AGM Motion 5

[Alex McFarlane]

It is beyond belief that a genuine Scot who has been registered incorrectly under a different country - say when playing their first FIDE event outside this country will at no point prior to their shock win of the title have ever checked their FIDE online record. The Scottish Championships entries secretary will have listed all participating players online with their FIDE country of affiliation as happened this year. That misidentified player has a host of chances to point out to CS he has been registered incorrectly

I cannot argue that it is very unlikely that a player will have come from nowhere to win the Scottish. However, I have to deal regularly with players who have been assigned the wrong nationality. Indeed I had to confirm one players nationality at the British this year. He wanted to be registered as Isle of Man. But settled for ENG instead of his country of birth.

FIDE now has monthly lists. The Scottish is at the beginning of the month. It is totally feasible that someone who plays their first FIDE rated event in June could end up with the wrong nationality. It doesn't really matter that they have no chance of winning, it is the fact that they would be prevented from winning that is the problem. I have no problem that in Scotland nationality is checked. This is not the case abroad. Indeed, anyone from the UK is often assumed to be ENG!

I don't mind a debate on this at the AGM but I would be horrified if such a bady worded motion was accepted. It is not simply a case of changing ELO to FIDE as many would assume. I have tried to give examples which need to be considered.

It is not so long ago that someone living in Germany appeared on the FIDE list as SCO and was not (readily?) known here.
We have had players appear on the FIDE list twice (and on at least one occasion either didn't notice or preferred not to notice as the new rating was higher!) if the second was as ENG and with a slight variation on the name it may not be noticed for some time. The wording of the motion could prevent that person from being eligible.

And remember it is possible for someone to be SCO and still not able to represent Scotland in international competition.

I've tried to keep individuals out of this but will for one last question which I pose without further comment other than I know both players reasonably well. Is Matt Turner any more or less Scottish than Jacob Aagaard?