Richardson, Spens, Nancy Elder and MacIssac

[Ianbrownlee]

No the 4NCL wasnt in the thought process because I wasnt informed it should be. It couldnt be in the process anyway because the $NCL had scottish players over two weekends. I was also informed after the event that Cappelle Le Grande was promised to be avoided as well. We simply cant avoid clashes at this time of year. Anyway part of the issue was due to the fact that Poly had to change captains as well . It was just an unfortunate chain of events that led to Poly not being able to field a strong enough team. Having said that if I am still Home Director I plan to tighten the process up a bit and publish team captains on the forum so that we can communicate a bit better and maybe offer multiple dates that are beneficial to both teams. We are also looking at a central venue, possibly Grangemouth ( OK not central for the North) and certain fixed dates as well.

Well regards the Poly match, don't arrange rounds to clash with 4NCL. I believe
they asked for a different date and it was declined, hence the default.

again not the only reason. Sorry Adam but if a round has to be played in January then we cant avoid clashing with some congress or other. December is too tight in the schedule and February too late to start it. The only way possibly out of this would have been to indicate a problem earlier on when the draw was announced but Poly didnt realise there was a problem until January 5th when they had a change of captains and the new captain recognised there was maybe an issue. Remember the draw was made at the Dundee congress so there was plenty of time to flag it up. We couldnt postpone the game for a further two because as it was FIDE rated, all the games had to be submitted for January 30th, which couldn't be played then anyway because of the Livingston Allegro. Personally I was surprised they couldnt play the match as I thought they had strength in depth but my hand was tied anyway due to the rules.

Thanks for the reply Ian. What do you have in mind?

We have several ideas on the table. One is to introduce a team registration form at the beginning of the season with the proviso to add players ( under conditions) if required. The elegibility rule is out of date and nonsense and certainly out of place with the registration form. All FIDE events will require players FIDE registered before they play hence one of the reasons why the team registration forms will be required. We are also looking at Incremental time controls (as per FIDE requirements ) which will require digital clocks, hence we are looking at chess scotland clocks loaned out and Chess Scotland FIDE arbiters present , possibly at a cental venue. We are also looking at SERIOUS sponsorship.

I am like a broken record on this, but at least I am consistent. The single biggest issue with the Spens/Rich is surely about location and date uncertainty. So change it to a fixed date, at a fixed location (i.e. Grangemouth/Dunfermline/Livingston or wherever), and watch the team entries flow in (my own clubs entry will be the first one).

You are not a broken record Jonathan and I do listen to you so keep it coming. For the record we are looking a fixed venue such as Grangmouth , possibly with fixed dates with FIDE arbiters present I expect an entry from your club once your criteria has been met!

Finally please keep sending in your views about this. Perhaps if more people turned up at the AGM then we can have a fuller discussion