Official FIDE trainer qualification

[robin moore]

I was waiting until after the EU Youth (fantastic event for us) was over before posting on this topic. I am hoping Andy Howie can keep us up to date on the present situation.

The way I see it at the moment (and I am more than happy to be corrected) is that the official Fide Trainer title (FT) only affects the World Youth event for now ( free accommodation for a coach as long as they have the full FT qualification). Obviously, this situation could easily change in the future for other events.

If we consider that the World Youth only takes place in Europe every two or three years, the question has to be asked...

How much money do ChessScotland wish to spend pursuing and supporting this qualification? If the World Youth event is in say, somewhere like Brazil, is it economic for CS to send a qualified Fide Trainer?

Here is a link to the World Youth accommodation regulations for South Africa 2014....

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.2014wycc.co.za/2014wycc/Accommodation.html">http://www.2014wycc.co.za/2014wycc/Accommodation.html</a><!-- m -->

Effectively, at present, we are paying for folks to try and achieve the full Fide Trainer qualification in order for us to obtain free accommodation for one person at one event, the World Youth.

This is a link to the Tromso Olympiad Fide trainers course....

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://trainers.fide.com/images/stories/downloads/TRG_Seminars_2014/FTS-TRO_2014-Prospectus.pdf">http://trainers.fide.com/images/stories ... pectus.pdf</a><!-- m -->

Are we getting value for money? More accurately, where do we draw the line at the number of fully qualified Fide Trainers CS wish to have and how does CS decide who to send on the official courses?

Remember, CS have to pay a fee to renew the qualification for each trainer every four years for life.

[Alex McFarlane]

Robin,

This probably shouldn't be in the junior section as it applies to all official FIDE events - Olympiad as well.
It also isn't just accommodation as they were talking of limiting access to the playing hall so only team Captains with a FIDE training qualification would be let in.

It is certainly FIDE's intention that it should apply to European events so I think this is only a matter of time before it will.

[robin moore]

Alex,

You may be right in that my post should not be in the junior section but I feel that this Fide directive does have more of a direct bearing on junior events than adult ones.

I am more than happy for this thread to be moved to a more appropriate link on the CS noticeboard for discussion.

[robin moore]

As I said previously, I am happy for this thread to be moved to somewhere considered more appropriate.

I was looking over the final entries today for the World Youth 2014 in Durban, South Africa which begins on the 18th of September...

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.chess-results.com/tnr144241.aspx?lan=1&art=27&turdet=YES&flag=30&wi=984">http://www.chess-results.com/tnr144241. ... =30&wi=984</a><!-- m -->

I noticed that the total entries and average entries per country were markedly down on previous events...

Year, Location, Competitors, Countries, average number of competitors per country

2014 Durban, South Africa 995 91 11

2013 Al-Ain, UAE 1818 122 15

2012 Maribor, Slovenia 1584 91 17

2011 Caldas Novas, Brazil 1120 80 14

2010 Porto Carras, Greece 1387 87 16

I was initially thinking that the reduction in competitors had a direct link with the new Fide guidelines regarding "qualified Fide trainers (FT)".

However, when I started looking closer at this year's event in Durban I found that there were plenty of alternative reasons that may have contributed to a reduction in entries.

1/ The organisers failed to publish regulations within Fide's agreed timescale (ie six months before the event) which led to serious doubts if the event was actually going to take place.

2/ When the regulations were eventually published, the cost of accommodation for persons without a funded place were close to double that of any previous event.

3/ The cost of flights were always going to be an issue but the delay in the organisers publishing of the regulations exacerbated this.

4/ The organising committee appeared to change fairly regularly which may have caused confusion in who you were dealing with.

5/ The worrying Ebola medical situation may have had some impact on numbers. South Africa is not directly affected but competitors may have been travelling from or through ones that are.

6/ The Euroyouth event is in October which may have affected European entries.

The number of competitors is considerably down on previous events, no doubt about that. I am sure that the Fide guidelines regarding FT representation may have had an affect on that but I feel it's frankly impossible to say for certain.