13-09-2016, 07:42 PM
Judging success by seeding positions is pointless. You need 3 players to significantly perform above their ratings in order to get results. The women managed this and I'd say they had a (relatively) successful tournament. Whether it's right that female 1600s get more funding than male 2300s is another question.
Open team: In order to measure success you first need to have targets. What are the objectives of Scotland at the Olympiad?
To perform (relatively) well? Clearly not. If this were an ambition then we would not be spending £400-500 (est.) per head on (mostly) rusty players. Surely some practice games or training beforehand would indicate that we are serious.
To progress players? Not really, hard to say. Andrew on board 1 was correct, but putting the 2015 Scottish Champion on 5 when he had shown encouraging signs the year before while boards 2 and 4 simply sat on their ratings was wrong.
Norms? Norms are nice and they are worth double at Olympiads. But this should not be a primary objective at a team competition.
An opportunity for part-timers to have a holiday? This one is a little unfair, but when you see people playing for a draw with White it does make you wonder....
For the life of me I can't figure out if there is a clear goal. Please help.
Open team: In order to measure success you first need to have targets. What are the objectives of Scotland at the Olympiad?
To perform (relatively) well? Clearly not. If this were an ambition then we would not be spending £400-500 (est.) per head on (mostly) rusty players. Surely some practice games or training beforehand would indicate that we are serious.
To progress players? Not really, hard to say. Andrew on board 1 was correct, but putting the 2015 Scottish Champion on 5 when he had shown encouraging signs the year before while boards 2 and 4 simply sat on their ratings was wrong.
Norms? Norms are nice and they are worth double at Olympiads. But this should not be a primary objective at a team competition.
An opportunity for part-timers to have a holiday? This one is a little unfair, but when you see people playing for a draw with White it does make you wonder....
For the life of me I can't figure out if there is a clear goal. Please help.