27-07-2017, 12:10 PM
(This post was last modified: 27-07-2017, 12:50 PM by Matthew Turner.)
I made it down to the Glorney yesterday and just a few brief comments.
The first thing I should say is that Liz Sams did an amazing job getting the Scottish teams together and organising things; She deserves a huge amount of thanks from Chess Scotland.
Those of us involved with the Glorney in Ireland two years ago will remember that as a magnificent event. However, to think that Scotland can somehow emulate that next year is simply pie in the sky. The Irish Glorney was the culmination of three or four years' work behind the scenes, things cannot be magically put in place overnight.
Over the last few years David Congalton has contributed a huge amount to Scottish junior chess and Scottish chess more generally, but anyone with an ounce of common sense could see that was unsustainable in the medium term. If Liz takes his place that will be equally unsustainable. We really need three or four people working together.
Regarding the performance in wales, I only have a very hazy impression of how the teams performed, but my feeling is this. The Glorney team did OK, there were some better performances and some less good performances, but they are a pretty solid group. The U14's were the outstanding Scottish team and looked very talented. Personally, I think the U12 are always going to find it hard competing against the likes of England and France, just because of sheer weight of numbers and geography, and so it proved. There were very engaged and enthusiastic youngsters and the Stokes represented a steep learning curve for most of them, but that has to be seen as very much a work in progress. The Gilbert was a great disappointment to me; The girls have often led the Scottish contingent and to only have one representative is a great shame. I feel I have to say that the President responding to a parent of two of our leading female players in such a brusque manner at the beginning of this thread cannot have been helpful.
The challenge for next year then is getting a team together to organise the Glorney in Scotland. If the Dutch can be encouraged to enter the event, as seems possible, then this will be a considerable step forward. I hope we will find a nice venue, the Irish and to lesser extent the other teams have upped the ante on what we should be looking to provide. I am sure that Scotland will look to put on a range of events beyond the competition itself, the blitz tournaments and fun team events have been great the last few years (Scotland actually organised the fun team event in Wales) and personally I'd like to see the odd non-chess event too - football tournament perhaps?
The best Scottish Glorney team would have a decent chance of winning and if this happens it happens, but I don't really see this as a big deal in itself. if Murad goes off somewhere else to pursue an IM norm then good luck to him. However, I think we need to set an ambitious target for getting invites out to players. Lets get the best teams we can and be fair to over-pressed parents.
Going forward the big challenge is how to turn the talented Robinson team into a winning Glorney team. I think it is a big challenge to go from 1800 - 2200 in Scotland because there is simply a lack of tournaments. How to address that one? I only wish I knew.
The first thing I should say is that Liz Sams did an amazing job getting the Scottish teams together and organising things; She deserves a huge amount of thanks from Chess Scotland.
Those of us involved with the Glorney in Ireland two years ago will remember that as a magnificent event. However, to think that Scotland can somehow emulate that next year is simply pie in the sky. The Irish Glorney was the culmination of three or four years' work behind the scenes, things cannot be magically put in place overnight.
Over the last few years David Congalton has contributed a huge amount to Scottish junior chess and Scottish chess more generally, but anyone with an ounce of common sense could see that was unsustainable in the medium term. If Liz takes his place that will be equally unsustainable. We really need three or four people working together.
Regarding the performance in wales, I only have a very hazy impression of how the teams performed, but my feeling is this. The Glorney team did OK, there were some better performances and some less good performances, but they are a pretty solid group. The U14's were the outstanding Scottish team and looked very talented. Personally, I think the U12 are always going to find it hard competing against the likes of England and France, just because of sheer weight of numbers and geography, and so it proved. There were very engaged and enthusiastic youngsters and the Stokes represented a steep learning curve for most of them, but that has to be seen as very much a work in progress. The Gilbert was a great disappointment to me; The girls have often led the Scottish contingent and to only have one representative is a great shame. I feel I have to say that the President responding to a parent of two of our leading female players in such a brusque manner at the beginning of this thread cannot have been helpful.
The challenge for next year then is getting a team together to organise the Glorney in Scotland. If the Dutch can be encouraged to enter the event, as seems possible, then this will be a considerable step forward. I hope we will find a nice venue, the Irish and to lesser extent the other teams have upped the ante on what we should be looking to provide. I am sure that Scotland will look to put on a range of events beyond the competition itself, the blitz tournaments and fun team events have been great the last few years (Scotland actually organised the fun team event in Wales) and personally I'd like to see the odd non-chess event too - football tournament perhaps?
The best Scottish Glorney team would have a decent chance of winning and if this happens it happens, but I don't really see this as a big deal in itself. if Murad goes off somewhere else to pursue an IM norm then good luck to him. However, I think we need to set an ambitious target for getting invites out to players. Lets get the best teams we can and be fair to over-pressed parents.
Going forward the big challenge is how to turn the talented Robinson team into a winning Glorney team. I think it is a big challenge to go from 1800 - 2200 in Scotland because there is simply a lack of tournaments. How to address that one? I only wish I knew.