New (and first) Welsh Grandmaster

Discuss anything you like about chess related matters in this forum.
NickFaulks
Posts: 8452
Joined: Sat Jan 02, 2010 1:28 pm

Re: New (and first) Welsh Grandmaster

Post by NickFaulks » Sun Oct 25, 2015 4:15 pm

Stewart Reuben wrote: I am not sure Nigel was ever registered for Wales.
He played for Wales in the 1989 European Team Championships.
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a QR code stamped on a human face — forever.

User avatar
Nigel_Davies
Posts: 226
Joined: Sat May 17, 2008 12:00 am
Contact:

Re: New (and first) Welsh Grandmaster

Post by Nigel_Davies » Sun Oct 25, 2015 4:22 pm

I think I should clarify my position given the astonishing amount of press and radio coverage my switch has caused. My thoughts on the issues faced by English Chess can be read on the blog posts below, the Telegraph didn't exactly put things in context and appear to have obtained their quote second or third hand:

http://chessimprover.com/how-to-raise-the-finance/

http://chessimprover.com/the-english-chess-implosion/

I have no plans to play right now as I don't have the time, and in any case I'm not qualified to play for the Welsh team. My decision to leave the ECF has been largely motivated by my lack of value there and the fact that just registering for Wales should help them in many ways, as Kevin Staveley has confirmed. I'm not getting anything out of the change, I just want to contribute to the development of the game I've spent my life on and it seems that I can do that by just registering for Wales.

This is confirmed on the other side by the ECF publicity director who points out that I am of little value to the ECF. This is certainly true if a federation has no money, people do pay me for chess lessons, even if I can no longer make a living from playing. I am only surprised that he didn't greet the news with a more beautiful response that might make people think he's a knowledgeable person doing a responsible job.

http://tigerchess.com
Last edited by Nigel_Davies on Sun Oct 25, 2015 10:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Kevin Thurlow
Posts: 5803
Joined: Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:28 pm

Re: New (and first) Welsh Grandmaster

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Sun Oct 25, 2015 5:34 pm

"This is confirmed on the other side by the ECF publicity director who points out that I am of little value to the ECF."

Considering all the bad publicity ECF attracts, the comment by the publicity director (if he's quoted accurately) is not exactly helpful!

Jonathan Rogers
Posts: 4634
Joined: Tue Nov 18, 2008 9:26 pm

Re: New (and first) Welsh Grandmaster

Post by Jonathan Rogers » Sun Oct 25, 2015 9:09 pm

I don't know the history but the response of the new ECF Publicity officer (assuming he really did say it) is, to my mind, quite astonishing. Apart from anything else it is also quite inaccurate. Nigel could, had he been so minded, still have played in a future England Seniors team which, unlike our open team (and apparently the only team that occurs to our officer), would have reasonable medal chances in European and World events.

I mean, really! The officer might as well have trotted out "you know the old saying: if all else fails, go to Wales"!

Roger de Coverly
Posts: 21291
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:51 pm

Re: New (and first) Welsh Grandmaster

Post by Roger de Coverly » Sun Oct 25, 2015 9:14 pm

IM Jack Rudd wrote:- he's now a non-English GM
There's now a whole team's worth of the various "defectors". In no particular order, Nigel Davies of course, but also Joe Gallagher (now Switzerland), Tony Kosten (France), David Norwood (Andorra) and Matthew Turner (Scotland). You could add Murray Chandler having returned to New Zealand.

User avatar
Michael Farthing
Posts: 2069
Joined: Fri Apr 04, 2014 1:28 pm
Location: Morecambe, Europe

Re: New (and first) Welsh Grandmaster

Post by Michael Farthing » Sun Oct 25, 2015 9:32 pm

Why is it worse than a Yorkshire player defecting to Lancashire? [Of course, it's a damned sight more expensive].

User avatar
Nigel_Davies
Posts: 226
Joined: Sat May 17, 2008 12:00 am
Contact:

Re: New (and first) Welsh Grandmaster

Post by Nigel_Davies » Sun Oct 25, 2015 9:57 pm

I should probably mention that I was also interviewed by a Times journalist today. It was via mobile phone, I was in Liverpool's Waterstones Cafe with my son and there were a group of very noisy Italians sitting on an adjacent table. Accordingly I take no responsibility whatsoever for how the article turns out and I continue to be baffled as to why this has attracted so much media attention.

http://tigerchess.com

Jonathan Bryant
Posts: 3452
Joined: Sun May 11, 2008 3:54 pm

Re: New (and first) Welsh Grandmaster

Post by Jonathan Bryant » Mon Oct 26, 2015 8:26 am

Nigel_Davies wrote: ...I continue to be baffled as to why this has attracted so much media attention.

It’s because the story that’s being presented in the press is a misrepresentation of the real story. E.g. The Times’ article’s first line:-

"An (sic) row has broken out in the world of chess after an English grandmaster defected to Wales ...."

is just outright untrue.


Again, you have to give credit to Leon Watson for picking up non-stories from the chess world and turning them into something that all the newspapers want to report. It’s not a job I much care for, but you have to say he does it very well.


Btw:
In the Times Nigel Davies is quoted thus: -

"All our best players are now in their 50s, 60s and 70s."


Those Italians must have been very noisy indeed.

Kevin Thurlow
Posts: 5803
Joined: Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:28 pm

Re: New (and first) Welsh Grandmaster

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Mon Oct 26, 2015 9:04 am

"Why is it worse than a Yorkshire player defecting to Lancashire?"

Nothing is worse than that.

User avatar
Nigel_Davies
Posts: 226
Joined: Sat May 17, 2008 12:00 am
Contact:

Re: New (and first) Welsh Grandmaster

Post by Nigel_Davies » Mon Oct 26, 2015 10:04 am

BBC Wales will be interviewing me at 12.40pm to do a less 'jazzed up' piece. I will also be setting the record straight in my post for http://chessimprover.com tomorrow.

http://tigerchess.com

User avatar
JustinHorton
Posts: 10364
Joined: Mon Aug 04, 2008 10:06 am
Location: Somewhere you're not

Re: New (and first) Welsh Grandmaster

Post by JustinHorton » Mon Oct 26, 2015 10:59 am

I quite like the CJ angle, by which a claim in his book, which nobody believes, is pertinent to the state of an organisation which is not important enough in CJ's life to be mentioned in his book.

A good time to be concerned about CJ might have been four years ago, when he was slinging around money on our behalf without any of it being properly documented. Now that was a scandal.
"Do you play chess?"
"Yes, but I prefer a game with a better chance of cheating."

lostontime.blogspot.com

Brian Towers
Posts: 1266
Joined: Tue Nov 18, 2014 7:23 pm

Re: New (and first) Welsh Grandmaster

Post by Brian Towers » Mon Oct 26, 2015 11:05 am

Nigel_Davies wrote: I continue to be baffled as to why this has attracted so much media attention.
I suspect the real story the journalists wanted to cover was the turmoil of the ECF as depicted in the AGM. The problem is that there is no headline involving "ECF" and "AGM" that is going to attract readers or clicks. "English GM defects to Wales" is much more saleable as a headline and then you can hang your real story off that with a segue from Nigel's discontent.
Ah, but I was so much older then. I'm younger than that now.

User avatar
Nigel_Davies
Posts: 226
Joined: Sat May 17, 2008 12:00 am
Contact:

Re: New (and first) Welsh Grandmaster

Post by Nigel_Davies » Mon Oct 26, 2015 3:12 pm

I did an interview today with BBC Wales which appears at around 2:48.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/b06kn8ft

http://tigerchess.com

Reg Clucas
Posts: 598
Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 3:45 pm

Re: New (and first) Welsh Grandmaster

Post by Reg Clucas » Mon Oct 26, 2015 3:27 pm

Kevin Thurlow wrote:"Why is it worse than a Yorkshire player defecting to Lancashire?"

Nothing is worse than that.
Apart from going in the opposite direction ! :)

Andrew Zigmond
Posts: 2073
Joined: Tue Nov 22, 2011 9:23 pm
Location: Harrogate

Re: New (and first) Welsh Grandmaster

Post by Andrew Zigmond » Mon Oct 26, 2015 9:16 pm

The Times ran on this story today. While I agree with some of what has been said I feel quite strongly that the ECF has turned the corner in recent years and while it is perhaps amateur led it is less bumblingly so than it was ten years ago. As Mr Davies himself notes in one of his blogs Malcolm Pein is now the Director of International Chess but in addition to that he is of course on the board itself and has stated that he has no problem working with any of the current members.

The other point to make is that the decline of the English Chess has been going on for so many years that unfortunately nobody on the current board can be held responsible for it; they simply inherited the situation and the infrastructure can't be rebuilt overnight. It is true that we do not value our titled players - let's not forget that there was another mini chess boom in the early nineties caused by an English Grandmaster challenging for the world title.

I have long held the view that International chess (this includes FIDE rated chess which of course does not have to be played abroad) should be delegated to a committee of those it effects and that amateurs such as myself shouldn't be in a position to stick their oar in. At the same time there needs to be a relationship between the amateur and professional bodies.

Interestingly the former rent boy who became President of the ECF was actually generally supported by professionals and distrusted by amateurs.
Controller - Yorkshire League
Chairman - Harrogate Chess Club
All views expressed entirely my own

Post Reply