How The Italian Chess Federation is Funded

[Paolo Casaschi]

and why not? Many of the innovative events in British chess arose despite the BCF, rather than because of it.

That might just mean that the BCF did the wrong type of work.
A federation that does nothing... well just does nothing. A federation that tries to do something, *might* achieve something.

I lived in Italy, Belgium and UK, typically in large cities. Comparing the level of activity I've seen there (and what I hear about France and Germany) the activity for adult amateurs are certainly far behind in UK. My impression.
You ask about evening leagues, there's not such a thing in Italy or Belgium, but there are similar opportunities to play during the week for the average Joe.

Something I find astonishing in London for instance, it's a rainy Sunday afternoon, or a Wednesday night... without any planning, would you be able to go somewhere and be certain to find chessplayers, for a chat and few blitz? I'd know where to go in Brussels, also in Milan and Rome; if you can point me somewhere in London I'd be really happy to hear.

[Roger de Coverly]

A federation that does nothing... well just does nothing. A federation that tries to do something, *might* achieve something.

It would be better to have no federation at all than one which prevented events being run if they didn't have an approved template.

Something I find astonishing in London for instance, it's a rainy Sunday afternoon, or a Wednesday night... without any planning, would you be able to go somewhere and be certain to find chessplayers, for a chat and few blitz?

The Kings Head pub in Bayswater used to be like that. That owed nothing to the BCF, rather local players and a co-operative landlord. The nearest equivalent might be the pub by the British Museum where Drunken Knights play their home matches. The bar area isn't very large though.

Venues to play chess on a casual basis never really existed outside Central London and even those disappeared as part of property redevelopment in the 1960s. Would a project, "Chess Sets for pubs" have any support? You don't need to supply clocks, because for timed casual play, you use a smartphone app.

[Paolo Casaschi]

Just look in the FIDE website at the number of FIDE rated events from ENG and from ITA and you'll see a big difference. You can probably expect the same ratio for non FIDE rated events.

I think that's drawing the wrong conclusion. There are relatively few FIDE rated events in the UK, not least because their playing schedules are beneath the minimum to enable them to be Internationally rated. So there are perhaps 5 or even 10 domestic events for every International event. If Italy, like France, is aiming to phase out its own domestic rating system, the likelihood is that almost all events will be run at move rates suitable for International rating. Is there anything comparable to weekday evening leagues?

In Italy majority of the club level tournaments and local level tournaments (equivalent to the UK evening league play) hare still unrated. In fact, even the Italian National Team Championship has always been mostly unrated (the only graded part is the final round of the top series, there are minor series played on a local basis that are still unrated).

[Roger de Coverly]

In Italy majority of the club level tournaments and local level tournaments (equivalent to the UK evening league play) hare still unrated. In fact, even the Italian National Team Championship has always been mostly unrated (the only graded part is the final round of the top series, there are minor series played on a local basis that are still unrated).

Key question though, do you have to be an individual member of the Italian Federation to take part? Do the events pay the event fee if they aren't rated?

[Paolo Casaschi]

It would be better to have no federation at all than one which prevented events being run if they didn't have an approved template.

Probably.
So someone tried and failed and you are very afraid of repeating that. Fine.
I just wanted to point out that elsewhere someone tried and has been very successful.

It largely depends on the people in charge. In Italy things improved significantly when the current president (and his team of people) was elected.

How to find the good one? In Italy he had a long history of successes as tournament organizer and as president of a large club. Also, if you allow me, he never had to spend so much time reading/writing on twitter or worrying what t-shirt (not) to wear

[Paolo Casaschi]

In Italy majority of the club level tournaments and local level tournaments (equivalent to the UK evening league play) hare still unrated. In fact, even the Italian National Team Championship has always been mostly unrated (the only graded part is the final round of the top series, there are minor series played on a local basis that are still unrated).

Key question though, do you have to be an individual member of the Italian Federation to take part? Do the events pay the event fee if they aren't rated?

You have to be member of the federation to play event endorsed by the federation. This is the case for instance for the national team championship even if not rated. This is the case for all tournament rated. For unrated events, like an internal club competition, I believe it's up to the organizer to decide.

Key to understand how it works: in Italy nobody really associate "compulsory membership" with "they provide me with a rating"

[John McKenna]

Paolo explains the differences between the ECF and FSI very well. What happened in the two cases in previous years can tell us a lot. However, there has been a big change in economic conditions in both the UK and Italy. Maybe now both federations will find it hard to increase membership by a large percentage and it might actually fall. Here there's more scope for an increased membership drive but it may not yield enough new members to fund the ECF as before. A budget deficit could be incurred by the need to continue to spend - even though certain ECF spending has already been cut, I believe - while revenues fail to rise quickly enough. Is that, perhaps, why only an interim budget has been agreed?

[Sean Hewitt]

Is that, perhaps, why only an interim budget has been agreed?

No.

The budget could not be agreed because council changed its mind on a number of the membership requirements and rates. This meant that the income projections needed to be recalculated, and this could not be done in 5 minutes on the back of a proverbial fag packet.

[John McKenna]

I absolutely agree, Sean, in fact I doubt it can be done 5 weeks with a supercomputer because it is a great unknown.

[Sean Hewitt]

...it is a great unknown.

As with most revenue forecasts