English Chess Forum

I shall be at the London Chess Conference at the University of Roehampton today.

The focus of the conference is on chess education, especially that of primary school aged children.

I hope to meet members of the ECF who are keen to engage with others on this topic including the Director of Junior Chess and Education (DoJCaE).


https://chessconference.org/

I'd be interested to hear some of their ideas about best practise teaching methods, those are generally quite well guarded secrets in the chess education community.
Not sure what will come of it though, there are often murmurings of chess being taught in schools but then the realisation that people kind of can't afford to do full time jobs for free puts a bit of a dampener on things

For anyone interested to hear some of the content, the conference was streamed and John has given the site address. Having said that, there's 15 hours of talk and, unless you have time on your hands, you're probably well advised to pick the subjects closest to your heart. As to criticism, there's a problem that - with presenters coming from around the world and sometimes being not too fluent in English - their words aren't always clear over the audio system. Also, the focus was more on teaching beginners and near-beginners, usually at school, which made it less relevant for those of us who coach at the next level up. Plus, as one speaker neatly summed up, it was to a large extent a case of "preaching to the choir" in that most present appear to have been funded by chess organisations - I can't say that I recognised a single face, other than conference chair John Foley and CSC chair Malcolm Pein, from the English chess community. This probably sounds rather negative so, to redress the balance, I'd add that there definitely were some worthwhile thoughts and ideas.

Roger Lancaster wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 23, 2023 5:18 pm

I can't say that I recognised a single face, other than conference chair John Foley and CSC chair Malcolm Pein, from the English chess community.

For the record we had:

IA Shoreh Bayat (the sole ECF representative)
John Upham (British Chess News)
Richard James (Independant)
IM Malcolm Pein (CSC)
John Foley (ChessPlus)
Nevil Chan (CSC)
Chris Fegan (CSC)
Aga Sapkowska Milewska (CSC)
Alexis Harakis (ChessPlus)
Matthew Piper (CSC)
Daniel Sparkes (CSC)
Paul McKeown (CSC I believe)
Andrew Varney (Independant)

and others who I missed / failed to notice for which I apologise.

John Upham wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 23, 2023 7:47 pm

Roger Lancaster wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 23, 2023 5:18 pm

I can't say that I recognised a single face, other than conference chair John Foley and CSC chair Malcolm Pein, from the English chess community.

For the record we had:

IA Shoreh Bayat (the sole ECF representative)
John Upham (British Chess News)
Richard James
IM Malcolm Pein
John Foley
Nevil Chan
Chris Fegan
Aga Sapkowska Milewska
Alexis Harakis
Matthew Piper
Daniel Sparkes
Paul McKeown

and others who I missed / failed to notice for which I apologise.

That's great - bit pointless holding it in London if none of the natives attend! Actually my previous post should have included Matt Piper, who did a presentation. Some of the others I might not recognise but there are one or two names I know well but definitely didn't spot.

John Upham suggests that Shohreh Bayat was the sole ECF representative, but includes in his list Aga Milewska who is also an ECF Director.

Not the only one...

J T Melsom wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 23, 2023 8:08 pm

John Upham suggests that Shohreh Bayat was the sole ECF representative, but includes in his list Aga Milewska who is also an ECF Director.

I have edited the list to indicate allegiances.

Aga was a representative of CSC and did not represent the ECF.

Paul Cooksey wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 23, 2023 8:15 pm

Not the only one...

I have edited the list to indicate allegiances.

The others were CSC representatives.

I chose my words carefully.

Roger Lancaster wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 23, 2023 7:57 pm

John Upham wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 23, 2023 7:47 pm

Roger Lancaster wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 23, 2023 5:18 pm

I can't say that I recognised a single face, other than conference chair John Foley and CSC chair Malcolm Pein, from the English chess community.

For the record we had:

IA Shoreh Bayat (the sole ECF representative)
John Upham (British Chess News)
Richard James
IM Malcolm Pein
John Foley
Nevil Chan
Chris Fegan
Aga Sapkowska Milewska
Alexis Harakis
Matthew Piper
Daniel Sparkes
Paul McKeown

and others who I missed / failed to notice for which I apologise.

That's great - bit pointless holding it in London if none of the natives attend!

Clashing it with the 4NCL may have contributed to that.