14-08-2016, 10:03 PM
Firstly, I am looking forward to the new CS National Rapidplay. I am sure it will be an exciting and welcome addition to the chess calendar. I think I would prefer it to be held in Perth as Grangemouth is already used regularly for the Richardson/Spens finals and it is a bit more accessible for our North East players while still reasonable for us in the West. I am also looking forward to see if I can get as laughable a distance between my CS Allegro grade and a new Fide Rapid rating as I have managed to achieve with my main grades!
As an organiser who has recently decided to run a Fide event, I thought I would share my views on the subject. I have heard more people say they are in favour of Fide weekend tournaments than against and as we at Largs will only need a couple of entrants more for it to pay for itself we decided it was worth giving it a go. That isn't to say we should not take players concerns on board. It is incumbent on organisers to give players the best environment possible to play in, so it is up to us to find solutions to genuine concerns raised by players like Stephen if we want to make Fide weekenders work for all. Fide rating on its own is no panacea, but I think it may be essential for tournaments that want to attract players from beyond Scotland. If Fide events across the country are able to successfully achieve this in sufficient numbers it may well solve the problem raised by Alex with our players taking points off them instead of just ourselves.
With regards the general health of chess in Scotland, I don't believe it is all doom and gloom, numbers of players and games played went up last season, but I do think people are right to be concerned. Players of Andy's, Jonathan's and myself's generation remember how many tournaments there use to be, how many clubs use to play in the Richardson and Spens and even how many clubs and players there were when we were younger, and I am sure things were even better before that. I am hopeful that our directors will be bringing about initiatives that will indeed invigorate the game as Ian has said. I do think it will take something fundamental to change to achieve this. I think the grassroots i.e. the clubs and the congresses need a boost and to fund this I think we will need to do something controversial. i think we should use if not all at least the best part of the international budget to fund chess club initiatives and to boost the Grand Prix to aid our congresses. I would also like to see congresses levy a fee per entrant to help fund a reduced international program with international places being determined by a Ryder Cup like points system. This will mean that the congresses will benefit from stronger players needing to compete regularly on the home chess circuit and the stronger players benefit both by stronger competition and by getting more expenses paid to compete abroad for their country. And as the congress scene grows, more money is raised to fund more events for our internationalists.
As an organiser who has recently decided to run a Fide event, I thought I would share my views on the subject. I have heard more people say they are in favour of Fide weekend tournaments than against and as we at Largs will only need a couple of entrants more for it to pay for itself we decided it was worth giving it a go. That isn't to say we should not take players concerns on board. It is incumbent on organisers to give players the best environment possible to play in, so it is up to us to find solutions to genuine concerns raised by players like Stephen if we want to make Fide weekenders work for all. Fide rating on its own is no panacea, but I think it may be essential for tournaments that want to attract players from beyond Scotland. If Fide events across the country are able to successfully achieve this in sufficient numbers it may well solve the problem raised by Alex with our players taking points off them instead of just ourselves.
With regards the general health of chess in Scotland, I don't believe it is all doom and gloom, numbers of players and games played went up last season, but I do think people are right to be concerned. Players of Andy's, Jonathan's and myself's generation remember how many tournaments there use to be, how many clubs use to play in the Richardson and Spens and even how many clubs and players there were when we were younger, and I am sure things were even better before that. I am hopeful that our directors will be bringing about initiatives that will indeed invigorate the game as Ian has said. I do think it will take something fundamental to change to achieve this. I think the grassroots i.e. the clubs and the congresses need a boost and to fund this I think we will need to do something controversial. i think we should use if not all at least the best part of the international budget to fund chess club initiatives and to boost the Grand Prix to aid our congresses. I would also like to see congresses levy a fee per entrant to help fund a reduced international program with international places being determined by a Ryder Cup like points system. This will mean that the congresses will benefit from stronger players needing to compete regularly on the home chess circuit and the stronger players benefit both by stronger competition and by getting more expenses paid to compete abroad for their country. And as the congress scene grows, more money is raised to fund more events for our internationalists.