English Chess Forum

You can also add - no great interest in playing in a summer competition with long distance travelling.

Roger,

Are you speaking for all Berkshire players or yourself and a handful of others?

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I'm only really speaking for myself and possibly other Bucks players. Outside of the 4NCL and congresses, Saturday/Sunday afternoon chess these days is 6 rounds of Chiltern over the winter plus the Jamboree, not a national competition with potential matches in April, May, June and July.

It would appear that you are missing out on a great deal :

http://www.information-britain.co.uk/county16/townguideCatford/

http://www.information-britain.co.uk/showPlace.cfm?Place_ID=2325

and

http://www.aboutbritain.com/towns/catford.asp

I have made contact with the Catford Tourist Board and they have invited a delegation from the Berkshire CA to stay for a fortnight.

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I have little to add from the SCCU point of view to what David and Neill have already said.

Members of Camberley club are welcome to play for Surrey as (although their club is not affiliated to the Surrey Association) it is geographically within Surrey.

For the sake of those unfamiliar with the rules here they are (extracted from the ECF site):

B6. The qualifications for a player to represent a County in any of these Championships shall be one of the following:-
i) Birth in that county.
ii) Five years residence in that county at any time.
iii) Two months immediate previous and present membership of a club either in or affiliated to that County.
iv) One month immediately previous and present residence in that County.
v) Present attendance as a teacher or student at a school, college or university in that County.

Roger: times have changed - Surrey now hosts matches at Cheam or Ashtead (but not Sutton) and I have played against Kent teams at Charlton House (a few years ago) and more recently at Dartford, but never Catford.

History of Surrey disputes: Surrey is used to controversy - before the Association was formed in 1883 the editor of 'the Chessplayer's Chronicle' attacked the proposed constitution (giving certain rights only to members of affiliated clubs) as "materially lessening the popularity of the movement, and, to our minds, will entirely rob it of the right to the designation of a County Association"

"History of Surrey disputes: Surrey is used to controversy - before the Association was formed in 1883 the editor of 'the Chessplayer's Chronicle' attacked the proposed constitution (giving certain rights only to members of affiliated clubs) as "materially lessening the popularity of the movement, and, to our minds, will entirely rob it of the right to the designation of a County Association" "

"(giving certain rights only to members of affiliated clubs)" still applies, doesn't it?!

I looked in an old BCM and it was suggested to have a British Chess Federation, and a meeting to discuss this was announced, whereupon Yorkshire complained that they didn't see the point of a BCF and why was the meeting in London? That was in 1903...

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Kevin J Thurlow

"One of the nicest people in English chess." - S Giddins 2011
"Not a gracious gentleman" - D Howes 2011

I find that attitude towards our governing body quite strange. I can't imagine football clubs in the 1850s thinking the idea of setting up the FA was a bad one.

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Well no, but then 99% of them didn't exist! (and the dissenters of those that did exist wanted to play Rugby ).