British Champs Entry Fees

[J. Moore]

What is the feeling on the entry fees for this years British, as I note the entry fee for the juniors in their own age group comps is £50.00, it seems very expensive to me!

[Alex Holowczak]

The junior events last 6 days (at least, the 4-hour session ones do). So that's roughly £9.50/day. Paying £20 for a weekend congress would not be unusual. I think £50 is reasonable. The real pain is the cost of accommodation.

[Susan Owens]

In principal I totally agree ( in practicality i understand that it has to be paid for )

I think this is the event that you want all the best British junior talent to enter and the accommodation/travel costs on top make it an expensive trip. There may be reduced cost lodgings in halls at some locations, but I have never seen this suitable for a family.

I am still not convinced that a separate junior champs at a seaside location (always) wouldn't be better for junior chess. The top juniors who feel they need to enter the adult competitions rather than their appropriate age groups may find there is more competition than they realise, and could do both (?!).

I am going to offer all the winners of the Welsh Girls Championships 2010 a subsidy from my meager Welsh Women's budget as I want to see how they perform against the best of British - before they tackle the World ! but unfortunately there are a host of factors as well as cost, which will influence their decision to enter. I just think the event needs to be more enticing.

[David Clayton]

I just think the event needs to be more enticing.

So Susan, what would you suggest to Messers Raoof, Welch and McFarlane that would make the British more enticing for juniors?

David

[Michele Clack]

This is linked in with sponsorship really. The lack of sponsors available in the current climate does rather limit what the ECF can do. The chances of getting one big sponsor at the moment is very slim. How about lots of smaller sponsors. For a start if a sponsor or sponsors could be found for each junior age group then some coaching with an ECF coach for the best boy and girl in each category could be added to the prizes.

[Alex McFarlane]

Can I make sure that everyone knows that thanks to the John Robinson Trust that free coaching is available to all juniors at the British.

Experienced coach Nick Nixon is available every day (except the middle Sunday) to go over games, provide tips and hints, etc, etc. These coaching sessions have been one of the BIG successes of recent championships.

[Michele Clack]

It's great that free junior coaching is available at the British Championships. I was thinking of an extra individual prize to be taken up later on. A lot of people read this forum. If just a few of them had companies, or contacts with companies, that might be interested in a relatively low and finite amount of sponsorship then something could be done for each age group.

The sponsors could have their name in the title of the age group competiton that they are sponsoring. They would also have a specific focus for their donation and more wins by the juniors having the coaching might encourage the companies to stay involved or even become more involved.

I'm sure Alex McFarlane would be very interested to hear from anyone who would like to pursue this idea, or indeed any other idea for more sponsorship. So let's see a bit of forum power!

[Ben Purton]

Am I the only one who does not know who the hell nick nixon is?

[Richard Bates]

Am I the only one who does not know who the hell nick nixon is?

Foreign chess coach I guess. Well, the North is another country

[Leonard Barden]

I think Ben raises a serious point which at least deserves further discussion. Some while ago somebody on Forum supplied a breakdown of the John Robinson Trust expenditure which if I remember correctly was around 20k annually. There was a figure quoted for junior coaching at the ECF congress which I remember thinking was rather high, especially since so little seemed to go to help English juniors at World and European youth events. But I assumed there were several highly qualified coaches doing the work at the congress and although I still didn't like the relative priority I let the matter drop. I've searched this afternoon for those expenditure figures but without success.
I dimly remember Mr Nixon as a player some decades ago but as far as I can find he currently has no ECF or FIDE rating, not even inactive. So it would be useful at least if the figures could be republished on this thread and if it could be clarified whether Mr Nixon is the only coach covering a large number of juniors. I would rather have expected at least one coach of GM or IM strength so as to cater for the strong juniors at the congress who play in international junior events.

[Ben Purton]

Thanks Leonard. There are plenty of coaches who would jump at the chance to do this job. I can't 110% speak clearly for him but I remember when the coaches were announced for the Worlds and European events, my housemate Thomas Rendle was literally not himself for like 2 weeks(he was clearly gutted).

I was quite shocked at this to be honest as Tom tries much harder than most coaches I've had. I have dabbled with many.

So someone who 'missed out' on an event like this and has experience and success at such events , is surely a more suitable candidate.

I can name a few coaches who are not titled who have great experience coaching juniors up to 200 strength(all that would require coaching at British junior).

Such names are Phil Adams(3C's- coach of numerous good juniors especially Steve Gordon, who spoke so highly of him)
Russell James(Who seems to be linked with large numbers of promising juniors in Midlands).

There are many more, that being said both the aforementioned players have been around the 190's-200 area for many years themselves.

Ben

[Richard Bates]

Thanks Leonard. There are plenty of coaches who would jump at the chance to do this job. I can't 110% speak clearly for him but I remember when the coaches were announced for the Worlds and European events, my housemate Thomas Rendle was literally not himself for like 2 weeks(he was clearly gutted).

I was quite shocked at this to be honest as Tom tries much harder than most coaches I've had. I have dabbled with many.

So someone who 'missed out' on an event like this and has experience and success at such events , is surely a more suitable candidate.

I can name a few coaches who are not titled who have great experience coaching juniors up to 200 strength(all that would require coaching at British junior).

Such names are Phil Adams(3C's- coach of numerous good juniors especially Steve Gordon, who spoke so highly of him)
Russell James(Who seems to be linked with large numbers of promising juniors in Midlands).

There are many more, that being said both the aforementioned players have been around the 190's-200 area for many years themselves.

Ben

http://www.anno-domini.net/CHESS/TRAINI ... _ENTRY.pdf

Nick Nixon – the coach
Nick lives in Leeds and has been a chess coach for over 30 years (an ECF coach for 10 years). Nick’s
playing career came to an end after a nasty motorbike accident in 1998, but prior to that was well known on
the local circuit with a playing grade of 219, 4x Yorkshire Champion and has been invited to do analysis at
the British for the last 3 years.

Sounds eminently qualified to me. One doesn't have to be an IM to be a good coach. Like I say, there are probably many very good coaches up North that us Southerners have never heard of.

[Leonard Barden]

So that's just one coach for 100-150 juniors?

[Richard Bates]

So that's just one coach for 100-150 juniors?

Depends whether there are 100-150 juniors who want to take advantage of the offer. Many may not. Or may have alternative coaching arrangements already. If demand is satisfied by existing arrangements (which appear to have been in place for several years) then i don't see much value in doubling the expenditure by employing extra coaches. But then it's pointless speculation for those who haven't been present at recent Championships and/or seen how effective they are in practise.

[David Sedgwick]

This interesting and important discussion is in the wrong section.

Carl, please may I suggest that you move the thread to Junior Chess.