Chess Scotland Noticeboard

Membership Secretary · Moderator Joined: 30 Apr 2010 Posts: 22

As in previous years, the prestigious award, Player of the Year, will be selected by the membership of Chess Scotland and will be announced at the Scottish Championships in July. This thread will be used to record all of the players who are nominated for the award and members are invited to leave messages here giving their reasons why the player they have nominated should be chosen. As moderator, I shall delete (a) any negative comment about a player, and, (b) any misuse of the thread for purposes other than POY nominations and discussions.

Last year, we had 211 votes which was a really good response but the more votes cast, the more significant the award. Details of previous winners, criteria for selection etc can be found at; http://www.chessscotland.com/archiveresults/plyryear.htm

So, please use this forum to record your nominations. In a couple of weeks, I shall email all members inviting you to cast your vote for the award but let’s get the discussion and nominations going now.

NOMINATIONS SO FAR - shown in sequence of receipt along with members' comments in making nominations

FM Alan Tate - Grandmaster norm at Rijeka, Croatia in November and an IM norm at the Cappelle Open ending in March. Extensive coaching work for our International junior squads both at home & abroad over the past few years & most recently last October in Halkidiki, Greece & the lead up to the event.

Alex McFarlane - Invited by FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov to act as referee at the four Candidates final matches which take place in Kazan, Russia, May 3-27. The culmination of many years devoted to chess as an arbiter at local and national levels both in Scotland and England.

Stephen Hilton- Has an International record that bears comparison with all Scottish internationalists. He has ably held down the post of General Secretary of the IBCA for two years. His commitment to regular tournament play is single-minded and formidable. In addition to his onerous work for IBCA he needs to find his own financial support to enter international tournaments, reduces the time available to which obviously significantly reduces the time available to prepare for major events such as the World Olympiad.

Alan W Minnican- A former International Director of Chess Scotland has been nominated on the strength of the time and energy he has devoted to assisting others. A recent example being at the Olympiad to support the Scottish Open and Women teams as well as providing detailed daily reports.

IM Craig W Pritchett - Outstanding performances at the European Senior Team Championships. A rating performance of 2505 at the 2011 championships played at Thessaloniki, Greece.

I think we must close the list of nominations now. With 168 votes already counted, there is no realistic chance of any new nominee winning. I can only hope this is acceptable to members, perhaps the moral of the story is to get your nominations in earlier so that they have a realistic chance of winning.

Jacqui Thomas · King Joined: 01 May 2007 Posts: 340

Re ALAN TATE - I want to add to Alan's nomination as it states his great norm achievements & doesnt mention all the coaching work he has put in for our Interntional junior squads both at home & abroad over the past few years & most recently last October in Halkidiki, Greece & the lead up to the event.

Membership Secretary · Moderator Joined: 30 Apr 2010 Posts: 22

VOTING NOW UNDER WAY

An email is being sent out to members inviting votes for either of the above nominations (or anyone else). Email responses will be counted and totalled to identify the winner. The winner will be announced at the Scottish Championships to be held in Edinburgh in July; http://www.chessscotland.com/membership/EntryForms10/110714Scottish.pdf

To vote, just send an email to membership@chessscotland.com

Membership Secretary · Moderator Joined: 30 Apr 2010 Posts: 22

An invitation to vote for POY has now been sent out to all Chess Scotland members. In the interests of minimising costs and maximising ease of use, email has been used as far as possible. For those members who do not have an email address, invitations to vote have been distributed by a combination of magazine insert and posting a letter.

So far, 79 votes have been received and recorded but we had 211 votes last year so there is still plenty of opportunity to decide the outcome. To vote, simply email membership@chessscotland.com or send hard copy to the membership secretary. Full contact details are included in the letter sent to members.

Membership Secretary · Moderator Joined: 30 Apr 2010 Posts: 22

99 members have cast their vote for their choice of POY so many thanks to everyone who has taken part so far. I am sending out a reminder email to members who have not yet voted, please support the award by casting your vote.

To vote just send an email to membership@chessscotland.com

Membership Secretary · Moderator Joined: 30 Apr 2010 Posts: 22

We now have 139 votes cast with more still coming in. Plenty time still to vote.

Also, we now have another nomination - see above.

Membership Secretary · Moderator Joined: 30 Apr 2010 Posts: 22

168 votes have now been counted so I have decided to close nominations and I am now declining to accept any further names. The winner will therefore be one of the five existing nominations that members have been voting on so far.

Plenty of time left to vote for any one of the five existing names so, if you have not voted yet, please send an email to membership@chessscotland.com

Membership Secretary · Moderator Joined: 30 Apr 2010 Posts: 22

FM Alan Tate was awarded the Player of the Year trophy and prize money at the closing ceremony of the Scottish Chess Championships today, 17 July. Alan was the clear winner after 193 votes were counted.

Thanks to all members who took part by voting.