No Andrew

Debate directly related to English Chess Federation matters.
Andrew Martin
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Re: No Andrew

Post by Andrew Martin » Thu Mar 29, 2018 7:44 am

Looks great Mr Greep , the very best of luck with it.

Hopefully, the schedule will be up at the congress website before long.

benedgell
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Re: No Andrew

Post by benedgell » Thu Mar 29, 2018 9:30 am

Stephen Greep wrote:
Thu Mar 29, 2018 12:15 am
I'm not a frequent visitor to this forum, but I am involved in helping to organise the British in Hull. I see in one post the lack of a social programme is mentioned. Locally we (the local Chess Association) have accepted responsibility for this and I'm pleased to tell you there will be a lot going on - mostly free. We are struggling a bit with events for the children which is why it hasn't been advertised - but the events programme (outside the main programme) includes the following (at the moment):

Wednesday 25th - Thursday 26th Junior training with Charlie Storey (small number of free places); Friday 27th - Sunday 29th FIDE Arbiters course; Saturday 28th - The British Championships Chess Problem Solving Tournament ; Sunday 29th : Ghost Walk (free) and cinema evening (free, but you have to buy your own popcorn) showing of the 2015 Fischer film Pawn Sacrifice; Monday 30th : Chess night at Napoleons Casino (free entrance, free beer and subsidised food; boards and sets available, apart from casino tables); Tuesday 31st Historic Pub walk and buffet (free); Wednesday 1st August: outdoor chess evening (free) with cheap beer and the specially brewed Grandmaster Ale; Thursday 2nd August: Historic pub walk (different route to Tuesday) (free) and a pub quiz (free); Friday 2nd August: Congress meal—3 course and wine for £20. There is a lot of detail behind this, but this should give you a flavour. We have some family events - including make your own pizza, cheap tickets for The Deep, family history walk and other things. There's a raffle and problem solving competition on a cake (proceeds to the Chess Trust).

We are sponsoring the prizes for the over 50's event (and one or two other prizes) and buying a rather smart new trophy for the winner. There's lots more - a specially published History of Chess in Hull, an afternoon chess festival (hopefully) and the local newspaper (Hull Daily Mail) should be publishing a 4 page wrap around just on local chess (30,000 copies). For the first time ever (I think) there is a congress dedicated accommodation web site (provided by Visit Hull and East Yorkshire).

How can we do all this? A very generous grant from Hull City Leisure (who are very supportive of chess and want the British to be a success), funding from the ECF and our own funds (we want you all to have a good time in Hull and have budgeted for up to £2,500 of our local money for this).

The above is only an outline - there is a lot more detail behind this. More information can be obtained from me ([email protected]). Stephen Greep: Hon General Secretary, Hull and District Chess Association. Events will be pre congress bookable (many are numbers limited). A lot of local players are contributing significant time to this - please support our efforts by coming to the events.

Apologies for the length of this post.
Kudos to yourself and everyone involved with this, it all sounds extremely impressive.

Kevin Thurlow
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Re: No Andrew

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Thu Mar 29, 2018 9:32 am

Wow! Really impressive.

Stewart Reuben
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Re: No Andrew

Post by Stewart Reuben » Sun Apr 01, 2018 2:19 am

To Stephen Greep
In 2015 I was in charge of the special events at the British Championships in Warwick. The take-up was rather poor. I don't know why as most players stayed on campus and there weren't that many special non-chess events available. Also the event lasted 14 days rather than the current 9. That is why fewer events have been arranged in the last couple of years.
I am very pleased to see Hull are making a very special effort.
Are you having a special British Championship quaifying tournament well before the event?
An easy one to arrange is a problem solving competition, with the positions displayed in local shop windows.
The way you write suggest you are polarising activities into those for children and those for adults. But chess is usually for everybody.
Have you thought of local people offering inexpensive hospitality to players? This worked well in Edinburgh, but may not fit the objectives of Hull City Leisure.
A local officer responsible for publicity in the media, including radio and TV, is desirable. e.g. a regular radio chess programme starting asap.

Stephen Greep
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Re: No Andrew

Post by Stephen Greep » Mon Apr 02, 2018 5:45 pm

Thanks for that Stuart,

We've tried to put together an ambitious programme in the hope that we'll get some good support - we are fortunate in having some funds to make most events free. All are within 10 minutes (maximum) walk of the Congress venue and things like the walks leave from right outside the congress doors. I suspect, after all the effort we are putting in, if this fails to gain support then there wont be much of a programme in future years at all.

The only events which are age restricted are the casino night, where everyone has to be 18 plus, the pre congress junior coaching (as opposed to any coaching during the congress) and the pizza making (and eating... with ice cream) which is children targeted but the adults are expected to accompany them too! I will need to double check on the pub walks. They are very welcome on the outdoor chess evening but wont be getting any of the vouchers for the 100 free pints of the special Grandmaster Ale that will be on offer. We have failed on the children's treasure hunt/problem solving idea as we simply couldn't get enough venues to take part (not for the want of trying). we still have one or two events to include (or not) but hope to have the programme on the web site in the next 10 days or so. There will be lots of hard copy at the actual event.

We have good publicity officer; support from the local press is variable. However we expect our 4 page Hull Daily Mail wrap around to really get noticed - 30,000 plus copies per day are distributed and as its a wrap around it cant be missed. We'll get some radio coverage, but I suspect we wont get support from the radio people for a regular programme - but we'll try. We'll be disappointed if we don't get Look North T.V. coverage - especially if we manage to get our afternoon mini outdoor chess festival off the ground (organised by the local arts community, but not yet fully sorted)

Stewart Reuben
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Re: No Andrew

Post by Stewart Reuben » Mon Apr 02, 2018 6:00 pm

A living chess disply before the congress would be excellent - but a great deal of work.
A local restaurant guide with concessions on prentation of the programme, e.g. glass of wine, or £1 off.
Cocktail party hosted by the local government.
Posters about the event. Often people don't know it is taking place.
Tee shirts or seatshits.
Kevin Staveley has considerable expertise in local 'low-key 'treasure hunts'

Neil Graham
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Re: No Andrew

Post by Neil Graham » Wed Apr 04, 2018 7:33 am

Stewart Reuben wrote:
Mon Apr 02, 2018 6:00 pm

Tee shirts or seatshits.
Kevin Staveley has considerable expertise in local 'low-key 'treasure hunts'
I sincerely hope you meant "sweatshirts" - I wouldn't fancy sitting down to play otherwise.

In respect of treasure hunts when the Championships were last in Nottingham we make arrangements with local shops to hide a chess piece in their window display and participants had a sheet with the name of the shop and a space to note what piece was hidden. It was well supported especially amongst the junior players & their families.

Andrew Martin
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Re: No Andrew

Post by Andrew Martin » Wed Apr 04, 2018 9:03 am

Going back to the commentary, is a Chess24 team going to
commentate live at the venue with full internet coverage ,which, frankly, the congress should have been having for years and deserves, or is the coverage going to be limited to a remote broadcast from Hamburg on a big screen?

Andrew Martin
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Re: No Andrew

Post by Andrew Martin » Sat Apr 07, 2018 9:08 pm

Can we rename the title of this thread ‘ no answer’ ?

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Carl Hibbard
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Re: No Andrew

Post by Carl Hibbard » Sat Apr 07, 2018 9:11 pm

Andrew Martin wrote:
Sat Apr 07, 2018 9:08 pm
Can we rename the title of this thread ‘ no answer’ ?
You have to assume just a PGN upload via Dave Clayton and the rest remote.
Cheers
Carl Hibbard

Paul Dargan
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Re: No Andrew

Post by Paul Dargan » Mon Apr 09, 2018 7:03 am

Then Jan needs a brit sitting beside him - it's painful when they know nothing about the players, history, etc...

Richard Bates
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Re: No Andrew

Post by Richard Bates » Mon Apr 09, 2018 7:51 am

Paul Dargan wrote:
Mon Apr 09, 2018 7:03 am
Then Jan needs a brit sitting beside him - it's painful when they know nothing about the players, history, etc...
Chess24 doesn't always mean Jan. Anyway I doubt he would get involved in commentating an event like this. Might chip into the comments when he's bored ;)

LawrenceCooper
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Re: No Andrew

Post by LawrenceCooper » Mon Apr 09, 2018 8:26 am

Paul Dargan wrote:
Mon Apr 09, 2018 7:03 am
Then Jan needs a brit sitting beside him - it's painful when they know nothing about the players, history, etc...
Peter Svidler knows enough about the English scene, he even messaged me on Facebook once about a player in 4NCL Division Two once :shock:

Eric Gardiner
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Re: No Andrew

Post by Eric Gardiner » Mon Apr 09, 2018 9:01 am

I do find the thought of Peter Svidler discussing Mike Surtees' opening repertoire quite amusing :D

NickFaulks
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Re: No Andrew

Post by NickFaulks » Mon Apr 09, 2018 9:56 am

Peter casts his net wide. He once turned out to be surprisingly familiar with some of the Bermuda team's games in an Olympiad.
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