We had a great day on Saturday 1 May when, to mark the club's 60th anniversary, grandmaster Paul Motwani came to Lanark and gave a simultaneous exhibition and lecture.

Although designed to replicate the visit of W A Fairhurst to the club in its early days, this was a much more high profile occasion than the original. The event, held in the town's Memorial Hall, was formally opened by South Lanarkshire Council's Depute Provost Mary McNeill. Amongst our guests for the day we were delighted to have IM Stephen Mannion and two 'old boys' from Lanark Chess Club, Alan Minnican and Robert Lothian. Many parents and friends of participants came along to watch and the local press covered the event. There was also coverage in the chess columns of The Scotsman, The Herald and Scotland on Sunday.

After the opening speeches Paul gave a short talk based on an exciting game featuring the Scotch Opening. As always Paul's talk was inspirational and his style perfectly suited to keeping the many juniors interested and attentive.

During a short break we enjoyed an excellent buffet lunch, beautifully prepared by the mums of three of our junior members.

27 players (19 juniors, including two guests from Hamilton Chess Club, and 8 adults) took part in the simultaneous exhibition. During his first 'circuit' Paul presented a certificate, signed by him to each participant. Over a period of about four and a half hours Paul won all 27 games, although some opponents proved to be tough to beat. Young Connor Woods from Hamilton put up a great fight and Lanark 'veteran' George Brown came very close to pulling off an upset.

Although he'd already had a very long and gruelling day Paul gave another talk before the event ended.

A superb day was nicely rounded off with a number of club members, guests and Paul going out for a meal in a local restaurant.

The club would like to thank all those involved in making our 60th anniversary celebration a great success, in particular our gratitude goes to GM Paul Motwani, Depute Provost Mary McNeill, Carol Taylor, Helen Chapman, Helena Topp and Sandy Topp.

This year's event attracted 26 teams of four players from throughout Lanarkshire, hopefully encouraging a large entry to next seasons Lanarkshire Primary Schools League.

The event took place in St Brides Pastoral Centre, Fallside Road, Bothwell, due to the large numbers. St Brides PS are grateful to Mr Joseph McAdam of Airdrie YMCA Chess Club for controlling the event in his usual friendly manner, to all the parents who gave up their time to run the canteen etc, and especially to Mrs Cannon who organised the whole event from start to finish, not forgetting Mrs Doyle (Head Teacher at St Brides PS) for presenting the prizes, who pointed out that her children had been taught chess by Mr Connolly at Holy Cross.

The prizewinners were,
1st St Edwards "A" (Airdrie) 10/10
2nd St Brides "A" (Bothwell) 8/10 15.5 Board Count
3rd Golfhill "A" (Airdrie) 8/10 15.0 Board Count

Individual Prizes,
Haley Talent St Brides Cambuslang 5/5

Benjamin Filmer St Mary's Lanark 4/5
John Ross Turnbull Alexandra Airdrie 4/5

Other team placings as follows,
Points Board Count
4th St Brides "A" (Cambuslang) 7/10 14.5
5th Alexandra "A" (Airdrie) 7/10 12.5
6th St Edwards "C" (Airdrie) 7/10 12.0
7th St Brides "C" (Cambuslang) 7/10 11.5
8th St Dominics "A" (Airdrie) 6/10 12.5
9th= St Marys "A" (Lanark) 6/10 12.0
9th= St Edwards "B" (Airdrie) 6/10 12.0
11th St Brides "B" (Bothwell) 6/10 11.0
12th St Brides "B" (Cambuslang) 5/10 11.0
13th= St John the Baptist (Uddingston) 5/10 8.5
15th St Brides "D" (Cambuslang) 4/10 11.0
16th =Dalserf "A" (Larkhall) 4/10 9.5
16th= Carluke "C" (Carluke) 4/10 9.5
18th Carluke "B" (Carluke) 4/10 8.5
19th Westcoates "A" (Cambuslang) 4/10 8.0
20th St Brides "C" (Bothwell) 4/10 7.5
21st Carluke "A" (Carluke) 3/10 9.50
22nd St Brides "F" (Cambuslang) 3/10 6.5
23rd St Brides "E" (Cambuslang) 3/10 5.0
24th= Dalserf"B" (Larkhall) 2/10 5.0
24th= St Brides "D" (Bothwell) 2/10 5.0
26th St Brides "E" (Bothwell) 0/10 1.5

The Fact that over 100 primary children were playing is very encouraging for the future, as this follows on from Lanarkshire's victory over Lothians by 13.5-10.5 in their annual challenge match, which this year Lothians were very gracious hosts.

All schools competing in next seasons Primary School League will be invited to send their players to Airdrie YMCA on a Sunday evening 6.00pm-8.00pm, were training and competative games will be available.

On a final footnote, as their were so many St Brides teams, to avoid confusion Mr McAdam told St Brides C/lang to chose Scottish Names for their teams and St Brides Bothwell to chose European Countries for their teams. It was interesting to see England finish last in a Scottish event so close to the British Championships in Edinburgh, lets hope it is an omen.