SCT Edinburgh Standard Tournament: Report by Iain Sneddon

The first of the Classical Scottish Tour’s tournaments was played over the weekend and most enjoyable it was too. I was joined by fellow Castlehill member, the Chess Ronin himself, Steve Thomson, who must clock up some mileage attending tournaments in Scotland far and wide!. I played here last year when there was a Premier U2200 section and I’d played in the Major, this year there was no Premier and the Major was U2000. This meant lots of players in the 1500-1700 bracket, including Juniors, so competition was tough. However as there are school age internationals just now the top Juniors were not around to make life even harder!

For me this was a good introduction to the season, though I’m going to take a bit of a break from the intensity I’ve been training at recently to recharge a bit and get ready for the full season ahead. The rating may have taken a little hit but I’m good with that, lessons learned this early in the season can only help. I think Steve has a few pointers for his training too, his results didn’t match his play unfortunately. I know it’s a bit of a trek from Dundee (it’s at Hermiston Gait so it’s easier to get to from the motorway and well served by the trams) but it’s a good standard if you’re looking for a weekend tournament.

Thanks to the Arbiters John and Andy for running the event so efficiently, the hotel staff for keeping me supplied with coffee and congratulations to Walter for winning the tournament despite being up till 2am on Sunday morning playing poker! Andy was also seriously promoting the Scottish Women’s Championship so keep your eye on the Chess Scotland website. Apparently there are also plans for a Scottish Seniors Championship for the auld yins…

Here is a link to my blog on Lichess with my games and no, I still can’t explain Qxd5 either, other than trying to be too clever!

Iain`s blog report        Scottish Chess Tour page