Wasted talent?

[Charles W. Wood]

You mention Sponsorship When applying to a possible sponsor ...

Thanks for these ideas, which should certainly help organisers of local events. For international events, however, would multinational companies (not necessarily those based in the UK) be best because the audience for IM games is international and the primary distribution medium for chess games is the web?

You may be right, but in my experience most companies that trade over their borders, I.E.: International Trading, do so using the same methodology as British/EU and US/Japanese international trading firms. So the basics ideas I used would still come into play.

There was one other thing I missed out; companies that are doing really well with high profit margins and companies running in the red, tend not to be good sponsorship targets as they either don't have a reason for profile building or just don't have the money for it, where as companies that are just breaking even and need to higher their level of profile or move up in their respective market will be more perceptive to a sponsorship request.

[Neill Cooper]

If we only target the "Talented and Gifted" (Schools description of the kids believed to be going to University) we will keep banging our head against the wall when we lose them.

That is not how I see Gifted and Talented - nor how it is meant to be.

"In England the term 'gifted' refers to those pupils who are capable of excelling in academic subjects such as English or History. 'Talented' refers to those pupils who may excel in areas requiring visio-spatial skills or practical abilities, such as in games and PE, drama, or art."
http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/gifted ... ion/gandt/

Some do stop at Univesity, or when they get jobs, others keep playing.

You also raise an interesting question about the relationship between intelegence and chess ability.

[Charles W. Wood]

If we only target the "Talented and Gifted" (Schools description of the kids believed to be going to University) we will keep banging our head against the wall when we lose them.

That is not how I see Gifted and Talented - nor how it is meant to be.

"In England the term 'gifted' refers to those pupils who are capable of excelling in academic subjects such as English or History. 'Talented' refers to those pupils who may excel in areas requiring visio-spatial skills or practical abilities, such as in games and PE, drama, or art."
http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/gifted ... ion/gandt/

Some do stop at University, or when they get jobs, others keep playing.

You also raise an interesting question about the relationship between intelligence and chess ability.

You are right in some ways, you have quoted the literal terms which is exactly the way T&G's are described in the Education dictionary. My point is that this group in schools are the most likely to have a "Life Changing" moment after leaving school; University, Signed by a Sports Club, College, Management level job, Attending Arts College etc. Some do come through back into chess which I think is great but the point about the thread is that the number coming through is not very high. I do think working with G&T's is vital and needs to continue or we would never get our Gawane Jones, Nick and Rick Pert, Richard Palliser but I think a balance is needed, as someone right pointed out we need to think about replenishing the ranks at every level or there won't be a structure for the Talent to rise through.

As for the question about intelligence and chess ability, this is one I have been working on over the last 18 months or so, I started the Renaissance Academy with several identifiable groups to see what outcomes could be possible. As well as a small G&T group we had 5 Autistic Juniors, 2 with Mental Impairments, 6 with mild learning difficulties, as well as several middle of the road school children (All mixed together). The details are not ready yet but the results have already staggered me, results should be ready for Christmas this year. We have put a lot of work into giving achievable targets as we go and ALL now play in the evening league, some are aiming for a grade of 80/90, but the surprising part for me is that ALL the Autistic/ Mentally Impaired/Learning Difficulty Kids (8 to 25) are aiming for 100 to 120 by the end of next season.

I'm not trying to make a "Master" out of any of the Kids coming through but we will help anyone who has the potential. I do think that having many different coaches with different outcomes to achieve is the best way forward, some wanting to make evening league players, some training the superstar GM's of tomorrow, others training the levels in-between.

[IM Jack Rudd]

I'm not entirely surprised by this. There are a number of autistic spectrum people who've gone on to do well in chess, and one of them has just written this post.

[Alasdair MacLeod]

I think David Navara, Czech no.1 GM is another one.

[raycollett]

That is not how I see Gifted and Talented - nor how it is meant (Ray's not Neill's emphasis) to be.

Should we allow Government to define how terms are defined ?

[Neill Cooper]

That is not how I see Gifted and Talented - nor how it is meant (Ray's not Neill's emphasis) to be.

Should we allow Government to define how terms are defined ?

I take your point, but when we are dealing with schools and LEAs it is best if we use the term as they have defined it.

[Alan Ruffle]

Dear All

Chess is not like football where you can take it or leave it, it requires dedication in the face of all kinds of distractions for a young adult.

Would it be possible to offer one Event of National standing i.e. An English Junior Championship series incorporating selection for the World and European Junior Championships.

This would allow a distracted player to show his worthiness/dedication or lack of it giving other players who are not distracted a chance, I am concerned that some of the players selected by our current system find difficulty not to be included in our National teams, a bit like the England football team under Walter Winterbottom.

Also a properly organised Junior National Championships would fill the criteria for attracting sponsorship

Yours Sincerely

Alan Ruffle

[raycollett]

Would it be possible to offer one Event of National standing i.e. An English Junior Championship series

I like the idea of linking England Team selection to performance in tournaments that are organised by the ECF, the Counties Chess Unions, or affiliated Counties.

[Matt Harrison]

If I've read the suggestion correctly, it sounds remarkably similar to the system that Peter Purland has put in place for this year:

1. An invitation junior selection tournament for the right to represent England at the Worlds
2. The John Robinson Grand Prix (best 3 of 5 big junior tournments - British, London, South of England, West of England, Junior Squad) for the right to represent England at the Europeans.

As the father of a decent junior player (albeit not quite at World/European Level) this seems to me to be a pretty decent selection system.

[raycollett]

albeit not quite at World/European Level

I first thought, "hope your son doesn't read this blog"; but then, when you're young, perhaps there is no more effective spur than proving your Dad wrong! Hope it turns out well!

[JamesMurphy]

Hi all,

This is my first post so go easy on me!

I noticed this post and was intrigued by it due to the fact that I come from the unique perspective of having been a member of the England Junior Chess Team (from 1996-1998) probably more recently than others on the forum. In fact I had the opportunity to play against Murugan and Ameet Ghassi when they were youngsters. Anyway here is my take on the situation of Chess for youngsters in England and why I was forced to give up chess at the age of 15/16 and instead concentrate on my academic career.

I began playing chess at the age of 8 (which was 16 years ago - 1993) and quickly progressed as a junior eventually being recognised 3 years later by the English Chess Team. As a bit of further background I came through the Derbyshire Chess Team along with Alex Longson (you may have heard of him?). We were the only two out of an entire county of players to get to a decent enough standard to be able to represent our country (which if you ask me is something no county should be proud of...).

Initially I was coached by my dad and this, along with a lot of hard work was sufficient for a while, however, when reaching the BCF of 157 at the age of 15 I found myself at a plateau where I would have to put in a significant amount of hard work in order to progress and gain a FIDE rating, FM, IM and finally GM. I constantly entered Opens but found myself beaten by more experienced players. At this point I became frustrated finally turning to even GM Nigel Davies on his Checkerwise course but this also didn't seem to help. There were very few GMs available in my local area (not that my parents could afford that sort of tuition at £40/hr). Bearing in mind that by this point I'd held Midland under 11, 12, 14, 16 and 18 champion by 14 as well as coming =2nd in the British Rapidplay U150 championship at the mere age of 11. By the age of 16 I'd given up trying to improve, it was taking too much time and commitment for the minor improvements and my GCSEs / A-Levels were fast approaching demanding more and more of my time.

Looking back I felt that (aside from starting chess at an even younger age) with the right help and guidance I could have reached dizzy heights or at least gone on to achieve a FIDE rating and perhaps an FM title. I clearly had a talent for the sport and showed it from an early age and despite the lack of coaching managed to get to a reasonable standard. Ironically now my grade is likely to go from ungraded to approx 170-180 which is the highest i've ever had despite not playing for 6 years. This I think was largely down to reading and adopting many of the Russian techniques for studying chess and following some very simple rules, plus I probably panic a lot less than when I did as a youngster.

Anyway back to the main point. I believe there to be very little support for parents of talented chess kids and no real structure to support them. Unless you're located in and around large cities such as London, Manchester or Birmingham you're unlikely to get the support you need firstly because it's very difficult to find and second because if you do find someone who can help they're probably too far away to do so.

That's just from my perspective but it may well be a lot different for Murugan and Ameet. Perhaps they just lost the appetite for chess? I honestly can't say. All I can say is that my story is more than likely a very common story amongst many of the talented juniors that have come and gone from the chess world.

I look forward to others response on this and whether they feel the same way.

[Alex Holowczak]

I agree with the academic point.

Ammet Ghasi was often an opponent for my school's board 1 (losing on every occasion). He went to King Edward's School in Birmingham, so he must have been very intelligent. I suppose he had the choice between concentrating on academic work to get a good job, or trying to be a GM so he could be involved with chess professionally. Perhaps the former was his decision.

It isn't just chess that has the problem of converting strong juniors into strong adult players. People may just lose interest, lose drive, or find something else to do with their time.

[Ben Purton]

Well despite the so called wasted talents, the 20-22 age group is hard to beat in terms of strength. Especially as Howell played up in to those sections when younger, so in respects of strongest age group, you wont get another era like it for at least a decade, we have at least 7 titled players.

Ben

[Michael Bennett]

Hi James,

This I think was largely down to reading and adopting many of the Russian techniques for studying chess and following some very simple rules

As someone who's recently come back to chess after a 13-year gap, I'd be interested to know more about these!

Is there a book about the Russian techniques? And are the 'simple rules' separate or part of that?

Cheers, Michael