Scottish Junior Chess

Run by Michael Hanley

Scottish Junior Chess
Scottish Junior Chess (Chess Academy Scotland) more commonly known as SJC was formed in 2004 by a group of keen junior organisers and parents of active junior chess players. They wanted to support junior chess players by organising tournaments in a safe & friendly environment.

Chess for Kicks event was & continues to be the main SJC tournament. Heats are run to enable the winners to qualify for the finals. Why chess for kicks name? Well apart from initially holding the heats & finals in football stadiums, it was also to show that chess is cool . It has developed on request from the juniors from only 5 rounds a day to the average of 7 rounds. The heats are now run in affordable, child friendly venues & the finals in a football stadium.

Soon after being formed the British Gas Group gave a 3 year grant to support grass roots chess & that support has been continued and self funded by SJC to the present, by giving a section at tournaments for beginners & novice players. SJC continue to support juniors until they reach a level & confidence to enable them to play in adult congresses.

Our volunteers have a wealth of experience in junior chess & the five fully qualified arbiters we have & our helpers have CRBS PVG Disclosure. We also have very experienced chess tournament directors that have not only been running junior events over the last fourteen years for SJC but many of the prestigious adult & junior congresses over many years.