World Youth Chess Championship Junior Grand Prix

[Sean Hewitt]

Does one of the clever bods at the ECF want to explain why this was announced on 10th August 2007 and, given that there are only four qualifying events, why was one of them IN THE PAST?!!

To make it even worse the event in question, this years British Champs, carries more weight than the other three events but clashed with the EU Youth Championships - an event that many aspiring juniors competed in. It seems that by doing so, they may have buggered up their chances of playing the world youth championships!

The concept is clearly a good one. The implementation though clearly leaves much to be desired.

[Sean Hewitt]

The silence from the ECF is deafening! One assumes that even they cannot defend this gaffe!!

[Nigel Wright]

I agree.

There are some leagues where Juniors are scarce, yet those few are always extremely enthusiastic, and it seems nobody wants to help them improve or even encourage them to keep going.

It can be disheartening when you don't get much help when you need it, and the problem goes from simple League Associations all the way up to the ECF. It's all right saying you want to help Juniors and improve the Nation's Junior supplement, but when nothing is done about those words it undermines the ECF's ability to be seen as a competent Chess body.

We need Juniors more than ever to stop English Chess being an old man's game, as eventually chess support will dwindle if the old guys are dying off and the hole left by them isn't being filled by Juniors.

Pull your finger out, ECF.

[Alan Ruffle]

Dear All

I am pleased to see this idea, it is a step forward, these are adult events however and would not encourage or allow a young inexperienced protégé to make progress, in fact I agree on this occasion with the Junior selection committee who have provided grading guide lines to prevent a such a player from being burned by the experience.

Alan Ruffle

[Nigel Wright]

Surely all experience is good though?

[IM Jack Rudd]

When I was a junior, nearly all my chess was in adult events. The same is true of the other strong Somerset players of my generation; at least, the ones who are still playing.

[Alan Ruffle]

Dear All

For the purposes of international selection-

A seven year old protégé relying entirely on his natural skills should be allowed to develop as I have outlined in the Junior section, before he is required to face a life matured, tournament case hardened, match knowledgeable, opening versed, middle game savvied, ending techniqued, wiley, old, federation master.

Alan Ruffle

PS okay I’m sorry I withdraw the ‘old’

[Nigel Wright]

Well I think I remember a while ago that on channel 5's(?) child prodigy thing, a youngster (probably around 6/7) was playing against GM's/IM's etc. - it was good for him.

When I was a junior (all of 2 months ago), I prefered playing in adult competitions more than junior ones, because although there are some challenges that I faced in my area (most notable is probably Ankush Khandelwal), the majority of juniors (if they played graded chess) would have grades of around 20-40. Not a challenge at all, and in some cases can worsen chess ability because you don't have to concentrate at hard, and when you start playing people like Ankush after a walk over, your brain is in the wrong frame of mind and you make mistakes.

[Stewart Reuben]

One of our problems in society is that so many influential people think there is one strategy that fits all for development of a child's intellectual skills. Thus it is all-change in the school year in September. How ridiculous!
One child might be scarred for life by being overmatched in their chess encounters. Another might revel in such experiences. Most are somewhere in between.
The decisions should be made by the child in conjunction with parents, coaches and possibly teachers. We expect children to make decisions at the chessboard and claim that helps them in other fields.
Many of our leading chessplayers, such as Adams, Short, Sadler, McShane, Howell gave up strictly junior chess at an early age. Why try to force our future leading players back into this field? It is true it will help pick up a few more trophies, but past experience suggests the players believe they develop better meeting opponents of the most appropriate level of skill, not necessarily of the same age.
Has anybody bothered to consult these people who are obviously the greatest experts?
English junior chess used to be the envy of the world. What has gone wrong?
Stewart Reuben

[Nigel Wright]

The Russians are what's wrong with it!

[Stewart Reuben]

In the 1980s, the English dominated junior chess internationally. I am getting old, but as I remember it, there was a USSR at that time.
Now Australia sends many more players to the World Youth Championship than England.
Stewart Reuben

[Nigel Wright]

I think one of the problems is who we have running Junior Chess - I won't mention names, but all the people at the top aren't doing a very good job and it's a complete and utter shambles. Last year was my last year as a Junior, and I was hoping to do as much Junior Chess as possible and have fun doing it, but when there was a Junior event run by the official ECF body, it sucked and I regretted captaining my County at the National Championships when I would have enjoyed going to the Notts Congress instead (which the organisers didn't care to avoid because they wanted to reduce costs by having the tournament at a venue where an adult tournament was taking place and that bleeped me off no end)

[Alan Ruffle]

My suggestion regarding Junior participation in an England Championship/Selection Tournament would require him or her to play in only the one relevant event, to become England Champion of that age group and achieve selection for the England team to play in the World and European championships, This is also an opportunity to raise funds to assist these players with their travel and accommodation expenses. After that a competent junior could play in adult competitions.

Our very young protégé, with only his natural ability, should have the opportunity to meet gradually strengthening opposition to win his way through a year long series of organised Junior Championship/Selection tournaments.

Nigel Short as a junior was pushed to hard and got badly burned at a high level tournament, which resulted in him dropping out of the game for a while.

Alan Ruffle

[Nigel Wright]

We still need a competent organising body to take that protégé under their wing and help him or her achieve their optimum level. With the current Junior Organising Body I can't see that happening in the near future (I'm not saying everybody involved in Junior chess is bad Alan, just most of those who have the power to influence it).

[andrew martin]

You are very critical of the current ECF organisation of Junior Chess. What do they do wrong and how can it be improved without sponsorship ? Most junior organisers do an incredible amount of hard UNPAID work and they should be thanked, not criticized.

Andrew