09-02-2012, 01:34 PM
David mentions the "organisers" of the East of Scotland.
Well, it's a fortunate congress that has an organising team with three or more members - most chess players, most members of chess clubs, want no involvement in organising events: they just want to turn up and play.
The East of Scotland (and also the Grangemouth Congress) had an organising team of two: there was Jim Watson, and there was me. Our roles were different at the two events - for the Grangemouth Congress, Jim did most of the preparatory work (booking the venue, dealing with the sponsors, getting the entry form printed, receiving entries etc) and I dealt with the playing side (equipment, arbiters, pairing cards, and so on); for the East of Scotland, Jim booked the venue and received entries, I did the rest.
Last summer, Jim moved back to Yorkshire (his original home). About the same time, I gave up playing chess, and I am no longer a member of Grangemouth Chess Club - a thirty-mile round trip to Grangemouth on club nights makes little sense with the cost of fuel and an income far smaller than it used to be.
I'm not prepared to be the sole organiser of a tournament, though perhaps I might have given the East one more go if the number of players in the Championship last year had been reasonably high. But entries of 9 in 2009, 15 in 2010 and 11 in 2011 indicated pretty clearly that the EoS Championship as a distinct event simply wasn't attractive enough, and there was nothing I could do to make it more attractive. So I made it known to Chess Scotland's Home Director (in a sense the ultimate "owner" of the East of Scotland Championship) that I did not want to continue running the event. The organisers of the Edinburgh Congress were willing to incorporate it in their Open event (for this year, at least) and we'll just have to see how that works out.
The many players who have taken part in the Major and Minor tournaments at the EoS in recent years are, of course, not at fault - they have actually subsidised the EoS Championship to some extent, and without them I would have given up the EoS years ago. I am sorry that the Major and Minor players have lost an event that they enjoyed, and maybe there is an opportunity here for somebody else to run an event about the end of May for these players. But I also need to point out that the venue we used in Grangemouth was available free of charge because the tournament was being run by Grangemouth Chess Club - it would not be free for anyone else, and there have been hints that even the Chess Club would in future have to pay for such lets, simply because of the financial constraints that all local authorities in Scotland now operate under.
Well, it's a fortunate congress that has an organising team with three or more members - most chess players, most members of chess clubs, want no involvement in organising events: they just want to turn up and play.
The East of Scotland (and also the Grangemouth Congress) had an organising team of two: there was Jim Watson, and there was me. Our roles were different at the two events - for the Grangemouth Congress, Jim did most of the preparatory work (booking the venue, dealing with the sponsors, getting the entry form printed, receiving entries etc) and I dealt with the playing side (equipment, arbiters, pairing cards, and so on); for the East of Scotland, Jim booked the venue and received entries, I did the rest.
Last summer, Jim moved back to Yorkshire (his original home). About the same time, I gave up playing chess, and I am no longer a member of Grangemouth Chess Club - a thirty-mile round trip to Grangemouth on club nights makes little sense with the cost of fuel and an income far smaller than it used to be.
I'm not prepared to be the sole organiser of a tournament, though perhaps I might have given the East one more go if the number of players in the Championship last year had been reasonably high. But entries of 9 in 2009, 15 in 2010 and 11 in 2011 indicated pretty clearly that the EoS Championship as a distinct event simply wasn't attractive enough, and there was nothing I could do to make it more attractive. So I made it known to Chess Scotland's Home Director (in a sense the ultimate "owner" of the East of Scotland Championship) that I did not want to continue running the event. The organisers of the Edinburgh Congress were willing to incorporate it in their Open event (for this year, at least) and we'll just have to see how that works out.
The many players who have taken part in the Major and Minor tournaments at the EoS in recent years are, of course, not at fault - they have actually subsidised the EoS Championship to some extent, and without them I would have given up the EoS years ago. I am sorry that the Major and Minor players have lost an event that they enjoyed, and maybe there is an opportunity here for somebody else to run an event about the end of May for these players. But I also need to point out that the venue we used in Grangemouth was available free of charge because the tournament was being run by Grangemouth Chess Club - it would not be free for anyone else, and there have been hints that even the Chess Club would in future have to pay for such lets, simply because of the financial constraints that all local authorities in Scotland now operate under.