British Chess Championships 2011

[Roger de Coverly]

I tend to think of game inputting, game of the day, a daily report and the production of a bulletin as all interrelated, each depending on the other.

There needs to be a distinction between the British Championship and other events. In the British Championship, the games are input and available for download during the morning of the next day. The printed paper copy, free to players actually in the British, is an add-on which could in principle be dispensed with.

As regards "other events", when I last checked, games from the first week of the Major Open were available to download, but nothing else. I don't know whether or not there was a paper bulletin of games from "other" events available on a daily basis, because I had no need to look for it. I've seen a consolidated bulletin of games from Canterbury last year on sale at Congress bookstalls. From the sheer size of it, I would imagine it's expensive to print. It should be like the grading list. Hardly anyone uses the printed grading list because it's much more effective to use the online version. The same should apply to bulletins.

[Alex McFarlane]

I have done the combined roles of Congress Director, Arbiter and games inputter for many years at the Scottish Championships even before e2e4 came into being. I’m sure I wasn’t unique even then.

In Britain the arbiter is generally undervalued. Having been abroad and having spoken to foreign arbiters I have come more and more round to thinking that some form of payment is necessary both to encourage younger people in and to ensure standards. Face it, if you are a congress organiser on a tight budget and had to choose between paying overnight accommodation and other expenses for a good arbiter or ‘trusting to luck’ that nothing serious was going to go wrong and just use the bloke up the road what would your choice be?

A professional chess structure is something that we are very reluctant to tackle in Britain. We are even more reluctant to pay for it. As a result we have the system we currently have with a hand to mouth existence. Long term, no-one benefits.

To suggest that we should then insist that the volunteers we currently have should be forced into game inputting is quite frankly insulting. It is akin to saying to doctors and nurses, there is no-one particularly ill at the moment so scrub the floor or paint that wall.

My average day at the British this year was in excess of 12 hours. I can honestly say at no point would I have been able to sit down and enter a couple of games. Or are you suggesting I say to Kevin Staveley for example. “No Kevin, don’t set the questions for your popular quiz. Please enter these games instead!”

If you are actually going to suggest that these people are paid a reasonable wage, then your suggestion could be written into their contract but until that time ….. (I’ve just put a few dots here to save the moderators having to censor my suggestion).

[Alan Burke]

As Loz Cooper copied a quote from myself and commented on it, I would just like to answer by saying that I never stated that the inputting at Sunningdale was minimal by itself - I was comparing a single congress to the British, where this year 3,104 games were played (as well as that taking 13 days of work instead of 3).

Alex H .. yes, the games of previous matches were available, but there was a charge for photocopying them (and quite rightly so, in my opinion). Furthermore, I agree with Alex Mc .. an arbiter is there to referee the contest and not do extra paper work - would you perhaps be willing to do some inputting of matches if you finished your own game early ?

[E Michael White]

For 2013 I think the ECF Board should be looking at OCRing the games in as soon as they are finished to create PGNs and subsequently create a Tournament Book for sale in ebook format. That gives you 2 years to sort it guys.

[Alex Holowczak]

This is confusing.

I have done the combined roles of Congress Director, Arbiter and games inputter for many years at the Scottish Championships even before e2e4 came into being. I’m sure I wasn’t unique even then.

To suggest that we should then insist that the volunteers we currently have should be forced into game inputting is quite frankly insulting. It is akin to saying to doctors and nurses, there is no-one particularly ill at the moment so scrub the floor or paint that wall.

Why can you do it at the Scottish Championship, but not the British? Is there something about the way the two tournaments are organised that means it's possible at the Scottish, but not the British?

My average day at the British this year was in excess of 12 hours. I can honestly say at no point would I have been able to sit down and enter a couple of games. Or are you suggesting I say to Kevin Staveley for example. “No Kevin, don’t set the questions for your popular quiz. Please enter these games instead!”

I'm suggesting that there's something wrong about the way the British is being organised if it's possible for arbiters to do inputting at the Scottish Championship, e2e4 and (I gather) the European Individual, but not at the British. Clearly they can do it at those events because there's time for them to do so. So why don't the arbiters at the British have the time, and what can be done so that they do?

[Alan Burke]

Alex H .. perhaps it might be a good idea for you to spend a tournament with an arbiter and see just what "spare time" they have to do all the inputting you want them to do - but please remember that you would need to be in the playing hall well before the commencement of play and also stay there for quite some time after the last game has finished - and for nothing !

[Alex McFarlane]

Like Sean at the e2e4 I am not at the Scottish as an arbiter although I do arbiting. When not required for that task or for the immediate duties of Congress Director than we try to do the best we can to make the event run smoothly. Game inputting comes into this category.

If you think there is something wrong with the way the British is currently being organised then the solution is simple - you stand as Congress Manager.
I would point out that man management is a skill of a manager. The days of this being achieved with a whip have passed.

[Roger de Coverly]

For 2013 I think the ECF Board should be looking at OCRing the games in as soon as they are finished to create PGNs

It's a fairly obvious idea to try scanning a manuscript scoresheet to create a text file which can then be tested for valid pgn. That it isn't done in practice suggests the idea doesn't work. Experienced inputters can process a game very quickly, probably quicker than could be achieved by scanning and correcting errors.

[Alex Holowczak]

Alex H .. perhaps it might be a good idea for you to spend a tournament with an arbiter and see just what "spare time" they have to do all the inputting you want them to do - but please remember that you would need to be in the playing hall well before the commencement of play and also stay there for quite some time after the last game has finished - and for nothing !

Alan, I've spent a tournament as an arbiter and games-inputter, at the Warwickshire Championship last year. Over the course of the weekend (no Friday night round), I ran a section of the competition, and input about 60 games. (I could have managed to input a few more, but I only had to input the Open, and that was the subtotal of the games we had...)

I was up at 0530 on the Saturday morning in order to get a train from Rowley Regis station at about 0700, arriving by 0800 to help set up. I didn't retire to my hotel room that night until 2230. I was up at 0700 the following morning, and got home at about 1930 that evening.

So I'm aware of the time commitment they entail.

[Alex Holowczak]

Like Sean at the e2e4 I am not at the Scottish as an arbiter although I do arbiting. When not required for that task or for the immediate duties of Congress Director than we try to do the best we can to make the event run smoothly. Game inputting comes into this category.

Sean was at the e2e4 APAs - if not the Swisses - as the arbiter. He was hitherto the only person there in an organisational hat of any description whatsoever.

If you think there is something wrong with the way the British is currently being organised then the solution is simple - you stand as Congress Manager.
I would point out that man management is a skill of a manager. The days of this being achieved with a whip have passed.

Well, you invited comments, so I commented...

[Alan Burke]

Alex H .. yes, I certainly applaud you for all the hard work and enthusiasm you obviously put in, but I would again submit that the efforts at a single congress in no way compares to that required on a daily basis at the British Championships.

In my opinion, an arbiter is there to control the playing of the event and not be given extra work beyond that. It's akin to an umpire at a cricket match being told that because for half of the time he is stood away from the wicket and '"not doing much" he should keep a record of the score.

[Justin Hadi]

I have done the combined roles of Congress Director, Arbiter and games inputter for many years at the Scottish Championships even before e2e4 came into being. I’m sure I wasn’t unique even then.

In Britain the arbiter is generally undervalued. Having been abroad and having spoken to foreign arbiters I have come more and more round to thinking that some form of payment is necessary both to encourage younger people in and to ensure standards. Face it, if you are a congress organiser on a tight budget and had to choose between paying overnight accommodation and other expenses for a good arbiter or ‘trusting to luck’ that nothing serious was going to go wrong and just use the bloke up the road what would your choice be?

A professional chess structure is something that we are very reluctant to tackle in Britain. We are even more reluctant to pay for it. As a result we have the system we currently have with a hand to mouth existence. Long term, no-one benefits.

To suggest that we should then insist that the volunteers we currently have should be forced into game inputting is quite frankly insulting. It is akin to saying to doctors and nurses, there is no-one particularly ill at the moment so scrub the floor or paint that wall.

My average day at the British this year was in excess of 12 hours. I can honestly say at no point would I have been able to sit down and enter a couple of games. Or are you suggesting I say to Kevin Staveley for example. “No Kevin, don’t set the questions for your popular quiz. Please enter these games instead!”

If you are actually going to suggest that these people are paid a reasonable wage, then your suggestion could be written into their contract but until that time ….. (I’ve just put a few dots here to save the moderators having to censor my suggestion).

Arbiting seems to be a very difficult job because people do break the rules often to different extents in chess, whether it's not writing the moves down, not allowing the opponents to press to clock, distracting the opponent, illegal moves etc. Plus there are numerous games to keep an eye on. For this reason I prefer arbiters who know the rules inside out and aren't afraid to step in.

Given that people are prepared to pay £5 just to visit the London Classic I don't see why good arbiters and game inputters shouldn't be paid a small amount for say FIDE rated events.

[E Michael White]

It's a fairly obvious idea to try scanning a manuscript scoresheet to create a text file which can then be tested for valid pgn. That it isn't done in practice suggests the idea doesn't work. Experienced inputters can process a game very quickly, probably quicker than could be achieved by scanning and correcting errors.

Idea obvious - Yes
Solution obvious - No

[Paul Cooksey]

Maybe the winner/ white in case of a draw, could be required to input the game?

Or pay to have it done for them

[LozCooper]

Alex H .. perhaps it might be a good idea for you to spend a tournament with an arbiter and see just what "spare time" they have to do all the inputting you want them to do - but please remember that you would need to be in the playing hall well before the commencement of play and also stay there for quite some time after the last game has finished - and for nothing !

He did exactly that at Sunningdale from 10-14 August