IM Jack Rudd wrote:David Pardoe wrote:
Are there lessons to learn from this .....surely someone could have stepped forward to take things forward for Bristol?
Or is the new Bristol squad going to take up the `slack`.....
"Someone" is the problem. Nobody David asked was willing to.
I guess that trying to raise the profile of some of our top chess events would be a big boost for UK chess. Not least, it might also have the knock-on effect of helping to raise numbers playing chess and joining our local chess clubs. I suspect that there are a number of players who are blissfully unaware of the chess clubs and leagues in there local areas, and that they are very keen to recruit new players of all ages and standards...beginner through to expert. To help encourage such players, particularly those in the ECF `zero to say 100` category, I`d urge clubs to run start-up club competitions (and start-up leagues...), particularly aimed at the lesser mortals. Many such players play casual `online` chess, and don`t appreciate that they could make very good additions to our local chess clubs....given some initial encouragement. The formation of new clubs in areas where these don't currently exist, would also be good. How many good sized towns across the land have no chess clubs...bags of scope to fill this void, with a bit of positive action....and of course, support from county and league chess bodies. And the addition of some new junior chess clubs, maybe started by local colleges, could provide new vitality and welcome fresh faces on the chess scene.
Returning to the matter of lifting the profile of our top chess events...
TV is an obvious route, if it can be packaged in an attractive format.....with follow-up sponsorship and other benefits.
Yes, at a stroke, our top gun players could be lifted by some much needed funding...if those sponsors could be encouraged to step forward...
I look at cricket, golf, darts, snooker..etc..etc... clearly there is a market for these, and maybe channel 4 might be an outlet for chess, if a good format can be found. Whether it be a MOTD highlights type presentation, or selective `live coverage`, (flicking between the boards as games progress....as they do in golf coverage), with match and board/game commentaries, analysis, discussions, Openning reviews, tactics, time scrambles...with slow motion replays, background, references to other chess events, and maybe some interviews, it could certainly make good TV viewing...
And maybe a chance to use some of that huge amount of data the inputters so painstakingly enter.....with fees paid for games used, etc... There must be great scope for TV/media involvement in our major tournaments.
Bill Hartston and others have put on some good programmes in past times....but not covering tournaments, just single `big match events`, if I remember correctly.
I could see this attracting reasonable daytime interest. No, its not going to be entertaining in the regular sense, but the interest, cultural, educational, and quality value might be quite good....and provide quality viewing, stretching the grey matter. You could imagine many pensioners, and others at home during the day, might sit and watch an hours instruction and follow the progress of a tournament, or highlights, and some of the game incidents and analysis...and maybe take some interest in various personalities who might be interviewed. You`d need your `panel of experts` and good presenters to put across the interesting slant...but I could imagine that this might capture the imagination of many armchair pundits, with free time to watch such things.
I know the chess `geeks` watch stuff online, but this might reach `Joe public` in a way that might add some useful TV to an audience starved of quality, and fed `junk` by our media presenters too frequently.