Looking to join a club?  Click here for Newcomers section...

Tuesday 30th June. A lightning tournament was held in the Selkirk club, and the winner (two years in a row) was Mark Gardiner. Sam Cornwell provided a not-serious trophy for the annual lightning night.

30 Jun 2026: Lightning tournament in Selkirk;  end of season updates

The annual lightning tournament took place on Tuesday in the County Hotel, and the top three on the nght were (1) Mark Gardiner (2) Nick Dunne and (3) Sam Cornwell.  We have a light-hearted report (with photos) from Sam, and it can be read on this special blog page...

End of season 2025-26

June 30th saw the last day of the Scottish season for grading updates.  Over the next day or two we will be archiving the 2025-26 tables and starting to update the live grades in readiness for 2026-27.  Please keep checking this site for your new grades.

09 Jun 2026: NHS are League champions; Borders players in Edinburgh

The final match of the 2025-26 Borders League took place in the County Hotel last night, when NHS Borders beat Kelso 2½-1½ to lift the title for the first time.

Victories by Max Scott and Logan Symons (and a top board draw by Stasys Gimbutis) secured the win for the NHS team, so congratulations to Stasys and his team, who have played fighting chess throughout the season.

All the Kelso-NHS games are on the League results page...

Borders players in Edinburgh

Four Borders players entered the Edinburgh Congress: Keith Aitchison played in the Major, and three Selkirk players - John Moore, Maurice Richards amd Sam Cornwell - played in the Bishops. All four had decent results and enjoyed the weekend even though with 5 rounds of 90-30 it was an exhausting one.

Sam Cornwell has submitted his games, and they are all on the League results page...

League results, plus all the Kelso-NHS games...

Results from Edinburgh: Major section...

Results from Edinburgh: Bishops section...

26 May 2026: Kelso v Selkirk B; plus a report from the Perth Allegro

Kelso were the visitors to Selkirk last night, and the result was a 2-2 draw.  Kelso players Keith Aitchison and Ian Whittaker won on the top two boards, while on boards 3 and 4 Selkirk B recorded wins by Mark Gardiner and Nick Dunne.  This means that the League depends on the result of the forthcoming Kelso v NHS match.  If NHS win, then the League is theirs;  but if Kelso draw or win that match, then Kelso will win the League.

League results, plus the Bogle-Aitchison and Whittaker-Richards games...

26 May 2026: Three Selkirk players play in Perth

Three players made up Team Selkirk in their trip to Perth to play in the Allegro (see the main photo in this page). The three did well, scoring a total of 12/21 over the weekend. Sam Cornwell has sent in a report on the weekend, and the report can be read in our blog section.

See our report on Perth 2026...

Newcomers and tuition

If you're looking to join a club, this is where to start. We cover the four main Borders clubs, with details of contacts. There is also a tuition section, including: a refresher on the rules of chess; some hints on how to win material;  and other basic tuition articles.

Newcomers section...

General blog 

What's in the blog section? Well, anything that anyone wants to write about.  This month we have a rant measured criticism of post-mortems; an introduction to problems; and games from prominent Borders players. Open to all, so please send in your articles to the editor.

Blog index...

Social media: Kelso and Selkirk

The Selkirk club has both a Facebook account and an X account.  The accounts are https://twitter.com/ClubSelkirk and https://www.facebook.com/selkirkchess.

Kelso's Facebook page can be found here...

Archives

Looking for past records?  Try our Archives section, with news, results and grading information from previous seasons. Data covering the past 15 years plus.

Chess Borders archives...