BCF brought back!

[John Philpott]

Finally the news that David Pardoe has been waiting for: the BCF is back tomorrow.

That is to say, the traditional cricket match that takes place on the middle Sunday of the British Championships is being billed on the notices at the Riviera Centre as BCF v Clyst St George Cricket Club. The word at dinner was that the team of chess players will only be rebadged as ECF if it wins. With a starting eleven to be chosen from A Toll, A Martin, D Le Moir, S Sathyanandha, A Sivakumar, C Briscoe, J Fisher, M Symons, T Thynne, C Storey, R Thynne, T Haxby, I Stables and J Rudd, can there be any doubt that it will?

[Alex Holowczak]

With 14 players, it means the ECF can provide two umpires and a scorer, both of which could be vital in giving the ECF a chance of winning tomorrow.

[Ian Lamb]

come on the Bcf !!!!!!!!!!! alect toll hit 40 like you used to do when michael was in the team

[David Pardoe]

[quote="John Philpott"]Finally the news that David Pardoe has been waiting for: the BCF is back tomorrow.

Many a true word spoken in jest John....
You`ll no doubt remember all the skullduggery that went into the illjudged ritual execution of the BCF...right on the point of its 100th birthday....which they failed to celebrate.....what a key opportunity that might have been to spread the message, and encourage new interest.....
Typical was the fact that one of the few significant votes by BCF members showed that 43% were definately in favour of retaining our prestigious flag ship body, I believe. But that wasnt going to sway those plotting its downfall from putting out dubious propaganda to try to force there agenda.
So here we are...pandering to what...... charitable status.....more effort to try to contort us into some curious straight jacket....to pretend we`re something that we`re not. Although I agree that the tax treatment of such sports/cultural bodies should be more favourable.
But, without real vision and leadership we will always struggle, regardless of what we call ourselves. A motley collection of assorted interests bundled together with the label `ECF` is not a recipe for great things.....

PS regarding the cricket...if rain stop play doesnt blight this...... we really should have a match between Yorks Counties Champions v a `British XI`...

[Paul McKeown]

David,

I don't follow your objections to the English Chess Federation. Please explain.

Regards,
Paul.

[Tim Spanton]

David,

I don't follow your objections to the English Chess Federation. Please explain.

Regards,
Paul.

I would imagine part of his objection is that the British Chess Federation ran the British Chess Championship while having a special responsibility for chess in England, parts of Wales and - effectively - the Isle of Man.
Changing the name to the English Chess Federation inevitably diminished it.
Scottish companies are happy to sponsor/advertise-with Scottish organisations but English companies tend to regard themselves as British and therefore look to sponsor/advertise-with British organisations, not English ones.

[Paul McKeown]

I would imagine part of his objection is that the British Chess Federation ran the British Chess Championship while having a special responsibility for chess in England, parts of Wales and - effectively - the Isle of Man.
Changing the name to the English Chess Federation inevitably diminished it.
Scottish companies are happy to sponsor/advertise-with Scottish organisations but English companies tend to regard themselves as British and therefore look to sponsor/advertise-with British organisations, not English ones.

Tim,

I understood that the British Championship was subject to oversight and guidance by the British Isles coordinating authority.

I don't understand how the ECF is diminished by changing its name to more accurately reflect what it does. Surely that actually helps it by improving its focus?

I'm not sure about the point of sponsoring; there is perhaps some merit in that argument, but nevertheless I'm not sure how true it is. Are there companies reluctant to sponsor the English football, rugby or cricket teams, for instance? Or leagues within England? What do you think is the extent of the problem and what is it that deters potential sponsoring organisations?

Best Regards,
Paul.

[Tim Spanton]

I would imagine part of his objection is that the British Chess Federation ran the British Chess Championship while having a special responsibility for chess in England, parts of Wales and - effectively - the Isle of Man.
Changing the name to the English Chess Federation inevitably diminished it.
Scottish companies are happy to sponsor/advertise-with Scottish organisations but English companies tend to regard themselves as British and therefore look to sponsor/advertise-with British organisations, not English ones.

Tim,

I understood that the British Championship was subject to oversight and guidance by the British Isles coordinating authority.

I don't understand how the ECF is diminished by changing its name to more accurately reflect what it does. Surely that actually helps it by improving its focus?

I'm not sure about the point of sponsoring; there is perhaps some merit in that argument, but nevertheless I'm not sure how true it is. Are there companies reluctant to sponsor the English football, rugby or cricket teams, for instance? Or leagues within England? What do you think is the extent of the problem and what is it that deters potential sponsoring organisations?

Best Regards,
Paul.

But English football, rugby and cricket teams are taking part in major sports and get extensive media coverage. The same applies to leagues within England.
Chess gets very little coverage so is not attractive per se to sponsors/advertisers. A British company that wanted to get involved in chess would have major doubts about sponsoring a regional organisation unless it regarded itself as a regional company.
Also, in my view and the view of many other people, the name change did not increase accuracy -it reduced it, as I explained in my first posting.

[Paul McKeown]

Tim,

The title, English Chess Federation is entirely accurate it seems: the organisation administers chess in England. It does not administer chess in Scotland, Wales (except possibly for some border areas?) or Northern Ireland. Nor indeed does it administer chess in many of the dependent territories for that matter either.

I seem to recall you on the SCCU website calling for the return of an earlier era when Scotland was returned to its mother organisation, the BCF. It was pointed out to you that the then Scottish Chess Association predated the BCF by decades. More of the same spin?

Regards,
Paul.

[Tim Spanton]

3.1. To encourage the study and practice of chess in England and for the purpose of these objects England shall be deemed to include such part of North Wales as is within the jurisdiction of the Cheshire & North Wales Chess Association for so long as it shall so remain.
3.8. To provide assistance in relation to chess to British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, which are not for the time being members of Federation Internationale des Echecs, if requested to do so.

[Stewart Reuben]

David Pardoe has managed to incense me. >BCF...right on the point of its 100th birthday....which they failed to celebrate.....what a key opportunity that might have been to spread the message, and encourage new interest.....<

I was in charge of the Centenary Celebrations. Bob Gurney worked hard to encourage more local organisations to show an interest. Some held special events. There was a Centenary dinner in Scarborough. There were several other events there celebrating the Centenary.

We also had a match of the Generations all over the country. Any failure of the English chess population to make use of the unique opportunity to popularise chess was not the fault of the federation. Possibly though it was partially the fault of David Pardoe. I don't remember him offering his services to help.

Stewart Reuben

[Tim Spanton]

BCF or ECF: Also from time to time it organises chess championships in Scotland and Wales and - once - in the Isle of Man

[Paul McKeown]

3.1. To encourage the study and practice of chess in England and for the purpose of these objects England shall be deemed to include such part of North Wales as is within the jurisdiction of the Cheshire & North Wales Chess Association for so long as it shall so remain.
3.8. To provide assistance in relation to chess to British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, which are not for the time being members of Federation Internationale des Echecs, if requested to do so.

And that makes it a British Chess Federation?

Seems rather a fine veneer.

Indeed the point of both "such part of North Wales" and the British dependencies is that they are administered by the ECF only for so long it is convenient for them for that arrangement to remain in place - there is no inherent right for the ECF to do so.

[Paul McKeown]

BCF or ECF: Also from time to time it organises chess championships in Scotland and Wales and - once - in the Isle of Man

Wrong. It is under the auspices of the British Isles Coordinating Committee that the British Chess Championships are organised in England, Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Man. The ECF may do a large part of the work - but, given, its relative size that is hardly a surprise. Still doesn't make a British Chess Federation from the ECF.

[Paul McKeown]

David Pardoe has managed to incense me. >BCF...right on the point of its 100th birthday....which they failed to celebrate.....what a key opportunity that might have been to spread the message, and encourage new interest.....<

Stewart,

Your efforts on behalf of English, British an world chess over several decades are widely recognised and applauded. I'm sure David Pardoe was not intending to address his remarks at you specifically. He does seem to have a bee in bonnet, though, about the Britishness of English chess, which results in some undirected hit and run chunter and burble.

Regards,
Paul.