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.

The second day of the league was held in Hamilton College on Thursday, the final league day in Thursday 21st March, after which the top 6 will qualify for an all play all final.
Scores after 8 matches are as follows ( 4 per day):
1st St Brides A Cambuslang 15 points
2nd St John the Baptist A Uddingston 13 points
3rd= Underbank A Lanark 11 points
St Brides C Cambuslang
St Brides B Cambuslang
St Marys A Hamilton
7th= Hamilton College A 10 points
St Marys B Hamilton
Fernhill A Rutherglen
St Brides A Bothwell
11th=St Brides F Cambuslang
St Josephs A Blantyre
St Vincents D East Kilbride
St Vincents C East Kilbride
St Brides B Bothwell
16th= Hamilton College B 8 points
Underbank B Lanark
St Anthonys A Rutherglen
Stepps A
St Brides D Cambuslang
St Josephs B Blantyre
St Vincents B East Kilbride
St Brides C Bothwell
St John the Baptist B Uddingston
25th= St Brides E Cambuslang 7 points
St Marys D Hamilton
Hamilton College C
Hamilton College D
29th= St John the Baptist C Uddingston 6 points
St Vincents A East Kilbride
Fernhill B Rutherglen
St Marys C Hamilton
St Marks A Hamilton
Hamilton College E
35th St Aloysius A Chapelhall 5 points
36th= St Blanes A Blantyre 4 points
St Vincents E East Kilbride
St Josephs C Blantyre
Fernhill C Rutherglen
Underbank C Lanark
41st St Aloysius B Chapelhall 2 points
42nd= Hamilton College F 0 points
Holy Cross A Croy
Holy Cross B Croy

I'll do the promotion / relegation bit later

Division 4 games

SJC V Wandering Dragons
Pentland Hills v Woodhill Warriors
Corstorphine V Irvine
CS BOS 2 v Dunfermline Knaves
Dundee City B V Mussleburgh

Scottish Girls Championships held Saturday 23rd Feb in Bothwell Bowling Club.

Scottish Primary 5 & Under Championship:
1st Yvonne Zhou Lenzie Moss PS 8.5/9
2nd Hannah Wallace Cumbernauld CC 7.5/9
3rd Maria Niewczas St Brides PS Cambuslang 6.5/9

Best P5 Sophie Bond Carluke PS 6/9
Best P4 Maura Paterson St Brides PS Cambuslang 5/9
Best P3 Rachel Lamb Bishopton PS 1.5/9
Best P1 Hannah Strauss St Peters Edinburgh 2/9

Scottish Primary Championships:
1st Lauren Bond Carluke PS 6/7
2nd Jennifer Lowe Keir Hardie PS Motherwell 5/7
3rd Rebecca Lamb Bishopton PS 5/7

Best P7 Erin Allen St Anthonys PS Rutherglen 3/7
Best P6 Hannah Ord Hamilton College 5/7

Scottish Secondary Championship:
1st Christina Espinosa Girvin 6/6
2nd Monica Espinosa Girvin 5/6
3rd Stuthi Hegde George Heriots 4/6

Best S1 Julia Ocytko James Gillespies 3/6
Best S2 Caitlin Reid Paisley CC 4/6
Best S4 & above Liza Bazsant Kilsyth Academy 4/6

Michael.

For a number of reasons the venue for the 2013 Prestwick Congress has been changed from the airport venue used for the last two years to the Mercure Hotel, which is in Ayr not Prestwick. The congress will now be called the 2013 Ayr Congress.

Entry forms will be published soon and the website has started to take shape for this years event. New information will be uploaded on an ongoing basis, over the next few days, weeks and months.

I know the airport was a popular venue but I believe that the Windows on the Ocean room and the Mercure Hotel in the centre of Ayr town are even better than the Aviator Suite at the airport.

Among the benefits of moving to the venue are –

A location in the centre of town, giving more dining options for participants and accompanying people, as well as an alternative for those whose games finish that bit earlier.

Fully accessible for all – I know there was a concern about this at the airport, as the stairlift into the Aviator suite had been removed last year.

Well maintained air-conditioned playing room, with plenty of natural light.

Private Hotel Car Park – the hotel car park has room for around 60 cars and use is free to those using the hotel. There is also free street parking just a short 5 minute walk away throughout the weekend. There are parking restrictions in the streets around the hotel on week days until 6pm and from 8am to 1pm on a Saturday but outside those times it is free. More information will be available soon on the congress website.

Special priced rooms within the venue hotel itself. Further details on these will be published soon on the congress website and I am also hoping to agree special priced lunch and dinner options for participants.

While the Mercure Hotel is our preferred partner and we would encourage players to make use of its fabulous guest facilities, there is also a wider variety of accommodation very close by and certainly within walking distance of the venue.

The hotel has its own swimming pool and leisure facilities which are free to guests staying in the hotel.

The playing room is more open plan than the Aviator suite and the hotel has tables, which, as I’m short of helpers this year, selfishly saves me time and a lot of physical effort getting tables in and out.

The hotel is very keen to welcome chess to the venue and I am already looking at a further tournament at the hotel in early 2014, to add to the calendar.

Further details on the new venue can be found at <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.mercure.com/gb/hotel-8344-mercure-ayr-hotel/index.shtml">http://www.mercure.com/gb/hotel-8344-me ... ndex.shtml</a><!-- m -->

If you have any thoughts, questions etc I’d love to hear them too.

Kind Regards

David Congalton

I have now identified the fault. Working with DGT to resolve so we should see them back at congresses very soon.

In short we had an upgrade from DGT which has not worked.

Hi everyone,

If you could only choose one game from each of the World Champions which best embodies their styles, qualities and strengths which games would you choose and why? :\