Home Chess 2009-2010 and the future

[Alex Holowczak]

and even perhaps include a `Mid Wales` grouping.

Mid-Wales in the English Chess Federation's Counties Championship?

I guess despite our somewhat flawed democracy, its not done too badly..... and some are overly keen on the sound of there own voices...whats new..

Um?

[IM Jack Rudd]

5 out of the 7 counties in WECU have an Open team, although none of them usually go on to play in the national stages of the Open (two last year went into the Minor Counties).

[David Pardoe]

Alex.... I certainly wasnt referring to you.... It is accepted..ney expected, that students (and the like) will voice opinions and question things... good to stir the grey matter with some lively debate. There is a more `big brother` element that I think should let the club function more freely...and allow a broader range of views to be heard.
Regarding Mid Wales...yes, a good fit next to Shropshire.. complements North Wales who tie in with Cheshire... who sadly dont participate particularly actively these days in county events.
There might be no harm either in having a Hereford/South Wales grouping...why not have a bit more inclusuveness, allowing more players to participate. I know that Cearphilly has a good club (or did have), with an active membership.
Yes, the ECF Exec is rather heavily weighted in the South, I believe. But the main problem is the long standing issue of too much work being done by a few hard working volunteers.
Also, I feel that the ECF company status is a questionable situation....we seem to be trying to force ourselves into a misfitting straight jacket. We need to be classed more as a normal (mainly amateur) Association. But I definately believe that such bodies, which are essentially cultural and social, should get special tax exemptions on those grounds. Now that grants are tighter, I wonder if we are gaining anything for all the efforts.

[Alex Holowczak]

Regarding Mid Wales...yes, a good fit next to Shropshire.. complements North Wales who tie in with Cheshire... who sadly dont participate particularly actively these days in county events.

North Wales fit in with Cheshire due to a historic anomaly, I think. They probably don't participate actively because most of their chessplayers live in a region otherwise known as Greater Manchester. Cheshire & NW played at the NYCA U18 event last week, and most of the people in it were from Greater Manchester.

Yes, the ECF Exec is rather heavily weighted in the South, I believe.

The ECF Board of Directors cannot be blamed for being from the South. People from the North are quite entitled to stand for election. If they don't put themselves forward, how can they ever be on the Board?

Also, I feel that the ECF company status is a questionable situation....we seem to be trying to force ourselves into a misfitting straight jacket. We need to be classed more as a normal (mainly amateur) Association. But I definately believe that such bodies, which are essentially cultural and social, should get special tax exemptions on those grounds. Now that grants are tighter, I wonder if we are gaining anything for all the efforts.

Well, its company status isn't questionable. It is a company. Whether the ECF should be a company is debatable, but given this decision would have been made by Council when the new ECF was set up 6 years ago, I'm sure all the possible avenues were investigated by Council at the time.

[Paul McKeown]

We have already blundered in recent years by ditching the potentially `world class` BCF brand name.

Is utter rubbish. The BCF had no jurisdiction outside of England and there was no interest in any form of unification from the various other British federations. You have some bizarre fantasy regarding an idea that never was. Good riddance to the BCF label, it was always in reality only ever an ECF. Get over it and get rid of that moronic signature too.

As for the rest of your postings, try spell checking them, then people might actually be bothered taking them seriously.

[Simon Spivack]

Whoa there Paul... is that not all a bit harsh? Bit of an edit to soften the tone?

As they say on the planet Dot Plague:

... ... ... .... ..... .... ..... ..... .

[Kevin Thurlow]

"For instance, all juniors getting through to the Mike Basman Giga Finals should be given a basic estimated grade, perhaps related to the average board they play on."

Or the organisers could pay Game Fee and get the games graded, where clocks are used of course.

[Alex Holowczak]

North Wales players were historically grouped with Cheshire because it was impractical for them to compete against other Welsh Teams.

An historic anomaly then... I.e. it wasn't true that all Welsh counties joined in with them.

Also your comment that most of the Chester and North Wales Junior Players come from Greater Manchester is I suspect inaccurate. Cheshire has a thriving junior chess scene, led by the Grappenhall Club, Kings School Chester and Rydal School in North Wales, last time I looked non of these places were in Manchester.

One of the players who I know said to me in person that quite a few of them normally play for Greater Manchester, but they didn't send a team. He may have been wrong; I didn't think to question him. Indeed, the captain for Greater Manchester's Open team in the County Championship was playing for Cheshire & North Wales. While junior chess may well be thriving in Cheshire & North Wales, and while it doesn't detract from the win, there was a strong GM presence in the team. Not that that's a problem; they're quite entitled to play for them.

Edit: From memory of who was in the team, and looking at the UKCC website, it seems 3/8 of the team were from Lancashire as defined by the UKCC. Presumably this is well within the realm of Greater Manchester. So you're right, not "most", but a significant chunk.

[Sean Hewitt]

AIMS for 2010-2011 should I be elected include;

....
* support great enterprises such as the 4NCL and e2-e4
....

Adam Raoof

Adam, could you expand what you mean by that? Up to now I've seen no help at all (quite the opposite in fact) and I suspect that is the case for the 4NCL too.

Adam - I seem to have missed your reply.

[Sean Hewitt]

AIMS for 2010-2011 should I be elected include;

....
* support great enterprises such as the 4NCL and e2-e4
....

Adam Raoof

Adam, could you expand what you mean by that? Up to now I've seen no help at all (quite the opposite in fact) and I suspect that is the case for the 4NCL too.

Adam, given that you are unwilling or unable to state what support you propose to offer "great enterprises such as the 4NCL and e2-e4" I would appreciate it if you could remove this deliberately false statement from your report.

You know full well that you are personally responsible for there being no more e2e4 events.

[Roger de Coverly]

You know full well that you are personally responsible for there being no more e2e4 events.

Well this is breaking news. Are you able to elaborate?

[andrew martin]

Am I getting this right: no more e2e4 events? There are several forthcoming events mentioned on Sean Hewitt's profile.

Why is this?

Apologies if there is a misinterpretation.

[Ian Kingston]

The Congress Diary post by Sean (http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php?p=41197#p41197) states that Brighton will be the last e2e4 event.

I really hope that this will not turn out to be the case.

[Robert Dale]

BUCA
We provided modest financial support for players to compete in the World Universities Team Championships in Switzerland.

Is it possible to have a figure for this, or will that have to wait for the accounts?

At the moment, £0. The players had to do fulfil certain tasks for their funding (I think a report + annotated games), which as far as I know hasn't been done yet.

The Report is now on the ECF website, though I think there was a technical problem with the annotations. The other task (for Hannah) was a video of two of her games at Canterbury for junior training - done, but technical problems (again), so not yet released. Thanks again, Alex, for all your hard work organising travel etc for WUCC

[Ljubica Lazarevic]

And also to the ECF who generously contributed some financial assistance for Hannah Dale and Sarah Hegarty...