Major investment to transform future of English chess announced

[John Upham]

See

http://britishchessnews.com/2023/08/21/ ... announced/

s960_New_logo_gov.uk.jpg

[Stephen Westmoreland]

Oh wow. Fantastic news and this must happen. Would be great to compete with the Chinese and Russian players.

[Joey Stewart]

Hopefully whoever is in charge of the budget is good at stretching it out because a million pounds spread over the whole United kingdom will be somewhat thin.

[Stephen Westmoreland]

At least something Joey.

[Joey Stewart]

Yeah, it's a million more then they had before, I'll give them that. I'd like to think they can do something of worth with that amount of money but I think the ambitious ideas proposed might need a bit of a reality check when it comes to actually allocating the funds and the money kept well away from any local authorities where it would almost certainly be "redistributed" in ways that would benefit nobody in the chess world.

[Roger de Coverly]

I'd like to think they can do something of worth with that amount of money

Some of it seemingly is to be spent at the primary school level. In my view it's a major weakness, not present in my youth and for a couple of decades afterwards that the numerous numbers of players at the age of 10 doesn't translate into the same numbers at the age of 18 a few years later. Presumably the effect of secondary schools induces retirement from active play at the age of 11 or 12. Survivors from that may retire at the age of 15 or 17 when confronted by GCSEs . There are so few left that universities may show a net gain, boosted by foreign students.

[Joey Stewart]

It's a good time to be putting investment into children's chess - there is a boom on right now, the school club I run has never been as active and from what I gather local primary schools are all in similar situations so some extra funding would be great but I am just a bit stuck trying to think of the best way to maximise the returns on that money and avoid any parasites dipping their hands into the pot along the way.

[Roger Lancaster]

Hopefully whoever is in charge of the budget is good at stretching it out because a million pounds spread over the whole United kingdom will be somewhat thin.

My reading is that the support for the English Chess Federation only with support for other parts of the UK being left to the devolved entities. So, population-wise, it's only around 85% rather than 100%.

[Ian Jamieson]

Hopefully whoever is in charge of the budget is good at stretching it out because a million pounds spread over the whole United kingdom will be somewhat thin.

My reading is that the support for the English Chess Federation only with support for other parts of the UK being left to the devolved entities. So, population-wise, it's only around 85% rather than 100%.

A critical question is whether this is new government spending or a redistribution of existing spending. If it’s new spending then my understanding is that under the Barnett formula a proportion of the spending also has to be given by the government to the devolved entities. The devolved entities are not required to spend any money they receive the same way but it will make it easier for CS etc to press the devolved entities for their own grant if the devolved entities have received money from the government.

[Kevin Thurlow]

Good news of course, just don't expect major titles tomorrow! Doubtless, ECF will publish detailed plans and costings soon.

I agree with Roger - there's much more interest at primary school level. I did some coaching at a school, which had hordes of eager players at primary level, but only about 5 pupils (at most) at the secondary level. Course work etc intervened, and occasionally it was one-to-one tuition. The best player walked through once, stopped for one game, then we never saw him again.

[NickFaulks]

Course work etc intervened

Now that AI can do that for them, perhaps they will have more time for chess.

[Ian Thompson]

The original announcement is here - https://www.gov.uk/government/news/majo ... -announced - and contains more information than has been copied to BCN.

• The chess table locations will be determined by Local Authorities who rate highly on the Index of Multiple Deprivation and have limited access to green space. The Index of Multiple Deprivation is a dataset used within the UK that looks at a number of measures of deprivation including income, employment, health, crime and access to housing.
• DLUHC is also committed to working with the devolved governments to consider how best to support the installation of outdoor chess boards in Scotland and Wales.
• Schools with higher proportions of pupils on free school meals will be eligible for grant funding.
• As part of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE), young people can choose their own activity for the skills section. Chess is already one skill they can learn or improve their game. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Department of Education (DfE) are providing over £7 million between 2022 and 2025 for The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE) charity to support more secondary schools and community settings to deliver the DofE, giving young people the opportunity to develop new skills and discover new interests and passions, such as chess.

[Kevin Thurlow]

I had to laugh at https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/p ... 47b72&ei=8

as it mentions £250K for 100 chess sets (£2500 each) immediately above a photograph of Malcolm, who is doubtless ordering fresh supplies!

(Having thought about some of the people who read this, that is a joke, obviously other suppliers are available, and someone has to build the tables and nail them to the ground.)

On the bright side, people who like photographing sets in parks will be kept busy for a while.

[Tim Spanton]

Course work etc intervened

Now that AI can do that for them, perhaps they will have more time for chess.

AI can do the chess for them too ...

[Angus French]

The original announcement is here - https://www.gov.uk/government/news/majo ... -announced - and contains more information than has been copied to BCN.

• The chess table locations will be determined by Local Authorities who rate highly on the Index of Multiple Deprivation and have limited access to green space. The Index of Multiple Deprivation is a dataset used within the UK that looks at a number of measures of deprivation including income, employment, health, crime and access to housing.
• DLUHC is also committed to working with the devolved governments to consider how best to support the installation of outdoor chess boards in Scotland and Wales.
• Schools with higher proportions of pupils on free school meals will be eligible for grant funding.
• As part of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE), young people can choose their own activity for the skills section. Chess is already one skill they can learn or improve their game. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Department of Education (DfE) are providing over £7 million between 2022 and 2025 for The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE) charity to support more secondary schools and community settings to deliver the DofE, giving young people the opportunity to develop new skills and discover new interests and passions, such as chess.

Thanks. I wonder, why could the opening post not just contain a link to the official press release?