English Chess Forum

I think the ECF are doing quite a good job with Chess Moves at the moment. Some good content.

But I was a bit surprised by the Nigel Short interview. It seemed remarkably friendly given how at odds he is with the ECF. I would not have expected the interviewer to ask "So Nigel, exactly how many roubles did you get in return for your principles?" But seems strange Russia was not raised at all given the ECFs stance.

The quote below interesting, and I suppose oblique criticism of his foe Malcolm Pein. Nigel's numbers wrong as we all know, and as I assume he knows himself.

Mark Rivlin wrote:What should be the top priorities of the ECF?

Nigel Short wrote:The number one priority of the ECF must be to obtain recognition as a sport. All efforts must be directed this way. Even the most miserable, unimpressive minority sport in the UK receives a baseline £750,000 per annum in Sport England funding. This is an amount that would be totally transformative for the game in the UK.

Do you have a link for this interview?

It's basically a crime that consecutive Con and Labour governments have deprived chess of any funding. Interesting they are quite happy to take chess player's taxes though.

There should be much more government funding.

I think there are a few priorities for government funding more important than chess

Mick Norris wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 01, 2023 10:51 am

I think there are a few priorities for government funding more important than chess

It would be a TINY percentage of the budget to get 0.5 million to chess and would do a lot of good.

Dude I mean really...

Even the WINNER of the Manc congress... he'd be better off doing a min wage job for the time it takes.

"I think there are a few priorities for government funding more important than chess"

Yes, e.g. education, health, farming, transport etc. in no particular order.

Even if chess were a sport, it gets little media coverage, so the government wouldn't be able to bask in the glory when we won something. And the DCMS is London-centric, so the North wouldn't get anything.

It is notable though that the only good thing David Cameron did was to look at Government spending and ask why there was a committee deciding which wine to buy for the House of Commons bar, rather than er, leaving it to the bar manager.

Happy Yorkshire day.

I would be happy to give the government some free advice on how to save money.

How's the living like down at 4NCL accomodation?

How to save money? Move to Portugal.

Paul Cooksey wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 01, 2023 8:18 am

I think the ECF are doing quite a good job with Chess Moves at the moment. Some good content.

But I was a bit surprised by the Nigel Short interview. It seemed remarkably friendly given how at odds he is with the ECF. I would not have expected the interviewer to ask "So Nigel, exactly how many roubles did you get in return for your principles?" But seems strange Russia was not raised at all given the ECFs stance.

The quote below interesting, and I suppose oblique criticism of his foe Malcolm Pein. Nigel's numbers wrong as we all know, and as I assume he knows himself.

Mark Rivlin wrote:What should be the top priorities of the ECF?

Nigel Short wrote:The number one priority of the ECF must be to obtain recognition as a sport. All efforts must be directed this way. Even the most miserable, unimpressive minority sport in the UK receives a baseline £750,000 per annum in Sport England funding. This is an amount that would be totally transformative for the game in the UK.

"Of course, it would help the cause of government recognition if the UK had one federation, rather than four. I am wryly smiling at the thought of this happening. Petty privilege almost invariably trumps greater good."

He knows more about this subject than me but I have my doubts if it would make that much of a difference.

Nigel Short (LawrenceCooper) wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 01, 2023 12:07 pm

"Of course, it would help the cause of government recognition if the UK had one federation, rather than four. I am wryly smiling at the thought of this happening.

In many physical sports, there can be up to eight governing bodies in the British Isles with England and Wales either combined or seperate, plus Scotland, unified Ireland or otherwise, then Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey.

Devolved bodies in Wales and Scotland may be prepared to support national teams in circumstances where the UK government doesn't support the English one.