03-03-2012, 12:47 AM
Quote:But I fail to see what is so inherently wrong with someone choosing to or being allowed to do so.
Well, there's nothing wrong with it per se. Wanting to play high-level international chess is an entirely natural impulse. From what I've heard from those who've been there, Olympiads are great fun. But do you not see the argument being made by various people that those who want to play for Scotland should be in some sense part of the Scottish chess scene? A grandparent's birthplace doesn't necessarily carry with it any real affinity: my gran was born in what is now Malawi (given that her parents were I think from Coatbridge, I appreciate that it's not a perfect parallel). I have never been there and have no real connection to the country. Judging from the team they fielded in 2010, I would have at least a shot at getting into their 2012 squad. While I might quite enjoy the experience, I certainly don't think that my participation would be a good thing for Malawian chess, and I don't think that that would change if I paid a small annual fee to the federation.
Opening the selection field to what I would guess is a significant number of English (and I imagine possibly also American, etc) players who aren't quite strong enough to represent their country but do have a granny from Glasgow and quite fancy playing some international chess would limit the opportunities for players who support the game in Scotland throughout the season to be selected. I know I've said before that selecting as strong an Olympiad team as possible should be a priority, but I don't think this would be a good thing at all.
As I've said before, if these players want to come and live here, and participate in Scottish chess, then that's fantastic, it's great to have them and I'd be delighted to see them in the team. It would be idiotic to argue that the likes of Keti and Jacob have not had a positive impact on the game in this country. However, I do believe that if we are talking about capping foreign-based players with one obligatory grandparent then we are moving towards 'ringer' territory.
Quote:Now tell me more of this plan to take money away from Junior Chess......
I think David's comment about juniors was suggesting that if we went down this route, then team performance could be better maximised by genealogists searching out the best GMs eligible to play for Scotland, rather than attempting to nurture young talent within the country. I'm fairly sure it was an intentionally slightly overblown point, but it's definitely true that if picking players who neither live in nor originate from Scotland becomes the policy of our selectors then the chances of any individual junior gaining senior international experience - which surely must be among the ultimate goals of the ambitious and promising ones: I was briefly the former, if never the latter, and I know I certainly hoped to play at an Oympiad one day - are significantly reduced, which I don't think is a good thing either.