I agree this might be the case; but looking at last season the ECF stages U180 had eight counties with half of them playing in the higher sections as wellNickFaulks wrote: ↑Tue Apr 17, 2018 10:24 amSo at a stroke you are taking the 160-180 group of players in the big counties out of county chess. Why? I did read the grudging concession about maybe allowing a couple of second teams, but that won't do.Alan Walton wrote: ↑Tue Apr 17, 2018 10:14 amPersonally I would scrap the minor counties and U180, and have one Championship section with a couple of Plate competitions which replace the Minor and U180
I also suspect that the teams in the minor counties & open already have a high proportion of the 160-180s playing in those team
So I think the impact isn't as bad as people make it out to be
Also this will only be for the ECF stages; there is no barrier for the unions to continue there own U180 sections if desired
EDIT : Also looking at the QF of the Minor counties all teams had at least 50% players in their teams graded U180, and most had U160 to keep their average down, so these teams could actually play more 160-180 players without having to worry about the average rating condition