Grangemouth Congress Part II - Things we said today...

This morning was interesting.  We had a reporter here.  Not just any reporter, but one from a National Newspaper.

Lets be perfectly honest, reporters at chess events are like the fabled "Stool from a rocking horse".  We have our own outlet through the Caledonian Mercury http://caledonianmercury.com/ where David Hewitt publishes chess stories over the year, but to have a real reporter from a national newspaper??  Fantastic!

One of the real pleasures I have had is watching how the dynamics of the Chess Scotland Directorate has changed over the last 5-6 years.  When I first became involved with chess, I was aware that the directorate on the whole where people who I did not know, had never seen, and had no idea as to who they were.  Taking this congress as an example, we have the President, Exec Dir, Home Director (Junior) and Scottish Championship Director all acting as officials at the event and we have the Marketing Director and International (Junior) Director playing.  We would have had the Home Director (Open) playing but he is currently in Rhodes playing in the IBCA World Championships.  Looking around the room I can see most of the individual members of the council here as well!

I think this is fantastic and is something that we should be celebrating.    It was something that I mentioned to the reporter as I think it shows a real openness.  It means that at any time, anyone can come up to us and ask us things (in fact I would go as far as to encouraging it!)

The reporter spoke to most of us and was genuinely interested in how things are done and congresses and such like.  I hope that this will spark off an interest in the Chess Scene in Scotland.  Despite the prophets of doom and gloom things are getting better.  We are seeing more congresses and some of the old ones are reappearing.  Perth is back this year and in the space of a year we have seen 4 new congresses spring up.  Dunbartonshire, Lanark, Prestwick and Renfrewshire have all appeared on the calendar and are a welcome addition to the congress family.

Well enough of my rabbiting on, what is happening at Grangemouth this year?  Firstly we have 3 prominent junior performances,   Shivan Murdochy beat IM Roddy McKay, after day 2 we have Andrew McCusker leading the Minor with Fergus Skillen just behind, and Maryann McDonald leading the Major.  Mark my words, the juniors are getting better and better!

I wandered upstairs to take a look at the junior tournament and found Kirsty McCusker giving a masterclass in cool finishing!

1..Qa1+ 2. Kd3 Ne5+!! 3. Ke3 Nxc4+ 4.Kd3 Qd4#

Wonderfully calculated finish and Kirsty got her reward for some excellent play.

  
Back to the main hall and we are reaching a climax.  At the time of writing there are a handful of boards remaining to play.  In the words of Meat Loaf,. we are "two down, no score, nobody on, at the bottom of the ninth!".  Who will win is anyone's guess, but if it is anything like the play I have seen over the last few days, it will be a really good exciting finish.  Keep an eye on the CS noticeboard and website for details of the winners and the photos

Well done to Donald for a really good tournament this year!!

Grangemouth Congres 2011 - A new season dawns

"Earlier on today apparently, a woman rang the BBC and said she had heard that there was a hurricane on the way.  Well if you are watching, don't worry there isn't,"

One of the Met Office's finest moments back in 1987.  I still remember it well as I was at School in England and was woken up by the fire alarm in the middle of the night.  A hurricane alert had been issued in the area and we were all moved into the centre of the School for safety.

Fast forward 24 years and I am sitting in a car with Michael Hanley driving to Grangemouth for the annual congress.  We can see the car in front if they have been bothered to put their lights on.  The rain is so heavy the windscreen wipers do not have a chance.  We had a little diversion in Cumbernauld as the road layout has changed and we could not see the signs!  The car aquaplanes and Mike (who was driving) asks me what that was.  Sometimes walking is safer than being in the car with Mike!

Welcome to the Grangemouth congress, located as it is in Grangemouth Town hall.   Grangemouth holds something specials for me.  It was the last Weekend congress I played in before my enforced semi-retirement to be become an Arbiter!

There was a slight disappointment this year.  My toys did not arrive in time so I was not able to use the DGT boards here.  Real pity as I was looking forward to it!

First 3 rounds have gone without incident.  The introduction of digital clocks has meant that Arbiters are now able to do much much more than they were before (as we are not having to jump up and down all the time to change analogue clocks!) and it is not uncommon to see us sitting in front of laptops working on something.  No time scrambles and no draw claims as yet.

One of the winners from the Junior event

I often wonder why we are seeing less and less draw claims.  We have all spoken about it and no one can fathom the reason.  When I first became an Arbiter, we had on average 1 per round.  Now you are lucky to get 1 per tournament.   The most interesting idea I have heard so far is the reason for it is we now use digital clocks meaning players can use their time more effectively. 

The one thing I love about tournaments is the camaraderie we have with the players.  There is nothing better than trying to get from the desk to where the results are on the wall and every 5 metres is someone who wants to stop and have a chat!   Scotland is blessed with some excellent characters on the chess scene, both young and old.

Long may that continue!