I received a call this morning with the sad news that Joe McAdam passed away at 10pm last night. My thoughts and prayers are with his friends and family at these sad times.

I will pass on details for the funeral when I have them.

Being involved with Junior Chess, my first recollection of Joe, was when Mike introduced me to Eric and Joe at a tournament. It was obvious to me that the two of them had worked together for some time and made an excellent team. Through the years I have worked with Joe at many tournaments and he was great fun to work with.

I always remember one junior telling me that there was nothing more terrifying than when you know you were messing about, and you heard the swish swish of the wheelchair wheels getting closer. You knew you were in trouble.

Joe, along with Eric, were quite deservedly awarded the Presidents Award last year for the work they had done over many many years in North Lanarkshire.

There has been some brilliant juniors come through the Joe / Eric stable.

Joe will be sadly missed.

RIP

Dear friends!

Due to move of offices and upgrading of computers and technical
software and hardware in the past 20 years, it has been an onerous
task to verify norms achieved from old tournaments based on the then
prevailing title regulations when the tournaments took place. Instead
of tracking old regulations and old tournament results whenever an
application is received, the QC recommended that norms achieved prior
to 1st July 2005 be registered before 1st July 2013. Failing which,
the norm will be considered to have expired. In addition with readily
available information from the recent years, the QC hopes to move
towards automation of title awards as soon as possible.

The PB approved the recommendation of the QC.

Anyone affected, please can you let me know

For those of you who haven't noticed the Armageddon event happening at the end of the month please follow the link below (or check it out on the main CS homepage):

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The deadline for entries is just under two weeks. The first ten players that have expressed their aspirations to play are:

Calum MacQueen 2272
Andrew Burnett 2249
Gabriel Petesch 2248
FM Neil Berry 2216
Adam Bremner 2194
Andrew Green 2159
David Oswald 2048
Hamish Olson 2047 (inc jnr add)
Graeme Kafka 2027
Jonathan Edwards 1987

welcome back to Paul MacDonald. As noted on main board it has been announced that Paul is now fit enough to resume this important post. I hope that Paul gets full support from all involved in junior chess.

It took years to write and woe betide anyone who does not get a copy.

Watch your grade rise and rise and rise...

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Results of NEJCA Keith Hoban events Albyn School, Aberdeen Sunday March 3rd 2013
Novice
1st Anoop Babu (St Josephs) 5/6
2nd Vusal Ramazanov (Ferryhill) 5/6
3rd Keith Murray (Laurencekirk) 5/6
(order sorted after play-offs)

Girls Prizes
1st Nandini Dutta (Broomhill PS) 4.5/6
2nd = Oishani Dutta (Broomhill PS) 4/6
2nd = Fiona Carnegie (Broomhill PS) 4/6

Medals
Ben Thomson (Banchory PS) 4/6
Josh Littlejohn (Kemnay PS) 3.5/6
Maurizio de Gennaro (Albyn) 3.5/6
Mitchell Adam (Portknockie) 3.5/6

Rising Stars (Junior)
1st Tom Constance (Lawhead) 5/6
2nd Tariq Pasha (Albyn School) 5/6
3rd Callum Smith (Banchory PS) 5/6
(order sorted after play off)

Keith Hoban Memorial Cup (Open)
1st Murad Abdulla (Harlaw) 5.5/6
2nd Declan Shafi (St Andrews) 4.5/6
3rd Vasif Ramazanov (Ferryhill PS) 4.5/6

Full results and photos at http://www.nejca.co.uk

Next NEJCA event Saturday 23rd March at Inverness

Gerald

The Lothians Congress will take place on 21st - 22nd September at the Wester Hailes Education Centre, 5 Murrayburn Drive, Edinburgh EH14 2SU.

Under 300:
1st Jordan Barr Greenwood 7/7
2nd Owen Sutherland Bishopton 5/7
3rd Steven Collington Crookfur 4.5/7

Medals 50% and above:
4.5/7 Ethan Palmer Eaglesham
Aimi Reid Paisley CC
4/7 Jeremiah Strauss St Peters Edinburgh

Qualifiers for CFK Final,
Jordan Barr, Steven Collington, Ethan Palmer, Aimi Reid

Under 600:
1st Jack Gibson Troon 8/9
2nd Thomas Taylor Prestwick 6/9
3rd Abhinav Datta St Cadocs Giffnock 5.5/9

Medals for 50% and above:
4.5/9 Aedan McGhie All Saints Airdrie
Robbie McKichan Prestwick
Qualifiers for CFK Final,
Jack Gibson, Thomas Taylor, Abhinav Datta, Aedan McGhie, Robbie McKichin

Under 1000:
1st Jack Stewart Greenwood 6/6
2nd Tom Laing Prestwick 5/6
3rd Sam harper Lanark 4/6

Medals 50% and above,
3.5/6 Caitlin Reid Paisley
3/6 Rachel Smith Alloway
Fraser Kennedy Hamilton
Qualifiers for CFK Final,
Tom Laing, Sam Harper, Caitlin Reid, Rachel Smith, Fraser Kennedy

Michael.

An arbiter is required for this year's Glenothes Congress (15th to 17th March) - might suit newcomer seeking experience - experience with new DGT Digital Clocks would be useful! Expenses paid - please apply asap!

A Swiss event with a bit of a twist... Armageddon Sunday!

Will hopefully bring some good, exciting and interesting chess...

Friday 29th – Sunday 31st March at Edinburgh Chess Club

The twenty-four top rated players that enter will be accepted to play in the Scottish Elite Armageddon Championships at Edinburgh Chess Club (1 Alva St Edinburgh, City of Edinburgh, EH2 4PH). The strict entry deadline is Saturday the 23rd of March at 10pm. After which, a published list of participants will be publicised. The ratings will be based on CS published ratings or national equivalent.

Friday

Round One: 19:00 – 22:30

90 minutes for 34 moves plus 15 mins quickplay

Saturday

Round Two: 10:00 – 13:30
Round Three: 14:15 – 17:45

90 minutes for 34 moves plus 15 mins quickplay

Sunday

Round Four: 9:30 – 13:00

90 minutes for 34 moves plus 15 mins quickplay

After four Swiss rounds there will be a split in the field. The players that finish in the bottom 16 will continue to play in a Swiss for the final round.

Round Five (Consolation Cup for bottom 16): 13:45 – 17:15

The finale will involve the top 8 in Armageddon Sunday. The top 4 will compete for the Championship and 5th to 8th will fight it out for the Plate.

The top ranked player (based on the positions after four Swiss rounds) will play the 4th ranked in the Championship semi-final and 2nd will play 3rd. Similarly, 5th will play 8th and 6th, 7th in the Plate semi-final.

Semi-Finals: 13:45 – 15:15

Third/Fourth Playoffs and Finals: 15:45 – 17:15

Prizegiving as soon as possible after games finish

Armageddon Matches

Players to secretly submit the lowest amount of time they would take to be Black and have draw-odds. That is a draw is equal to a win with Black. The player who submits the lowest amount of time will start with the Black pieces. White will start with 45 minutes and the Black player will start with the amount of time he/she submitted.

Tie-Breaks (for Swiss Standings)

1 – A win is worth more than two draws.
2 – Black wins beat White wins.
3 – The player that has played the least amount of moves in his/her previous wins, wins on tie break. Hopefully this will encourage players to try win in an exciting and quick manner.
4- In the event both players have the same number of moves, a five minute Armageddon match will take place.

Entry:
GM, IM - Free
FM - £10
CS Member - £30
Non CS Member - £32

Prizes:
Championship:
1st - £150
Runner up - £75
Third - £30

Plate:
1st - £50
Runner up - £30

Consolation Cup:
1st – Free Entry to SEAC 2014

Half-Point Byes:
Are permitted in any round as long as you alert the organiser before the tournament begins.

Grading:
All Swiss matches to be CS graded. The Armageddon matches will not be graded.

Participation:
If you are interested, please indicate your aspiration to play by emailing:

davidcoswald at hotmail dot com

The top rated 24 players will have their entry accepted, with the list being published by Sunday the 24th of March.