Major investment to transform future of English chess announced

[Chris Goodall]

I have always been slightly confused about who the target population for public chess boards is. People who carry heavy chess pieces around with them but not a light vinyl board?

[Angus French]

If the boards are positioned close to park cafes then maybe sets can be borrowed or hired?

FWIW, I heard at the weekend that the three concrete chess tables installed a year ago on Streatham Common cost £7,500. So could it be that £2,500 a table is not untypical?

[Kevin Thurlow]

"FWIW, I heard at the weekend that the three concrete chess tables installed a year ago on Streatham Common cost £7,500. So could it be that £2,500 a table is not untypical?"

Presumably, they are pretty robust - but it does seem a lot...

[Angus French]

"FWIW, I heard at the weekend that the three concrete chess tables installed a year ago on Streatham Common cost £7,500. So could it be that £2,500 a table is not untypical?"

Presumably, they are pretty robust - but it does seem a lot...

They look robust.

[Mick Norris]

The original announcement is here - https://www.gov.uk/government/news/majo ... -announced - and contains more information than has been copied to BCN.

• The chess table locations will be determined by Local Authorities who rate highly on the Index of Multiple Deprivation and have limited access to green space. The Index of Multiple Deprivation is a dataset used within the UK that looks at a number of measures of deprivation including income, employment, health, crime and access to housing.
• DLUHC is also committed to working with the devolved governments to consider how best to support the installation of outdoor chess boards in Scotland and Wales.
• Schools with higher proportions of pupils on free school meals will be eligible for grant funding.
• As part of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE), young people can choose their own activity for the skills section. Chess is already one skill they can learn or improve their game. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Department of Education (DfE) are providing over £7 million between 2022 and 2025 for The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE) charity to support more secondary schools and community settings to deliver the DofE, giving young people the opportunity to develop new skills and discover new interests and passions, such as chess.

Thanks Ian

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport will invest £500,000 in the English Chess Federation (ECF) over two years, in order to develop the next generation of world-class talent. Funds will support expert coaching, training camps and cutting-edge computer analysis for international events to assist current grandmasters and up-and-coming players.

Investment into the ECF will include funding for junior training camps and one-to-one coaching with England internationals, prioritising access for young chess players to take part in an educational, productive activity that helps develop critical thinking skills. A portion of the money will be dedicated to support visually impaired and deaf players to compete in their own elite level competitions.

So, that's £250K p.a. for the next 2 years; this is promising, as post election, that would allow Rachel Reeves to keep paying the £250K p.a. without it being a new spending commitment

The Department for Education will award grants of up to £2,000 to at least 100 schools in disadvantaged areas across England, subject to interest.

So, that's £200K, assuming there is sufficient interest

[Matt Bridgeman]

‘ As part of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE), young people can choose their own activity for the skills section. Chess is already one skill they can learn or improve their game. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Department of Education (DfE) are providing over £7 million between 2022 and 2025 for The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE) charity to support more secondary schools and community settings to deliver the DofE, giving young people the opportunity to develop new skills and discover new interests and passions, such as chess.’

That bit is probably super-vague. My daughter does chess as skill currently in the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award, and that does not amount to much more than her chess coach signing off that she did X amount of training. With that much money kids should be getting offered proper chess academy- style residentials, and exotic tournament trips, etc.

You’d imagine it might be the perfect opportunity for all the silos in English chess, EPSCA, etc to come together in one big cohesive package.

And you’d hope there would be a smart balance between finding the mythical hidden talent in deprived areas, and supporting the good, young players to exceed their limits by getting regular subsidised coaching and regular organised trips to European adult events. Pick the value ones like the Czech tour, etc.

[Roger Lancaster]

Discussing on the Robert Perrone show, BBC 3 Counties Radio, around 2.30 this afternoon. Would encourage others also to contact media.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"You’d imagine it might be the perfect opportunity for all the silos in English chess, EPSCA, etc to come together in one big cohesive package."

That would certainly be a worthwhile achievement.

Those Streatham tables do look very robust!

[Stewart Reuben]

You may not have seen the piece in today's BBC News t 1pm about this. Even that is heartening and very welcome free publicity. All the boards nd sets semed to be correctly set up and children were playing naturally.

It is for England - not the whole country. I hope the rest of the UK will get something.
It has been said it is £500,000 and elsewhere £1 million.

We used to get government support for some years. That was when Sir Stuart Milner-Barry was influential. It vanished when he was no longer a force and there was a considerable turn don in the ecobony.

Naturally it will be used primarily to encourage children to play, also females and disabled players.
We must hope that business sponsorship will also be encouraged to expand. Chess, like any other sort,needs its heroes. Our greatest success currently is SENIOR chess. We are number 1 in the world.

[Ian Thompson]

‘ As part of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE), young people can choose their own activity for the skills section. Chess is already one skill they can learn or improve their game. The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Department of Education (DfE) are providing over £7 million between 2022 and 2025 for The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE) charity to support more secondary schools and community settings to deliver the DofE, giving young people the opportunity to develop new skills and discover new interests and passions, such as chess.’

With that much money kids should be getting offered proper chess academy- style residentials, and exotic tournament trips, etc.

323,676 people enrolled in the DofE in the last year (to March 2023). £7 million, divided by 4 years, divided by 323,676 people is £5.41 per person per annum. You're not going to get anything exotic for that.

[Ian Thompson]

It has been said it is £500,000 and elsewhere £1 million.

Both figures are correct, but not referring to the same thing.

The "almost a million pounds" is £500K for the ECF, £250K for chess tables and £200K for grants to schools.

[Ian Jamieson]

It has been said it is £500,000 and elsewhere £1 million.

Both figures are correct, but not referring to the same thing.

The "almost a million pounds" is £500K for the ECF, £250K for chess tables and £200K for grants to schools.

That and other posts leads the cynic in me to suspect that only the £250K for chess tables is ‘new’ money and the other £700K is a redistribution of existing money. Fine for English chess if so, less so for other sports or whoever loses out from the redistribution. I hope however to be proved wrong.

[John Foley]

The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames has today confirmed to us that it will be launching three new chess tables in a central park next month with more chess tables to follow in other parks. Kingston Chess Club will be hosting the launch party at the site which is conveniently located next to a pub. Since Kingston is not a deprived area, this installation will not detract from funding elsewhere.

[Tim Spanton]

It has been said it is £500,000 and elsewhere £1 million.

Both figures are correct, but not referring to the same thing.

The "almost a million pounds" is £500K for the ECF, £250K for chess tables and £200K for grants to schools.

That and other posts leads the cynic in me to suspect that only the £250K for chess tables is ‘new’ money and the other £700K is a redistribution of existing money. Fine for English chess if so, less so for other sports or whoever loses out from the redistribution. I hope however to be proved wrong.

Someone must lose out - the money does not come out of thin air

[NickFaulks]

.