It’s a three-day festival of chess for Govanhill Chess Club, with consecutive events at the end of March. Teams and arrangements for each follow:
Scottish National Online Chess League – 27 March
Govanhill will play Lenzie 2 in the final round of SNOCL Division Four.
Our team for this game, which will be played on chess.com at the 25+10 time control at 11am on Sun 27 March, is as follows:
- Faidon Filipsson (white)
- Julien Papillon (black)
- Derek Rankine (white)
- Jass McNeill (black)
- Niall McCamley (white)
Players will receive notification on their opponents via a message on chess.com a little after 10am, when the teams are revealed.
Results and standings will be published on the Scottish Online Chess Organisation website.
Friendly: Govanhill vs Bearsden – 28 March
In early March, Govanhill scored a narrow win away to Bearsden Chess Club.
The home leg of the two-game friendly takes place on Monday 28 March, in Wellcroft Bowling Club, with a 60+0 time control.
The teams are as follows (Govanhill players highlighted in bold):
- Derek Rankine (white) vs Rob Colston (black)
- Mel Burt (white) vs Rhys McCrosson (black)
- Graeme McKinnon (white) vs Peter MacDonald (black)
- Christopher Nield (white) vs Julien Papillon (black)
- Giuseppe Bosco (white) vs Dominic Quinn (black)
- Chris Cotton (white) vs James Todd (black)
- Jass McNeill (white) vs Mark Thwaites (black)
- Alistair Goodall (white) vs Libor Masar (black)
All games will be graded by Chess Scotland. Players are reminded to bring a pen to record their moves, and to arrive by 6:50pm for a 7pm start.
Simul with GM Jacob Aagaard – 29 March
We have also teamed up with our friends in Bearsden for a special joint simultaneous exhibition with the renowned Danish GM Jacob Aagaard, pictured above.
GM Aagaard, currently the second strongest player in Scotland with a FIDE rating of 2465, has won the British and Scottish Championships, and is an award-winning author of chess books. We are extremely grateful to GM Aagaard for the opportunity, and to Rob Colston and Mel Burt of Bearsden Chess Club for organising.
The simul will take place on the evening of Tuesday 29 March in Bearsden’s venue, Cairns Church in Milngavie. Govanhill will have nine players:
- Rhys McCrosson
- Graeme McKinnon
- Harvey Dellanzo
- Ethan Small
- Alex Radevic
- Derek Rankine
- Julien Papillon
- Jass McNeill
- Giuseppe Bosco
Car transport will be provided from Wellcroft Bowling Club at 6:30pm (corner of Queens Drive & Balvicar Road), for a 7:30pm start in Cairns Church. Players are to wear a mask during the game, unless they have an exemption.
GM Aagaard has allowed his opponents to pick their colour. The simul will be played without clocks; once GM Aagaard comes to each board, the opponents are to make their move, and GM Aagaard will play his before moving to the next board. Opponents have two pass requests – say “pass” and GM Aagaard will make another circuit of remaining boards.
When games conclude, players are welcome to play casual games in a separate music room across the corridor from the playing hall, where some boards will be set up.
Derek Rankine, Secretary, is the contact for any questions around these events: secretary@queensparkchessclub.com