I am getting older but even when I was younger I had the same complaint against almost all chess books written in algebraic: the font - the small c with its blob at the top end of the c looks almost identical to the small e with its very faint horizontal line.  I think what moved me to finally complain about this was Bologans books on Ruy Lopez and Black weapons in the open games where he takes it a stage further by, in headings, having moves in pale white on a black background - almost unreadable!  (revision 12/8/19 - New in Chess books do not have the problem with the font making it difficult to tell c from e this only refers to the moves in white on a black background especially the figurines.)   So why bother with books?  Why not just use chess databases?  OK for actual games data they are fine but they are all based on a false premise that I first saw in a real book whose title (I think - if my memory serves me well) was the blue book of chess. That premise was that you could determine the best move by finding the one with the highest percentage score.  In the blue book this method showed 1.g4 to be white's best move.  Another situation is where a move might have done well then someone discovers a refutation and no one plays it anymore and it still shows up as a good move statistically.  In other words they can be misleading.

Round 4 today - another good round for all 4 Scots with 2 wins by Euan and Jake and 2 draws by Sanjith and Frederick. Some great results so far.

 
The WORLD SENIOR CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP due to be held in Bucharest, Romania, 11 - 24 November 2019.
 
As usual it has both 50+ and 65+ tournaments, with the possibility of separate women's events if there is enough interest.
 
The official closing date for entries is September 11th, so if Andy Burnett and/or I  could have replies from those interested in playing by September 2nd it would be much appreciated.
 
All the details are available from these links...
 
https://www.fide.com/index.php?option=com_fidecalendar&view=fcalview&aid=1521

Regulations
https://www.fide.com/images/stories/FIDE_Calendar_2019/World_Senior_Chess_Championship_2019_Regulations.pdf

Official Website
https://worldseniors2019.com/

Two tournaments I was considering playing - Inverness, and in particular Arran Rapid do not allow over 2200 players to enter. Why?

Hi
My brother in-law has asked if I can recommend any free (or low cost) chess draw software. I don't have the details as to what it will be used for, whether its a club competion or something grander. Is there anything that anyone can reommend?

Mike

Links to pairings, results are available from News item
Live game link will be published as soon as it becomes available

Monday 22nd
Round 1 (10:00) - France v Scotland,  Wales v Netherlands, Ireland v England 
Round 2 (15:00) - Scotland v England, Netherlands v Ireland, France v Wales...

Tuesday 23rd
Round 3 (10:00) - Wales v Scotland, Ireland v France, England v Wales
Round 4 (15:00) - Scotland v Netherlands, France v England, Wales v Ireland

Wednesday 24th
Round 5 (10:00) - Ireland v Scotland, England v Wales, Netherlands v France

This post has been removed

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I wanted to post some comments/observations on the Scottish International Open

1. It was a excellent venue, plenty of space, great air conditioning, no problem with parking and just a really nice back drop to play in.  I think it is great news that we look likely to be returning to same venue for the next two years.

2. Edinburgh is an interesting place; nothing is cheap.  Things are either free or very expensive.
Of the free things, I really enjoyed the Bank museum, the national museum and the national gallery, but I enjoyed just wandering around the Royal Mile and surrounds too.

3. Having stayed at the University and rented an airb&b I can say that there seemed to be a very good range of accommodation which could cater for most tastes and budgets.

4. Thanks to Dave Stewart for organising the social events.  I really enjoyed his Harry Potter tour.  I hope that this might be something that develops in future years - how about an outing to a comedy club or a whisky tasting?

5. My thanks to the organisers, in particular, it was great that chess-results was regularly updated and pairings were posted pretty much immediately the last game finished.

I look forward to future years

Matt

https://www.chessscotland.com/news-post/...m-allegro/
 
In discussion with the organiser this event was listed on the CS calendar on the basis the results would be graded for the allegro list.
 
As of today (July 3, 2019) no results have been supplied despite several requests for data. The English Chess Federation also assisted by contacting the organiser and they too have not had any response. There has not been any acknowledgement of any contact.
 
Unless a satisfactory explanation is provided no events in future will be CS graded or calendar listed from this organiser.

Enjoyable, I shall write report for CS magazine.