Tim wrote:
"Tournament Director Alex McFarlane seems to think that phrase was sufficient to inform everyone, but given what I am now learning about the somewhat confusing history of the requirements to play for Scottish teams and to be eligible for SCO affiliation with FIDE, it is perhaps not surprising that no players in the tournament (including even Matt Turner) appeared to know that he was in fact eligible for the Scottish title. Matt told me himself in an email yesterday that the first time he heard he was eligible to win the title was when Jonathan Grant mentioned it to him half an hour before the prizegiving."
There is a good reason why no-one 'knew' !
There has been only one source seen so far that believed that Matthew was eligible to be Scottish Champion, or indeed to be selected for Scotland. The Tournament Director did not appear to obtain the current criteria.
The communication was not the main problem.
Was this decision not therefore simply an error?
In which case, the question is not how or whether the Tournament Director 'informed everyone' but what is the scope of this error.
No one has called for an altered outcome to the Championship decision - but this fact should not be taken as indication that this case should form a new eligibility policy, and that the old one can be discarded.
If the eligibility criteria on July 6 were based on Scottish birth, parentage or residence then that's what they should be today. It needs a formal process to change them.
"Tournament Director Alex McFarlane seems to think that phrase was sufficient to inform everyone, but given what I am now learning about the somewhat confusing history of the requirements to play for Scottish teams and to be eligible for SCO affiliation with FIDE, it is perhaps not surprising that no players in the tournament (including even Matt Turner) appeared to know that he was in fact eligible for the Scottish title. Matt told me himself in an email yesterday that the first time he heard he was eligible to win the title was when Jonathan Grant mentioned it to him half an hour before the prizegiving."
There is a good reason why no-one 'knew' !
There has been only one source seen so far that believed that Matthew was eligible to be Scottish Champion, or indeed to be selected for Scotland. The Tournament Director did not appear to obtain the current criteria.
The communication was not the main problem.
Was this decision not therefore simply an error?
In which case, the question is not how or whether the Tournament Director 'informed everyone' but what is the scope of this error.
No one has called for an altered outcome to the Championship decision - but this fact should not be taken as indication that this case should form a new eligibility policy, and that the old one can be discarded.
If the eligibility criteria on July 6 were based on Scottish birth, parentage or residence then that's what they should be today. It needs a formal process to change them.