Standard of venues

[David Gostelow]

I am one of those players that gets annoyed by distractions and noise. Earplugs seem to have little effect on me
I play in the Birmingham League, Wolverhampton League and Shropshire League

The venues in the Birmingham League are generally good to ok

Shropshire League many are terrible and chess is little more than a pub game with some clubs playing all there matches in public bars with the locals chatting and music on and others including our own club in separate rooms but with through bars (one common serving area), so you get all the noise from the main bar ( including telly , boring conversations , juke boxes etc)

Do you have any rules in your league or way of enforcing minimum standards.

One club now defunct in the Shropshire League you ended up sitting directly below a giant sports TV screen that was always on, with the sound on as well

Related to this is that I recently have played two e2e4 tournaments and enjoyed the civilised conditions , with plenty of room to score and for a drink at your table , no one squeezing past and quiet venues with encouragement at the start of each round to make sure mobiles are off an that people analyse in another room

[Joey Stewart]

It can be difficult for some clubs, operating with very minimal funding (lets face it, chess players are not the most forthcoming when it comes to parting with money) in the current economy and sometimes they are forced to have to use really sub standard venues as they are priced out of the market in terms of getting anywhere decent.
Having said that, I disapprove of using a bad club as a permanent fixture (it should be for one season at the most) and possibly getting an agreement with other teams in the league to boycott all future matches at that clubs venue would be a way to help discourage them from using it.

[Greg Breed]

If that were a league venue I would not accept those conditions. Its unfortunate, but there are quieter places around surely?
If its for social and beer related chess that's fine and I am partial to that as well, but not for competitive teams matches, nosiree

[PeterFarr]

I have sympathy with David's post, but its rather a matter of degree, and also a question of what you want out of chess.

I play for a pub team, and though we have a side room, its cramped and can be noisy - its not possible to be completely isolated - but we still try and play a proper standard of evening league chess. Generally our opponents seem ok with it, though that maybe because (a) they are just too polite to complain or (b) they so greatly enjoy the many points that we donate to them every season.

Frankly I prefer to have our imperfect venue, where after the game we can all sit round and chat afterwards and be generally sociable, and where the landlord is very accommodating to us, as compared to, say, a draughty but silent church hall, where everybody goes straight home after the match. Also with kids now more welcome, and since the smoking ban, pub & social club venues can be more suitable for juniors these days (not saying they always a great environment by any means of course).

I think its a really bad idea to try and come up with specific venue standards - difficult to do and its an obvious way to create ill-feeling and ensure people feel picked on. I would have thought in the long-run a self-regulating effect would operate.

That said; having a sports TV on.... there are limits to anyone's tolerance.

[Andrew Camp]

Players at the recent Welsh Championships were entertained by a Christian Rock group playing in the room above the playing hall on the Sunday morning.

[David Gostelow]

I know that its difficult , we use free venues in Shropshire where the clubs are smaller in general ,where as the club I play for in the Birmingham League you have to pay membership to the working mens club. The thing that bothers me is that when one club sets a low standard in this area , others feel that they can follow that lead and then standards slip. Probably more than half the players are not bothered , particularly the lower rated players. But it becomes a race to the bottom. In Birmingham most clubs play in the likes of working mens clubs, ex service clubs, conservative , labour clubs. They normally have a completely separate room and you can still have a drink afterwards. These venues are now desperate for business , though the number existing is declining . I would prefer a rule that said it at least had to be a separate room

[PeterFarr]

Separate room seems fair. Agree on the working mens clubs etc point - often good venues with space, and again these are more welcoming to juniors and women than they used to be, and as you say, need the extra business these days. Though I fear such venues will soon be a thing of the past.

[Joey Stewart]

Poor old working mens clubs, they used to be well funded by whatever organisation founded them, and so had to merely cover costs. Now many of the clubs are trying to operate as stand alone businesses, but are still run with the same mentality of only needing to cover costs, and many of them are going into administration because of it. My old Gloucester team venue was an example of such a club, but on the plus side we found a very nice alternative which is seen by (almost) everyone as an upgrade.