Hamilton Junior Congress Results Sunday 13th May, held in St Margarets Church Hall Airdrie

Under 300:
1st Matthew Billcliff Lenzie Chess Academy 6/7
2nd Thomas Billcliff Lenzie Chess Academy 6/7
3rd Adam Johnstone Bishopton 5/7

Medals 50% and above
4/7 Archie Kemp Bruntsfield
Cameron Hogg Burnside
Daniel McMurray Burnside

3.57 Rebecca Lamb Bishopton

Under 600:
1st Greg Gardiner st Josephs Blantyre 6/7
2nd John Morrison Bruntsfield 6/7
3rd Eoin Cameron Bishopton 5/7

Medals 50% and above
4.5/7 Tom Constance Lawhead St Andrews
Luke Laverty St Marks Hamilton

4/7 Jake Sanger Prestwick
Stefan Van Heese St John the Baptist Uddingston
Callum Walker St Brides Bothwell
Ferdinand Becker Sciennes Edinburgh
Felix Esche Steiner School Edinburgh

Over 600:
1st Jan Van Heese Hamilton CC 5/7
2nd Samuel Kearns Glenrothes CC 4.5/7
3rd Craig Gillies St Aloysius Airdrie 4.5/7

Medals for 50% and above
4/7 Andrew Gillies St Aloysius

3.5/7 Euan Dawson Lawhead St Andrew

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Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5

Does anyone have any information about this event? It usually takes place around this time, I think.

Grading is in, Photos are being uploaded and I'll paste a link here when complete Photos

And the results are......

Open

1st Andrew Green (Edinburgh) 4.5/5 £300
2nd= Chuks Allor (Shettleston) & WFM Elaine Bamber (Castlehill) 4/5 £120

Grading prize
Jonathan Edwards (Edinburgh University), Murad Abdullah (Bon Accord) & Raj Bhopal (Wandering Dragons) £10

Challengers

1st= Andrew McCusker (Hamilton) & Benigno De Armentia (Glasgow Montrose) 4/5 £150

3rd= David Logue (Mussleburgh), Nihad Abdullah (Bon Accord), Donald Heron (Wandering Dragons), Graham Dempsey (Edinburgh) & Keith Aitchieson (Edinburgh) 3.5/5 £10

Grading Prize
Luke Barker (Phones) £30

Major

1st= Scott Browning (Mussleburgh), Simon Kerridge (Bearsden) & Joe Watson (Paisley) 4/5 £120

Grading Prize
Bernard Cassidy (Hamilton), Peter Clarke (Polytechnic) & Declan Shafi (Castlehill) 3/5 £10

Minor

1st Calum McGillivray (Edinburgh) 4.5/5 £200

2nd Cameron MacLeay (Strathclyde Uni) 4/5 £100

3rd= Alexander Waddell (Cathcart) & David Congalton (Greenwood) 3.5/5 £25

Grading Prize

Mark Smith (Edinburgh) 3.5/5 £30

The very nice hotel that the control team are staying in has about 5 lovely family rooms left at very reasonable prices. The rooms have a fridge and microwave + table and are en-suite. Some have a lovely sea view.
They don't mind who shares them!
I said I would pass on to nice people only - so that's why it is only going on the CS noticeboard!

The Marlborough
Whitley Bay
East Parade
0191 251 3628

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Scenario: Rapidplay game. Black takes white's queen with the move ...Qxd1 then, before pressing her clock, points out that her own flag has fallen. In the position after ...Qxd1, white has a bare king.

My understanding is that a flag has fallen when it has been observed to have fallen. So:

Is it a draw because, in the position on the board at the time the flag fall was observed, white has a bare king?

Or is it a win on time for black because white didn't successfully complete the move that produced the bare king by pressing her clock with her flag still up (even though the move had been made before the flagfall was pointed out)?

And would it make a difference if someone had been watching and could say with certainty whether the flag fell before or after ...Qxd1 was played?

(The only other time something a bit like this has come up, the move played was checkmate, which immediately ends the game unless the flag was observed to have fallen first. This is a bit more difficult for me to get my head around, as the move played was "special" but not something that immediately ends the game.)

Edit: Under 9 schools league game. We decided on the spot that it was a draw without any discussion, but then I started thinking a bit more about it in the evening.

Thanks to Malola Prasath for games from Edinburgh Congress events 2012 including an annotated version of the Brillancy Prize winning game!

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I was curious if the Junior congress was 'live' from Airdrie so that I could watch Glenrothes local hero, Sam. Apparently not! Are the sensory boards only available for adult congresses? Good luck Sam...

Does Gelfand have a chance? My guess is a win for Anand of 7.5 - 4.5

Thoughts please on the format for the West of Scotland Championships going forward as a knock-out event run over a year. 3 sections, £5 - £10 entry fee, first round draw would be made and players would arrange between themselves to play ties by a certain date (one month to play ties). Winners into second round and so on until final.

Final for each section would be 4 game match between two players, over one weekend, 2 matches per day. All 3 section finals would be played over same weekend in top quality hotel with Saturday night accommodation and Sunday breakfast provided. Winners take all.

Alternatively, the Championships could continue to be part of a larger weekend congress, as they were this year. This has its advantages but limits the prize money for the winner and limits the field to those that particpate in that weekend congress.

Any other suggestions would be welcome.