18-08-2014, 10:49 PM
Lack of money and lack of a 'chess culture' are the 2 main problems in Scotland.
I am currently in Slovakia, a country of similar size and population to Scotland, but which has 10 times as many members as CS, countless tournaments, local/regional/national leagues, and where players above 2300 will generally be paid for whatever chess match/tournament they are playing (travel/hotel and 50+ Euros per game for a Saturday/Sunday league fixture).
All the teams have sponsors, usually local companies with a strong connection to the club, many of whom also pay for training sessions/coaches. The national teams are paid through the Slovak Chess Federation for Olympiad, etc. participation
This means that very good players (2300+) can, if they don't want to be rich, make a living from chess - or at least keep chess a a major part of their lives. This in turn gives an incentive to strong, promising juniors to continue with the game and push that bit harder to break through to the next level.
Tournaments in Slovakia (and Czech Republic) are invariably played in hotels with special room rates/deals for players to stay and are generally either rapidplay events (over 1-3 days) or FIDE-rated Opens (over 4-9 days). Evening leagues and FIDE-unrated 'weekenders' are relatively unheard of.
Scotland simply doesn't have that chess culture and chess infra-structure. It's not impossible to replicate such a situation (and I'm only using Slovakia as an example because I know it and it's of a similar size to Scotland, not because it's 'best practice' for producing and keeping more and stronger players) but I would think it highly unlikely.
I am currently in Slovakia, a country of similar size and population to Scotland, but which has 10 times as many members as CS, countless tournaments, local/regional/national leagues, and where players above 2300 will generally be paid for whatever chess match/tournament they are playing (travel/hotel and 50+ Euros per game for a Saturday/Sunday league fixture).
All the teams have sponsors, usually local companies with a strong connection to the club, many of whom also pay for training sessions/coaches. The national teams are paid through the Slovak Chess Federation for Olympiad, etc. participation
This means that very good players (2300+) can, if they don't want to be rich, make a living from chess - or at least keep chess a a major part of their lives. This in turn gives an incentive to strong, promising juniors to continue with the game and push that bit harder to break through to the next level.
Tournaments in Slovakia (and Czech Republic) are invariably played in hotels with special room rates/deals for players to stay and are generally either rapidplay events (over 1-3 days) or FIDE-rated Opens (over 4-9 days). Evening leagues and FIDE-unrated 'weekenders' are relatively unheard of.
Scotland simply doesn't have that chess culture and chess infra-structure. It's not impossible to replicate such a situation (and I'm only using Slovakia as an example because I know it and it's of a similar size to Scotland, not because it's 'best practice' for producing and keeping more and stronger players) but I would think it highly unlikely.