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News Archive 2001

Last updated 28 December 2001

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Membership Application Forms for 2002
Jim Anderson is distributing paper application forms to all and sundry at present, and the website has also been updated to provide a new online entry form. A new Tournaments page has been added to describe the various events on offer.
Beecham Seeks Championship Perfection Again
Latest result from the 2001/2002 Championship sees Richard Beecham making the full point against Michael Jessing, who is playing in his first Championship. This puts Richard on 9/9, and leaves only Bernard Milligan between him and a repeat of last year's 100% score!
Championship 2000/2001 Games Available for Download
Thanks to Alistair Maxwell, who has once again compiled the games from the recently completed Championship 2000/2001. They are available in PGN and ChessBase archive formats on the Scottish Games page (link on the left).
Magazine 75 Published
The third e-mag was distributed by email and post during w/b October 15, and we hope all subscribers have now safely received their copy. One or two we know didn't because of problems with their email addresses - Ross Angus, Chris McIntee, Ian Marks and Alistair Campbell all got bounced for one reason or another - if you are reading this, please drop me an email giving me your new contact address. Hotmail users once again were debarred because of size restrictions. One way around the problem is to visit our secure Members' page and browse and/or download the magazine from there - this method bypasses your email supplier.
Perfect Scores
Following Richard Beecham's precedent in last year's Championship, we congratulate Robert Beacon on his very impressive 5/5 in Section A of this season's Premier event! (Speaking of Beecham, it looks as though he is trying to pull the same stunt again this season!)
Meeting Minutes on the Secure Area
The "Members' Page" (refer Downloads section on the left) now contains minutes of the last AGM, and the last two Executive meetings. You can browse the contents using Acrobat Reader. We'll keep this section updated after each main meeting in future.
Friendly International Updates
George Pyrich has been chasing up outstanding results, and there is now a positive glut of updates in the Friendly International section - the Site Map will show you which specific matches.
Downloading Games from the Secure Area
The "Members' Page" (refer Downloads section on the left) contains a file of annotated games from each copy of the magazine. These can be quickly downloaded to your computer and loaded into ChessBase to allow you to play through games on your screen. If you don't have ChessBase, you can get a free copy of CB Light (a limited issue of CB version 6) by going to the "Software" page (also in the Downloads section).
Secure Area Now Available
The initial set of download files for members only is now available on the "Members' Page" page (it's in the Downloads section on the left). Anybody can view this page, but you will be prompted for a username and password if you try to access the files. SCCA members with email addresses should receive copies of this information shortly. Please email Webmaster if you encounter any difficulty.
Magazine 74 Published
The second e-mag was distributed on July 25, and we hope to have printed copies arriving a couple of days after that. Once again, if you are expecting to receive a copy, but don't, please get in touch - your email address may have changed, your ISP may be getting temperamental, or we may have forgotten to update the distribution list! There are some detailed points to note on the message board - please add any further comments you may have there also.
Sprott Awarded International Master Title
George Sprott of Hawick has been awarded the International Master (IM) title by ICCF. His final norm was achieved in the 63rd European Championship Semi-Final, and he becomes our 8th holder of the title - congratulations!
Additional Software Downloads
Some of you have been asking about the software required to access the e-mag, so there are now links to the WinZip and Adobe Acrobat pages where you can access these products. In addition, there are some new links for CC game management plus PGN-format readers and a screensaver - all on the Software Downloads page (left).
Site Makeover Continues
Most parts of the site are receiving the makeover treatment at present, with the General section currently having its barnacles scraped. A new Policies section is in place (as previewed in the last Magazine), and the Playing Rules section of CC Rules has been slightly modified to cater for multiple modes of play in future tournaments. We hope to have the whole site finished by the time the next magazine is released, at which point we'll introduce the secure members download area.
Lennox Awarded Scottish Master Title
Jonathan Lennox of Tobermory was formally awarded the Scottish Master (SM) title at the Executive meeting which preceded the AGM. Jonathan's title win in 1999-2000, plus two grading norms in 1999 and 2000 did the needful, and he becomes our 21st holder of the title - congratulations!
SCCA Bulletin 21st Anniversary
Play is now well under way in the Bulletin 21st Anniversary tournament (for which Alan Borwell is the TD). The cross-table link can be found in the International section (left).
First IM Norm in Bernard Partridge Memorial Final
Congratulations to Heiko Starke of Germany, who becomes the first player to reach the 7½ IM norm mark in the Bernard Partridge Final. About half the results are now posted, and the tables are looking quite colourful now!.
Alan Borwell Honoured at AGM
In recognition of his outstanding contribution to the SCCA over more than 21 years, Alan was awarded the title of Honorary Life President at the AGM.
AGM Summary
Subscriptions stay unchanged. Office bearers elected were:
President Iain Mackintosh
Vice President and ICCF Delegate George Pyrich
Secretary Jim Anderson
Treasurer Stuart Mackenzie
Grading Officer Raymond Baxter
Committee Member Alan Borwell
Other posts are held vacant. George Pyrich will act as International Secretary pro tem. Full minutes and accounts will be published in the next magazine.
Scotland Takes 2nd Place in ICCF Email TT Final
Continuing the tradition of Scottish teams who excel when the blue jerseys go on, our Email warriors have captured second place in the ICCF TT Final. The German team can catch them on points, but Scotland won the head-to-head, so should come out on top in any tie-break. Congratulations to Tom Craig, Phil Giulian, Doug Finnie and George Pyrich!
Second SIM Norm for Pyrich
George Pyrich's recent draw with Hans Veen in the Reg Gillman Memorial has earned him his second SIM norm. Congratulations to George!
First e-mag published!
Edition 73 of the magazine is now out. Email subscribers should receive their copies on 7th May, and printed versions should arrive a day or two later. Please get in touch if you don't receive your copy, or you have any technical difficulties in reading it. Inevitably, a number of email addresses we hold will be out of date, so please check the contacts page and inform us of any changes.
E-mail Sections
E-mail controller Jim Anderson reports the start of a further 2 quartet sections - making 13 running concurrently! Still a popular choice, so keep those entries coming in!
Friendly Match vs IECC
Play is just about to commence in this 19-board friendly email international. There is a good distribution of grading strength (1600-2300), aimed at giving most members a chance to play. Follow progress under Friendlies (left).
NATT 5
Play has now commenced in the 5th North Atlantic Team Tournament. This is a 10-board category 6 event in memory of John F Cleeve. The cross-table is maintained on the ICCF site, and you can link directly to it via NATT 5 (left).
ICCF 50th Jubilee Celebrations in Full Swing
ICCF celebrated its 50th birthday on 22nd March. Free email and postal tournaments are open to all players worldwide, and special tournaments are being held for world champions and ICCF officials/delegates. A jubilee book will be published in September at the Rimini Congress. Further details on the ICCF website (on our Links page).
How to Play Correspondence Chess
Bernard Milligan has now provided a short introduction for new players as to how they go about playing CC games. You can find the explanation under How to Play CC (left).
Website Map and Search Facilities
With the ever-increasing amount of material on the site, we now have two new features to make it easier to find what you want. The Site Map gives direct links to all the pages, and shows when each was last updated, with this month's updates highlighted in blue. The Site Search allows you to enter keywords which are then analysed by a search engine and the results are then displayed. This is a super and comprehensive facility - try typing your name if you think you've been mentioned anywhere on the site!
Website Domain Names
To make it easier for everybody to find our site, we have registered the following domain names: scottishcca.co.uk, scottishcca.com and scottishcca.org. The Globalnet site stays as it is, and the new domain names connect directly to it. Our officials are now contactable via scottishcca email addresses - check out the updated Officials page, and have a laugh at the mugshots!
Winning Without Castling
Nickolai Gurtovoi's popular series of magazine articles is being republished on the website. Parts 1 and 2 appear under "Gurtovoi" in our Features section.
Finnie Stars in Reg Gillman Memorial
Doug Finnie has won Section D of the Reg Gillman Memorial Invitation Tournament - congratulations to the Inverurie SM! Proof, if any were needed, that Doug's surname is not a corruption of "Finnan Haddie".
Watson Scores 68% in XII Olympiad Final
IM Joe Watson has scored 7½/11 on Board 6 in the XII Olympiad Final. The Scotland team has achieved a respectable 49% overall score so far.
Beecham Wins Title With Perfect Score
Richard Beecham has completed his ninth straight win in the 2000-01 Championship and wins the title outright. His 100% score in the available games sets a precedent which will be remarkably hard to emulate (and even harder to surpass!). Congratulations to Richard on a tremendous achievement!!