Thank you Lara and staff

[William Metcalfe]

I would just like to say Thank you very much to Lara and all the other staff running the British Champs everythink at the venue has ran smoothly and on time.
Also we should thank the staff at the parks who have been very polite and cheerfull and very helpfull.
This was my first British Champs Its been tough chess for me but has been very enjoyable and i will definatly play the British again.

[Andrew Zigmond]

Now that the 2012 British is over I'd like to think that as many people as possible will come on here to second William Metcalfe's comment. Let's not forget that Lara has been through hell since the 2011 championships but has stayed the course out of a sense of duty and delivered a fantastic event. For all the muttering about the relative weakness of field compared to last year (incidentally a glance at the current ECF top ten suggests that it was the rising stars who turned up and the veterans who stayed away) and the supposed tail I think some fantastic chess has been played and although Gawain Jones was the favourite he had to fight for every point. There were no easy games.

Obviously certain events continue to (needlessly) cast their shadow but I hope Alex and Lara will remain involve with the British for many years to come. After all, who else is willing to give up their time so selflessly in order to make events such as this happen in spite of their other commitments - okay don't answer that.

Let's make this the round of applause for the organisers and I hope as many members of the board as possible will put aside the rancour of the last twelve months to add their thanks.

[Paul Cooksey]

Let's make this the round of applause for the organisers and I hope as many members of the board as possible will put aside the rancour of the last twelve months to add their thanks.

I find this hard to accept given what appears to be a serious lapse of judgement over the Plymouth comments. In the absence of an explanation, one is left to assume it is a continuation of the ongoing dispute.

[Lara Barnes]

Further comments may happen when I recover but I will say that this had NOTHING to do with any past issues. I was trying to act in the best interests of the players and the congress for 2013.

[Paul Cooksey]

I didn't doubt Lara's intentions, but continue to doubt her judgement. I find it hard to believe that the poor relations between those organising the British and the ECF Board were irrelevant to this mess.

[Andrew Zigmond]

The last day of the British marred slightly by a misunderstanding being blown out of all proportion. Why do I get the impression this has happened before?

I post a comment trying to be positive about volunteers, without which chess in this country would cease to exist, I go for a shower and return to find that the negative comments are here already. The slight quibble over next year's venue already has its own thread.

Lara has put in at least fourteen twelve hour plus days delivering this championship. This is not including all the prepatory work beforehand which had to be juggled with Lara's day job. I can't claim to know Lara well (in fact a couple of queries about Scarborough and a very minor intervention in one of my games there is pretty much our only contact) but from her biography on the British website she does a job which most people on this forum couldn't do in a million years - I certainly couldn't.

My comment was intended to encourage people to put aside differences and thank volunteers, particularly those working under the circumstances Lara has had to endure. It's a shame some people cannot. I repeat - if Lara and Alex are not willing to do the work for Torquay then who is?

[Paul Cooksey]

I post a comment trying to be positive about volunteers, without which chess in this country would cease to exist, I go for a shower and return to find that the negative comments are here already. The slight quibble over next year's venue already has its own thread.

William was positive about volunteers, and his comments are something I would find easy to agree with. I nearly replied that he was tempting fate, but decided that was unduly negative.

I felt Andrew was choosing to make a political comment, and indeed that by using the word "endure" he is choosing to make it again. If Andrew thinks creating doubt about the location of next years championship was a "quibble", I think he is profoundly wrong.

[William Metcalfe]

What was Lara supposed to do if she had been told there might be a problem with Torquay and she said nothing about it how would people like Paul have reacted then.Lara was put in a horrible position damned if she did damned if she did not

[Paul Cooksey]

What was Lara supposed to do if she had been told there might be a problem with Torquay and she said nothing about it how would people like Paul have reacted then.Lara was put in a horrible position damned if she did damned if she did not

Consult the ECF Board

[William Metcalfe]

Ha ha the same ECF board that has been so open and honest over the last 18 months

[PaulJackson]

I'm greatfull for all the hard work Lara (and all the other volunteers) do. A big thank you goes out to them all. Just a bit confused about the Torquay advice?

[Roger de Coverly]

Consult the ECF Board

It certainly provoked unambiguous statements that Torquay would be the 2013 venue. The background hints suggest that the ECF would/will struggle to afford the Riviera Centre, but that if sponsorship was lacking, an unknown backer (where have we heard that one before?) would step in. If there's a suggestion that the backer will back out, what do you do?

[Roger de Coverly]

Just a bit confused about the Torquay advice?

There's a logical explanation of sorts, which is idle speculation rather than fact.

Let's suppose the Board were in fact divided, with an argument going on between a Torquay faction and a Plymouth faction. If you are caught in the middle as being responsible for the 2013 event, you need to bring it out into the open to provoke a decision, or just a reiteration that the choice had already been made.

The next question will be about the 2014 event. Some in the chess media, notably Malcolm Pein, advocate reducing it to a nine day affair, weekend, week, weekend and retitling it with an English focus. There's already a potential problem with the 2014 dates, because of a probable direct clash with the Tromso Chess Olympiad.

[Paul Cooksey]

Ha ha the same ECF board that has been so open and honest over the last 18 months

William can say that because he is not performing an official role for the ECF. Indeed I'd have been less concerned if he had been the one speculating. But for the Manager of the British to consider she is not accountable to the board, if that is what happened, is a similar allegation to that which has been pursued vigorously against some board members. Indeed this is worse, since the allegation against them is they did what the board wanted, but without following procedure. This is an allegation that something was done that the board would have opposed.

If there's a suggestion that the backer will back out, what do you do?

There isn't though. If Lara has consulted the ECF board and felt as a matter of good conscience that she had to speak out, that would be an entirely different matter. But it seems she assumed responsibility for making such a statement incorrectly, based on her subsequent statement. This seems to me an error of judgement.

[Krishna Shiatis]

Ha ha the same ECF board that has been so open and honest over the last 18 months

William can say that because he is not performing an official role for the ECF. Indeed I'd have been less concerned if he had been the one speculating. But for the Manager of the British to consider she is not accountable to the board, if that is what happened, is a similar allegation to that which has been pursued vigorously against some board members. Indeed this is worse, since the allegation against them is they did what the board wanted, but without following procedure. This is an allegation that something was done that the board would have opposed.

If there's a suggestion that the backer will back out, what do you do?

There isn't though. If Lara has consulted the ECF board and felt as a matter of good conscience that she had to speak out, that would be an entirely different matter. But it seems she assumed responsibility for making such a statement incorrectly, based on her subsequent statement. This seems to me an error of judgement.

Honestly Paul, I think you are blowing this out of proportion. Lara has just done a very good job at the British. I suspect she is exhausted and tired. Just leave her alone and when she is ready, maybe some explanation will be forthcoming.

She does not need to be hung, drawn and quartered in the meantime.