All posts by Ian Whittaker

It was reported in yesterdays Times that Edinburgh Chess Academy, created by club member Andrew Green to provide a modern and exciting way of teaching chess to children, that their Scottish Junior Tournament has been endowed with £10,000 by Gareth Williams, founder of Skyscanner!

The Times, Saturday March 27, 2021

As stated on the academy’s web site the tournament was started with the aim of getting more children to play chess in Scotland.  For this reason the competition is completely free to play in, has the largest prize fund in the UK for an online junior competition and there are prizes for children of all levels.

Fantastic news!

Dear Club Member

Last Saturday we had an online match against the Mechanic’s Institute from San Francisco. We lost a fairly well balanced match 15-11. The match was streamed by our opponents on their twitch channel. We are looking to set up a return match next month. [NB: The Mechanics Institute have included two annotated games from the match in their weekly newsletter]

One year ago we took the decision to close the club. We certainly did not anticipate the closure lasting this long. Hopefully with the vaccine rolling out, we will be able to open up over the summer. But this will depend on progress against the virus.

This weeks’ events are below. Both start at 7.45pm.

  • Tuesday Rapids (7 mins + 5s/move)
  • Wednesday Blitz (1822 to join)

Thanks

Neil

Dear Club Member

Our match against Mechanics’ Institute takes place tonight at 7pm. Time control is 10+2. To join please sign up for the chess.com group (https://www.chess.com/club/edinburgh-chess-club). Then you will be able to join the match from 6pm  at https://www.chess.com/live#tm=585671

Everyone is welcome to join.

We’ll take a break from the Tuesday rapids – will be back next week. Link for Wednesday is below – usual start time of 7.45pm and password is 1822 to join.

https://lichess.org/tournament/uG4XhqFV

Thanks

President Neil

Dear Club Member

Rounds 3 and 4 of the Scottish Online National Chess League took place yesterday. Edinburgh 1 had a default win against Edinburgh University, followed by a 2.5-2.5 draw against a strong Dundee side. The second Team lost close matches 2-3 against Oban and Ardrossan. With a bit of luck we may have come away with more. The final match takes place on March 28th. The 1st Team have a chance of winning the title, but will need a big victory against Bon Accord.

This week’s chess events:

Saturday match vs Mechanics Institute, 7pm

You will first need to be a member of our group on chess.com to play (click on the group link above to join) then on the day you will be able to join via this link.

Thanks

Neil

Dear Club Member

Rounds 3 and 4 of the Online SNCL take place next Sunday 28th. Please let me know if you would like to play.

We are also arranging a match against the Mechanics Institute from San Francisco on Saturday 6th March at 7pm on chess.com. It will be a few games at 10+2 time control. All standards are welcome – we’ll try to pair up for an interesting match. It will be useful to have a rough idea numbers beforehand, so let me know if you are interested (no firm commitment), and you will need to join our group  https://www.chess.com/club/edinburgh-chess-club

This week’s events on lichess (7.45pm start):

Thanks

Neil

Dear Club Member,

Please see the below message from Jonathan Fallman

“Dear all. I would like to draw your attention to the opportunity to play in the London Chess League, which is now open to all UK clubs. This is a 45 mins +15 s increment, 4-man team league starting on 3rd March. Players will need to be available 7-9pm on Wednesdays from 3rd March – 12th May and there is an entry cost per team which works out at no more than £11.25 per player. If you would like to play please email jonathan.fallman at gmail.com by 11pm Sunday 21st February.”

This week’s club events are below. Usual start times of 7.45pm.

  • Tuesday Rapid Arena (10 mins + 5sec / move)
  • Wednesday Blitz (password 1822 to join)

Best wishes,

Neil