Chess Scotland is the governing body

Sport governing body

A sport governing body is a sports organization that has a regulatory or sanctioning function. Sport governing bodies come in various forms, and have a variety of regulatory functions. Examples of this can include disciplinary action for rule infractions and deciding on rule changes in the sport...

 for chess

Chess

Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...

 in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. It was formed in 2001 with the merger of the Scottish Chess Association and the Scottish Junior Chess Association.

It is one of the oldest national chess associations in the world. As the national organisation for chess, Chess Scotland is the affiliate to the International Chess Federation (FIDE) and appoints the Scottish delegate to FIDE’s Council. Its International Director is responsible for selecting the teams which represent Scotland at the biennial Chess Olympiad

Chess Olympiad

The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event is organised by FIDE, which selects the host nation.-Birth of the Olympiad:The first Olympiad was unofficial...

.

Objective and functions

Its principal objective is to "foster and promote the game of chess throughout Scotland among players of all ages".

Its principal functions are:

• to represent the interests of Scottish chess (at FIDE and elsewhere),
• to select individuals and teams to represent Scotland at international chess events,
• to hold national and international chess tournaments in Scotland
• to promote the game of chess in Scotland
• to train and appoint officials
• to operate a national grading system

Chess Scotland's functions are performed by unpaid volunteers and is registered as a non-profit organisation. Its turn-over in 2009 was approximately £35,000, of which a third was provided by the Scottish Government via annual grant aid.

Membership

Many people can play chess and a significant proportion of these have an active interest in the game (e.g., internet chess, parents/guardians of junior players, etc.). The number of players currently known to CS is more than 5000, of whom about half are juniors. Approximately 3000 currently-active players have played sufficient games in official events (not necessarily events organized by CS) to be assigned a national rating (grade) for their standard of play. Chess Scotland therefore serves a very wide constituency from school children to International Grandmasters.

Organisation

The affairs of Chess Scotland are managed by its directors and other officials who work (with other promoters, as appropriate) to fulfil the objectives of the organisation. Most of these posts are filled by election at the Annual General Meeting of Chess Scotland. Chess events are supervised by certified arbiters who must undergo written and practical competency tests administered by Chess Scotland. Chess Scotland also maintains a register of approved coaches and chaperons. All of these officials (arbiters, coaches and chaperons) are required to undergo “Disclosure” certification, under Scottish Child Protection legislation.

Online

Apart from the publicity surrounding its events, Chess Scotland’s activities are communicated to the general public (including children) and to its sponsors via its internet web-pages. An on-line forum promotes discussion of chess-related topics of current interest. In addition, Chess Scotland publishes a magazine which appears six times a year.

Rating system

The Chess Scotland on-line rating system is important for many players, and the rating system is a source of significant revenue to Chess Scotland. Application to Chess Scotland for the recognition of an event (or player) for rating purposes brings the event (or player) within the jurisdiction of Chess Scotland.

Grandmasters

• Paul Motwani
  Paul Motwani
  Paul Motwani is of Scottish/Indian descent and was Scotland's first chess Grandmaster . Born in Glasgow but growing up in Dundee , he became World Cadet Champion in 1978, and won the first of his seven Scottish Championship titles that year...
  
  
• Colin McNab
  Colin McNab
  Colin A. McNab was Scotland's second chess Grandmaster, fulfilling the requirements for the title in 1992 just after Paul Motwani. After achieving his three norms, he strained to get his rating up to the required 2500 level, and is possibly unique among Grandmasters in only achieving a published...
  
  
• Jonathan Rowson
  Jonathan Rowson
  Jonathan Rowson is Scotland's third chess Grandmaster, after Paul Motwani and Colin McNab, and has played first board at recent Chess Olympiads. He is also a chess author.-Career:...
  
  
• John Shaw
• Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant
  Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant
  Ketevan Revazovna Arakhamia-Grant is a Georgian -born Scottish Grandmaster of chess.-Chess career:...
  
  

External links

• Homepage http://www.chessscotland.com/
• About http://www.chessscotland.com/csinfo.htm
• Constitution http://www.chessscotland.com/csinfo/csconstit.htm