"Irish Senior Championship" is not a Seniors event
Posted: Fri May 01, 2015 6:16 pm
The Irish Chess Union recently and belatedly announced the 2014 Irish Championships (at its current temporary site http://www.irishchessunion.net/) to be held in Dublin 4-12 July, but some people may be puzzled why the top event is called the Irish Senior Championship.
Anywhere else in the chess world that I am aware of, the word "Senior" denotes an event for players 50 years old or more (sometimes 60+ or 65+).
Now that real seniors events are proliferating, why does the Irish Chess Union persist in using this misleading term which sometimes gets into databases, causing further confusion?
The problem seems to be that for many years the term "Junior" has been used to designate events for low-rated players (as well as, sometimes, for events for young players which is what the term means just about anywhere else in the world). So "Senior" gets used for events for higher-rated players, not just at the Irish championships.
I suppose it's too late to change for 2015 but they really should before next year. I am considering drafting a motion for the next ICU agm (due in the autumn) to have the terms Junior and Senior used only in their universally understood sense. (Though the agm will probably have much more contentious issues on the agenda.)
I would have queried this matter on the ICU website but I find that since it changed, my login no longer works. I put in my email address to get a new password and it doesn't recognise anyone registered with that email. Moreover http://www.irishchessunion.net/ doesn't have an option to register.
That's why I am posting this year, in case somebody from the Irish Chess Union reads this forum...
Any suggestions?
Anywhere else in the chess world that I am aware of, the word "Senior" denotes an event for players 50 years old or more (sometimes 60+ or 65+).
Now that real seniors events are proliferating, why does the Irish Chess Union persist in using this misleading term which sometimes gets into databases, causing further confusion?
The problem seems to be that for many years the term "Junior" has been used to designate events for low-rated players (as well as, sometimes, for events for young players which is what the term means just about anywhere else in the world). So "Senior" gets used for events for higher-rated players, not just at the Irish championships.
I suppose it's too late to change for 2015 but they really should before next year. I am considering drafting a motion for the next ICU agm (due in the autumn) to have the terms Junior and Senior used only in their universally understood sense. (Though the agm will probably have much more contentious issues on the agenda.)
I would have queried this matter on the ICU website but I find that since it changed, my login no longer works. I put in my email address to get a new password and it doesn't recognise anyone registered with that email. Moreover http://www.irishchessunion.net/ doesn't have an option to register.
That's why I am posting this year, in case somebody from the Irish Chess Union reads this forum...
Any suggestions?