The History

The official launch of Aberdeen Chess Academy by Lord Provost John Reynolds in November 2004 marked the ‘end of the beginning’ for junior chess development in Aberdeen.

During the early 1990’s, there were a small number of active local school chess clubs, but the networking structure was poor. This decline from a formerly fairly healthy state of junior chess in Aberdeen was brought about by voluntary organisers Daphne Russell and Laurie Tinto being unable to continue their fine work. Daphne moved to England in 1993, and Laurie returned to University.

In 1995, David Leslie began the restructuring process by contacting local schools clubs and inviting them to take part in a junior tournament. This event was supported by the late Bob Middleton, a well known local politician. In June the following year, The North East Junior Chess Association, a network of local schools clubs, was formed, and in August 1996, Quarryhill Junior Chess Club (QJCC) was launched by Councillor Ramsay Milne.

QJCC was the first evening junior chess to be run in Aberdeen for many years, and recruited members from schools within a 20-mile radius. The rapid success of the club was self-evident: Girls Teams unbeaten in Scotland since 1997/98; National U12 and U15 Team Champions; Scottish Schools Team Champions; 30 players chosen to represent Scotland in International matches – at one stage, almost half the entire Scottish U12 and U14 Teams were club members.

Dod Forrest, a senior local Community Education Team Leader, met David Leslie in 1997, when they began working on chess projects together. In 1998, David began work as a part-time chess development worker at the local community centre, about the time that Dod started exploring possible funding.

One of the subsequent funding bids was to the New Opportunities Fund (NOF), a lottery based source of funding from central government, which is devolved to local authorities. In August 2001, two years after the initial bid, funding for a chess development project was approved through NOF by Kate Kasprowicz, Aberdeen co-ordinator for the University of Children and Communities.

This particular strand of NOF Funding was specifically targeted at areas of some deprivation, which had a history of academic under-achievement. Initially, funding was for one year, with the prospect of a further two years, depending on outcomes after year one. The chess project proved to be so successful that additional funding was made available after the first year so that the programme could be expanded in years two and three.

In 2004, Aberdeen City Council provided a grant to enable the chess project to continue whilst awaiting a report from a University research team, which had been commissioned by the Council and the Scottish Executive.

The publication of this report in February 2005 supported the anecdotal evidence that the introduction of chess to schools had made a significant impact on pupil’s social and academic skills.