Changes to schedule for national stage of counties champions

[Chris Majer]

I would be interested to know people's views regarding the schedule of the national stage of the counties championships:

Is there interest in having an earlier schedule for the event? e.g.:
Preliminary Round - Fourth Saturday in March;
Quarter Finals- Second Saturday in May;
Semi-Finals - First Saturday in June;
Finals - Last Saturday in June.

Additionally, would there be interest in switching matches from Saturday to Sunday?

[Nigel Wright]

Both Saturday and Sunday are fine for me, as long as I'm not playing football.

I think the main thing is, when do people do most of their shopping/recreation etc. when they are not at work - if the majority do their stuff on Saturdays, have it on Sundays, or vice versa.

[Greg Breed]

I think it's fine on a Saturday. I'm sure there would be a loss of players with religious leanings if a switch to Sunday's came about.

As for the national stages I can't comment having never got there before.

[Mick Norris]

We have some players who can't play Saturdays and some who can't play Sundays - no easy answer

I think it would be good for the national stages to be brought forward, especially as there is rarely a preliminary round in most sections - avoiding clashes with summer football tournaments would be welcome

The chess calendar is very packed, however, so not sure how easy this would be

I guess the Unions would need notice in case they needed to alter their qualifying competitions

[Chris Majer]

ECF Council didn't consider that the early part of the county championship schedule could be brought forward. However, there was some support for playing the Finals one week earlier, i.e. last weekend in June. An aspect of the North/South divide was revealed in that the NCCU plays county matches on Sundays, whereas the SCCU prefers to play on Saturdays.

[David Pardoe]

I like the idea of advancing the dates for the Qualifying competitions and the Finals.
Personally, I`d like to see the qualifier events start in last week of September.....maybe finish first/second week of March.
In theory, it might then be possible to schedule the final stages for mid April, May and June......but watching out for Easter dates, and clashes with other key dates/events.
Regarding Sat or Sunday.....I`d suggest timetabling Saturday, but offering teams the option of Sunday play, by mutual agreement.
Dave P Manchester..
PS I`ve also suggested various options for County/Union restructuring, and I think it could be worth the ECF/Unions looking at ways of streamlining. eg perhaps combining some smaller counties, or counties with very rural populations. ie, Herefordshire and Worcestershire, Shropshire and Mid Wales, Northumberland & Scottish Borders. etc....