06-08-2012, 01:38 PM
People put far too much emphasis on these international tournaments. It's understandable why: world championships and all the glory that comes with competing in that. But the fact is these tournaments are one 1) incredibly tough 2) not the most efficient way to improve, by a long shot.
Rating "barriers" do make a lot of sense. There is little point of sending a player if they're just going to struggle the whole way through. Equally, the case if the second highest rated player in an age group can be competetive we should send them as well. Rating limits deal with this and can be adjusted according to last year's competition (eg. about 7/10s of the way down the list?). Before anyone tells me I'm not supporting the juniors or such, I am. I just want a squad that can be competetive.
I was always number 2 to Andrew Green through the years and as the Euros clashed with school I only went to one individual event. And now I'm the highest rated (currently, Sreeves seems to be in decent nick) of my generation. Worlds and Euros aren't the only tournaments that exist and there can be far more appropriate ways to encourage juniors. In fact, Jonathon Hawkins (GM elect) has never played a tournament outside Britain!
Other events like the Czech open, British, Cessinatico ect. still mean juniors can play abroad against different players but get more competetive games. And often coaches go to these as well which will benefit juniors.
This is NOT an attack on the squad going to the Euros nor any other team we've sent in the past, just a suggestion of how to improve the system.
Calum
Rating "barriers" do make a lot of sense. There is little point of sending a player if they're just going to struggle the whole way through. Equally, the case if the second highest rated player in an age group can be competetive we should send them as well. Rating limits deal with this and can be adjusted according to last year's competition (eg. about 7/10s of the way down the list?). Before anyone tells me I'm not supporting the juniors or such, I am. I just want a squad that can be competetive.
I was always number 2 to Andrew Green through the years and as the Euros clashed with school I only went to one individual event. And now I'm the highest rated (currently, Sreeves seems to be in decent nick) of my generation. Worlds and Euros aren't the only tournaments that exist and there can be far more appropriate ways to encourage juniors. In fact, Jonathon Hawkins (GM elect) has never played a tournament outside Britain!
Other events like the Czech open, British, Cessinatico ect. still mean juniors can play abroad against different players but get more competetive games. And often coaches go to these as well which will benefit juniors.
This is NOT an attack on the squad going to the Euros nor any other team we've sent in the past, just a suggestion of how to improve the system.
Calum