(Grangemouth - Sunday 13 December 1998)

Despite a less convincing performance than usual, Shettleston Chess Club are again Scottish Team Lightning champions after another clear victory in which they finished well ahead of their nearest rivals. This maintains the club's remarkable dominance at this form of chess. Shettleston have now won the title in fifteen of the last twenty years. The strong Edinburgh West team finished second and might have come very close but for a bad result against Polytechnic. Edinburgh A finished in a tie for third place with surprise packet Grangemouth on home ground.

For the winners of the Batsford Trophy, Douglas Bryson scored 13/14 on top board and Andrew Muir had 11/14 on board two. Jim Doyle scored 11½ and Paul Hopper 12½. Bryson lost only to Guy Lyons, who had preceded that game with six straight losses! For the runners-up, Keti Arakhamia had 12/13, and husband Jonathan Grant scored 11. The tournament attracted the excellent entry of 26 teams, four more than last year, to the event supported by Batsford Publishers and Chess Suppliers (Scotland).

Details of Final A:

1. Shettleston A 28; 2. Edinburgh West 25; 3=. Edinburgh A, Grangemouth 21½;

5. Cathcart A 19½; 6. Glasgow Polytechnic A 16½; 7. Shettleston B 15; 8. Musselburgh 14;

9. Wandering Dragons A 11; 10. Edinburgh B 8.

Other prizewinners were:

Final B: 1 Giffnock & Clarkston Final C: 1 Dunfermline

Preliminary A: Shettleston A Preliminary B: Wandering Dragons A

Preliminary C: Cathcart A Preliminary D: Shettleston B

Preliminary E: Glasgow Polytechnic A

Team Lightning Final Section A 1998