michele clack wrote:I hope that Jovanka Sabrina and Keith manage to put this controversy behind them and enjoy their coaching at the British.
Agreed. And hopefully all those coaching and being coached at the British will achieve their aims, and those watching at home and at the venue will all enjoy some high-quality games of chess.
michele clack wrote:As far as I can see the Accreditation debate is a red herring. The issue seems to be that private coaches should not spend any time with the youngsters they are coaching in the tournament analysis room at The British so that the ECF cannot be seen to be endorsing them, for legal reasons. Presumably this will apply to unpaid coaches as well as paid ones. In order to be fair to Sabrina and her team I hope this will be carefully policed.
I think rather the issue is that the ECF can't officially endorse the analysis room being used by coaches and their pupils, but equally they can't police such venues either. The usual approach is treat it like any public venue. Anyone can use it for analysis, but if the venue gets too full, then you have to ration the time spent in there. I've always used analysis rooms primarily to analyse with an opponent after the game, and then (if the room is not full or there are not others waiting), then I might use it to go over games with a friend or two, and finally, I might very occasionally use it to remind myself of some opening preparation before a particularly crucial game, but that really only shows lack of preparation, as that should be done well in advance.
The key etiquette to observe is whether the room is full or not, and if so, to give those players engaging in post-match analysis priority. Also, if the chairs are at a premium, then the players get the chairs and spectators and coaches and other hangers-on have to stand. Simple. Formal, structured/group coaching sessions should clearly be done elsewhere.
But really, it is not necessary to debate this on this forum. Let's just leave the organisers of the British to deal with stuff like this on the ground (they are quite capable of handling this), and those of us not going there can sit back and enjoy the games (hopefully, if the games transmission works). Talking of which, there is something I want to ask, but I'll do that in another thread.