Match played 26th October at Loanhead:

Pentland Hills  1         3  –  3      Edinburgh 3

Thomas Matko        0.5 – 0.5  David Robertson

David Begg                   1  –  0      Shivan Murdochy

Mike Thompson        0  –  1      Lindsay McGregor

Alan Heavens         0.5 – 0.5   Mark Sanderson

James Kilgour            0  –  1      Colin Hutchison

Andrew Clark             1  –  0      Ben He

The Chess Edinburgh Premier Division for the 2010/11 Season began last night with a match between Edinburgh 1 and 2.  The second team were weakened by the absence of a few of their regulars, and the match was closer and more hard fought than the final scoreline suggests.  However:

Edinburgh 1 5.5-0.5 Edinburgh 2

Neil Berry 1-0 Chris McIntee

Andrew Green 1-0 Mike Ridge

Daniel McGowan 1-0 David Archibald

Hugh Brechin 1-0 Mark Sanderson

David Oswald 1-0 Colin Hutchison

Graeme Kafka 0.5-0.5 Keith Aitchison

On another note, the Richardson Cup draw has thrown up a cracking match for us against Edinburgh West, while the Spens draw has us away to East Kilbride in the first round.

We are currently looking for a representative to compete in each of these competitions.

These are individual knock-out tournaments open to all Chess Scotland clubs.  Matches are played at evenings or weekends at the home player’s club, home or a neutral venue.  There can be signficant travel involved (e.g. I’ve made trips to Dundee, Galashiels and Greenock whilst competing in the Nancy Elder in the past).

The MacIsaac is for club champions, or failing that, a club member graded at least 1850.  The Nancy Elder is open to any member of the club graded below 1850 (1775 junior).  In recent years, we have given our club championship runner-up first refusal of our Nancy Elder place (if eligible).

This season, neither the club champion nor the runner-up have elected to participate in these competitions, and we are consequently throwing them open to the wider membership.  If you would like to represent the club in either competition, please let myself or David Archibald know.

Mark Sanderson

The Edinburgh Allegro League is played on the second Thursday of the month at the Original Hotel Roslin.  Two rounds are played each evening, the first at 7.30pm and the second at 9pm.  Time limit is 30 minutes per player.  Teams comprise four players of average grade 1450.

This season we will be fielding two teams, and the first evening is scheduled for 14th October.

If you’re interested in playing in this season’s competition and haven’t already indicated so – either via your membership form or in response to my recent e-mail to last season’s players – please let me know.

Mark Sanderson