Full Biography
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Andrew Joseph Muir b. 17.10.1958, Glasgow Andrew Muir provided the following extremely detailed biography. Early Development Andrew taught himself chess at the age of 9 by reading the rules from a family copy of the Encyclopedia Britannica. He did not own a set at the time so used two packs of playing cards to create one – putting the cards face down created the 64 squares, the kings and queens represented themselves and other cards were chosen for the different chess pieces. Later, when he obtained a set, he played regularly at home with his father William and younger brother Stephen. He attended John Ogilvie Hall; a preparatory primary school for St. Aloysius College, between 1966 to 1970 which held a school championship in which all boys in Primary 6 and 7 were expected to enter. Whilst still at this school, he played for the senior St. Aloysius team. He attended St Aloysius College from 1970 to 1975 which entered teams in the Senior (all players), Intermediate (S4 and below) and Junior (S2 and below) sections of the Glasgow Schools’ League each year. A teacher would accompany pupils to away matches in the evenings and the club met every Friday after school. In 1969 the family moved house to Park Road, Giffnock, less than 10 minutes walk from the thriving Giffnock & Clarkston Chess Club run by the enthusiastic Walter Munn. Andrew, his father and brother all joined. With membership growing to nearly 100, the A team led by students Michael Rosenberg (who later played for USA at bridge finishing runner-up in the Bermuda Bowl) and Ian Meiklejohn, were soon promoted to the first Division of the Glasgow Chess League. In the early 1970’s John Glendinning organised several junior training tournaments and Andrew also sent some of his games to be analysed by Scottish champion Peter Jamieson. Junior Chess Winner of John Ogilvie Hall championship 1969, 1970 ( in 1970 he beat his brother in the final). He played in several Junior tournaments held at Langside Halls, Glasgow organised each September by Walter Munn and others. In the under-12 section (unofficial Scottish championships for children who had not reached their 13th birthday) he was 1st in 1969 (10.5/12) when the prizes were presented by television news presenter Mary Marquis MBE, 3rd = with 8.5/12 in 1970 when Douglas McGregor from Paisley Academy scored 12/12, and 1st again in 1971 with 11/12. After finishing behind Tim Upton in the under-13 section in 1972 and being unsuccessful in the under-17 section in 1973 he played in the invitational Junior International section in the next few years. Players were generally invited from Western Europe and had strong participation from English players. He scored in these as follows: 1974 (3/5), 1975 (3/5), 1976 (2.5/5), 1977 (2/5). Mary Marquis presents his prize at Langside Halls, 1969 Winner of St Aloysius individual junior school championship (S3 and below) in 1972, 1973. Member of Scotland Glorney Cup teams 1973-1977. He was top scorer with 3.5/5 in 1973 but struggled on top board with 1/5 in 1975. The team was very unlucky not to win the tournament in 1977 as they had a very experienced team (Graham Morrison, Tim Upton, Alan Norris, Andrew Muir, Colin McNab, Chris Morrison, and Paddy McGhee) with Andrew playing as low as board 4. All the players stayed in a large dormitory in an Irish monastery where Andrew got very little sleep due to French partying into the night. In the match against France he missed the win of a piece at move 12, lost the game, and was dropped for the final match versus Holland which Scotland, needing 4.5 points to win the trophy, only won 3.5-2.5. Glasgow Schools League, St Aloysius College, 1st in Intermediate section 1973 and 1st = in Senior section 1974. Glasgow Boys’ Champion 1974. He was banned from playing in the 1975 tournament due to an incident in the match between Glasgow schools and Edinburgh schools where the top ten boards were agreed quickly drawn so the players could go and watch the rugby international match held at Murrayfield the same day (in the end they only watched the match on tv). Scotsman Scottish Schools Championship winners, board 1, St Aloysius College, 1975 (beating Robert Gordon’s College, Aberdeen 3-1 in the final and Marr College, St Andrews 2.5-1.5 in the semi-final). The winning team was Andrew Muir, Paul Maiolani, Bernard Dunn and Edward Morgan. The school entered the Sunday Times British Schools Chess Championship but in a telephone match against Robert Gordon’s College, after about 3 hours play only 20-25 moves had been played on each board with some games still in the opening stage. All six games were adjudicated draws and Robert Gordon’s went through to the next round being the younger team. After poor performances in 1973 & 1974 he became Scottish Boys’ champion, Aberdeen, 1975 with a score of 6/7. In the 1974-75 season, at the same time as studying for six Higher examinations, he played about 150 competitive games. Glasgow Herald under 19 champion 1975, 1978. In 1977, after a poor start of 0.5/4 he withdrew and was originally banned from the 1978 tournament but this was later rescinded. Represented Scotland in World Junior in Yugoslavia in 1975 (21st=). Represented Scotland in European Junior in Holland in 1975 (19th) and in 1978 (10th). Joint British under- 21 champion, Ayr, 1978 beating Julian Hodgson. Andrew played in several other Junior International tournaments with little success: Halle, Germany 1975 (1/7), Denmark 1976 (1/9), Sweden 1977 (5/9). Conditions in some of these tournaments could be basic – in Halle he shared a double bed with a young Eric Lobron and in Denmark the tournament was held in a school. Student and under-26 events British University champions – Glasgow University 1976 Scottish University champions – Glasgow University 1977 World Students’ Olympiad Scottish team, Mexico City 1977. Andrew was fortunate that travel costs for his participation in this was paid by Glasgow University. On arrival, the team was originally allocated dormitory accommodation in bunk beds but after a revolt by the captains the teams were placed in one of the most opulent hotels in the city overlooking the park. As players entered the lobby adorned with frescos, Iain Sinclair said “welcome to paradise” and the players later spent about £50 on an expensive meal including a flaming crepe suzette. After a few days the team was later moved to a less expensive hotel. World U-26 Olympiad – member of successful Scottish teams. In Mexico City 1980 the team finished 6th=, ahead of USA and China, and in Chicago, USA, 1983, the team, amongst the top five for a while after a narrow 2.5-1.5 loss to USSR, eventually finished 10th. Selected individual tournament results • Giffnock club champion 8 times - 1976, 1977, 1979, 1983 - 1987 • Scottish Open 1st 1977 • Manchester Open 1st 1979 • Glasgow Open 1st 1982, 1984 (also individual champion in 1991, 1995), 2008 • Scottish Allegro 1st, 1983, 1997 • West of Scotland Champion 1985, 1995 • Scottish Lightning Champion 1985 • Civil Service Open 1st , 1987 • Arc Young Masters 2nd =, 1988 (After ruining several won positions against titled players in the preceding decade he finally achieved his first ever wins over an IM (at his 50th attempt!) and a GM (at his 12th attempt) in the same day of this weekend Swiss.) • Lloyds Bank Masters 7/10, 7th = , 1988 (only a point behind winners after a last round win against GM Mihai Suba, ranked 78th in the world who defected to the West during the tournament.) • North London Open 1st, 1988 (ahead of Michael Adams, Matthew Sadler and several other strong English players) • Arhus Festival 10 players all-play-all, 1st , 7/9, 1990 • In 2007, after receiving inspiration at the set of Gregory’s Girl he finally became Scottish Champion in Cumbernauld at his 18th attempt (he was also 2nd in 2005, 2006 and 2008) with an unbeaten score of 8/9. At the age of 48 years and 9 months he was the oldest first-time winner since Sheriff Walter Spens who won at the age of 52 years and 1 month in 1894. • Glasgow Allegro 1st =, 2008 Selected team tournament wins Andrew liked to be in a winning team and switched clubs to Shettleston in 1983 and Hamilton in 2003 to further his ambitions. Hamilton, whose premises at that time were at the local football club, had a large group of junior players including several internationalists under the supervision of Michael Hanley and in their peak season of 2004-05 won thirteen tournaments: all four divisions of the Glasgow League, both divisions of the Lanarkshire League, the Scottish National League, both sections of the Scottish Team Lightning, the AK Miller Glasgow League Handicap, the Glasgow League Junior and Rapidplay and the Richardson Cup. He was also behind the concentration of several strong West of Scotland players at Paisley YMCA in the 1990s with the intention of winning the British National championship. Bobby Mitchell, a lawyer, was unhappy that these players took all the glory and did not participate in events on club nights and in 1995 he forced these players out of the club. However this was very detrimental to the club and in 2001 after several demotions they were playing in Division 4 of the Glasgow League. Several of the Paisley players joined Crowwood where, under the organisation of John Henderson they were successful for a short while till the team split up.