John MacGill.

[Bernard Coll]

John MacGill, Scottish Grandmaster who played in the 1973 GB vs USA in Bournemouth is in very poor health. Please remember John in your prayers. I will keep posted upon any developments. Bernard Coll. Sec.S.D.A.

[Hugh Devlin]

Hi Bernard,
Thank you for this. John has been one of the true giant's of the game in Scotland and Britain for nearly half a centure - and long after he stopped playing. I only met him once at Morecambe during the International Team Matches (I believe 1980) and I could not be but impressed. As a relative unknown player I engaged him in conversation there and we spent a long time talking about life. Unfortinuately ill-health visited him early and he became housebound shortly afterwards. As a grandmaster player he was happy to share his knowledge with anyone with an interest. Many of his cooks were legendary, while more of them, shown to Britain & Ireland's top players, remain unpublished. I know Billy Doberty rarely went to Scotland without calling to see him.

[william]

Good evening

I called John McGill ( correct spelling) this afternoon.

John was hospitalized for 7 weeks, and actually got released 8 weeks ago. He had pneumonia.

He told me that he has been weakened by this and not surprisingly has not fully recovered yet. He also suffers from arthritis and has been for a good few years now.

The last time I went to visit him we played a few games, but I had to assist him in moving his pieces.

Despite these facts John remains optimistic i believe.

Tommy Watson and Brian Kilgour visit John regularly now on a Friday and they go over some lines of play or games.

I told him that I would visit him as usual upon my next visit to Glasgow.

I will try and publish the very first game that John and i played when he first took me on in his training program.

Greetings
William

[william]

Good evening

I managed to get some time to look out the very first practice game which I played against John McGill.
This game was played in 1982, which would make me about 14 at that time. My playing career totaled 1,5 years.
The games were played at Johns home.

Black Docherty White McGill

11-15, 23-18, 8-11, 27-23, 10-14, 22-17, 15x22, 17x10, 6x15, 25x18, 15x22, 26x17 11-15, 29-25, 4-8, 24-19, x, x, 8-11, 25-22, 7-10 (at this point Brian kilgour called this" the wheel of a tank " defense)22-18, 9-14, x, x, 30-26, 3-7, 32-28, 1-5 ( I had noted in my notebook that 11-15 was stronger... for the draw, but this gave winning chances)26-22, 5-9, 22-18, 9-13, x,x, 21-17, 22-25, 17-13, 11-15, 9-3 x,x,x,x, 7-11 6-2, 23-18, 30-25, 2-6, 11-16 draws