of course we must be willing to say so – but we must also present our evidence, and if that evidence turns out to be false we must be ready to accept the possible consequences.

Footnote:
I have been working on this posting for a large part of the past two days, and was contemplating what I was going to say for a good few days before I started writing. I have read over the paragraphs above repeatedly, and changed them more than once to try to ensure that they express my intent as clearly and unambiguously as possible. I would ask readers to read (and maybe even re-read) them with similar care, and not to find more there than I have written.
I have not named names, because my intent is not to attack or defend individual people, but to oppose or support ideas and opinions.
If I have an ulterior aim, it is to see peace and harmony within the chess community in Scotland – our limited energies should be directed to promoting chess and supporting each other in achieving that goal, not in fighting among ourselves.

Due to a change of server, the Glasgow Chess League website and the East Kilbride website have moved. The domain names still work but if you have favourites marked you may need to do them again if they point to pages on the old sites. Use the following links:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.glasgowchess.com">http://www.glasgowchess.com</a><!-- m --> and <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.ekchess.org.uk/">http://www.ekchess.org.uk/</a><!-- m -->

Both the GCL and the Dunbartonshire League <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.ddca.org.uk/">http://www.ddca.org.uk/</a><!-- m --> now have Club Entry Forms for the coming season available on their "Downloads" pages. These 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.

The GCL Fixtures Meeting is on Wednesday 11 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, 06/09/13.

The DL Fixtures Meeting is on Wednesday 18 September at 7.30 in the Larkfield Centre, 39 Inglefield Street, Glasgow G42 7AY and the entry form MUST be returned by the Saturday before, 14/09/13.

The Lanarkshire League usually schedules their Fixture Meeting for the week after, Wednesday 25 September.

This year's European Youth Chess Championships takes place in Budva, Montenegro from the 28th of September until the 9th of October. The Scotland squad is now registered with the organisers and listed on the website.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.budva2013.org">http://www.budva2013.org</a><!-- m -->

Our friends in Montenegro have been superb to deal with so far and have assisted us greatly. If the help and support we have received so far is anything to go by, then the Euroyouth Championships are going to be a spectacular success.

Hi Guys
I'm due to play Phil Thomas as Black in the 3rd round of the Lanark open Does anyone know what he plays as Black especially against 1.d4

I had the pleasure of witnessing many junior players playing at this weekends Marymas tournament. Their manners and chess etiquette were first class. The chess ability was of a very high standard and their maturity over the board was astonishing. I saw some wonderful games and win, lose or draw there were no tantrums or huffs
Congratulations to their parents and coaches for the wonderful job they are doing with their boys and girls.

Special mention to masters Howie and Stewart, I watched some of their games, they are certainly going to be very special players.

Submissions for proxy votes closed at midnight last night. Only posted votes that are postmarked before today will now be accepted.

This will take me a bit of time to sort through as I have received 146 proxy votes this year! Next job is to contact all the holders and check lists for mistakes and confirm people are members.

See you next year!!!