The 3rd Prestwick Chess Congress will take place during the late Spring Bank Holiday this year, from Friday the 24th May to Sunday 26th May. The event will once again be held in the Aviator Suite at Prestwick International Airport.

Further details and entry forms will be available from around the beginning of February on the Prestwick Congress website <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.ayrshirechesscongress.co.uk">www.ayrshirechesscongress.co.uk</a><!-- w -->

As a small taster I can reveal that Prestwick 2013 will be, as far as I’m aware, the first major weekend congress in Scotland to use incremental time controls across all of the main event sections. The arbiters should have some fun with that.

The time control is looking like it will be 90 minutes for all moves, with 30 second increments from move 1. This means no stopping writing down your moves and also (and I’m sure our qualified arbiters will correct me if I’m wrong) no rule 10.2 draw claims.

Scotland's first Grandmaster Paul Motwani is coming over in May for three days. As part of his visit he will be doing one of his informative and entertaining talks on Saturday the 11th at the Parkstone Hotel function suite in Prestwick, Ayrshire. Having spoke to people that have had the pleasure of seeing GM Motwani in talk action this is something not to be missed and is a rare opportunity to learn from our first Grandmaster.

The talk is open to all, though for an even better experience (and front row seats) early booking is advised. There will be a small but reasonable charge for "talk tickets".

The talk will follow on from the 1st Prestwick Chess Allegro, which will start at 10am and finish around 2.30pm. Details on this new event are being worked on but there will be a junior event and an adult event. Entry to these events will again be very reasonably priced and there will be some small cash prizes which will be presented by Paul Motwani prior to him taking the floor.

To round off the evening, following Paul's talk, I am planning an evening meal at the Parkstone Hotel, which again will be open to all, again early booking is advisable and this will also be quite reasonably priced. Whilst, this will not be a formal dinner I am hopeful that it will be a further chance to hear more of the Grandmaster experiences and am also hoping that a few of the nations chess characters will attend with a tale or two of their own.

There will be dedicated pages on the Prestwick Chess Congress website from around the start of February onwards. Incidentally, the 3rd Prestwick Congress will take place a fortnight later at the usual Aviator Suite, Prestwick Airport venue. Anyone interested in either event can e-mail me. My e-mail details are on the coaches page of the Chess Scotland website (click on my name) and also on the Prestwick Congress website.

<!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.ayrshirechesscongress.co.uk">www.ayrshirechesscongress.co.uk</a><!-- w -->

FIDE have changed the file format of their monthly rating lists. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://ratings.fide.com/download.phtml">http://ratings.fide.com/download.phtml</a><!-- m -->

This file is used to record latest FIDE ratings in the CS program and also to create the latest Scot FIDE rating page <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://chessscotland.com/grading/displayLatestFide.php">http://chessscotland.com/grading/displayLatestFide.php</a><!-- m -->

So we have a delay to displaying the January 1 ratings until CS systems are adapted to deal with the new format.

Meanwhile Jan 1 FIDE rating data (ie events which took place in December) has not been affected by the change and has been imported into the domestic records of all CS members - these will appear on the next upload scheduled for Jan 9.

Peacefully at home with his family on 30 December, David, much loved and loving husband of Chris, and the late Jean, father of Penny, Duncan, Adrian, Paul, Iain and Douglas. He was a much loved Grandpa, who adored his grandchildren, Kirsty, Lewis, Laura, Anna, Lauren and Andrew, and he was a good friend to all his extended family. There will be a service of celebration of David’s life at St Mary’s Church, Dalmahoy, on Saturday 5th January at 2.30 pm to which all friends are warmly invited, bright colours will be welcome.

David was a very well known and popular player around the congresses and a regular participant in the Edinburgh Chess Leagues. Not only was David a very active player, he made a huge contribution as an administrator both at his own Balerno Chess Club and in organising Chess Edinburgh Congresses over many years.

David will be sadly missed by all of us.

Is anyone running Chessbase software on a Mac? I can't find anything about Mac compatibility on Chessbase website.

Thanks

Hi all,

Just a few words to say that I am at a tournament in Germany while a few Scots, such as Clement and Alan Grant, are down at Hastings.

First round lost to a 2260 from a very good position but then had this game vs GM Skembris. Probably losing for me at some point but pretty unclear mostly. I was white.

[pgn]1.d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 c5 4. d5 d6 5. Nc3 exd5 6. cxd5 g6 7. Bf4 a6 8. a4 Bg7 9.h3 0-0 10. e3 Qe7 11. Nd2 Nbd7 12. Be2 Rb8 13. 0-0 b6 14. Re1 Ne8 15. e4 Ne5 16. Bh2 g5 17. Nf1 Nc7 18. Ne3 b5 19. axb5 axb5 20. Ra7 Qd8 21. Bg4 Nxg4 22. hxg4 b4 23. Ne2 Nb5 24. Ra2 Re8 25.Ng3 Nd4 26. Nc4 b3 27. Ra7 Rb4 28. Qd3 Bxg4 29. f3 Nb5 30. Rb7 Bd7 31. Nh5 Qc8 32. Nxg7 Kxg7 33. Nxd6 Nxd6 34. Rxb4 cxb4 35. Bxd6 Qc2 36. Qd4 Kg6 37. Bxb4 f6 38.Bc3 Rf8 39. e5 fxe5 40.Qxe5 Rf7 41. Re4 g4 42. Qd6 Kh5 43. Qg3 Qc1 44. Be1 Qxb2 45. fxg4 Kg6 46. Bc3 Qa3 47. Qd3 Qc5 48. Bd4 Qc2 49. Re6 Kg5 50. Re5 Bf5 51. Rxf5 Rxf5 52. Qxf5 Qxf5 53. gxf5 Kxf5 54. Bb2 *[/pgn]

please no one telll me the amount of mates I missed at the end

Can anyone confirm The given names of two of the Edinburgh team members:
P. McInally and R. McAndrew?
Thanks.
Chess Scotland Historian

I sincerely hope that 2013 will be a better year for all in Scottish chess. I hope there are no arguments or falling out on the forum, I hope that people will try and get along with each other. If we can achieve this then chess will benefit and remember we are all a part of the chess community. =)

Quote:We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.
Nelson Mandela

I have decided to play - never been to Iceland - chance to see Bobby Fischer's grave - might do some chess study for it

Games from the Congress are now available to download/play at the website – <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.dundee-congress.co.uk/games.htm">http://www.dundee-congress.co.uk/games.htm</a><!-- m -->

I have commented on some of the feedback we received at/following the congress at http://www.dundee-congress.co.uk/feedback.htm

We have cancelled the Dundee Allegro intended for next May.

Next year’s Congress will take place 11 – 13 October at the usual venue