And the Ayrshire Junior Championships

Organised by Stewarton Chess Club together with
the Stewarton Bonnet Guild and the Ayrshire Chess Association

Some of the prizewinners - Stewarton Bonnet Guild Chess Allegro 2010

The Stewarton Bonnet Guild Chess Allegro was held on Sunday 13th June 2010 in the Stewarton Annick Youth Centre, Stewarton. In a year when most chess tournaments have suffered significantly lower numbers of entrants we were able to almost maintain the same level as last year with 87 players on the day (91 last year). Once again we played host to the Ayrshire Junior Championships as part of our tournament and we were happy to send nearly forty players home with a prize from the tournament.

Forty of the entries came from Ayrshire clubs with another thirty-five from clubs in the Glasgow area. Other players hailed from as far afield as Biggar, Dumfries, Kinross and two players came from Carlisle. Top seeded player was International Master Roddy McKay who won the event two years ago and was narrowly pipped at the post last year. Several families entered with both parents and children playing in the various events.

The Open section finished with a clear winner - Roddy McKay IM of Cathcart who has become a regular at the tournament over the last four years now having won the event twice - a pretty good achievement. Second place was tied between two players so a tiebreak was used and Pat Coffey of Hamilton took home second prize while his club mate Duncan Walker took third place. Steven Brown of Ardrossan Chess Club won the prize for best result by an Ayrshire player and Jamie Hookham of Kinross took home the grading prize.

Stewarton Chess Club would like to thank the officials from the Bonnet Guild committee for their assistance in setting up and running the tournament again this year. Our sincere thanks also go to local company McCluskey Browne who donated the medals awarded during the prizegiving. We are also grateful to the caretaker staff at the Youth Centre who set up and cleared away the hall.

Our controllers again coped with all the draws and re-draws and all the other matters that complicate the controlling of so many players and we would like to thank them for all their hard work. Thanks to Alan Steel of our own Stewarton Chess Club and John McNicoll of Kilmarnock Chess Club and to Stephen Taylor of Greenwood Chess Club who coped with the junior events.

Again this year the canteen staff managed to excel themselves with a mouth watering array of hot and cold food and some delicious home baking and our thanks go to Carolyn McNicoll, Marilyn Grigor and Victoria Grigor as well as David Montgomery for their excellent work in keeping the players supplied with food and drinks throughout the day. Our special thanks go to Mrs Thomson, Mrs Clark and Marilyn and Carolyn who provided such a splendid array of home baking. Also thanks must go to Mrs Deans who so kindly loaned us the coffee machine which provided such tasty coffee that we almost ran out of supplies.

We would also like to thank Peter and Anne Woods of Chess Suppliers who supplied all the equipment and ran the bookstall and shop during the event.

Details of all the prize winners

Open section

Major section

Minor section

Under 14 section

Sam Gibson also wins the Ayrshire Chess Association Under 14 Championship.

Under 12 section

Samuel Cole wins the Ayrshire Primary Championship and Lydia Cole wins the Ayrshire Primary Girls Championship.

Family prizes were won by the Cole family from Kilwinning (Lydia and Samuel - sister and brother), the Monaghan brothers from Grangemouth (Steven and Mark), the Ameur family from Bothwell (Nadia, Karima and Yasin), the Jordan family from Giffnock (Joe, Scott and Shona - father / son / daughter), and the Pathi family from Kirkhill (father Vivek and children Brogan, Rowan and Oran)

Prepared by John Montgomery, Secretary, Stewarton Chess Club,
4 Barbeth Place, Girdle Toll, Irvine KA11 1QL, Telephone 01294-221486