Eligibility Votes - March 2022

[WBuchanan]

Willy,

Andy Burnett worked very hard on his chess and got up to a high level fighting for a place in the Scottish team.  To echo Andy Muir's repeated point he was only able to do this playing almost exclusively outside of Scotland.

As things stand https://ratings.fide.com/profile/2400855/chart if Andy gets into the Olympiad team it will be because players are unavailable and younger players haven't progressed as they should/could have done.  Is that really what we want for the Scottish team?  I would say no, and I think Andy would agree with me, it actually diminishes the achievements that he made 2010-2104

Yes, as I have said I would love to play for Scotland one day, but that doesn't mean that I want to be an automatic choice for board 1 in 2032.  I hope there is a new generation taking the spots by then.

I don't believe that the vote on my eligibility will change much either way, but those who think that a vote for my eligibility will somehow prevent a new player coming through are frankly deluding themselves.

It won't prevent anyone from coming through; it would deprive someone of 5th spot. It was you raised the issue; I wouldn't have said this but for your assertion to the contrary.

Probably the effect on the players in the competitive zone insofar as getting in the team - eg, significantly higher than me and significantly lower than you - has been under-considered. The management focus has tended to be on examining your status vis-a-vis the rules and claiming it is unfair on you.

Willy de Walter