Junior selection: FIDE World/European Championships

[David Grobler]

sorry if I'm posting this is the wrong thread.....
I (with many others ) am a facebook friend with a certain young female player named Claudia Munoz . She is the official USA representative at next months World Junior chess Championships in India. I see that we have James Horton down on the list of participants in the Open section...but no-one in the girls category . Now...I appreciate that India is a long way away...and its expensive to send official representation . And I also am aware that October is term time ! But....shouldn't England have more of a presence here ? Claudia has some of her costs paid by USA Chess Fed...but not all . She is currently fundraising the shortfall of $5000 via facebook (shes 50% there....and I may donate the odd £ myself !) . But I would prefer to make that donation to an English player !
I played at Leek last weekend...and amongst the participants in the Open section , there were Chantelle Foster (who did rather well) , and Sharon Daniel . Both of these players would surely love the opportunity to play in such an important International event ? We used to send players ? What happened ? And if its simply a matter of cost...why cant selected individuals be "helped" to fund-raise like Claudia ?
I'm sure I'm naive...and some-one will "politely" correct me.....but WHAT are our ECF fees going on...if it isn't to help the youth ?

[Roger de Coverly]

.but WHAT are our ECF fees going on...if it isn't to help the youth ?

Running an office and financing teams in the Olympiad and World Team tournaments. Players taking part in tournaments and the coaching alongside are self financed, mostly by the players' families. There's some contribution from various Trusts, notably the John Robinson Trust.

The accounts and budget are on the ECF's website.

http://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-conte ... 012-13.pdf
http://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-conte ... udget.xlsx

Junior selection policy is a lengthy document at
http://englishchess.org.uk/Juniors/play ... on-policy/

The financial aspects are described as

Finances
The ECF aims to ensure top players have access to international youth championships, but are unable to take financial responsibility. Parents are encouraged to pursue donations, grants and individual sponsorship and to organise themselves in pursuit of team sponsorship that complies with ECF financial regulations.

[LawrenceCooper]

sorry if I'm posting this is the wrong thread.....
I (with many others ) am a facebook friend with a certain young female player named Claudia Munoz . She is the official USA representative at next months World Junior chess Championships in India. I see that we have James Horton down on the list of participants in the Open section...but no-one in the girls category . Now...I appreciate that India is a long way away...and its expensive to send official representation . And I also am aware that October is term time ! But....shouldn't England have more of a presence here ? Claudia has some of her costs paid by USA Chess Fed...but not all . She is currently fundraising the shortfall of $5000 via facebook (shes 50% there....and I may donate the odd £ myself !) . But I would prefer to make that donation to an English player !
I played at Leek last weekend...and amongst the participants in the Open section , there were Chantelle Foster (who did rather well) , and Sharon Daniel . Both of these players would surely love the opportunity to play in such an important International event ? We used to send players ? What happened ? And if its simply a matter of cost...why cant selected individuals be "helped" to fund-raise like Claudia ?
I'm sure I'm naive...and some-one will "politely" correct me.....but WHAT are our ECF fees going on...if it isn't to help the youth ?

Hi David,

I'm answering your query in my capacity as ECF Junior Director:

I made every effort to attract players to the event but ultimately it is their choice if they go or not and we should respect that. We have had plenty of representation at the other events this year, 28 went to the European Schools, 10 are going to the World Youth in South Africa, 28 to the European Youth in Georgia and 12 to the World Schools in Brazil. We also sent players to the Commonwealth Junior, World Schools Blitz & Rapid and the two EU Youth events and had a full complement of 20 players at the Glorney Cup. Numbers have been higher but Brazil, India and South Africa aren't the easiest or cheapest of locations.

You can read more about the English delegations that have travelled abroad this year via this link: http://englishchess.org.uk/Juniors/#
The next event is the World Youth: http://englishchess.org.uk/Juniors/play ... -the-team/

England juniors won medals in the World Schools Rapid, European Schools Under 9, Commonwealth Junior, European Amateur and the Glorney Cup so it is not all doom and gloom.

ECF funding is another question entirely, at present the majority of funds is spent on the Olympiad & European Teams, not on junior chess.

[David Grobler]

thanks for the reply Loz...I wasn't trying to be critical...I just like cheering on the English representatives in ALL tournaments...and I thought it a shame we dont have more players there !

[David Grobler]

I feel a bit of an idiot . I now realise that we are well represented at the WORLD YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIPS as opposed to the WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP (which I guess is mainly 19 year olds ? ). I got confused as to what the World Junior Championship actually was . Best of luck to all the players who have gone to Durban !