Scotland V Basque Federation

[Derek Howie]

I can accept that the Basque chess federation may be looking to make political points.

Glad I'm not the only one that can see that.

But I struggle to see how CS could suffer as a result.

I believe CS should remain apolitical. There's a difference between being one of a hundred countries that go to play in Russia, for example, and where Scotland's specific presence could be used both in Spain and domestically for political purposes.

Would we suffer? I couldn't say for sure, but it's possible that we may lose members. It's possible that the chess federation of Spain (and others such as Belgium) look on us unfavourably and politic against us as they would see us as a political organisation that attempts to represent regions as countries? All hypothetical, and it's not my main argument, but it's not beyond the realms of possibility.