Chess Scotland Noticeboard

Chris Laidlaw · Knight Joined: 01 May 2007 Posts: 18

This tournament was held in the Edinburgh Capital Hotel in Clermistion Road, Edinburgh between the 2nd and 4th of January 2009. Six nations participated. It was generally agreed to be an outstanding success by all who attended. Scotland was firmly put on the map,we think , for future events of this kind.
The result was extremely close, the final result hinging, unusually, on the final game of the final round. Final places were determined by match points.
1 Ireland 2 United Kingdom 3. Netherlands

More details, if anyone is interested, can probably be got from the IBCA website soon.
An 11 year-old girl, representing Sweden, rightly received an ovation at the prizegiving. We were all very impressed and moved by her presence. It sent out, for all of us, a powerful message about the inclusivity of chess as a pursuit for all regardless of age, physical capacity, gender, ethnicity or religious affiliation.
The other participating teams were France, Sweden and Belgium with a Belgium/UK team also listed. Stephen Hilton, the current Secretary General of the IBCA made his presence known to all during the weekend. Donald Wilson, our President, took time and trouble to be there on Friday and Sunday. Jeff ('Lord Nelson' ) Chandler, after whom a column is named appeared, by invitation, on Sunday armed with a camera and nursing a hangover (something , it appears, to do with the previous night's celebrations connected with Keti's achievment of her final norm!)