The SJC “Kings and Queens of Scotland” chess tournament is unlike anything else that has been tried in Scottish junior chess events: for a start it offers really good prizes! However, the main differences are that SJC officials have produced a format that appeals to everyone: –

• a stunning venue
• excellent prize money
• an event that is open to players of all standards
• 5 different time controls
• no grading.

It would have been difficult to imagine a more fitting venue for this event than the regal surroundings of Stirling Castle and the Great Hall Vaults. The history of Stirling Castle is, of course, legendary. Stirling is the most strategically important of all the castles in Scotland. It has been fought over and changed hands more than any other Scottish castle, as historically, he who controlled Stirling, effectively controlled Scotland

The Picts are thought to have had a fort there, and the Romans certainly did. This was replaced by the castle several centuries later by Scottish King Alexander I, who died in Stirling Castle in 1124. The turbulent history of Scotland during the 12^th 13^th and 14^th centuries saw control of the castle change hands many times. This period is best known because of the valiant efforts of Scotland’s greatest son, William ‘The Braveheart’ Wallace, who beat the English army of Edward 1^st at Stirling Bridge in 1297, and Robert the Bruce, the victor at Bannockburn in 1314.

Stirling Castle was the home of many Scottish Kings and Queens, including James 2^nd, who infamously murdered the 8^th Earl of Douglas in the castle in 1452. It was here that Mary, Queen of Scots, was crowned in 1543.

In 1651, the Cromwellian General Monk, lay siege to Stirling and the Governor was forced to surrender after a mutiny by his Scottish garrison.

After the restoration, the castle reverted to the Earl of Mar and his heirs, but after the then Earl was accused of being a Jacobite, King George I removed him from the castle. The Crown then was the keeper of Stirling Castle until 1923, when King George V restored it to the Earl of Mar.

This, then, was the historic background to Stirling Castle, the venue of the first Scottish Junior Chess Kings and Queens of Scotland Chess Tournament.

For report and more pictures www.scottishjuniorchess.co.uk/Kings%20and%20Queens.html