Death of a congress ?

[Colin Gardiner]

re brendan,s comment re Idle trt.i have just received an email from the organiser advising that it has been cancelled.

[Brendan O'Gorman]

Sean - Excellent

Better still would be round robin sections of 6. But they have gone completely out of fashion.

Stewart Reuben

Unfashionable perhaps, but not extinct. The Idle Chess club are running their second five round all-play-all from 24-26 June. Details and entry form here: http://www.idlechessclub.org.uk/page6.html

Sadly, the Idle congress has been cancelled due to "unforeseen circumstances".

[Adam Raoof]

Sean - Excellent

Better still would be round robin sections of 6. But they have gone completely out of fashion.

Stewart Reuben

Unfashionable perhaps, but not extinct. The Idle Chess club are running their second five round all-play-all from 24-26 June. Details and entry form here: http://www.idlechessclub.org.uk/page6.html

Sadly, the Idle congress has been cancelled due to "unforeseen circumstances".

Isn't this rather early to be cancelling?

[Andrew Wainwright]

Please note that the cancellation of this congress is not due to financial reasons but due to other reasons which I have privately discussed with Brendan and other entrants who's entry fee I have today reimbursed.

My apologies once more to anyone who has been affected by the cancellation of this event.

[Richard Bates]

For what it's worth, I believe that a weekend congress that does not break even with an entry of 120 has it's cost base too high and that's the area that I would concentrate on to make the event financially viable.

For example, the e2e4 congress this weekend currently has 128 entrants without having printed any entry forms, or paid for a single stamp to post information to players. We've done this by having all information online including a downloadable entry form and the facility to enter and pay online. This saves about £150 in printing costs and about £90 in postage.

Not all congresses can do that of course, but relying on more than 120 entries is a dangerous game to play in my opinion. Many weekends get less than 100 entrants.

It strikes me that an extremely useful project that the ECF could develop would be some sort of central site both advertising and processing online entries for the English tournament chess circuit. Organisers might even be prepared to pay a fee for the service which would be an additional source of income. I personally find it surprising in this day that organisers still spend so much money sending out entry forms in the post.

[David Grobler]

Please note that the cancellation of this congress is not due to financial reasons but due to other reasons which I have privately discussed with Brendan and other entrants who's entry fee I have today reimbursed.

My apologies once more to anyone who has been affected by the cancellation of this event.

This is bad news....I had this one pencilled in...I was def going to enter......

[IM Jack Rudd]

You could enter Yeovil instead. The entry forms will be available shortly.

[David Grobler]

You could enter Yeovil instead. The entry forms will be available shortly.

Yeovil???
Which country is that in ?...Not Yorkshire for sure......

[David Grobler]

I presume we all know that Huddersfield has been cancelled too?

[Brendan O'Gorman]

You could enter Yeovil instead. The entry forms will be available shortly.

Vulture!

[IM Jack Rudd]

You could enter Yeovil instead. The entry forms will be available shortly.

Vulture!

That's me. Always eager to extend a friendly claw.

[Stewart Reuben]

I was very touched that some years ago Malaga was cancdlled and the organisers sent out a note recommending people play in Gibraltar. Consideting the relationship between Spain and Gib at the time, that was very fine on their part. Later they uncancelled.

Richard Bates >It strikes me that an extremely useful project that the ECF could develop would be some sort of central site both advertising and processing online entries for the English tournament chess circuit. Organisers might even be prepared to pay a fee for the service which would be an additional source of income. I personally find it surprising in this day that organisers still spend so much money sending out entry forms in the post.<

The ECF does advertise the tournament chess circuit on the ECF website, just as FIDE does on its. Organisers do pay a fee. It is called game fee. Of course there are other benefits. I too am surprised organisers produce and send out entry forms. It is one reason why I believe game fee should not be eliminated in favour of a memership only system. Congress organisers get much better value for money than do league organisers of non-FIDE rated events

But the idea of the ECF Office actually doing the work of processing the entries for events other than its own had never occurred to me. That would be quite time-consuming and expensive. The office no longer even does the entries for the British Championships. That was farmed out long ago. I doubt it would be very efficient and thus cost-effective. What is your opinion Sean?

Returning to the originl subject matter. I am also convinced that people will be more likely to enter a tournament if it is FIDE Rated. That is partly because there are 6 Rating lists a year.

Stewart Reuben

[Roger de Coverly]

But the idea of the ECF Office actually doing the work of processing the entries for events other than its own had never occurred to me.

The point perhaps is that the ECF is in a position to jump through the considerable hoops needed to accept money on-line. I think it had to do this for the on-line Certificate. So on paper it could offer on-line billing as a service to local tournaments.

I'd suspect the VAT issue is a potential problem as allowing tournament entry money anywhere near the ECF risks the attack that the amounts involved are part of ECF turnover and thus attract VAT.

[Alex Holowczak]

The point perhaps is that the ECF is in a position to jump through the considerable hoops needed to accept money on-line. I think it had to do this for the on-line Certificate. So on paper it could offer on-line billing as a service to local tournaments.

I don't think I've ever paid the ECF by cheque. I've always made any Game Fee payments by direct transfer. That's always another option, of course.

[Stewart Reuben]

Roger >The point perhaps is that the ECF is in a position to jump through the considerable hoops needed to accept money on-line. I think it had to do this for the on-line Certificate. So on paper it could offer on-line billing as a service to local tournaments.

I'd suspect the VAT issue is a potential problem as allowing tournament entry money anywhere near the ECF risks the attack that the amounts involved are part of ECF turnover and thus attract VAT.<

That is true regarding credit cards and definitely direct debit. OK, it can be looked into.

I don't think VAT would be an issue if the ECF was just acting as a holding agent. But of course I am no expert. A major company wanted to help the ECF set up a fully professional computerised system just for the ECF's own money. But it was not the right time until we have sorted out changes in our whole system of being funded.

Stewart Reuben