16-04-2018, 09:04 PM
I have heard John Shaw is having a break from playing chess, Andrew Greet was in Australia (which is quite far from Grangemouth), Larry Kirk was in Croatia (again quite a long way from Grangemouth).
I do not like the new admin either but you are not helping things Andy M by calling it a nightmare - just a nuisance. The argument given in favour is that you need this for making sure players are FIDE registered. The costs outweigh the benefits in my opinion. Poly struggled to field eligible players due to the player registration thing - I had to acquiesce to them playing players they had not registered in time (which was no problem at all).
My proposed solution - club must fill in player registration forms for any players it wants to field who do not already have a FIDE grade. Easy thing that gets checked anyway, much easier than trying to remember who has been registered previously and much less box ticking. Problem solved.
24hr notice is not a big deal - I am not the worlds most most organised person and even I get my team sorted well in advance of that.
Increments would make the tournament much better. Even a 10 second increment would make a world of difference for games with no arbiters (Andy H and John know what I am thinking of!). No realistic chance of an overrun with 10s increment either. 30 seconds I have mixed feelings about. It's preferable if it can be done but I am nervous of overrun.
I am more than a bit frustrated that the final was held again in a venue half an hours drive from Edinburgh and Glasgow and 2.5 hours away from Aberdeen. That's just not a level playing field. 2016 they even started at 12 noon - convenient for Aberdeen! We have now reached the finals 2014 2016 2018 - we aren't going away.
I do not like the new admin either but you are not helping things Andy M by calling it a nightmare - just a nuisance. The argument given in favour is that you need this for making sure players are FIDE registered. The costs outweigh the benefits in my opinion. Poly struggled to field eligible players due to the player registration thing - I had to acquiesce to them playing players they had not registered in time (which was no problem at all).
My proposed solution - club must fill in player registration forms for any players it wants to field who do not already have a FIDE grade. Easy thing that gets checked anyway, much easier than trying to remember who has been registered previously and much less box ticking. Problem solved.
24hr notice is not a big deal - I am not the worlds most most organised person and even I get my team sorted well in advance of that.
Increments would make the tournament much better. Even a 10 second increment would make a world of difference for games with no arbiters (Andy H and John know what I am thinking of!). No realistic chance of an overrun with 10s increment either. 30 seconds I have mixed feelings about. It's preferable if it can be done but I am nervous of overrun.
I am more than a bit frustrated that the final was held again in a venue half an hours drive from Edinburgh and Glasgow and 2.5 hours away from Aberdeen. That's just not a level playing field. 2016 they even started at 12 noon - convenient for Aberdeen! We have now reached the finals 2014 2016 2018 - we aren't going away.