21-12-2011, 12:20 AM
I’m not entirely sure I would agree with the premise that the Olympiad team has played badly recently and the senior team gets great results. I may be wrong but there doesn’t seem to be a world senior’s team championship or Olympiad and the European senior’s team championship would seem to be the most prestigious senior’s title that our seniors could take part in.
The Scots results for the last two Olympiads can be found at -
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://chess-results.com/tnr36795.aspx?art=20&fed=SCO&lan=1&flag=30">http://chess-results.com/tnr36795.aspx? ... =1&flag=30</a><!-- m -->
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://chess-results.com/tnr16314.aspx?art=20&fed=SCO&lan=1&flag=30">http://chess-results.com/tnr16314.aspx? ... =1&flag=30</a><!-- m -->
Our senior’s team results can be found at -
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://chess-results.com/tnr49128.aspx?art=20&snr=12&lan=1">http://chess-results.com/tnr49128.aspx? ... r=12&lan=1</a><!-- m -->
Our final 2008 Olympiad position was slightly below our starting rank, with a team that comprised 4 GM’s and 1 soon to become GM but 1 more game point would have sent the team soaring above their starting rank.
I counted a total of 27 games against GM’s, out of a total of 44. Among those GM’s was one Magnus Carlsen of Norway, graded 2786 at the time, who could not help his team to victory against our boys and girl in the penultimate round of the Championships, this match ending tied at 2-2, despite Scotland being outgraded on every board.
Our 2010 team saw 3 of our 2008 team return but the two top boards were absent. I know Jacob Aagaard is now playing for his native Denmark and this may be the reason behind his absence but I don’t know why Jonathan Rowson was not part of the team. The reasons for their absence are immaterial; the result was that our 2010 was not as strong as the 2008 team.
In 2010 Scotland faced 19 GM’s in 44 matches, including Vassily Ivanchuk and Ivan Sokolov and whilst they finished 83rd, with a starting rank of 63, again another point would have seen them finish at least as high as their starting rank and possibly as high as 49th.
So I wouldn’t say the Olympiad teams have played badly. I would say they performed around about what was expected.
The last senior team event I could find was the 2011 European. Our team did well, from a starting rank of 12th they finished 11th. Though this is around about where they were expected to finish, like our Olympiad teams. Another point could have taken them up to 7th. The team faced a total of 5 GM’s in 36 matches.
So I would argue that the senior team got the result that was to be expected and whilst they probably outperformed the Olympiad teams, it was not by a massive margin.
So assuming, for now, that we should be providing some sort of assistance to our adult teams, should the senior’s team receive similar terms as the Olympiad team?
My opinion is not at the expense of our Olympiad team.
The Olympiad is the more prestigious tournament and is Open to all regardless of age. Viktor Korchnoi played board 1 for Switzerland in the 2008 Olympiad, when he would be around the age of 77.
The performance of our Olympiad team should have no bearing on whether we support this team financially. (Unless players were merely taking part to pick up an appearance cheque and I hasten to add I’m not suggesting anyone would do that, apart from anything else from previous postings I think it unlikely that the support from CS covers the costs of the players (although I may be wrong) and would anyone seriously give up a fortnight of their time to break even and not put in their best efforts?)
Indeed, if the team was up there with the best, then the interest generated in Scotland, would hopefully attract sponsorship, subsidy, grants etc. that would more than cover player costs and, dare I say, incentives.
If our Olympiad team did perform badly do we really direct support away from them to other areas or do we direct funds at our potential squad in the hope of giving them a better chance of performing well.
It is my personal opinion that Scotland should be represented at the Olympiads, that we should be sending our strongest team possible and providing whatever support we can to ensure the squad is as well prepared as they can be, taking account of budget constraints and the fact that our players are not really professionals and have commitments outside chess.
My opinion is based on what could be called the “Fischer-Spassky effect”. Western world interest in chess peaking around 1971 when THE MATCH took place in Iceland. I firmly believe that interest in Scottish chess would be piqued were an Olympiad team from our Nation to produce a result of Buster Douglas proportions. I honestly am a glass half full kind of person so maybe I’m being too optimistic in thinking if we beat Russia 2 ½ - 1 ½ at the Olympiad next year, our team may feature on the front page of the quality nationals and might even make the inside pages of the tabloids.
I don’t think a similar result in the European Seniors would have the potential to attract the same attention. Sorry guys.
As for our top players not giving anything back, I’m not sure what the criterion for this is.
Keti Arakhamia-Grant is our current Scottish Champion, so obviously played in the Championships, giving her support to our most prestigious tournament, as did Craig Pritchett. Colin McNab was spreading the Chess word on the Isle of Lewis earlier this year and has played Perth, Edinburgh, Dundee and the Scottish in the recent past. John Shaw has also played the likes of Edinburgh, Perth, Glasgow and the Scottish in the last few years. Board 4 at the 2010 Olympiad was Stephen Burns-Mannion and I lost count of the number of events I saw him at last season. I believe he has also coached at least one of our juniors to success.
I believe all four have played in league matches for their clubs in recent seasons as well and probably bring benefits to those clubs that most of us are unaware of. If you add the fact that Douglas Bryson is the CS grading officer then that takes care of 50% of our top ten and some of the others are non-resident or non-eligible.
I am pleased to see the likes of Calum MacQueen, Clement Sreeves, Andrew Green and others involved in coaching our juniors and seemingly enjoying it and I would suggest that these guys and others of a similar age and standard are ideal for our current plethora of kids coming through. If budgets allow we should also be supporting our top juniors and the coaches, to the best of our ability.
Alex hit the nail on the head when he said
“With limited funds getting the balance right is nearly impossible.
We need top class events to promote chess and get the media interested. With media interest you have more chance of attracting people (and sponsors).
What is needed is everyone pulling together to get a bit of momentum going. There should not be a debate over funding adult v junior chess to the detriment of both.”
Whilst I would like to suggest that the best way to do this would be for all that can make it to play at the Prestwick 2012 event, I truly believe that next years Scottish Championships and the support given by the anonymous benefactor provides the ideal opportunity to raise the profile of Scottish Chess.
Let’s all put our disagreements aside and whether you’re a top rated player or a little fish like me, make a short-term commitment to make a long-term difference by playing in the 119th Scottish Championships next year.
Let’s get together and make this an event to remember. If it’s really impossible to play the whole week, do your best to play the weekend. If you can’t play the weekend try and come along for a day to spectate and lend your support. If you really, honestly can’t make it at all, try and persuade somebody else to go in your place. Write a small article for your local newspaper, mentioning local players who may take part. If you can organise transport to the event, do that. Write letters to local schools telling them about the event and local businesses too, if you can. You don’t need to ask for funding from local businesses just write to them and ask if they’d display a poster in their window advertising the Championships. It’s all about support and awareness.
Let’s make next year’s Scottish the best supported and attended in recent history.
The Scots results for the last two Olympiads can be found at -
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://chess-results.com/tnr36795.aspx?art=20&fed=SCO&lan=1&flag=30">http://chess-results.com/tnr36795.aspx? ... =1&flag=30</a><!-- m -->
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://chess-results.com/tnr16314.aspx?art=20&fed=SCO&lan=1&flag=30">http://chess-results.com/tnr16314.aspx? ... =1&flag=30</a><!-- m -->
Our senior’s team results can be found at -
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://chess-results.com/tnr49128.aspx?art=20&snr=12&lan=1">http://chess-results.com/tnr49128.aspx? ... r=12&lan=1</a><!-- m -->
Our final 2008 Olympiad position was slightly below our starting rank, with a team that comprised 4 GM’s and 1 soon to become GM but 1 more game point would have sent the team soaring above their starting rank.
I counted a total of 27 games against GM’s, out of a total of 44. Among those GM’s was one Magnus Carlsen of Norway, graded 2786 at the time, who could not help his team to victory against our boys and girl in the penultimate round of the Championships, this match ending tied at 2-2, despite Scotland being outgraded on every board.
Our 2010 team saw 3 of our 2008 team return but the two top boards were absent. I know Jacob Aagaard is now playing for his native Denmark and this may be the reason behind his absence but I don’t know why Jonathan Rowson was not part of the team. The reasons for their absence are immaterial; the result was that our 2010 was not as strong as the 2008 team.
In 2010 Scotland faced 19 GM’s in 44 matches, including Vassily Ivanchuk and Ivan Sokolov and whilst they finished 83rd, with a starting rank of 63, again another point would have seen them finish at least as high as their starting rank and possibly as high as 49th.
So I wouldn’t say the Olympiad teams have played badly. I would say they performed around about what was expected.
The last senior team event I could find was the 2011 European. Our team did well, from a starting rank of 12th they finished 11th. Though this is around about where they were expected to finish, like our Olympiad teams. Another point could have taken them up to 7th. The team faced a total of 5 GM’s in 36 matches.
So I would argue that the senior team got the result that was to be expected and whilst they probably outperformed the Olympiad teams, it was not by a massive margin.
So assuming, for now, that we should be providing some sort of assistance to our adult teams, should the senior’s team receive similar terms as the Olympiad team?
My opinion is not at the expense of our Olympiad team.
The Olympiad is the more prestigious tournament and is Open to all regardless of age. Viktor Korchnoi played board 1 for Switzerland in the 2008 Olympiad, when he would be around the age of 77.
The performance of our Olympiad team should have no bearing on whether we support this team financially. (Unless players were merely taking part to pick up an appearance cheque and I hasten to add I’m not suggesting anyone would do that, apart from anything else from previous postings I think it unlikely that the support from CS covers the costs of the players (although I may be wrong) and would anyone seriously give up a fortnight of their time to break even and not put in their best efforts?)
Indeed, if the team was up there with the best, then the interest generated in Scotland, would hopefully attract sponsorship, subsidy, grants etc. that would more than cover player costs and, dare I say, incentives.
If our Olympiad team did perform badly do we really direct support away from them to other areas or do we direct funds at our potential squad in the hope of giving them a better chance of performing well.
It is my personal opinion that Scotland should be represented at the Olympiads, that we should be sending our strongest team possible and providing whatever support we can to ensure the squad is as well prepared as they can be, taking account of budget constraints and the fact that our players are not really professionals and have commitments outside chess.
My opinion is based on what could be called the “Fischer-Spassky effect”. Western world interest in chess peaking around 1971 when THE MATCH took place in Iceland. I firmly believe that interest in Scottish chess would be piqued were an Olympiad team from our Nation to produce a result of Buster Douglas proportions. I honestly am a glass half full kind of person so maybe I’m being too optimistic in thinking if we beat Russia 2 ½ - 1 ½ at the Olympiad next year, our team may feature on the front page of the quality nationals and might even make the inside pages of the tabloids.
I don’t think a similar result in the European Seniors would have the potential to attract the same attention. Sorry guys.
As for our top players not giving anything back, I’m not sure what the criterion for this is.
Keti Arakhamia-Grant is our current Scottish Champion, so obviously played in the Championships, giving her support to our most prestigious tournament, as did Craig Pritchett. Colin McNab was spreading the Chess word on the Isle of Lewis earlier this year and has played Perth, Edinburgh, Dundee and the Scottish in the recent past. John Shaw has also played the likes of Edinburgh, Perth, Glasgow and the Scottish in the last few years. Board 4 at the 2010 Olympiad was Stephen Burns-Mannion and I lost count of the number of events I saw him at last season. I believe he has also coached at least one of our juniors to success.
I believe all four have played in league matches for their clubs in recent seasons as well and probably bring benefits to those clubs that most of us are unaware of. If you add the fact that Douglas Bryson is the CS grading officer then that takes care of 50% of our top ten and some of the others are non-resident or non-eligible.
I am pleased to see the likes of Calum MacQueen, Clement Sreeves, Andrew Green and others involved in coaching our juniors and seemingly enjoying it and I would suggest that these guys and others of a similar age and standard are ideal for our current plethora of kids coming through. If budgets allow we should also be supporting our top juniors and the coaches, to the best of our ability.
Alex hit the nail on the head when he said
“With limited funds getting the balance right is nearly impossible.
We need top class events to promote chess and get the media interested. With media interest you have more chance of attracting people (and sponsors).
What is needed is everyone pulling together to get a bit of momentum going. There should not be a debate over funding adult v junior chess to the detriment of both.”
Whilst I would like to suggest that the best way to do this would be for all that can make it to play at the Prestwick 2012 event, I truly believe that next years Scottish Championships and the support given by the anonymous benefactor provides the ideal opportunity to raise the profile of Scottish Chess.
Let’s all put our disagreements aside and whether you’re a top rated player or a little fish like me, make a short-term commitment to make a long-term difference by playing in the 119th Scottish Championships next year.
Let’s get together and make this an event to remember. If it’s really impossible to play the whole week, do your best to play the weekend. If you can’t play the weekend try and come along for a day to spectate and lend your support. If you really, honestly can’t make it at all, try and persuade somebody else to go in your place. Write a small article for your local newspaper, mentioning local players who may take part. If you can organise transport to the event, do that. Write letters to local schools telling them about the event and local businesses too, if you can. You don’t need to ask for funding from local businesses just write to them and ask if they’d display a poster in their window advertising the Championships. It’s all about support and awareness.
Let’s make next year’s Scottish the best supported and attended in recent history.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.scotchesstour.co.uk">http://www.scotchesstour.co.uk</a><!-- m -->