New Berkshire Prospect

[John Upham]

One of the stand out grades from the recently published list is that of

Rajat Makkar, aged 10.

I suspect that is quite good amongst ten year olds in the UK.

Liam Blanc has risen from his estimate of 144 to 210. Again, not too shabby.

[Leonard Barden]

One of the stand out grades from the recently published list is that of

Rajat Makkar, aged 10.

I suspect that is quite good amongst ten year olds in the UK.

His Fide affiliation is FRA.

[IM Jack Rudd]

Yow, 190 ECF/1772 FIDE. That's not someone I want to face in a rated tournament.

[Roger de Coverly]

Yow, 190 ECF/1772 FIDE. That's not someone I want to face in a rated tournament.

There's a number of them about. Playing in under 2000 tournaments isn't always a gentle stroll to victory.

[John Upham]

One of the stand out grades from the recently published list is that of

Rajat Makkar, aged 10.

I suspect that is quite good amongst ten year olds in the UK.

His Fide affiliation is FRA.

Back to earth with a bump : what am I thinking ?

[Alex Holowczak]

I spoke with his Dad at the London Junior. He was very helpful in providing pro bono translation services when I spoke to the other French players in the tournament I was arbiting.

Their French chess club is open daily, and has full-time paid staff, supported by a local government funding. He gets regular coaching from one of these full-time staff on Skype. Apparently, this is how the big chess clubs work in France.

How many clubs in England are anything remotely comparable with that?

[John Upham]

I spoke with his Dad at the London Junior. He was very helpful in providing pro bono translation services when I spoke to the other French players in the tournament I was arbiting.

Their French chess club is open daily, and has full-time paid staff, supported by a local government funding. He gets regular coaching from one of these full-time staff on Skype. Apparently, this is how the big chess clubs work in France.

How many clubs in England are anything remotely comparable with that?

You might like to ask the question

"How many countries apart from France and England are anything remotely comparable with that?!

I'd guess a fair few.

The British ethos is to be amatuerish at everything. Government funding is only for the NHS, teachers and the public highways.

Look at the funding for the English chess NGB for starters and the efforts to secure funding.

Look at the numbers of FIDE rated tournaments in this country : pathetic.

Evening leagues for old blokes instead of playing league chess at weekends as they do on the continent : that is the best way to stop juniors playing league chess.

[Roger de Coverly]

Look at the numbers of FIDE rated tournaments in this country : pathetic.

French players envy the UK's long established network of weekend Congresses. You don't condemn UK tournaments as pathetic just because they aren't FIDE rated. We do have a relative shortage of week long tournaments though. Perhaps with British hotel and room hire prices they are just too expensive.

As for local weekend leagues, why not try and establish some? County matches traditionally occupied that niche and weekend leagues would clash with Congresses. The Oxford based FIDE league has discontinued without ever attracting more than a handful of teams.

[Mick Norris]

As Roger says, there's a lot of chess at weekends in England now; in the geographically bigger counties like Yorkshire and Cumbria league chess at the weekend makes a lot of sense

[IM Jack Rudd]

Devon also has its countywide league at weekends for the same reason (whereas the local leagues such as the Exeter League and Torbay League are played on weekday evenings).

[Kevin Thurlow]

"Government funding is only for the NHS, teachers and the public highways."

And wholly inadequate for all three, with no prospect of improvement.

[IM Jack Rudd]

The scheduling of local leagues is one of those interesting questions where the answer depends on the framing. If you ask "what is the best time of the week to play local league chess?", you may well come up with the weekend as the answer. If you ask "which form of chess benefits most from being played at the weekend?", you don't come up with local league chess as the answer.

[John Upham]

If you ask "which form of chess benefits most from being played at the weekend?", you don't come up with local league chess as the answer.

Who has provided this answer who wishes league chess to flourish and grow ?

[Nick Grey]

On education - UK have failed on its aspirations for a world class education system. We are falling despite a lot of outstanding and good schools in the public and private school sectors.

I work in Education Finance. Fair funding allocations for two top London Local Authorities, and in my meetings with the Education & Skills Funding Agency. A new National Funding Formula that has confused schools with what it means for them, that it's targets bear no resemblance to the underlying regulations. The financial analysis is a lower standard based upon my A level statistics part of maths knowledge, let alone my qualified accountant status.

I still cannot see the rationale why government should allocate significant funds to chess or from local authorities for that matter. It has been a long while since you could get free lettings of premises too.

But that is in no way knocking our junior chess prospects, their parents, clubs, associations coaching, support from encouraging adults, 4NCL, Chess in Schools and the Communities, ECF, those supporting school chess and the ECF Junior squads and their teams of adults. Those that manage and allocate through Trust Funds too.

I know it is difficult for parents on financing and in balancing their schooling and other activities other than chess.

I will continue to spend significant amounts of my own chess playing time in encouraging juniors, their parents, the team management, and colleagues. It is quite pleasurable to see them from playing in teams below me progressing and then going way past me. it is really nice when they admit too their parents how well I played and given them a real battle (a top 30 player), and it takes a lot of maturity to analyse at post-mortems. The good juniors do so. I believe their coaches encourage that (rather than get an engine out - which is for later).

It is great to see them still playing as adults, and all those contemporaries that are playing at high levels in the UK in the leagues, congresses and county matches I play in. It is also very encouraging when years later that they talk to you.

It is fantastic that those that are a lot older than me playing extremely well this season and getting results. At the heights of u18 junior champion in 1953, highest grades in the 60s and 70s (Ken Inwood). We enjoyed coffee whilst we let Kingston and Wimbledon play. Ken is a year younger than my father. On board 5 the ex-Junior elite of Julian Way and Robin Haldane were playing. On top board Marcus Osborne was playing. I have known him since his junior days.

Most of the other players were junior players 30-50 years ago and many of us have got bad results from being outplayed by juniors subsequently, and we have joined in our commiserations after the match or weeks later.

it is nice to see No 21 on our list - it was 10-12 years ago that I was trying to explain adjournment to him and his father (dropping a piece on the time control). I've had the pleasure of playing his brother a few times as well as a lift from his mother at a congress to a reasonable station.

Other Surrey Juniors, their parents and junior managers are great. It is particularly nice to have a tea or coffee with them or a lift to a match.

Let's be encouraging to our junior prospects and ignore the fide or ECF underrating issue. And not put too much pressure on them.

It is difficult enough in the future where they come out of university with debts the size of my first mortgage plus car plus my salary at the time of my first mortgage.

[Roger Lancaster]

Their French chess club is open daily, and has full-time paid staff, supported by a local government funding. He gets regular coaching from one of these full-time staff on Skype. Apparently, this is how the big chess clubs work in France.

I remember, back in the 1980's, when Kings Head played Budapest Spartacus in the European Cup, it was enlightening to find that our opponents were a constituent part of a much larger sports organisation supported of course - and we are here talking of a time when Hungary was under Soviet, um, influence - by government funding. In practical terms, it would be financially comparable to one of the larger London chess clubs being part of Arsenal, Chelsea or Spurs football clubs.