Youngest qualified arbiter in England?

[Alex Holowczak]

At the British Championship this week, Thomas Thorpe (14 years old) passed the arbiter's exam. He just requires two further "norms" to become a fully qualified arbiter (i.e. reports from senior arbiters). I think this is great; we go on about not having young players, but people don't notice the lack of young organisers or arbiters. In any case, is he the youngest? Presumably he'll be 15 by the time he qualifies, which must be pretty young as standards go.

Unfortunately, you have to be 21 to be a FIDE Arbiter, so he has a long wait before he can climb any higher up the ladder.

[Ian Thompson]

I can't beat that, but I can name another young player who has passed the exam - George Tunstall, who passed last year at the age of 15 , scoring 1 mark more than I did in the exam .

[Roger de Coverly]

In any case, is he the youngest?

Isn't there a girl assisting sometimes at the 4NCL - I don't recall her name.

[Alex Holowczak]

In any case, is he the youngest?

Isn't there a girl assisting sometimes at the 4NCL - I don't recall her name.

She's 15, and is not yet a qualified arbiter (but is interested in becoming one, and was studiously copying the rules out...) She does control sections of the Midlands-based congresses that Dave Thomas is the Chief Arbiter of.

She just does game inputting for the 4NCL, and acts as a runner if one of the other arbiters needs something to be delivered.

[Wilf Arnold]

At the British Championship this week, Thomas Thorpe (14 years old) passed the arbiter's exam. He just requires two further "norms" to become a fully qualified arbiter (i.e. reports from senior arbiters). I think this is great; we go on about not having young players, but people don't notice the lack of young organisers or arbiters. In any case, is he the youngest? Presumably he'll be 15 by the time he qualifies, which must be pretty young as standards go.

Unfortunately, you have to be 21 to be a FIDE Arbiter, so he has a long wait before he can climb any higher up the ladder.

We did have a young girl who assisted at the British for some of the time in Liverpool who I recall was 11 or 12.

Can't remember the exact details though.

[Wilf Arnold]

I can't beat that, but I can name another young player who has passed the exam - George Tunstall, who passed last year at the age of 15 , scoring 1 mark more than I did in the exam .

Exam are much easier these days!

Eh when I were a lad.......

[ThomasThorpe]

This young whipper-snapper be me I'll hopefully still be 14 when i get these 2 "norms", as hoping to get them this year, if not start of next year, since my birthday is quite late on for my age, I'd hopefully still be 14

[Wilf Arnold]

This young whipper-snapper be me I'll hopefully still be 14 when i get these 2 "norms", as hoping to get them this year, if not start of next year, since my birthday is quite late on for my age, I'd hopefully still be 14

It's good to see someone of this age join the arbiting community. I hope your enthusiasm carries on through the next few years.

I would also hope that players treat you the same as other arbiters - that'll be a test of your sense of humour and (sometimes) thickness of skin!

[Gavin Strachan]

I was hoping to go for the oldest person to become a GM

[Gareth Harley-Yeo]

I was hoping to go for the oldest person to become a GM

I'm going to settle for oldest person to become a CM

[Sean Hewitt]

This young whipper-snapper be me I'll hopefully still be 14 when i get these 2 "norms", as hoping to get them this year, if not start of next year, since my birthday is quite late on for my age, I'd hopefully still be 14

I'm not sure where you're based, but you can certainly look to get them at an e2e4 event if there is one local to you.

[Sean Hewitt]

I was hoping to go for the oldest person to become a GM

I'm going to settle for oldest person to become a CM

Thought you were trying for the WFM title?!

[George Tunstall]

George Tunstall here

I think that it is good that young people are becoming arbiters. The problem I have is that I am a chess player, and so am usually playing chess instead of arbiting Also, If I was playing at the British this year, I would have done some arbiting of the junior sections in the morning, and played in the afternoon. Thomas is quite lucky in the fact that his GCSE's are still a (reasonably) long way away. Once they get close a lot of things (unfortunately) suddenly seem more important than playing chess or arbiting

[Rob Thompson]

I'm just glad that I'm no longer the only junior frequenting these boards

[Kevin Thurlow]

"I think that it is good that young people are becoming arbiters. The problem I have is that I am a chess player, and so am usually playing chess instead of arbiting"

Absolutely right! I have discovered the interesting attitude that when you mildly penalise a junior for infractions of the Laws, people start saying, "He's a junior - he doesn't know the rules!" and even the answer, "He's graded 185, don't you think he ought to?" doesn't sway them. I always thought that juniors should be able to learn the Laws as they have more practice learning things than adults...

One bit of advice for aspiring arbiters, watch arbiters in action and see what they do. This can be useful to learn what to do (and of course on occasion, what not to do).