Stewarton Bonnet Guild Chess Allegro 2011

And the Ayrshire Junior Championships

June 12, 2011

Organised by Stewarton Chess Club together with

the Stewarton Bonnet Guild and the Ayrshire Chess Association

by John Montgomery

Some of the prizewinners – Stewarton Bonnet Guild Chess Allegro 2011

Grading - Open: Major: Minor: Under 12: Under 14:

The Stewarton Bonnet Guild Chess Allegro was held on Sunday 12th June 2011 in the Stewarton Annick Youth Centre, Stewarton. We were fortunate to see an increase in the number of entrants this year with a total of 93 players up from 87 last year. The Open section was one of the toughest allegro competitions of the year with nine of the eighteen players graded over 2000 and two International Masters among the field. We again played host to the Ayrshire Junior Championships as part of our tournament and we were pleased to send over thirty players home with a prize from the tournament.

Forty of the entries came from Ayrshire clubs with other players coming from across Scotland – from Biggar, Edinburgh , Glenrothes, Stirling and Grangemouth with more than thirty players from the Glasgow area. Top seeded players were International Masters Roddy McKay and Stephen Burns-Mannion who between them have won the event for the past three years. Several families entered with both parents and children playing in the various sections and in some cases as many as five members of the same family.

The Open section finished with a three way tie for first place – a tiebreak was applied and the trophy was awarded to Daniel McGowan of Edinburgh with Roddy McKay IM second place and Stephen Burns-Mannion IM in third place. Kenny Malkin of Kilmarnock Chess Club took home the grading prize while special mention must go to Ali Roy of Carrick Chess Club who finished on three points and won the prize for best result by an Ayrshire player but whose final score hid the result that she achieved draws against four of the players graded over 2000 – including the two International Masters and beat one of the other player graded over 2000. Well done Ali !!

Stewarton Chess Club would like to thank the officials from the Bonnet Guild committee for their assistance in setting up and running the tournament again this year as well as organizing the car parking. The medals awarded to prize winners were donated by McCluskey Browne and we would like to thank them for their continued support. We are also grateful to Robert and Mary Boyd - the caretaker staff at the Youth Centre who set up and cleared away the hall.

Our three controllers again coped with all the missing results and draws and re-draws and all the other work that make up the event and we would like to thank them for all their hard work. Thanks to Alan Steel of our own Stewarton Chess Club and John McNicoll of Kilmarnock Chess Club and to Stephen Taylor of Greenwood Chess Club who organised the junior events. We were extremely pleased to hear that Stephen had been awarded the MBE in the recent Queen's Birthday honours list for his years of dedication to chess in schools. Congratulations Stephen – and well deserved.

 

 

Some players come for the chess and some come for the food and the canteen staff provided an excellent spread of hot and cold food and some delicious home baking and our thanks go to Carolyn McNicoll, Marilyn Grigor and Agnes Hamilton as well as David Montgomery for their work in keeping the players supplied with food and drinks throughout the day. Our special thanks go to Mrs Thomson, and Marilyn and Carolyn who provided such a splendid array of home baking. We would also like to thank Mrs Deans who so kindly loaned us the coffee machine and supplies again this year.

 

 

 

We would also like to thank Peter and Anne Woods of Chess Suppliers who supplied all the equipment and ran the bookstall and shop during the event.