Faber Presentation

Holyrood

December 6, 2007

On Thursday 6 December, Scotland's Minister for Communities and Sport, Stuart Maxwell, presented the winning Scottish Girls international chess team with the Faber Cup. The presentation took place in the Scottish Parliament. 

Mr Maxwell congratulated the team on its success in winning the trophy and learned that it was one of a series of notable Scottish successes in the summer that included: Scotland's newest Grand Master, Jacob Aagaard winning the British Championship, Keti Arakhamia-Grant retaining the British Womans Championship and Ali Roy, Connor Woods and Calum McQueen winning the U12 Girls, U15 and U16 junior British Championship titles respectively.

Photo: Stuart Maxwell (Minister for Communities and Sport), Rhiann, Amy, Lynsey.

Scotland had only once before won the Faber Cup (in 1992) since it began in the 1960s. Scotland's winning team in 2007 in Dublin were: Lynsey Shovlin (18), Amy Officer (15) both Perth, and Rhian Hughes (13), Edinburgh. England has usually dominated the event and were once again favourites. But the Scottish girls rose to the challenge and won all three of their matches. Full details of the Faber victory

The minister also learned that, in opening the Faber (and Glorney) Cup events, Irish Minister for Education Mary Hanafin said that "chess is one of the greatest games of skill" and that "the great thing about the game is you can play it for life". Chess Scotland gently impressed on the minister that chess, as an organised sport, has definite, internationally recognised potential to benefit communities.

Mr Maxwell also took the opportunity to commend the Law Society of Scotland on their recent decision to sponsor a new annual one day Scottish Secondary Schools rapid chess team championship from 2008. Chess Scotland will run this event on behalf of The Law Society, whose Chief Executive, Douglas Mill, remains a mean exponent of the game. He was a member of strong Paisley Grammar School teams in the 1970s and retains particularly fond memories of the regional schools team jamboree events popular at the time. 

Photo: (l to r) Douglas Mill (Law Society of Scotland Chief Executive); Stuart Maxwell (Sports Minister); Richard Henderson ( Law Society President); Craig Pritchett (Chess Scotland). Front: Lynsey, Amy, Rhiann.

Chess Scotland is very pleased to work with The Law Society on this exciting new event. The first championships will be played over 5 rounds of 50 minute chess at Scone Race Course next February. This is a great venue and we hope to see this event grow as successfully as The Law Society's flagship national Schools debating event, that now ends in an impressive final hosted in the main debating chamber of the Scottish Parliament. Chess Scotland thanks Mr Maxwell for setting time aside for the presentation and Lynsey Shovlin who arranged the event with the minister's staff. Lynsey will also play a key role in organising The Law Society event. Watch the CS calendar for updated entry details as they unfold there shortly.