English Chess Forum

As reported here on the excellent Atticus Chess forum:-
http://www.atticuschess.org.uk/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=352

Here as well:-
http://sccu.ndo.co.uk/new.htm

Yet to be confirmed (or denied) so no confirmartion on this but if true rather a sad day

Claire Summerscale has certainly resigned as Junior Director.

I will find out more today; it is a bleak time for the ECf and our chessplayers if this is the case.

A shame (if true) since although I didn't always agree with the ideas on moving forward as least there were actually some thoughts for discussion

Which I presume are no more

There should be an anoouncement shortly on this. I was not at the meeting on Saturday and am trying to catch up.

Not rumours; true.

CEO, Martin Regan & International Director, Peter Sowray have both definitely resigned. Andrew Martin has confirmed Clare Summerscale has joined them. My initial post on the Atticus forum gives their reasons as I understand them. It is indeed a bleak day.

ECF Council needs to take a long hard look at itself. It is a body unfit for purpose. The crisis in English chess is very serious indeed, but clearly not yet serious enough to stir the bumbling incompetents and self-regarding patzers who clog up ECF Council.

Fundamental reform of how we do business in English chess is long overdue. Alas, prospects for doing what is necessary have receded further with these resignations. Small wonder I have kept the tournaments of the past three years in Liverpool at arm's length from the ECF. I always feared the lunatics would regain control of the asylum.

David Robertson
Atticus CC & Tournament Promoter

Yet again chess is in turmoil It seems beset with infighting, one step forward, two steps back!
Modernisation and fresh ideas are badly needed for the ECF to progress.
Is Abramovich a chess player?

What a terrible mess.

I hope some sensible alternative to the ECF arrives, as I'd hate to fund this circus for much longer.

Here is the letter from Peter Sowray :

Hello,

Please forgive the impersonal nature of this email, but I just wanted to let you know that I will shortly be stepping down from my position of ECF International Director.

Although the ECF has approved a 35% increase in the International budget for the coming year, it has become very clear to me and others that the Federation is unwilling to tackle the underlying issues that have caused the decline of chess in England over recent years. You might think that with about a million pounds at its disposal, the ECF would be keen to invest in our game. Sadly, that appears not to be the case.

Whilst I’m hopeful that the increase in the budget will mean that we can send a strong and properly prepared team to the Olympiad later this year, I am far less optimistic about the future. The outlook for the ECF’s flagship event, the British Championship, also appears uncertain.

A new International Director will be responsible for selecting our teams to go to Dresden. You have given me fantastic support whilst I have been working for the ECF, and I hope you will extend the same support to the new director.

Finally, I am very grateful for all the help I have received from you. The best of luck to those of you playing in important international events at the moment. I hope to see many of you at the 4NCL next weekend.

Kind regards,

Peter Sowray

John

The ECF is now facing the biggest crisis in its long history. Very strong action is going to be needed to avoid a total meltdown.
Although I am not a board member and am not intending to resign, I want to be convinced the people who make the decisons understand the dismay throughout the country about the state of chess in this country .

1) We are not recognised as a sport

2) We don't have sponsors ( Holloid excepted)

3) We dont have big tournaments

4) We dont look after our professional players.

5) We seem to frustrate and enrage those people who are trying to move things forward by blocking attempts at progress.

6) We are declining as a world chess power, both at International and Junior level precisely because of the stipulations above.

I'm sure I have missed things out, but it wasnt intentional. Maybe you can all help me fill in the gaps.


Martin Regan, Claire Summerscale, Peter Sowray and Mike Truran, four key people who were doing a tremendous job,have all resigned. Who will replace them? These are not posts which anyone can fill.

Andrew

This does indeed sound like the spell of doom. What about the "Chess Sets for Schools Project" that Charles is running? All this hard work to bring chess to children to not only increase the appeal of chess, but to broaden their minds must surely have taken a hit due to this news...

Who will replace them? - the question should be - WHY HAVE THEY RESIGNED!
Lets have the truth!

the question should be - WHY HAVE THEY RESIGNED!
Lets have the truth!

I'm sure the resigning directors can speak for themselves as can the delegates who attended the council meeting.

If I understand it correctly ( this comes from the chess NE1 forum) the council meeting was asked to consider the proposition that

A proposal is being made today by the Board that ECF should move to a compulsory membership scheme, abolishing Game Fee and providing grading and entry to ECF affiliated events only for paid up members.

It would appear that the delegates to the council meeting rejected this proposition or at least felt that the board had not properly considered the practical and financial effects of such proposals.

All of them are members of this forum and so hopefully a comment or statement will be forthcoming

Dear Chess Colleagues,

Yesterday I along with Peter Sowray, the director of international chess, Claire Summerscale, the director of junior chess, and non-executive director Mike Truran resigned our positions within the English Chess Federation, although we will stay on, if required, until the end of May to ensure a smooth handover for our successors.

The decision has been immensely difficult. Since the new board took control in a contested election in 2006, it has made substantial progress in improving both the profile and activity of the ECF. It has made mistakes along the way, but generally, I hope you will agree, it has been a board which had the interests of English chess at heart.

However, in order for English Chess to achieve that of which it is capable, more fundamental changes are needed. This is what the board was elected to deliver.

We were under no illusion about the hurdles that would need to be overcome, nor were we even sure that the Federation itself would wish to embark on major change.

However, it was clear from the first that in order to progress this agenda two fundamental conditions were required: A unified board and a Council wishing to hear the debate with an open mind.

I regret to say that neither condition could be met, despite my best efforts.

At Finance Council it became depressingly clear that a minority - and I do stress the word minority - had little intention of grasping the opportunity for debate. Unfortunately, voices within the ECF which speak loud and often have a disproportionate influence.

At the same time, over the past year, it has become clear that not all the members of the board wished to support the type of changes that the large majority of the board believed were essential, indeed were implacably opposed to them .That is their right,of course, but seeking to persuade the Federation about the need for change with the background opposition of key figures is impossible. I am not a magician.

It is an huge privilege to be a director of the ECF and to serve a Council which on the whole, in my view, tries its best. But with this privilege comes the responsibility to leave the Federation in a better position than when one took office. This needs to be recognised more. And as your CEO, as I could no longer guarantee this, I felt the only honorable course was to resign.

In saying this, I make absolutely no criticism of those directors who have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with me but have, for the present, decided to remain in post. I thank them for their support. As I say, this has been a period of soul-searching for us all.

In the case of Claire, Peter and Mike, the ECF has lost three of the hardest working and most effective officers it has had for many, many years. I am proud to have worked alongside them. As indeed I have been proud to work with many ECF delegates and officers.

I should like to thank all those who have helped the board during the past 18 months, and those hundreds of volunteer organisors, members and players whose voices are rarely heard, but without whom there would be no Federation.


Thank you all

Hello All,

It is quite astonishing that this mess has occured, chess a (dare I say it) "sport" full of people with great inteligence, that there is such a bizarre and weak situation in the ECF. There has to be change, for what is currently being done is quite obviously under par. Change can take the place of: a new federation, new leaders, new systems, new ideas. The abilty for the ECF to be succesful is there, and for chess to boom in England like it once did, is available.

So why then we must ask is the chess federation failing so miserably?
People can comment all they like about how things can be improved, and how terrible the situation, thats all very easy. However, saying something is extremly easy, doing it is the harder bit. We just need to find the people capable of turning the ECF around, and the ideas with them.

How do we achieve this?
Well we can stop bickering etc about the situation and begin to put the money where our mouths are, a start ... perhaps a forum: Ideas for the ECF's future.
I would find it extremly surprising if no-one were able to bring up some competant ideas, even if an idea seems stupid at first, the combination of thought from different members, could potentially be a turning point for the ECF.

Why don't I do what i have just said?
Well I am a bit young to be doing anything like this, (excuses, we all have them). However, I would be inclined to give as much help or whatever is needed as possible to try and turn a declining chess country into one which is prosperous.

Yours Sincerly,
Elliott Auckland

N.B Any spellings, or grammer errors I apoligize for ... not my strongest point!