What is the history of the ecf office

[John Upham]

John,
Just to clarify what you are saying, have I got it correct? You might never get paid, because (for whatever reason) you might not deliver the CoM - it might never happen?

I just want to keep you in suspense...

[Eoin Devane]

I'd say that, for the majority of Chess players, £8311 going towards Graders' Fees represents extremely good value, seeing as really the grading system is pretty much the only thing that the ordinary player gets from the ECF for his / her game fee contribution.

[Carl Hibbard]

I'd say that, for the majority of Chess players, £8311 going towards Graders' Fees represents extremely good value, seeing as really the grading system is pretty much the only thing that the ordinary player gets from the ECF for his / her game fee contribution.

We need to expand the Online Grading Database to include the ECF membership number and then also display a grading breakdown of all games played but only for those people who have a membership number - this may encourage a few more people to sign up and increase revenue at least a little...

[Alex Holowczak]

I'd say that, for the majority of Chess players, £8311 going towards Graders' Fees represents extremely good value, seeing as really the grading system is pretty much the only thing that the ordinary player gets from the ECF for his / her game fee contribution.

We need to expand the Online Grading Database to include the ECF membership number and then also display a grading breakdown of all games played but only for those people who have a membership number - this may encourage a few more people to sign up and increase revenue at least a little...

Why should the ECF charge for something that FIDE provides for free?

Since you can't copyright the result of a game of chess, you could just get one member to distribute all that information amongst the chess-playing population anyway, if they wanted to. The database can be downloaded, after all. Also, if I know a member, I can just ask him/her to look up the relevant games and results, copy and paste, done.

[Carl Hibbard]

Since you can't copyright the result of a game of chess, you could just get one member to distribute all that information amongst the chess-playing population anyway, if they wanted to. The database can be downloaded, after all. Also, if I know a member, I can just ask him/her to look up the relevant games and results, copy and paste, done.

No, I am suggesting that everyone can look at a games breakdown for an ECF member - however that "breakdown" (although held in the database) is not visible if you don't have a number against your grade

Make sense?

A "member" gets that information now via a printed list, so the change would more of an encouragement nothing else

[William Metcalfe]

Would this service be available to MO members ot just direct members of the ECF carl

[JohnPaines]

No, I am suggesting that everyone can look at a games breakdown for an ECF member - however that "breakdown" (although held in the database) is not visible if you don't have a number against your grade

Make sense?

Not sure. What if the non-member requests the data under the Data Protection Act?

[Carl Hibbard]

Would this service be available to MO members ot just direct members of the ECF carl

Who knows, it's just an idea for now - however I have yet to persuade the powers that be

[Carl Hibbard]

No, I am suggesting that everyone can look at a games breakdown for an ECF member - however that "breakdown" (although held in the database) is not visible if you don't have a number against your grade

Make sense?

Not sure. What if the non-member requests the data under the Data Protection Act?

I won't include their data in the database then so avoiding that complaint?

[William Metcalfe]

As a MO member i get a email with all my games and results on to check before the grading list comes out.
That is the reason i was asking carl and i do think your idea is really good.I do not mind paying more if i get something back from the ECF but at the moment all i seem to get for my membership is a grade.

[Ian Thompson]

No, I am suggesting that everyone can look at a games breakdown for an ECF member - however that "breakdown" (although held in the database) is not visible if you don't have a number against your grade

Make sense?

Not sure. What if the non-member requests the data under the Data Protection Act?

I won't include their data in the database then so avoiding that complaint?

Unless you can predict in advance who's going to ask, and delete their data before they do, you'd be too late. Once they'd asked for it, you'd have to disclose it. I don't see why this would be a problem though. The ECF can charge £10 for fulfilling a Data Protection Act Subject Access Request. That's double what they currently charge non-members for this grading information.

[Carl Hibbard]

Unless you can predict in advance who's going to ask, and delete their data before they do, you'd be too late. Once they'd asked for it, you'd have to disclose it. I don't see why this would be a problem though. The ECF can charge £10 for fulfilling a Data Protection Act Subject Access Request. That's double what they currently charge non-members for this grading information.

I could only upload breakdown information for 'actual' members in the first place - hence avoiding the issue?

Not sure on the rules to be honest

This would be more hassle if people joined during the season since I would need to upload their number and their breakdown of games information

Or just keep stum as to how I am doing things

[Roger de Coverly]

Why should the ECF charge for something that FIDE provides for free?

I don't think FIDE does really supply it (detailed results) for free.

FIDE charge each national federation eg the ECF a membership fee

and

For each game rated a fee to have the game rated, what you might term a game-rating fee. At present it's a relatively modest amount presumably to cover the costs of running and administering their ratings server. The recent proliferation of FIDE rated tournaments in the UK has been in part because the ECF made a decision not to pass on the costs of FIDE rating to the organisers. Whether this was affordable given the ECF's difficulties remains to be seen.

[Roger de Coverly]

This would be more hassle if people joined during the season since I would need to upload their number and their breakdown of games information

I think what you are saying is that there are not any difficult technical issues in doing this. There may however be legal issues for non-members. Actually from the point of view of intelligence gathering on potential opponents, you want to keep who you've played a secret and see who the opposition have played recently.

Another worthwhile improvement would be the calculation of a "current year to date" grade based on results already submitted. If done for everybody this would give an up to date measure if you wanted to use it for tournament seedings, board orders or congress eligibility. Those of us who liked to monitor performance have being doing this when we can be bothered on our personal results for years. Oh I forgot - the latest version of the grading rules doesn't allow you to do this any more if you play any juniors.

[Matthew Turner]

John Upham wrote,
I just want to keep you in suspense...

I'm sure everybody finds this very amusing. Given the big part you seem to think the CoM will have in the ECF's recovery plan, perhaps you could use your wit on the administrators.