Biographies - White
Alastair F. White
in his own words
Professional Career:
Financial Services—Insurance clerk, Office Administrator, Systems Analyst, Systems Manager Standard Life, Lloyds Banking Group
Chess Clubs:
| 1963-6 | George Heriot’s School, Edinburgh |
| 1966-8 | Edinburgh University CC |
| 1968-9 | Standard Life Chess Club |
| 1968 –present | Edinburgh Chess Club (Honorary Life member) |
| 1970-73 | Edinburgh Central Chess Club |
| Heriot-Watt Chess Club | |
| 1977-9 | Castle Chess Club |
| 1980-81 | Bank of Scotland Chess Club |
Team Honours:
| 1963-4 | Edinburgh ‘C’ Schools League | (winners) | George Heriot’s School |
| 1964-5 | Edinburgh ‘B’ League | (winners) | George Heriot’s School |
| 1970-1 | Edinburgh ‘A’ League | (winners) | Edinburgh Central |
| 1971-2 | Edinburgh ‘A’ League | (winners) | Edinburgh Central |
| 1972-3 | Spens Cup | (winners) | Edinburgh Central |
| 1984-5 | Edinburgh ‘A’ League | (winners) | Edinburgh CC |
| 1986-7 | SNCL Division 1 | (winners) | Edinburgh CC |
| 1989-90 | SNCL Division 1 | (winners) | Edinburgh CC |
| 1992-3 | SNCL Division 1 | (winners) | Edinburgh CC |
| 1992-3 | Edinburgh ’A’ League | (winners) | Edinburgh CC |
| 1994 | SCA Team Lightning | (winners) | Edinburgh CC |
| 1995-6 | Edinburgh Premier League | (winners) | Edinburgh CC |
Individual Honours: (wins only)
| 1967 | Junior Training Tournament | Edinburgh | 1st (5/7, unbeaten) (ahead of Glorney cup players E Holt, C Campbell, R D Waugh and Donald Marr) |
| 1968 | Scottish Open | Ayr | 1st= (5½/7 shared with Robert Clapham) |
| 1969 | East of Scotland Championship | Dundee | 1st= (shared with Brian Whyte) |
| 1972 | Scottish Open | Dundee | 1st= (shared with 4 others) |
| 1977-8 | Castle Chess Club Championship | Winner | |
| 1978 | East of Scotland Championship | Perth | 1st= (shared with Chris Morrison) |
| 1978-9 | Castle Chess Club Championship | Winner | |
| 197? | Dundee Ladywell Invitation | Dundee | Winner |
| 1984-5 | Edinburgh CC President’s Cup | Winner | |
| 198? | Edinburgh Congress Challengers | Winner | |
| 1993-4 | Edinburgh CC President’s Cup | Winner | |
| 1993-4 | Edinburgh CC Championship | Winner | |
| 2004 | Scottish Senior Championship | Hamilton | 1st= (6/7 shared with G Murphy) |
| 2005 | Scottish Senior Championship | Oban | 1st= (5½/7 shared with J Gibson) |
| 2007 | Scottish Senior Championship | Cumbernauld | 1st (6/7 outright winner) |
Tournaments outside Scotland:
| 2008 | British Senior Championship | Liverpool | 4½/7 |
| 2012 | British Senior Championship | North Shields | 5/7 =3rd |
| 2013 | London Chess Classic | London | 3½/7 |
| 2015 | London Chess Classic | London | 3/6 |
| 2016 | Vienna Chess Open | Vienna, Austria | 4/8 |
| 2019 | Berlin Open | Berlin, Germany | 3½/7 |
Representative Honours:
| 2008 | European Senior Team Ch | Dresden, Germany | Scotland Bd 2 | 3½/7 |
| 2009 | European Senior Team Ch | Velden, Austria | Scotland Bd 2 | 6/9 |
| 2009 | European Senior Ch | Rogaska Slatina, Slovenia | 3½/9 | |
| 2010 | European Senior Team Ch | Dresden, Germany | Scotland Bd 2 | 4½/9 |
| 2011 | European Senior Team Ch | Litochoro, Greece | Scotland Bd 2/3 | 2½/7 |
| 2012 | European Senior Team Ch | Rogaska Slatina, Slovenia | Scotland Bd 3/4 | 3/7 captain |
| 2013 | World Senior Ch | Kamena Vourla, Greece | 4½/9 | |
| 2014 | European Senior Team Ch | Plovdiv, Bulgaria | Scotland Bd 2 | 5/9 captain |
| 2014 | European Club Cup | Rhodes, Greece | Edinburgh CC Bd 5 | 1/7 |
| 2014 | European Senior Team Ch | Sibenik, Croatia | Scotland 2 Bd 1 | 2½/9 |
| 2014 | World Senior Teams 50+ | Vilnius, Lithuania | Scotland Bd 2 | 5½/9 captain |
| 2015 | European Senior Ch 65+ | Eretria, Greece | 4½/9 | |
| 2016 | European Senior Team 65+ | Halkidikki Greece | Scotland 2 bd 1 | 3½/9 |
| 2016 | European Club Cup | Novi Sad, Serbia | Edinburgh CC bd 5 | 2½/7 |
| 2018 | European Senior Team 65+ | Walbrzych, Poland | Scotland bd 3 | 5/9 |
| 2018 | World Senior Team 65+ | Radebeul, Germany | Scotland bd 3 | 5½/9 |
| 2019 | World Senior Team 65+ | Rhodes, Greece | Scotland bd 3 | 4/8 |
| 2020 | World Senior Team 65+ | Prague, Czechia | Scotland bd 1/2 | 4½/8 |
Chess Administration etc.
Former Secretary, Edinburgh Chess League
Former President, Edinburgh & Lothians Chess Association
Former President, Edinburgh Chess Club
Chess Scotland Council Member
Notable Games:
| 1965 | White, A vs Jardine, I | Heriots vs Allan Glens | Sunday Times Section 1 Final | 1-0 | (31) |
| 1966 | White, A vs Goldberg, A | Heriots vs Stockbridge | Edinburgh League | 1-0 | (10 moves) |
| 1969 | White, A vs Giulian, P | Glasgow Candidates | Glasgow | 1-0 | (32) |
| 1970 | Smyslov, V (GM) vs White, A | Simul | Edinburgh | ½-½ | (40) |
| 1976 | White, A vs Aitken, J M | Sc Open | Dundee | 1-0 | (41) |
| 1977 | White, A vs Buchanan, W | Sc Championship | Glasgow | 1-0 | (31) |
| 1979 | Norris, A vs White, A | Sc Championship | St Andrews | 0-1 | (32) |
| 1980 | White, A vs Muir, A | Sc Championship | Troon | 1-0 | (27) |
| 1989 | Ruxton, K (2250) vs White, A | Edinburgh League | 0-1 | (46) | |
| 1995 | White, A vs Pimentil, S | ECC vs Wandering Dragons | Edinburgh | 1-0 | (27) |
| 2009 | White, A vs Nordstrom, F (2187) | EU Senior Teams | Velden | 1-0 | (28) |
| 2010 | White, A vs Niebling, F (2197) | EU Senior Teams | Dresden | 1-0 | (37) |
| 2011 | Edwards, R (2017) vs White, A | EU Senior Teams | Thessaloniki | 0-1 | (18) |
| 2012 | Frick, C (2264) vs White, A | World Senior Ch | Kamena Vourla | 0-1 | (41) |
| 2012 | Hohler, P (2264FM) vs White, A | World Senior Ch | Kamena Vourla | 0-1 | (26) |
| 2012 | White, A vs Baterdene, T (1675J10) | London Classi | Olympia | 1-0 | (36) |
| 2012 | Skuja, A (2145) vs White, A | World Senior Teams | Vilnius | 0-1 | (27) |
| 2014 | Maisuradze, N (2323) vs White, A | London Classic | Olympia | 0-1 | (29) |
| 2016 | Marks, Iain (1805) vs White A | Richardson Semi vs Cathc | 0-1 | (25) | |
| 2018 | Hammar, B (2133) vs White, A | EU Senior Teams | Walbrzych | 0-1 | (24) |
| 2018 | Beltz, R (2198) vs White, A | World Senior Teams | Radebeul | 0-1 | (22) |
| 2020 | White, A vs Janda, Z (2065) | World Senior Teams | Prague | 1-0 | (30) |
Some of Alastair's games can be found in the Games section
Other chess trivia:
1976—Co-founder and co-editor of ‘Capital Chess’ magazine with Ian Mullen.
1980—I stayed in a battered old caravan near Troon for the Scottish Championship congress, along with Ian Mullen, Alan Norris, and Geoff Chandler. You can imagine what that was like!
1984—I met with Anatoly Karpov and showed him around Edinburgh, along with John Glendinning. I also managed to take him (against the wishes of his KGB ‘minder’) up to the Edinburgh Chess Club, where I got him to sign the visitors’ book.
2008—Along with Sigrun MacGilchrist and Hugh Flockhart, I organised the first ever Scottish Seniors team to play in the European Senior Team Championship in Dresden that year. Gerald Bonner and Alan Borwell were also persuaded to play. That gave me a first taste for playing Senior Chess in Europe and after that I got a FIDE grading which reached its highest ever level, 2114, soon after at the age of 61)
2012—I shared a lift at Olympia with Vladimir Kramnik, Judit Polgar, Levon Aronian and his girlfriend (later wife) Arianne Caolli. Following that my rating went up to its second highest ever level (2112—at the age of 65). Co-incidence or what?
2014—another good win in London against the highly rated French Ladies Champion after sharing a lift with former ECC member and British Champion, Grandmaster Jonathan Parker.
2016—In the Richardson Cup Semi-Final against Cathcart, I played a decidedly speculative pawn gambit as Black against Iain Marks. I beat him, and he was sufficiently impressed to try it himself later in the year against strong Russian GM Nikolai Pushkov. He won a famous victory.
2018—Playing in Europe again with a good win as black against Robert Beltz after he ’refused’ my gambit. Then characteristically thorough opening preparation and a strong continuation got me another Black win against Swedish FM Bengt Hammar, with a theoretical novelty on the 14th move. Scotland beat Sweden in that match, but it didn’t stop them winning a medal and Bengt Hammar winning a board prize.
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