Foreign events

[Andrew Martin]

At a cost, it seems:

https://www.englishchess.org.uk/announc ... urnaments/

[Kevin Thurlow]

"At a cost, it seems"

Hasn't that always been the case? I recall a parent at Guernsey saying how much they had to pay for the child to play there and it was double what I was paying, and I stayed in more expensive accommodation and hired a car as well. Of course the squad had a "leader" and the players were getting coaching as well, and obviously that has to be paid for, but even so...

[Roger de Coverly]

At a cost, it seems:

Has the philosophy changed again? Now it seems anyone can play regardless of strength or past results provided the entry fee, travel and accommodation costs can be met.

[Matt Bridgeman]

The discussion is raging on the Facebook, British Chess News page. Tim Wall has raised some areas of concern to kick it off.

[Roger de Coverly]

The discussion is raging on the Facebook, British Chess News page. Tim Wall has raised some areas of concern to kick it off.

The controversy is not so much that Guaranteed Events are doing the organisation and accepting all comers, but that surcharges are being applied to non-members of the ECF Academy.

A search for "British Chess News Facebook" gets within range of the material.

[John Upham]

I find this recent ECF announcement somewhat troubling on more than one level.

We know that the ECF will not defend (mainly because they feel that they do not have to) this policy in this place as ECF Directors are not permitted to engage with its customers and those who fund it via membership fees.

It has been received with somewhat unwelcome arms on the EJOG Chess Tutors Forum WhatsApp group and is currently being discussed with "vigour".

[IM Jack Rudd]

It breaks Sean Hewitt's marketing guidelines, if nothing else: wherever possible, frame these things as a discount for the in-group rather than a surcharge for the out-group.

[Wadih Khoury]

The policy is on the website, not sure about surcharges (though there may be discounts)

Selection Process

Team Tournaments & Limited Entry Individual Tournaments
These players will be selected by the England Junior Selectors.

Individual Tournaments
There are three types of player selected –
Category Status Eligibility Selected By
1 England Squad Any player in the England Development Pathway England Junior Selectors
2 England Squad Any player in the England Development Pathway N/A
3 Unofficial Player Any ECF member N/A

Category 1
These players are selected by the England Junior Selectors. This is only available at tournaments where the organisers offer “invited player” status, which is bestowed upon one player per country per age group and sex. Invited players typically benefit from receiving free accommodation. All other tournament-related charges are levied at cost, or as near to it as possible after conversion from exchange rates. Third-party administrators may levy an administration fee.

Category 2
Any player in the ECF Development Pathway is permitted to enter. All tournament-related charges are levied at cost, or as near to it as possible after conversion from exchange rates. Third-party administrators may levy an administration fee.

Category 3
Any ECF member outside the Development Pathway will be entitled to play. However, they will not be regarded as members of “the England squad”. All tournament-related charges are levied at cost, or as near to it as possible after conversion from exchange rates. There will be an additional English Chess Federation administration fee which will be determined on a tournament-to-tournament basis. Third-party administrators may levy an administration fee.

The England Junior Selectors
The Selectors will typically consider the following when making their selections –

Progress with learning in training sessions
Activity in tournaments (OTB and online)
Quality of games played
Productivity of time spent on games (i.e. a preference for longer time controls)

The Selectors are currently –

GM John Emms (Accelerator Coach)
Alex Holowczak (ex-officio, ECF Director of Junior Chess and Education)
IM Adam Hunt (Accelerator Coach)
WFM Sarah Longson (ECF Academy Organiser)
IM Malcolm Pein (ex-officio, ECF Director of International Chess)
GM Peter Wells (Immediately previous Accelerator Coach)



Edit: I now noticed where the issue was stated. Should have read the page to the end.

[Bob Kane]

That's outrageous surely its enough to be registered with the national federation and be talented at the game, its not an opportunity for a third party training organisation to extort money from parents ...AND telling parents that only one of them can accompany the child is another unbelievable outrage!

[David Sedgwick]

A search for "British Chess News Facebook" gets within range of the material.

That didn't work for me. Can you provide a more specific link?

[Roger de Coverly]

That didn't work for me. Can you provide a more specific link?

Try https://en-gb.facebook.com/groups/britishchess/
although as a generic link it would not always link to the discussion.

Here's the first few lines of Tim's opening comment

I would like to open this subject to public discussion. The ECF Director of Junior Chess, Alex Holowczak, by this announcement, is hereby levying a tax on parents of promising juniors who want to play in international junior tournaments if they do not join the ECF Academy, which is run by a private for-profit company, UK Schools' Chess Challenge, for which he is one of the principal arbiters.

[Roger Lancaster]

That's outrageous surely its enough to be registered with the national federation and be talented at the game, its not an opportunity for a third party training organisation to extort money from parents ...AND telling parents that only one of them can accompany the child is another unbelievable outrage!

I'm reserving judgment as I understand that part/all of these surcharges go towards the ECF's junior bursary funds, one purpose of which is to provide financial assistance to poorer parents of talented juniors which - although not everyone is going to agree with it, and I'm not sure that I do - isn't obviously "outrageous". Does Bob have more information, eg what proportion goes to the bursary funds, that he can share with us?

[NickFaulks]

AND telling parents that only one of them can accompany the child is another unbelievable outrage!

The number of parents will be zero, one or two. The argument against zero is that the ECF does not wish to provide a babysitting service, and I understand that. The argument against two is that the chess tournament is not supposed to be just an excuse for a family holiday, and I sort of understand that, but I hope that requests would be considered in the light of individual circumstances. Of course, if you are fortunate enough to have two chess playing progeny, then you can claim one each!

[IM Jack Rudd]

Or conceivably more than two, for certain uncommon but not unknown family structures.

[J T Melsom]

I get notifications for all manner of stuff as a member of this Facebook group, but none for this discussion. Are my settings wrong or is the discussion less open than is seemingly claimed?