I was hoping to attend the Hamilton Congress in February. However my travel plans are limited to the train which isn't a problem on the Saturday. On Sunday however the train won't get me in to Airdrie until 11am.

Is anyone in or around the Barrhead area attending the Hamilton Congress, willing to take me over for the petrol money? I can get the train home no problem.

Regards

Joe

Hi Everyone,

I am hoping to convince my son's head teacher about the benefits of a primary school chess club. However before approaching her I would like to know if there are funding programs available in Scotland similar to the work CSC do in England and Wales in the case she tries to palm me due to costs. I have gathered a few things compiled by Mr McFarlane with regards to chess in schools. However I believe funding may pose the biggest problem whilst trying to convince her of the benefits.

Any helpful information about this would be appreciated.

Kind Regards

Joe.

i am getting Stauntons book 2nd edition from 1850 any idea on value? condition is (very) good.

Andy has achieved the FIDE Arbiter title. From the FIDE website.

From 5 to 9 December 2011 a FIDE Arbiters' Seminar was organized in London, England, by Chess in Schools and Communities and the Chess Arbiters' Association, in cooperation with the English Chess Federation and under the auspices of FIDE.

The venue of the Seminar was the Olympia Conference Centre, Kensington, London.

The Lecturers were IA Alex McFarlane (SCO), FIDE Lecturer, and IA David Sedgwick (ENG), FIDE Lecturer.

The lectures were in the English language.

Two (2) people from Scotland and Latvia participated in the Seminar and in the examination test held after the lectures. Both succeeded in the test and, as indicated below, they will be awarded a FA Norm or the FA Title (according to Art 3.10 of the Regulations for the Titles of Arbiters) after the approval of the next FIDE Presidential Board.

Andrew Howie SCO 2403986 FA Title
Vairis Kurpnieks LAT 11602074 FA Norm

IA Panagiotis Nikolopoulos
Chairman
FIDE Arbiters’ Commission

Three weeks to go and at least 17 entries already.

I don't think I played Perth before, in my previous chess life, so I'm thoroughly looking forward to this event.

I think there may be one or two surprise results during the weekend.

Showing boards 1-4 from the minor

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.chessscotland.com/livegames/Lothiansallegro/r1/tfd.htm">http://www.chessscotland.com/livegames/ ... r1/tfd.htm</a><!-- m --> Round 1
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.chessscotland.com/livegames/Lothiansallegro/r2/tfd.htm">http://www.chessscotland.com/livegames/ ... r2/tfd.htm</a><!-- m --> Round 2
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.chessscotland.com/livegames/Lothiansallegro/r3/tfd.htm">http://www.chessscotland.com/livegames/ ... r3/tfd.htm</a><!-- m --> Round 3
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.chessscotland.com/livegames/Lothiansallegro/r4/tfd.htm">http://www.chessscotland.com/livegames/ ... r4/tfd.htm</a><!-- m --> Round 4
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.chessscotland.com/livegames/Lothiansallegro/r5/tfd.htm">http://www.chessscotland.com/livegames/ ... r5/tfd.htm</a><!-- m --> Round 5

From all at Chess Scotland. May all your pawns be queens (unless of course you are playing me!)

Quite a few Scots in this, with meaty first round pairings for Calum MacQueen and Clement Sreeves.

Adam Bremner, Alan Grant, Andy Green, Hamish Olson, Jonathan Edwards and James Macrae also playing.

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

Not sure how many live boards there are, may only be four. Clement's the highest Scot, on 11.

I have come to the conclusion that 2 heads are better than one. As many of you know, we have been looking at the issue of proxy votes and how to stop the AGM from becoming meaningless to the people who are there. There are no simple solutions there that don't seriously disadvantage people.

So I am throwing the question out to the notiveboard dwellers.

Simple question, difficult answer. What would you do about proxy votes at the AGM?

On behalf of Chess Scotland may I wish you all a MERRY Christmas


Andy