Carluke pupil Alexander plays chess for Scotland

Carluke High pupil Alexander Bond has won the right to play for Scotland - at chess.
Alexander Bond from Carluke High School who is going to represent Scotland playing chess. Picture Sarah Peters.Alexander Bond from Carluke High School who is going to represent Scotland playing chess. Picture Sarah Peters.
Alexander Bond from Carluke High School who is going to represent Scotland playing chess. Picture Sarah Peters.

He will represent Scotland at a UK tournament in July.

And it is not the first time the 16-year-old has represented Scotland. He has already competed at a tournament in the Czech Republic.

Alexander began playing chess when he was around nine years old.

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“My gran has a chess board in her house, and I always wanted to know what it was for,” he explained.

He learned, and was a member of Carluke Primary School chess club for a couple of years before joining Lanark Chess Club.

He started as a junior but was soon moved to the adult section.

“I have won the Lanark Chess club challenge twice, two years in a row,” he said.

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Alexander has been playing in various competitions and tournaments, and his chess rating kept rising until it was high enough for him to be the player representing Scotland in the Under 18 section of the Home Nations Championships, which will take place in Daventry in July.

With the wealth of computer games available to young people now - and which Alexander also plays - why does he find chess such an enjoyable challenge?

“I just find it fun,” he said.

“You are always learning new things and you never play the same game of chess.

“There is obviously a lot of strategy behind it all, and countless numbers of books have been published about different ways of playing.

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“I just look at a position, and see what move I think is best.”

Away from chess and his studies, Alexander is keen on football too.

He doesn’t know where his chess will take him, or who he will end up playing.

“I just want to be the best that I can be,” he said.