Carol Williams wrote:
"As director, I would work to advance two simple goals: (1) recruit and retain more juniors; and (2) strengthen our top performers." "intenational Representation"
I do not see in your statement how you propose to do this other than passing the responsibility to your deputy director - this is your responsbility and you should not seek to pass the buck to someone else
Krishna Shiatis wrote:
2) What exactly are your views on International Selection? How would you change things? Especially compared with what exists at the moment.
4) What are your views on training and development and how would you improve things?
….
1) How would you actually improve International Selection/get numbers up?
2) What will you be doing that is better than the current system?
3) What is your plan with regards to training and development? Would you work with Sabrina to develop a national plan and strategy?
John Upham wrote:
What will be your concrete proposals (rather than simply 'improve') for the overhaul of the currently implemented junior trials process and procedures?
Whatever these are they will need to be up and running following the AGM.
There is an opportunity to use the alleged collective wisdom of this forum to firm these proposals up
”Jonathan Rogers” wrote:
More detail on the relationship that should be had between the ECF and UKCC might be welcome, perhaps, as well as exactly how we might make our top juniors better compete with those in other countries
Thanks for these questions. They all address the most important issues facing junior chess. Please let me know if the following fully answers your questions.
Good strategic planning requires expertise and consultation. Sure, I have views, more of which you’ll read below, but the specifics need to be tested with colleagues who share in the responsibility to deliver. The team I would seek within the Junior Directorate consists of an Alternate Director (who I might like to call my deputy), the Manager of Coaching, and if the Board will allow, possibly two other posts. For the sake of this posting, let’s call them the Junior Ratings Officer and a Junior Training Squad Leader. If my math is right, that results in a core team of seven people, counting both Co-Managers of Women’s Chess! This core team, or ‘Player Development and Selection Committee’, would be open to participation by the ECF member representatives for juniors and invite collaboration with the National Chess Junior Squad. This collective group would also be invited to join in a ‘rapid strategic planning process’ to establish a junior training plan and the selection policy for 2012 by the time of the final prizegiving ceremony at the London Junior Chess Championships. That is a reasonable target because, with the exception of the LJCC, decisions for where children play chess under the current selection policy are not required until January. If time permits, I would seek to subject proposed policy to consultation with the wider ECF membership, as well as the Board. It seems right and proper to state some principles now, then after the election, call upon those who demonstrate a passion for junior chess and are willing pull in the same direction.
Although there is certainly room for debate and improvement, I would welcome talented and motivated volunteers into the Junior Directorate who subscribe broadly to the following:
- The ECF should organise training events for both elite players and non-elites in a manner that complements similar training conducted by county associations, strong clubs and other established groups. These events should constitute the bulk of our effort and be financially self-sustaining. Activities should involve training weekends, holiday camps, trips to domestic and international tournaments, as well as public fundraising for itself and chess charities. Events should be fun, encourage friendship and support among players, stretch all participants and save consequential competition for tournaments. These events should somehow support the ECF programs for Certificates of Merit and Centres of Excellence as long as they exist. For purposes of this posting, let’s call children who participate the Junior Training Squad, in which there would be various levels, or streams of development. As this program matures, organisers of non-ECF training activities might find it beneficial to register with the Junior Training Squad, potentially stitching junior training events together into a coherent set of opportunities. Sabrina and others deserve credit for some of these ideas, particularly the need to foster greater camaraderie among players through training and traveling.
- The Junior Directorate should track tournament performance of juniors more comprehensively to help identify emerging talent and publish up-to-date rating performances of the top players. I have not spoken with him, but suspect that Richard Haddrell, the ECF’s Grading Administrator, does not have time to supply the near-real-time data envisioned, thus a Junior Ratings Officer may be needed to keep us focused on the acid test of tournament results.
- The Manager of Coaching should fulfill his or her duties by prioritizing efforts to develop teaching skills among coaches, particularly coaches who introduce chess to children and guide them through the early stages of development. Please see my previous posting about coaching.
- Increase the number of players who represent England in FIDE youth championships. This single policy change can have a profound effect, because it implies an emphasis on building international experience rather than rewarding domestic performance. From a national perspective, broadening the base of international experience is worthwhile even at the cost of continued ‘poor’ results in the short term in company with stronger nations. Risks to children who may return feeling as though they were thrown into a fire can be avoided or mitigated by ensuring parents understand the environment before committing to a tournament, more focused preparation and by maintaining support from friends in the Junior Training Squad. In my view, the questions to ask as we review the FIDE calendar should include, ‘Is there a compelling reason to not participate in this tournament?’ and ‘How strong should our players be to avoid results consistently in the bottom 5th, 10th or Xth percentile?’ and ‘What is the maximum number of players that would preserve the honour and distinction of representing England at this tournament?’
- Objectivity and transparency should characterize selection for the major international championships, which for illustration in this post are the World Youth, European Youth, Olympiad U16, and possibly the European Youth Team Championships. This means that a committee’s judgment would be required only if we fail to publish clear, comprehensive and unambiguous selection criteria.
- Subjective judgment, to include ‘paper shuffles’ to identify promising talent and demonstrations of commitment are appropriate criteria for selection in other FIDE events and developmental streams within the Junior Training Squad.
- Selection policy effects decisions for players seeking to represent England as well as everyone else associated with promising players. The selection policy should therefore reward our best chess and also support the training programs and tournaments that produce the best chess among juniors.
These are the main thrusts of my candidacy with respect to training and selection. I know they are not perfect and we have much to learn from other countries and past practices in this country when, as we commonly perceive, English juniors brought home better results and produced more cohorts of stronger adult players. To satisfy Forum participants who want greater detail, below are some ideas that I wish to discuss with the new team as we craft a strategy—ends, means and ways—to (1) recruit and retain more juniors and (2) strengthen our top performers. I have not discussed these ideas with Loz Cooper, whose focus on player performance and selection are excellent, or Adam Raoof, whose organizational and arbiter’s skills are excellent, or any other member of the Board. So, they should be read as simply ideas envisioned to fulfill intentions stated above.
- Insert an intermediate step into the selection process, called an ECF Finalist. Discontinue the World Trials and use of the current Junior Grand Prix as it currently functions in the selection purposes.
- Designate ‘World and European Finalists’ in any of three ways, then allocate participation in the World Youth and/or European Youth by a method TBD:
o Rating/Grade/Activity Threshold. Establish a threshold for each section based on strength of the preceding year’s tournament. ECF grading may be appropriate for the younger players. FIDE rating may be appropriate for the older players. A combination may be appropriate. Require a number of games played in the preceding year. Determine and publish these thresholds within a month of the preceding tournament. Players who meet the target at the specified time are designated World and European Finalists.
o British Junior Championships. Designate the top English players in each British Junior Championship (…U11, U12, U13…, open and girls) as World and European Finalists approximately 14 months in advance of the World Youth and European Youth Championships, giving them plenty of time to prepare. The British Junior Championships are our flagship event. Of the domestic junior tournaments, they most resemble the World Youth and European Youth format.
o New Junior Grand Prix. Count games won in the strongest three or four sections across all junior tournaments. Strength of sections would be determined at the end of the season by the average grade of the top 10 or 15 entrants in each section. Tournaments would need to be meet an ECF standard, which should allow LJCC-style qualification but might require an open Swiss minimum of five or six standard games of FIDE or English academic year sections. This would effectively allow the body of strong players, rather than the Junior Director, to determine which competitions are relevant for selection. It also confounds decisions about which tournament to enter based on selection policy, arguably restoring the intrinsic prestige of tournament titles and trophies. Junior Grand Prix winners based on both FIDE age and English school year age would be designated a World and European Finalists.
- Celebrate personal achievements of becoming a World and European Finalist with letters to schools and appropriate publicity that may be arranged with the Director of Marketing (chess, not chessboxing!). Require Finalists to participate in Junior Training Squad events, perhaps providing them with a half-price discount! Require Finalists older than 12 years to present a lesson or lead a chess activity with younger Junior Training Squad members, further instilling the inherent responsibility to serve as role models. As long as it exists, perhaps require Finalists to participate in the Certificate of Merit program. Before accepting a commitment to play in either the World Youth or the European Youth Championships, formally counsel parents about their choice to send their child into a major championship, including time required away from school, the intensely competitive environment, stamina and finances required, available coaching assistance and any other expectations.
- Send juniors into the World Schools Individual Championships, which will be held this year in Romania’s second city, Iasi, 28 April to 6 May. Establish three paths to designation as a ‘World Schools Finalist’:
o Subject to cooperation with Mike Basman and in recognition of the UK Schools Chess Challenge’s massive appeal, designate every Ultimo, Ultima and 1st = in the Northern and Southern Gigafinal as a World Schools Finalist. Establish additional Finalist criteria from the Terafinal Challengers tournament.
o Subject to cooperation with the EPSCA Council and in recognition of EPSCA’s longstanding contribution, offer each EPSCA association the opportunity to designate one player for each section of this tournament, FIDE age U7, U9, U11, U13, both Open and Girls sections as a World Schools Finalist.
o Subject to cooperation with the National Chess Junior Squad and in recognition to their longstanding contribution, designate top performers in the Junior Squad Championships as World Schools Finalists.
- Require World Schools Finalists to fulfill terms similar to those required for World and European Finalists en route to representing England in the World Schools Individual Championships.
- Treat the Olympiad U16 and the European Youth Team Championships as major representational championships, selecting teams based on FIDE rating and recent activity.
- For the British Isles Championships (Glorney, Robinson, Faber/Gilbert, Stokes Cups), junior sections of the Commonwealth, and other youth tournaments where national federation registration is required, establish more subjective selection criteria to accelerate development of promising talent. Continue to support the Peter and Gill Turner’s activity in the European Union Youth Championships as long as they are willing to do so. Consider the appropriate criteria of the European Youth Rapid/Blitz Championships, which might include qualifications from the British Rapidplay Championships and an ECF rapidplay grade threshold.
All this is extremely ambitious, achievable only with greater ECF capacity to organise quality training, group travel, registration and fees and in-tournament coaching support; as well as ECF capacity to offer respected advice to parents and players. The ECF does not need to do it all, and indeed should not; but the ECF’s structure and its ability to coordinate or deliver training for juniors must improve if we want more juniors to perform better on the international stage and continue playing as adults. We should not expect instant transformation, but under my directorship, the door would remain open to those willing to pitch in and help transform youth chess in ways that enliven opportunities for children. Every change in leadership brings new opportunities. With your help, this change can be an exhilarating time in junior chess.