All Party Parliamentary Group on Chess meets with ECF & CSC

Debate directly related to English Chess Federation matters.
John Foley
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All Party Parliamentary Group on Chess meets with ECF & CSC

Post by John Foley » Wed Nov 19, 2014 12:42 pm

The All-Party Parliamentary Group greeted the leaders of the English chess world yesterday in Parliament. Members of Parliament reviewed the current state of chess; as well as public and private funding and development since the 1970s. Comparisons were made with chess in other European, Asian and American countries. MPs considered perspectives of chess for education, chess for recreation (incl. well being), and chess as sport. MPs reviewed potential courses of action for two recent Parliamentary Questions regarding Government recognition and support, which included proposed meetings at ministerial level within the DCMS.

Activities to raise Parliamentary appreciation of chess were discussed, including MP visits to the London Classic, a Garry Kasparov simultaneous display at the House of Lords and the reviving of the traditional Lords v Commons match. The APPG was informed of the upcoming London Chess Classic, CSC Chess and Mathematics Conference, the ECF’s strategic review and The Chess Trust’s pending application before the Charity Commission.

The chair of the APPG, Yasmin Qureshi, is seen in this photograph with Phil Ehr, Dominic Lawson and Malcolm Pein.

Jonathan Rogers
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Re: All Party Parliamentary Group on Chess meets with ECF &

Post by Jonathan Rogers » Wed Nov 19, 2014 1:35 pm

Very good to hear that discussions have been had - definitely a step in the right direction from the ECF perspective.

But what next? We have been here before with politicians. Is there a clear plan of action arising from the day - eg who will meet with whom from the DCMS? Was anyone from the DCMS actually there and if not, what reason is there to believe that the relevant minister will have any interest in a meeting?

Mike Gunn
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Re: All Party Parliamentary Group on Chess meets with ECF &

Post by Mike Gunn » Thu Nov 20, 2014 1:09 pm

The English Bridge Union met with the DCMS minister a couple of weeks ago to make the case for bridge (and other mind sports) being recognised as sports. There is a press release about this on the EBU website.

NickFaulks
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Re: All Party Parliamentary Group on Chess meets with ECF &

Post by NickFaulks » Thu Nov 20, 2014 1:18 pm

From what I know of bridge players, they will have even less enthusiasm for drug testing than chess players.
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John Upham
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Re: All Party Parliamentary Group on Chess meets with ECF &

Post by John Upham » Thu Nov 20, 2014 2:40 pm

NickFaulks wrote:From what I know of bridge players, they will have even less enthusiasm for drug testing than chess players.
Do you now what type of drugs one can test as a chess player? I'm aware of students receiving payments for similar.
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Keith Arkell
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Re: All Party Parliamentary Group on Chess meets with ECF &

Post by Keith Arkell » Sat Nov 22, 2014 10:27 pm

I hope statin's and bp tablets are allowed, or I'm ******!

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IM Jack Rudd
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Re: All Party Parliamentary Group on Chess meets with ECF &

Post by IM Jack Rudd » Sat Nov 22, 2014 10:30 pm

Similarly for me and anticonvulsants.

Mick Norris
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Re: All Party Parliamentary Group on Chess meets with ECF &

Post by Mick Norris » Sun Nov 23, 2014 10:31 am

Keith Arkell wrote:I hope statin's and bp tablets are allowed, or I'm ******!
:lol:

Can't be banned in Seniors events, wouldn't be healthy (and probably against your human rights)
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Roger de Coverly
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Re: All Party Parliamentary Group on Chess meets with ECF &

Post by Roger de Coverly » Sun Nov 23, 2014 10:41 am

Mick Norris wrote: Can't be banned in Seniors events, wouldn't be healthy (and probably against your human rights)
Ridiculous as it sounds, the rules for chess anti-doping are the same as for physical sports. There's a long and possibly arbitrary list of prohibited substances and methods which can get you banned if you are caught by a test. The criticism that not taking a drug could kill you or severely handicap you is met by getting a certificate of exemption from your doctor.

Little or no attempt has been made by FIDE to extend the scope of these rules beyond a cosmetic attempt to do just enough to maintain its status as being recognised by the IOC. In the UK, I would think that any attempt to impose such rules or enforce a ban is wide open to challenge on the grounds, as recently reinforced by that Bridge case involving VAT, that Chess is not, in the legal sense, a sport.

MartinCarpenter
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Re: All Party Parliamentary Group on Chess meets with ECF &

Post by MartinCarpenter » Sun Nov 23, 2014 10:57 am

Heart pills and the like are a non trivial problem for drug testing of bridge players - there a decent number of the top players are seniors, and comfortably so in chess terms.

Not sure what they do about it. Fairly absurd overall right now of course. Might be a more serious problem if they ever get the memory etc boosting drugs to work well.

Kevin Thurlow
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Re: All Party Parliamentary Group on Chess meets with ECF &

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Sun Nov 23, 2014 11:05 am

WADA website (http://list.wada-ama.org/) will tell you what's banned, (it keeps changing) but you can get your doctor to sign a medical exemption form, which FIDE should accept. One hopes the entry form would state if drug-testing were a possibility at the event. Obviously it's better if you say when selected for testing, "Here's my medical exemption form", rather than testing positive and then saying you can get a form...

I agree that it's not clear if anything on or off the list is helpful for chess. The list of substances banned in specific sports is entertaining in some places, e.g alcohol is totally banned in archery and anything involving driving! Beta-blockers are banned in golf, darts, etc...

Many of the stimulants in list S6 are controlled substances in a number of countries anyway.

Stewart Reuben
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Re: All Party Parliamentary Group on Chess meets with ECF &

Post by Stewart Reuben » Wed Nov 26, 2014 6:51 pm

Do remember that Dr Jana Bellin is chairman of the FIDE Medical Commission.
Indeed 60+ are exempt.
Anyway, that's not the point of the thread. Get chess and bridge (and Go, Draughts and Shogi, etc.) recognised as sports in the UK and it's a huge prize, because other countries will come into line.
At the moment getting chess into the Paralympics is a bit of a problem. The Disabled Commission was first formed in Tromso.
Unless the ECF were to get funding once again, or for it to be recognised that fees shouldn't not be liable to VAT, as with physical sports, there won't be much change even if chess is recognised as a sport.
We could take the case to the EU Court about the VAT. Golf did and won. 6 years back VAT caused them problems on what to do with the money.

Kevin Thurlow
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Re: All Party Parliamentary Group on Chess meets with ECF &

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Thu Nov 27, 2014 8:25 am

"Indeed 60+ are exempt."

I still don't think that's the case, but we've discussed this before.