The Northeast heats of the S.J.C. Novice Chess Championships, sponsored by BG Group, take place on Saturday January 19, at Northfield Academy.

Also taking place are heats of the SJC 600 and SJC Girls Open Championships, also sponsored by BG Group.

BG Group has sponsored the SJC Novice Chess Championships. On the left is one of four magnificent annual trophies to be awarded to the school of the winning finalists later in the season.

Aberdeen players did particularly well in these events last season, winning two of the four sections.

Mubin Islam won the SJC Novice, while Maryann McDonald was the winner of the SJC Girls Open.

Event 1: SJC Novice 

This event is for Primary School players only who are new, or fairly new to chess, and are either unranked, or have a Scottish ranking of not more than 300. It is a fun, continuous play event where no one is knocked out, as is the case with all other heats.

Event 2: SJC 600

The SJC 600 was created to encourage late starters to chess, especially Secondary School students. It is restricted to players attending Secondary School, or P7 pupils, with a Scottish grade of no more than 600.

Event 3: SJC Girls Open

This event is open to any girl attending Primary or Secondary School in Scotland.

Event 4: SJC Girls Novice

This event is similar to event number 1, the SJC Novice. It is a girl’s only event for Primary School players only who are new, or fairly new to chess, and are either unranked, or have a Scottish ranking of not more than 300.

The tournament takes place at Northfield Academy on Saturday 19 January, starting at 10.30am, finishing at approximately 1.30pm. Competitors should arrive at 10.15am.

Players arriving late will skip round 1, and start in Round 2.

Thanks to the generosity of BG Group, there are lots of prizes, with at least one third of the total entry winning an award

Qualifiers from the heats are invited to play in the Grand Finals in June. Qualifying places are as follows:

SJC Novice: - top four players qualify.

SJC 600, Girls Open, and Girls Novice: - top three players qualify.