East of Scotland – No longer a standalone tournie?

[David Deary]

I see the East of Scotland is being combined with Edinburgh and the standalone Championships will not be happening this year.

It’s interesting that those who are challenging the decision of Hamilton having a Stars Barred this year are completely silent about the East of Scotland Championships no longer being a standalone event. I think those criticising the Stars Barred (most of them players from the East too) perhaps need to have a look inwards. ;P

On a more seriousness note it’s not good to see competitors losing a tournament off the calendar. I sincerely hope the decision to no longer run the East of Scotland was communicated with the 59 players who entered last year. In my view they should have received an email/letter directly informing them that it would not be happening. If this hasn't happened, why hasn't it?

Also, the communication to the wider chess community has been abysmal on this I only found out as someone mentioned it in the passing.

I personally think it’s a shame the organisers couldn’t find a way to make the event workable and I’m interested to know why they opted to scrap the tournament rather than change the format. I suspect having a Championship/'Open' of 11 players had something to do with it. Any ideas?

P.S. For those who will mention the WoS being amalgamated into Prestwick. As Prestwick was a new tournament I consider that to be +1 -1 = 0 so it balances out. 8)

[Hugh Brechin]

I think those criticising the Stars Barred (most of them players from the East too) perhaps need to have a look inwards. ;P

Pretty much just me, really! I like the East of Scotland, and this would be a shame. I haven't played in it for a few years, mostly because it's coincided with university exams and partly because my enthusiasm for playing regular weekenders was at something of a low ebb until relatively recently - I think there was a point where I played one congress in two years - but this year I'd have been keen to take part.

If the numbers weren't justifying it, however ... it's not the first tournament we've seen close for business and sadly I doubt it'll be the last.

[Donald Wilson]

David mentions the "organisers" of the East of Scotland.

Well, it's a fortunate congress that has an organising team with three or more members - most chess players, most members of chess clubs, want no involvement in organising events: they just want to turn up and play.

The East of Scotland (and also the Grangemouth Congress) had an organising team of two: there was Jim Watson, and there was me. Our roles were different at the two events - for the Grangemouth Congress, Jim did most of the preparatory work (booking the venue, dealing with the sponsors, getting the entry form printed, receiving entries etc) and I dealt with the playing side (equipment, arbiters, pairing cards, and so on); for the East of Scotland, Jim booked the venue and received entries, I did the rest.

Last summer, Jim moved back to Yorkshire (his original home). About the same time, I gave up playing chess, and I am no longer a member of Grangemouth Chess Club - a thirty-mile round trip to Grangemouth on club nights makes little sense with the cost of fuel and an income far smaller than it used to be.

I'm not prepared to be the sole organiser of a tournament, though perhaps I might have given the East one more go if the number of players in the Championship last year had been reasonably high. But entries of 9 in 2009, 15 in 2010 and 11 in 2011 indicated pretty clearly that the EoS Championship as a distinct event simply wasn't attractive enough, and there was nothing I could do to make it more attractive. So I made it known to Chess Scotland's Home Director (in a sense the ultimate "owner" of the East of Scotland Championship) that I did not want to continue running the event. The organisers of the Edinburgh Congress were willing to incorporate it in their Open event (for this year, at least) and we'll just have to see how that works out.

The many players who have taken part in the Major and Minor tournaments at the EoS in recent years are, of course, not at fault - they have actually subsidised the EoS Championship to some extent, and without them I would have given up the EoS years ago. I am sorry that the Major and Minor players have lost an event that they enjoyed, and maybe there is an opportunity here for somebody else to run an event about the end of May for these players. But I also need to point out that the venue we used in Grangemouth was available free of charge because the tournament was being run by Grangemouth Chess Club - it would not be free for anyone else, and there have been hints that even the Chess Club would in future have to pay for such lets, simply because of the financial constraints that all local authorities in Scotland now operate under.

[George Murphy]

A big thank you to both you and Jim Watson, Donald, for all your past service in running the EoS. It was such a friendly event; I always enjoyed myself whenever I could take part.

Having just looked at both Entry Forms for Edinburgh and Prestwick, I see there is no attribution to EoS in the former, but many in the latter to WoS. It looks as if EoS has gone for a burton. Sad.

[Ian Morris]

The Glenrothes congress takes place in four weeks time, those who were intending to play at Grangemouth for the EoS title could come to Fife and see who is the best EoS player at no further cost. In years gone by the EoS could not match the number of competitors that Glenrothes could attract but in recent years the two events have been coming close together in numbers... why I do not know!
Can a EoS title be won without a prize fund or trophy?

[Alan Tate]

The many players who have taken part in the Major and Minor tournaments at the EoS in recent years are, of course, not at fault - they have actually subsidised the EoS Championship to some extent, and without them I would have given up the EoS years ago. I am sorry that the Major and Minor players have lost an event that they enjoyed

I see an opening for a Stars Barred event here....

[StevieHilton]

I support Donald in what he has said. As the Home Director of Chess Scotland, the decision to incorporate the EOS into the Edinburgh was essential, given the lack of organisers available. Chess Scotland owes a huge debt of thanks to the likes of Donald and Jim Watson who kept the east alive. It would have been totally unfair to have expected him to both organise and control such an event on his own.

I decided to ask Edinburgh to incorporate the East into their event for the following reasons,
Timing: The only event held late in the season was the Edinburgh Congress. This would allow Congresses which acted as qualifiers to continue to do this.
I am pleased to say that Edinburgh agreed to incorporate the East.

It is most important that the names of these events are at least kept alive so that when the time comes they can be organised seperately once again.

Both the West and East events are under the jurisdiction of Chess Scotland, and as the West had already been allocated to the Prestwick event, so it seemed sensible to find an appropriate event in the East to host the EOS, and Edinburgh seemed the appropriate choice.

I stand by this decision and any flak should be directed at me

[George Murphy]

Flak? I don't think anyone intended criticism, Steve. Rather, all I saw were polite expressions of appreciation for the efforts of dedicated personnel coupled with regret at the demise of a popular event.

Anyway, your post prompted me to re-read the Entry Form for Edinburgh and, sure enough, there is a reference to an East of Scotland Trophy and a £50.00 prize for the highest eligible player in the Premier Tournament. So, the excellent organisers of the august and highly successful Edinburgh Tournament stand vindicated.

Their understated approach seems aligned with the Lothians Congress model. That's fine. Prestwick on the other hand chose to emblazon their incorporation of WoS across the top of their entry form. That's fine, too.

Perhaps the different approaches reflect advertising practices at a regional level? As an expatriate, I was very much amused a number of years ago to learn that Glasgow and Edinburgh once ran contrasting publicity campaigns. Something about oranges and smiling better as opposed to just being superior, I seem to recall.

(I married an Edinburgh girl, so I hope no one will take that last observation too seriously.)

[StevieHilton]

George,
I expect that there will be people unhappy with this decision. I would have been irresponsible to allow the tournament to disappear altogether. I hope there will be no flak George
I know that the players do appreciate the efforts of the organisers to arrange these events. and I much appreciate that, but the demise highlights a perenial problem in that there are fewer numbers than ever organising events in Scotland and there is no easy solution to this.

[George Murphy]

Steve,

Amen to that.