Just going to leave this here...

https://lichess.org/broadcast/ii-trofeo-...8/HdEtqBJp

In case you missed the news article,

Major is live here.

Inter top 6 are here.

If you have heard of a thing called Steam on your PC then you may wish to know that a sale ends today with Chessbase 16 for £40, which is cheap. Sale still on.

Also Fritz 18 for £32.

A proper weekend congress later this month on the 22nd to 24th of March at the Edinburgh park Hotel with a Saturday night Blitz shoehorned in.

90 places were available with 10 left in the congress's 3 sections and 45 in the Blitz, enter the Blitz separately.

There will be 16 live boards in operation during the congress. Swiss Manager site is here.  Vega site with no cookies or ads, here.

Please make sure you are in the correct section and we have your entry. Please also let us know if you cannot make the event.

Just a quick note as I have no more details other than I have received a call from a friend of Martin's telling me he had passed away.
He had been at Cathcart for the last couple of seasons but had been previously been around the Lanarkshire Chess scene for quite a number of years and I am told he also played at Uddingston Grammar school.
If I find out anything else I will post later.

Live boards are now working, Open here, and Inter here.

So another month another weekend of chess.

We have an Allegro on Saturday which has 16 places left.

The Saturday blitz has 38 places left,

The Allegro on Sunday has 16 places left.

Late fees apply now so you are paying more for your procrastination.

We will not be taking entries on the Saturday for the Blitz so enter for that online please.

Link to Chess Results here.

Message from David Reid regarding John Thompson of Glasgow Montrose Chess Club who passed away in early January 2024:

John Thompson first appeared on the Glasgow chess scene in the late 70s, when he bumped into David and Kenneth Reid, in Possil Library, when we were browsing the fine collection of chess books to be found there. We met gain shortly after, when a local tournament was staged for a street festival, and become firm friends. John was kind enough to invite us to his home to play with his pals, George Rooney, Jimmy McKelvie, "Mad" Malky and a Polish guy who's name was "Chess". They pretty much all followed John into Glasgow Montrose ranks in due course.

Those Friday nights were great fun; they had cracking stories! The tale of the KGB intercepting their correspondence game cards with postal players in Moscow was wonderful. The personal notes inside had been redacted! George reckoned he was being followed by the security services one time. John replied he didn't think they could find their way to Saracen Street!! Setting off to East Kilbride (might have been Irvine!) for a chess tourney they ended up lost in Kilmarnock!! Etc. etc. Great entertainment. Johns' quick wit and dry sense of humour were assets to the club. His comedy double act with George Rooney lives long in the club memory. He was a decent player too - well booked up on his favourite openings. The Stonewall Dutch, Bird's Opening, the QGD were at his command, and he had a very annoying habit of accepting the Queens Gambit pawn and then bloody-mindedly keeping it. 

He married the charming Helen and went on to have 3 fine sons, who preferred golf and snooker to chess, probably to their Dad's relief, as they soon surpassed him in those. John did not enjoy the best of health in recent years, and so his time in the club was limited. He is still to be seen on the GMCC website - reminder to our current members of happy days, enjoyable evenings and the ease with which he could bring a smile to any of our faces. He will be missed by all those who knew him, and by Glasgow Montrose Chess Club in particular.

Yet again another congress appears in the calendar with "details to follow" and already almost all the available accomodation has gone before we know anything that might help decide if we want to enter or not.  So the only answer is to book and hope for the best.  Surely the organisers could at least inform us of when each round is and what the time control will be.

Chess Scotland regrets to announce that Supratit Banerjee, one of the top players in the world for his age, has transferred from Scotland to England.

This will allow him to benefit from advanced training and subsidised travel through the generous funding provided to the English Chess Federation (ECF) by the British Government. Unfortunately, the Scottish Govt, has declined the invitation to provide similar funding to Chess Scotland.

Supratit is second in the world for his age with a rating of 2137, only one point behind the leader and almost 200 points above the player in third place.

We wish him well in the future.