British Championships 2014?

[Mick Norris]

Am I correct that the venue, and indeed dates given the Olympiad in Norway, for this are not yet fixed?

What is the deadline for getting the event format changed (or scrapped), and is this something that requires a decision from ECF Council?

[Roger de Coverly]

What is the deadline for getting the event format changed (or scrapped), and is this something that requires a decision from ECF Council?

There are advocates who write in magazines in favour of a switch to a nine round format over nine days starting on a Saturday. Whether some or all of the Board share these views isn't known. In an ideal world you would expect the issue to be raised and debated in the ECF Council as it's one that would affect quite a number of chess players, so all views should be considered. It would be unlikely that a series of events taking place over 13 days could be compressed into 9, so some tournaments would dropped or consolidated.

On the two year plus cycle of determining venues and formats for the British, now is the time when plans for 2014 and beyond have to be formulated.

[IM Jack Rudd]

What is the deadline for getting the event format changed (or scrapped), and is this something that requires a decision from ECF Council?

There are advocates who write in magazines in favour of a switch to a nine round format over nine days starting on a Saturday. Whether some or all of the Board share these views isn't known.

Let it be known that at least one Board member isn't in favour.

[Stewart Reuben]

When the decision was made in 1987 to permit Southern Irish to play, that was made by the BCF Board.
When the historic decision was made for the British no longer to be open to Commonwealth players that was made in 2003 by the Britih Isles Coordinating Committee. It was a costly decision for the ECF.
Only if the British Championships was broken, which it isn't, would it make sense to change the format so drastically to 9 days. That used not to be feasible because British seaside resorts hotels used to book Saturday to Saturday.
I would have liked all the players to have been asked about permitting the Commonwealth players to take part in the 100th, but to be eligible only for the Commonwealth titles. But that questionnaire never happened. An extra 100 paying entries would have been useful.
Combining the Commonwealth, British and Scottish in 2014, probably in Glasgow, was another possibility that has passed the event by. Combining the Commonwealth and Scottish in 2014 is still feasible. The Commonwealh Games organisers won't like it, but when that event was held in Manchester, the EBU simply ignored them and held the Bridge Commonwealth Championships.

[Sean Hewitt]

Only if the British Championships was broken, which it isn't, would it make sense to change the format so drastically to 9 days.

That's debatable. The current champion appears to think the championship is broken.

[Sean Hewitt]

Am I correct that the venue, and indeed dates given the Olympiad in Norway, for this are not yet fixed?

Yes on both counts.

What is the deadline for getting the event format changed (or scrapped), and is this something that requires a decision from ECF Council?

No idea on the deadline part, but there is no need for a decision from council.

[Alex McFarlane]

There does not appear to be any need to gain Council agreement, though one would hope that it would be informed in sufficient time to make informed comment prior to implimentation.

The Championship could obviously move to 9 days. The U10 -U 14 junior championships could move to 7 rounds over 4 days and the U16 take on a similar format to the European and World events over 9 days. The U8 and U9 events could continue in their current format. You could have weekend tournaments at both ends with the Graded Championships and an Open in the middle 5 days. This would allow for all of the current events to continue though it is probably advisable to reduce the number of 5 day championships to 3 from 4.

Such a format would not allow for a play-off nor, in the expectation of people going home on the Friday night, for a formal prizegiving.

[JustinHorton]

Only if the British Championships was broken, which it isn't

It's not in such robustly good health that a serious look at alternatives doesn't need to be undertaken.

[Stewart Reuben]

Sean >The current champion appears to think the championship is broken.<

Has Gawain really said he thinks the Championship is broken?

Justin Of course one should look at alternatives in order to make improvement even if an event is in robust health.

Previous commentators may not have noticed I referred to the Championships in the plural. In doing so I meant the whole congress. Not just the specific British Championship.
It is difficult to see how we could fit in the British; Senior; U16; U14; U13; U12; U11; U10; U9; U8; U180; U160; U140; U120 all into just 9 days in addition to all the non-Championhip events such as Major Open; 5 day morning week 1 and 2; 5 day afternoon week 1 and 2; weekend tournaments; two rapidplays; a simul and evening events. Of course it can be done by making drastic changes such as those Alex suggests.

I very much doubt cutting the event by 3 days from 12 days to 9 would solve the problem of lack of full business sponsorship for the British Championship. Moreover currently the venue is required for 13 days play and 2 days setting up and dismantling = 15, 87% of the time with people staying. A 9 day event would require 11 days use = 82%. It would be less attractive from the viewpoint of an organisation concerned with bed useage, such as Canterbury, Sheffield, North Shields or Torquay. Travelling costs would not change.

There is more media attention for a chess tournament starting on a Monday and concluding on a Friday than one starting Saturday and concluding Sunday. Thus it is more attractive to a business sponsor in its current format.

I haven't studied the dates of the 2014 Olympiad. It is possible that changing the format of the British itself for that year might make it possible to shift the event within the English School holidays so as not to clash.
An alternative is to move the event late in August solely in 2014. When in charge I rejected that possibility as the Scottish Schools go back about the 15th. Very few played this year. I would have asked the 2012 competitors about what they thought of that possibility. Given substantially more than a year's notice I doubt many would mind.

[Roger de Coverly]

When the historic decision was made for the British no longer to be open to Commonwealth players that was made in 2003 by the Britih Isles Coordinating Committee. It was a costly decision for the ECF.

It would only have been potentially costly for the Junior events, as the squads of GMs and IMs turning up from India in the last couple of years of their eligibility were all rated above the "free entry to IMs and GMs" cut off.

[Roger de Coverly]

Has Gawain really said he thinks the Championship is broken?

In a piece at http://streathambrixtonchess.blogspot.c ... bliss.html, he suggests that the total entries should be restricted to about 60 with 50 of these being IMs or GMs and only around 10 qualifiers.

In the comments, one IM observes that there are more than 50 active IMs or GMs, whilst another observes that there would be nowhere near 50 takers amongst those IMs or GMs for whom chess was a holiday or leisure activity. You could perhaps add the caveat that it might depend who was paying.

[Roger de Coverly]

It is difficult to see how we could fit in the British; Senior; U16; U14; U13; U12; U11; U10; U9; U8; U180; U160; U140; U120 all into just 9 days in addition to all the non-Championhip events such as Major Open; 5 day morning week 1 and 2; 5 day afternoon week 1 and 2; weekend tournaments; two rapidplays; a simul and evening events. Of course it can be done by making drastic changes such as those Alex suggests.

It should be quite obvious that reducing to 9 days would require the scrapping of some events and the consolidation of others. It would also make it more difficult or impossible for competitors to double up on events. It is to be hoped that those who would write in magazines advocating such a change to a nine day event understand this point.

I haven't studied the dates of the 2014 Olympiad. It is possible that changing the format of the British itself for that year might make it possible to shift the event within the English School holidays so as not to clash.

[/quote]

The dates of the Olympiad are 1st to 14th August, although I didn't find whether the arrival day is expected to be 1st August (Friday) or 31st July (Thursday) . You could at a pinch run the British Congress with its normal two week schedule from 20th July to 2nd August. So if you rescheduled the Championship to start play on Sunday 20th, 2014 and play every day until Wednesday 30th July, you could fit in the traditional 11 rounds. All other events could follow their traditional timeslots. If the timing for that was too tight, particularly with the possibility of a play off, you cut out rounds accordingly. If you start the Congress on July 13th, are you the wrong side of school holidays? Equally if you postpone it until August 17th, you run into a clash with the Bank Holiday weekend at the end of the month.

[Mick Norris]

My daughter finishes school 18 July 2013, so I would expect that, for some, week beginning 13 July 2014 would be too soon for the British to start

I think you would need a break between the Olympiad and British if you were playing in both, so I don't think a clash can be avoided if the British is staged in 2014

Of course, we could avoid this by having the British as everything up to and including the Major Open, and having an English Championship later in 2014 as an APA

If you ran the system like the Russians, with a 10 player APA final, you could have the qualifier at the British and seed the Olympiad team into the final

[Stewart Reuben]

FIDE usually quote arrival and opening ceremony 1 and departure 14 August. This year 27 August to 10 September.
Schools in the public system break up quite late in July. The practice of taking extra holiday time is frowned upon these days. It might be possible to squeeze in 9 days for the Championship 19-27 July. Would that not clash with the Scottish and term time? I am sure 13-26 July is impractical.

My thought was more to start the event later. 17-30 August would be the tradional two week event. Lloyds Bank Masters was successful at that time. Some gluttons for punishment would play in the Olympiad and British. But if the British Championship were a one-off 9 day event, then 22-30 August is possible.
Having the event at the same time as the Bank Holiday might attract more people. It might make it more difficult to get seaside accommodation and easier at Canterbury. We would have to come to an agreement with Coulsdon. I don't think holding the British there is feasible. But they could swap dates for the one year.

I first raised the issue of the clash in 2008.

[Sean Hewitt]

One point occurs to me; moving the championship to a 9 round event does not necessarily mean that the championships have to be shortened. Other events could continue to work on the same 12 day timetable. There would be questions around start and finish days, but these are not insurmountable.