Peter Hornsby for ECF : Tomorrow's Candidate Today!
Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2017 4:14 pm
**OPENING CAMPAIGN STATEMENT**
Lord Lyndon Harrison attended one of the many tournaments I organised , with the help of fellow students, known as ‘National Universities Chess Championships South’ (NUCC) to award the prizes. In a letter he described the day’s events:
‘It was a very happy occasion for the young men and women, British and Overseas, who competed in the day tournament. This was, I believe, the third tourney organised by Peter Hornsby, and his outstanding team of helpers. It featured some 16 university chess teams...it was notably very efficiently and effectively organised... [He] clearly has a flair for [running] such events. And every confidence can be placed in him. I am of course happy to elaborate on Peter’s pronounced talent to organise.’
The creation of NUCC was a culmination of years of dedicated enthusiasm for Chess and organisation. At junior level I represented Yorkshire for the under 18’s and frequently qualified for the Finals of the British Land Challenge (now known as the Delancey School Chess Challenge)
Whilst being a respectable competitor, I felt there was potential at my school for Chess to flourish where it had previously stagnated. With that in mind I helped re-found the Chess club and run the ‘Inter House Chess Championships’ which has been running successfully ever since I left, to my great delight. From there I worked in Spain in 2013 and continued in the same manner, setting up a Chess club and running the first ever competition among all the students at the local ‘Escolania’ school despite the Catalan language barrier!
This experience put me in good stead to take on the position as Chess Club President at Durham University in 2015. Working with my colleagues we set up the inaugural ‘Inter College Chess Championships’ which attracted over 50 players, smashing participation levels across all demographics which continued to grow year on year. This enabled us to field three then a record four teams at BUCA for Durham. But more importantly we doubled the average attendance we would get at our weekly sessions, along with positive engagement at our social events and attracting a sponsorship offer from the Times Chess.
Before graduating however, I was motivated to set up more student friendly chess competitions so NUCC (rebranded to 2020 Chess soon after) was launched. This offered local, accessible and inclusive tournaments which has since engaged over 500 people with tournaments taking place across the UK in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, York, Edinburgh and London with dozens of universities taking part (some of them for their first ever major tournament) as well as a handful of respected schools and clubs, all the details can be seen here: http://2020chess.com/results.html
We attracted many people who had not played Chess for years so it was very satisfying to get them back into the fold! Meanwhile 2020 Chess was accepted onto the ECF Council and was awarded a trademark helping to establish its presence in the Chess world. I didn't stop there, I've realized that there is a huge untapped potential for Chess with universities. Estimates tell us that only 25% of universities have Chess societies which I find absolutely unacceptable. Therefore this summer I contacted all the student unions to offer to attend their fresher's fairs to get people to sign up and set up the society for them myself free of charge. This is a very recent idea but has already taken off; St. Mary's University had a dozen people turn up for their first ever session which I organized from scratch and are starting to flourish, I hope this trend can continue elsewhere with the ECF's support.
The success of NUCC/2020 Chess attracted sponsorship deals which I negotiated with the British Chess Magazine, Purling London, Chess and Bridge, Chess Openings Wizard (a software company based in Ohio USA) as well as one of the largest Chess websites in the world 'The Internet Chess Club'. There were also positive publicity boosts through articles written about the competitions in the Yorkshire Post and Durham Palatinate, and they won several ‘Blueprint Enterprise Awards’ by Durham University.
These types of tournaments have great potential which is why they are expanding across the country and are open and accessible to non-students (and non-ECF members) too to that end; to make people fall in love with the game in the same way we all have. My current grading is not the highest, but I see that as a 'strength' not a weakness as I believe the ECF board could do with some diversity with more 'weaker/amateur' players as well as someone who is well connected with younger players/organisers too. According to Yougov there are 6 million people who can play chess in the UK yet only a relatively small fraction of them play regularly, this is something that I have started to change slowly but surely. For this to be possible I formulated a team of volunteers to support this end, which is a crucial asset in undertaking roles of responsibility and scrutiny.
If fortunate enough to be elected as Non-Executive Director I would continue in the same vein I always have; to increase the profile and participation of chess not just among students but the wider community as well. My track record shows that I can offer youthful boundless energy and enthusiasm to mount a fearless grassroots campaign across the UK and work tirelessly to that end. I will be accountable and approachable to everyone and take responsibility which I have never shied away from, and will bring a unique student perspective which will help execute the ECF’s strategy more effectively or scrutinize it if it needs to be. I have visited the ECF's offices in Battle to gain a greater understanding of the organisation and to meet those who so diligently run it, and I was proactive in offering to help with the set up of the upcoming AGM.
I look forward to making a real difference, hopefully in a position of responsibility in helping the ECF as Non-Executive Director with your support, and if anyone has any questions please email [email protected] or post on here, I look forward to hearing from you!
Many thanks with best wishes,
Peter Hornsby
(P.S There will be a significant announcement that's going to be made very soon, so watch this space!)
Website:
www.facebook.com/HornsbyECF
Lord Lyndon Harrison attended one of the many tournaments I organised , with the help of fellow students, known as ‘National Universities Chess Championships South’ (NUCC) to award the prizes. In a letter he described the day’s events:
‘It was a very happy occasion for the young men and women, British and Overseas, who competed in the day tournament. This was, I believe, the third tourney organised by Peter Hornsby, and his outstanding team of helpers. It featured some 16 university chess teams...it was notably very efficiently and effectively organised... [He] clearly has a flair for [running] such events. And every confidence can be placed in him. I am of course happy to elaborate on Peter’s pronounced talent to organise.’
The creation of NUCC was a culmination of years of dedicated enthusiasm for Chess and organisation. At junior level I represented Yorkshire for the under 18’s and frequently qualified for the Finals of the British Land Challenge (now known as the Delancey School Chess Challenge)
Whilst being a respectable competitor, I felt there was potential at my school for Chess to flourish where it had previously stagnated. With that in mind I helped re-found the Chess club and run the ‘Inter House Chess Championships’ which has been running successfully ever since I left, to my great delight. From there I worked in Spain in 2013 and continued in the same manner, setting up a Chess club and running the first ever competition among all the students at the local ‘Escolania’ school despite the Catalan language barrier!
This experience put me in good stead to take on the position as Chess Club President at Durham University in 2015. Working with my colleagues we set up the inaugural ‘Inter College Chess Championships’ which attracted over 50 players, smashing participation levels across all demographics which continued to grow year on year. This enabled us to field three then a record four teams at BUCA for Durham. But more importantly we doubled the average attendance we would get at our weekly sessions, along with positive engagement at our social events and attracting a sponsorship offer from the Times Chess.
Before graduating however, I was motivated to set up more student friendly chess competitions so NUCC (rebranded to 2020 Chess soon after) was launched. This offered local, accessible and inclusive tournaments which has since engaged over 500 people with tournaments taking place across the UK in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, York, Edinburgh and London with dozens of universities taking part (some of them for their first ever major tournament) as well as a handful of respected schools and clubs, all the details can be seen here: http://2020chess.com/results.html
We attracted many people who had not played Chess for years so it was very satisfying to get them back into the fold! Meanwhile 2020 Chess was accepted onto the ECF Council and was awarded a trademark helping to establish its presence in the Chess world. I didn't stop there, I've realized that there is a huge untapped potential for Chess with universities. Estimates tell us that only 25% of universities have Chess societies which I find absolutely unacceptable. Therefore this summer I contacted all the student unions to offer to attend their fresher's fairs to get people to sign up and set up the society for them myself free of charge. This is a very recent idea but has already taken off; St. Mary's University had a dozen people turn up for their first ever session which I organized from scratch and are starting to flourish, I hope this trend can continue elsewhere with the ECF's support.
The success of NUCC/2020 Chess attracted sponsorship deals which I negotiated with the British Chess Magazine, Purling London, Chess and Bridge, Chess Openings Wizard (a software company based in Ohio USA) as well as one of the largest Chess websites in the world 'The Internet Chess Club'. There were also positive publicity boosts through articles written about the competitions in the Yorkshire Post and Durham Palatinate, and they won several ‘Blueprint Enterprise Awards’ by Durham University.
These types of tournaments have great potential which is why they are expanding across the country and are open and accessible to non-students (and non-ECF members) too to that end; to make people fall in love with the game in the same way we all have. My current grading is not the highest, but I see that as a 'strength' not a weakness as I believe the ECF board could do with some diversity with more 'weaker/amateur' players as well as someone who is well connected with younger players/organisers too. According to Yougov there are 6 million people who can play chess in the UK yet only a relatively small fraction of them play regularly, this is something that I have started to change slowly but surely. For this to be possible I formulated a team of volunteers to support this end, which is a crucial asset in undertaking roles of responsibility and scrutiny.
If fortunate enough to be elected as Non-Executive Director I would continue in the same vein I always have; to increase the profile and participation of chess not just among students but the wider community as well. My track record shows that I can offer youthful boundless energy and enthusiasm to mount a fearless grassroots campaign across the UK and work tirelessly to that end. I will be accountable and approachable to everyone and take responsibility which I have never shied away from, and will bring a unique student perspective which will help execute the ECF’s strategy more effectively or scrutinize it if it needs to be. I have visited the ECF's offices in Battle to gain a greater understanding of the organisation and to meet those who so diligently run it, and I was proactive in offering to help with the set up of the upcoming AGM.
I look forward to making a real difference, hopefully in a position of responsibility in helping the ECF as Non-Executive Director with your support, and if anyone has any questions please email [email protected] or post on here, I look forward to hearing from you!
Many thanks with best wishes,
Peter Hornsby
(P.S There will be a significant announcement that's going to be made very soon, so watch this space!)
Website:
www.facebook.com/HornsbyECF