Sensory Boards

[David G Congalton]

I believe that CS’s purchase of sensory boards is a forward thinking move. I can only think of one negative relating to the purchase of these boards and that is the cost of the equipment.

The £6000 spent is a lot of money for CS to invest. However, it is an investment and a long-term one, which I think will prove beneficial to the Scottish Championships, weekend congresses, other chess events and chess in Scotland as a whole.

I get two weeks holiday in the summer each year and this year I chose to spend both weeks at the British Championship in Sheffield and play the weekend event at the Scottish Championship. The use of sensory boards at this year’s Scottish, along with the other excellent work done by the team, in providing information, photo’s, games and more, provoked conflicting emotions within me. There was the rising sense of anticipation of being able to join the event at the weekend tempered by the feeling that I was missing out by not taking part in the event during the week. The availability of recent games played by some of my potential weekend opponents allowed me to do some pre-tournament preparation, which I enjoyed and proved useful, up until the final round.

The result of my own experience during and at the Scottish, including the fourth round opportunity to play on the sensory boards, is that I will take one week of my 2012 holidays to participate in the Scottish and the other week to take part in the British, which, I should add, I thoroughly enjoyed. I must also confess that I could not wait to show my “internet game” to my family and colleagues at work. How sad! Believe it or not, though, the reaction was a positive one, which I expected from family but didn’t quite expect from my co-workers.

If the organisers of the Scottish had not utilised technology in the way they did I would probably be spending both weeks of my summer holidays in the North East of England. The recent good news concerning the Scottish and the investment in sensory boards removed any second thoughts I may have had about splitting my summer 2012 destinations.

As well as persuading players to take part in events the utilisation of technology has to provide a benefit to the current group of chess enthusiasts, be they titled players, juniors, regular congress attendees or irregular club players, should they wish to use it. Some of these benefits have already been touched on in other posts, such as the immediate availability of games for newspaper publication and the potential for financial gain through sponsorship and advertising.

The sensory boards alone could provide many more benefits to Chess in Scotland such as persuading those with an interest in both chess and technology to become more involved in the organisation of established events and/or new events to the calendar. It also provides a window into events for those unable, for whatever reason, to participate. Advertising the availability of live Scottish tournament chess through the CS website, congress websites, CS magazine, county associations, clubs and word of mouth and any other cost-effective media may induce those new to the game to stay with the game and create an interest in non-club players becoming club players. If indeed the live feed has advertising space then some of that space could be used to promote clubs local to the event venue, as well as Chess Scotland and Scottish Chess events in the calendar.

Then there is the positive impact the boards could have through remote coaching on club nights. If say, there was a top of the table league clash in Edinburgh or Glasgow or even just the potential, the sensory boards could be brought in. With a bit of notice clubs throughout the country could organise their own club nights around the live match with commentary by one of their own players, guess the next move competitions, snacks and drinks and an evening of entertainment.

Opposition teams could obviously benefit from this and be able to prepare for a forthcoming tie but such preparation has to be an overall plus which would result in tougher competition and a higher standard of play, as time goes on.

For congresses the availability of the boards could be combined with other initiatives such as venue commentary and/or discussion or live internet commentary which would hopefully promote the event in Scotland and beyond. As a congress organiser I am excited by the opportunities the boards provide to develop initiatives and ideas which add to the event and give those taking part even more value for their money, as well as encouraging more entries for the following years and promoting an interest in the game in the local area, through the local media, schools and clubs.

There are already some interesting ideas bouncing about for Prestwick 2012 which involve the sensory boards and we will be trying some unconventional things. These may or may not come off and they may or may not work but without the boards they would not be possible.

As a taster, one of the ideas that has been floated is a half-hour or hour long, live commentary broadcast on some of the minor or major games, aimed at novices, juniors and the lower graded club players looking to improve.

The commentary would probably not be provided by GM standard players but would be provided by good strength club players who have coaching experience or who are comfortable talking about games. The coaching and analysis of the games would obviously be important but the ability of the commentators to “relate” to the audience, communicate on the same level and even provide some entertainment would be equally important. Any 1700+ player who can juggle chess pieces, whilst playing a musical instrument, singing that song about arbiters from Chess the musical and providing amusing anecdotes about foreign chess-playing excursions would certainly be considered over the monologue of a higher rated but more insular player.

I do understand that some may think that the analysis and broadcast of games that are not of a high standard is not the done thing and is not useful but we would have to agree to disagree on that point and there are plenty of other events to fulfil the expert game criteria. I think it was Andrew McHarg that said in a previous post that by broadcasting lower rated games CS were being innovative and I agree with him.

I have tried to keep my comments on the potential for raising funds to a minimum, as I didn’t want to detract from the potential non-financial benefits I see the boards bringing and because I do not believe that the primary purpose in investing in the boards was for financial gain.

It does have the potential to raise funds though and that potential is only limited by the time and effort put in, the number of people who help and the imagination, innovation and creativity of those willing to be involved. In the medium to long-term, with the right strategy I envisage the equipment will fund itself and allow the addition of further sets.

Initially, funds raised will pay for the equipment and I’m in favour of congresses and events wishing to use the boards contributing £1 per player, to get the ball rolling. It would be up to each event organiser as to how they decided to raise the hire-charge, whether that be through an extra £1 on entry fees or some other means.

The Prestwick Congress 2012 will apply to use the sensory boards and will offer a minimum contribution equal to £1 per entrant. We would hope to raise at least this sum by means which would not be available without the sensory boards and £1 will NOT be added to the entry fees of the participants, to cover the use of the boards.

I should also add that, in my opinion, the tournament organisers should be totally free to decide how best to use the equipment at their event and also have total control of any advertising related to the hire of the equipment, should they wish it. Some events may have different objectives from others and may also have sponsorship deals that could be affected if advertising were not within their control.