All posts by Ian Whittaker

To all,

I hope everyone is keeping safe and well and an update regarding Chess Edinburgh and Lothian’s.

Chess in the Park   

There will be a delay to the start of this year’s Chess in the Park as new picnic tables have been ordered and unfortunately as yet not arrived.  Once delivered, they require to be assembled.

Currently at the Fountain Cafe, there are twelve picnic tables, however not enough in order to start Chess in the Park.

Once resolved, likely by late April, we meet every Thursday and Sunday 2 – 5 pm, at the Fountain Cafe, until the end of October.

Sets and clocks will be available on site, once we begin.  Those players that bring their own Chess equipment are guaranteed a game and are able to continue after the official 5 pm closing time until Princes Street Gardens closes.

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FIDE Blitz and FIDE Rapid Events 

Friday 8 April 2022

FIDE Junior Blitz: 5 – 6.30 pm @ The Dean, The Dean Path

One section of 5 rounds.

Time control 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move.

Entry fee £10

https://www.chessscotland.com/news-post/sct-edinburgh-blitz-and-rapid-otb-event/

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FIDE Blitz Event  7 – 9.30 pm The Dean

One section of 9 rounds.

Time control 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move.

Entry fee £16

https://www.chessscotland.com/news-post/sct-edinburgh-blitz-and-rapid-otb-event/

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Saturday 9 April 2022

FIDE Rapid Event 10 am – 5 pm The Dean

Open, Major (U1800) and Minor (U1400) over six rounds.

Time control 20 minutes plus 10 seconds per move.

Entry fee £22

https://www.chessscotland.com/news-post/sct-edinburgh-allegro-otb-event/

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Leith – free Function Room available ! 

The Proprietor of Ooh Mami, 7 Bernard Street, Leith has a Function Room suitable for playing Chess.

A Bistro Bar serving drinks, coffees and food.

The Function Room is used for a host of activities and is at times used to serve light meals.  The room is quiet and suitable to play a match over six Boards.

Through the Leith Festival the room is advertised for Board Games Nights, from 7 pm to late, in which Chess Sets are available.

The contact is Charlotte, a former Tiger Cubs player, daughter of Gerry Brown, Civil Service, who is keen to establish Chess at the venue.

Leagues  

Our Council is elected to serve the Member Clubs wishes in which we require to abide by our rules and Constitution which are available via our Website.

Clubs made the decision at their AGM from a vote or by mutual agreement what as a Club they were planning to do in which their players made the decision.

Our Council have yet to meet and decide as to what is going to happen with the outstanding fixtures both for the Leagues and Lothian’s Championship.

When all the Clubs are playing over the Board Chess is when the leagues can resume.  This is conditional and subject to any restrictions imposed by the Scottish Government.

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Since my last Update, Pentland Hills have started playing over the board Chess, refer to the details listed below, including their new venue at Roslin.

For further information please consult with the Contact at the Club.

Club Update: 

Clubs that are playing Over the Board Chess, meeting at their venue with contact:   

Badgers Brook – Monday 7.15 pm – Badgers Brook – Mark Cooke

Bank of Scotland – Tuesday 7.30 pm – Ukrainian Club – David Stewart

Civil Service – Monday 7 pm – Slateford Bowling Club – Crawford Macnab

Corstorphine – Monday 7.15 pm – Corstorphine Hub – Graham Wilson

Edinburgh – Tuesday 7.30 pm – Edinburgh Chess Club – Neil Berry

Musselburgh – Tuesday and Thursday 7 pm – The Store Club – Iain Hope

Sandy Bells – Tuesday 7.30 pm – NEW VENUE at The Waverley Bar, St Mary Street – Mike Wallace

Pentland Hills – Tuesday 7 pm – NEW VENUE at The Royal British Legion (Scotland), Wallace Crescent, Roslin – Terry Purkins

University of Edinburgh – Thursday 7 pm – The Pleasance – Martin Kopernicky

Wandering Dragons – Tuesday 7.30 pm – Pilrig Bowling Club – Jim ONeil

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Clubs that are playing Online: 

Badgers Brook

Dunbar

Edinburgh – Wednesday

Pentland Hills

University of Edinburgh

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Clubs and team that are not currently meeting: 

Edinburgh West

Gorgie Dalry – Some players are playing with Civil Service.

Tiger Cubs

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Clubs can if they wish arrange graded friendly matches, either over the board or online.

Further updates from Clubs are appreciated and happy to give advice on request.

Finally, it would be helpful to circulate this information to your Club Members.

Best wishes

David

[Provided by David Stewart of Chess Edinburgh, Saturday 26/3/22]

The catalogue is now online at www.thomsonroddick.com where lots 101 to 123 comprise an extensive and interesting collection of surplus chess periodicals, mid 19th century to recent, from the library of the club!

Bidding can be made online from Thomson & Roddick and is also available on www.the-saleroom.com and www.easyliveauction.com.

The magazines on offer include:

  • Bound volumes of early rare magazines such as Volume 1 of the Chess Chronicle (published in 1841), which became the first successful English-language chess magazine, and a bound copy of Volume 1 of The Chess Monthly (published in 1879-80);
  • Many other bound volumes and single issues of old magazines such as The Chess Amateur, Chess Pie, The Chess Monthly: “Suum Cuique”, Chess Chronicle, The Chess Monthly
  • Many bound and unbound volumes of long running publications such as Chess (Sutton Coldfield), British Chess Magazine, both Scottish Chess and its predecessor the Scottish Chess Bulletin;
  • Some foreign language magazines such as Shakhmatnyi Bulleten;
  • Recent unbound volumes and single issues of modern magazines such as King Pin and New In Chess;
  • And last, but not least, a bundle of Edinburgh Chess Club’s own magazine Capital (Capatal) Chess!

 

Dear Club Member

National League Kick Off

Scottish National League Online began today. The 1st Team had 2 wins against Dundee 1 and Paisley, while the 2nd Team lost both fixtures. Full results at this link.

Rounds 3 and 4 are on Sunday 20th Feb.

This Week’s Chess

The club will be open as usual for OTB chess on Tuesday. We are also playing an online allegro match against Camberley Chess Club on the same night.

We are still looking for a couple of players for this match, if you are rated 1500-2200 and would like to play then please let me know.

Blitz Arena on Wednesday at 7.45pm on lichess. The usual password to join!

Thanks

Neil, Club President

Dear Club Member,

Club Opens Tuesday!

We reopen from Tuesday at 7.30pm again for casual games. Covid protocols remain in place -please see the website home page for the details.

GM COACHING FOR CLUB PLAYERS

We are delighted that GM Keti Arakhamia-Grant has agreed to lead a second coaching programme to get players ready for battle in the New Year!

Keti will run a series of 2-hour interactive evening weekly sessions on Monday nights for 5 weeks – on the Lichess platform using Zoom initially but with the potential for face-to-face sessions in the club if at all possible. She will present an interactive lecture introducing the study theme, followed by “homework” for the following week. The homework is to be sent back to Keti individually and she will give feedback in the week between the sessions.

Keti had asked for topics of interest to players – already suggested topics for her to cover include end game play (especially with rooks!?!), handling the transition from middle- to end-game, pawn structures and playing defensively vs counter-attacking.

All participants need to have an account on Lichess, which is free and easy to register with, and the combination of Zoom and Lichess works well. If everyone is agreeable, we will also record the sessions – which is a useful option especially if someone is not able to attend any of the sessions, however it will only be made available to the participants for the period of the course.

In order to support this initiative, we would charge £40 (£20 for Juniors) for the 5 sessions and we need to get a minimum of 10 players to sign up – please can you advise Ian Whittaker asap if you are interested and wish to join in.

Once we have enough people signed up we will launch the coaching sessions with Keti!

Online Match v Camberley Chess Club

We have arranged to play against Camberley Chess Club online over 8 boards on Tuesday 1st Feb. There will be 2 games starting at 8pm, with a time control of 20 mins + 10s / move. Please let me know if you would like to play.

This Week’s Arena Details

Wednesday 7.45pm start.

Neil Berry, President

2 Comments

Advance notice that the club is planning to offer for sale the first batch of its surplus magazines and other publications in an auction which is to be held by Thomas Roddick on Thursday 7th April at 11.30am at their Carlisle saleroom.

Further details will be available much nearer the time when illustrated catalogues will be available on line at www.thomsonroddick.com and live online bidding will be available via easyliveauction.com and the-saleroom.com.

To whet your appetite the magazines on offer include:

  • Bound volumes of early rare magazines such as Volume 1 of the Chess Chronicle (published in 1841), which became the first successful English-language chess magazine, and a bound copy of Volume 1 of The Chess Monthly (published in 1879-80);
  • Many other bound volumes and single issues of old magazines such as The Chess Amateur, Chess Pie, The Chess Monthly: “Suum Cuique”, Chess Chronicle, The Chess Monthly
  • Many bound and unbound volumes of long running publications such as Chess (Sutton Coldfield), British Chess Magazine, both Scottish Chess and its predecessor the Scottish Chess Bulletin;
  • Some foreign language magazines such as Shakhmatnyi Bulleten;
  • Recent unbound volumes and single issues of modern magazines such as King Pin and New In Chess;
  • And last, but not least, a bundle of Edinburgh Chess Club’s own magazine Capital (Capatal) Chess!

Further details can be obtained from Ian Whittaker, Curator (curator @ edinburghchessclub.co.uk).