Chess Scotland Noticeboard

Pat McGovern · Bishop Joined: 10 Jan 2011 Posts: 24 Location: saltcoats

I wish to object in the strongest possible terms about the description of me in earlier post by the (in)famous Mr Moore.
"inebriated"???? NEVER.

drunk, fu', stocious, rubbered, legless and sometimes all of them at same time but never ever inebriated. I'm furious, Robin expect a letter from my lawyer. Evil or Very Mad

On a serious note, i wish David all the success in this tournament. I know he has worked very hard to get this up and running. To the critics, good taste prevents me from telling them what to do other than shut up.

As for Ayrshire players not entering, there are other considerations to take into account. The Ayrshire individual championship has just finished and involves a 5 way play-off. many of the players in that may not be able to be free for another tourney. the Irvine tourney is now underway and Prestwick is also in between the West of Scotland and East of Scotland tourneys. other local players are saving up for the trek to a long tourney in the Czech Republic. all of this will influence local players in their decision about Prestwick.
Despite this i'm sure as many local wood pushers will try to attend. good luck to all and I hope that the tourney is a success.

admin · Site Admin Joined: 09 Jan 2007 Posts: 1386

DGCongalton · Queen Joined: 07 Nov 2010 Posts: 113

Thanks Pat and Admin

Organising the event has really been quite enjoyable overall and I'm already planning 2012. Rest assured though, I'm not being complacent and I will continue to count chickens as they hatch and not before.

The 2012 event will hopefully address the timing issue of sitting between the West and East Coast events.

As for Ayrshire players not entering, I'm happy to say that posting is well out of date, with 25 of the 44 entrants coming from the county. Over half of these Ayrshire entries are due to the influence of Mr Robin Moore, who is also playing (barring any court appearances to defend liable actions).

Elliot Frew, the current Ayrshire Individual Champion and one of the five involved in this years play-off, had his arm gently (okay slightly more than gently) twisted last Wednesday and has been told in no uncertain terms that he will be at Prestwick. Also on the list of open entrants is Kenny Malkin, another of the Magnificent 5 (famous 5 surely) and another on Mr Moore's list. Paul MacDonald of Greenwood, play-off candidate 3, has volunteered to officiate at the congress. However, given that the congress has 4 arbiters and 3 sections, I've e-mailed Paul to ask if he'd rather play. I'm hopeful that he will play, meaning 3 out of the 5 play-off candidates will be playing the Prestwick Congress.

It's unfortunate that we can't get all 5 playing in the Open section but work and other commitments must come first.

There are still some notable names missing from Ayrshire and it would be good to see even more Ayrshire entries but it's not just a tournament for Ayrshire players and entrants from all over will be more than welcome. We stopped cooking strangers a long time ago.

DGCongalton · Queen Joined: 07 Nov 2010 Posts: 113

New Junior Stats page added to Prestwick Congress website. www.ayrshirechesscongress.co.uk Information courtesy of Chess Scotland website. Thanks to all involved in making this sort of info available to Chess Scotland members.

Graeme Forbes · Posted: Tue May 03, 2011 11:00 pm Post subject:

Phil Thomas · King Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 758

DGCongalton · Queen Joined: 07 Nov 2010 Posts: 113

Gilbert Alomenu has alerted me to some engineering issues effecting the train services to Ayrshire on the Saturday and Sunday of the congress. For those who may be affected by the works I would suggest using the X77 bus as an alternative. The bus service, which departs from Buchanan Street bus station, is 18 minutes faster and drops you off just as close to the airport as the train would.

The X77 timetable can be found at http://www.stagecoachbus.com/PdfUploads/Timetable_9116_X77%20-%20Glasgow%20-%20Ayr.pdf

The trains are still operating to Prestwick but there is a replacement bus service between Glasgow and Paisley and Johnstone and the timetable has been affected. I would strongly suggest anyone who was planning to travel by train uses www.travelinescotland.com to plan their own personal door to door journeys.

Apologies for not noticing this before.

DGCongalton · Queen Joined: 07 Nov 2010 Posts: 113

I’m all for encouraging juniors to play chess and to join Chess Scotland. Entry fee for all Juniors, under 17 at the start of the congress, who are Chess Scotland members is reduced to £7.50 or half price.

Phil Thomas · King Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 758

Generous offer David - very good to see entries this high for an inaugural event. More than 50 entries (as they already are) means double points in the grand prix.

I see from the entry list that there is a very good chance that I play Robin Moore in the first round. If that happens and the game is a draw I just want to say now that he made me an offer that I couldn't refuse.

Very Happy

Pat McGovern · Bishop Joined: 10 Jan 2011 Posts: 24 Location: saltcoats

Robin offering a draw, mmmmmmm. If in the last round and it's for money (£$£$£$) then i could understand it. Phil beware Greeks bearing gifts. Shocked

DGCongalton · Queen Joined: 07 Nov 2010 Posts: 113

Less than 48 hours now to enter the congress and be sure of your place. Acceptance of entries cannot be guaranteed after 10pm this Wednesday, May 11th. Things need to be prepared. Phone calls after 10pm will not get a good response.

I'm out tomorrow night at the Prestwick Training night but will be in on Wednesday from 6.30pm. Entry by e-mail is now the best option although I do have an answer machine if you want to leave details. Name, number, PNUM, section, half-point bye required and which round. I will get your message and I will respond to all e-mails and telephone messages on Wednesday.

73 entries so far. Details of half-point byes will appear on the CS noticeboard and the congress website sometime in the next 46 or so hours. If details are wrong or your request hasn't been listed let me know.

Details on how the Junior Cup will and places will be decided will also appear around the same time. The idea is to give all Juniors a fair chance of winning this best performance award regardless of section or grade.

Thanks to all who have entered so far and/or sent good luck messages. For those that haven't entered yet. Tick tock tick tock.

AMcHarg · Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 10:25 am Post subject:

Good luck with this event David! I hope it all goes very nicely for you and that it's a great success.

Unfortunately I am unable to play due to other commitments I have at the weekend.

A Very Happy

DGCongalton · Queen Joined: 07 Nov 2010 Posts: 113

Players travelling to Prestwick by car and making use of the special airport car park rate for the chess of £2.50 per visit should follow the following directions.

Follow the signs for Prestwick Airport from whichever direction (A77 South from Glasgow, A77 North from Girvan and Maybole, A78 from Greenock, Irvine, Ardrossan) you are travelling. At Monktonhead Roundabout take the A79 to Prestwick Airport. Go straight on at the first roundabout. Continue for about half a mile, passing under the covered glass footbridge. Almost immediately past the bridge is the smallish airport roundabout, take the first exit towards the terminal building. This is marked short stay car parks and car parks 1 & 2.

Proceed for 25 to 50 yards to barrier. Press button, take ticket, barrier opens. The car park to your left (which is immediately outside the terminal building) is for stays under two hours and for blue badge holders only. The car park to the right of the road (behind the advertising hoardings) is for stays longer than 2 hours and should be used by those attending the chess event. To get there, follow the road all way round and continue to where the road turns right and goes up a small, steep hill. Drive up the hill and park anywhere on the right hand side.

Take your ticket with you when you leave the car and keep it in a safe place. I will issue a chess pass to all those who are using the airport parking. When you are ready to leave take ticket and pass to information desk on ground floor and ask them to validate your parking. They will take £2.50 off you and give you parking ticket back. Proceed to your vehicle and drive to the exit barriers, which are at the same place as the entrance barriers. Put ticket in, machine takes it in then puts it back out. Take ticket and barrier should be open. Drive off.

I should add that as the airport operates a ticket barrier system so if you decide to drive into town and back for lunch then you would end up paying 2 x £2.50 for that day. So I suppose it’s really £2.50 per visit. The town isn’t far at all from the airport though and there is a good train and bus service to town, which takes minutes and is probably a more cost effective way of getting into Prestwick for lunch, shopping or light refreshments.

I hope that makes sense.

DGCongalton · Queen Joined: 07 Nov 2010 Posts: 113

90 entries so far, which is brilliant. Thanks everybody. Just over an hour for those that haven’t entered yet.

Details of byes – if you’ve requested a bye and you’re not on list, let me know. Same goes if you’re on list and haven’t requested bye.

Round 1

Open – Sai Kong Tsang, Kenny Malkin, Siegrun MacGilchrist

Major – Rosie Giulian, Jim Smalls, George Murphy, Jamie Malkin, Ian MacKay, Walter Pearson, Arthur McCurley, Graeme Forbes, Blair Govan, Carl Milton

Minor – Douglas Bramley, Brian Bonnyman, Daniel Boyle, Derek Howie, Robbie McLeod, Thomas Jose, Colin Howie, Anna Milton

Round 2

Open – Mark Sanger

Round 3

Open – Steven Brown

Minor – Bernard Cassidy, Dave Watson

Round 4

Major – Clive Baird, Gilbert Alomenu

Round 6

Me, Donald Wilson, Andy Howie, John McNicholl, Paul MacDonald

Note to Phil Thomas and Robin Moore – You should be able to work out the possibility of whether you’ll be playing each other or not. Although, nothing is certain in life.

admin · Site Admin Joined: 09 Jan 2007 Posts: 1386