Arkadij Naiditsch and Chess in Scotland

[D-Oswald]

One of the World’s top players, Arkadij Naiditsch visited Scotland for the very successful first Scottish Blitz Championship and a recent simultaneous match at Edinburgh Chess Club. He is returning for the 2nd Scottish Blitz Championship this June.
Arkadij has really enjoyed his time in Scotland and wants to see chess in Scotland grow and prosper. One way in which the public image of Scottish Chess could be improved was if Arkadij was to represent the second oldest club in the world, Edinburgh at the prestigious European Club Cup. For this to become possible there would need to be a significant sponsorship deal in place. If such a deal was possible there are a few potential ways in which Arkadij could help improve chess in Scotland:
• Represent Edinburgh at the European Club Cup.
• Play in the Scottish Championships.
• Coach young and improving Scottish Juniors.
• Give Simultaneous matches with Scottish players or the sponsorship company.

For any potential company interested, Arkadij being attached to Scottish Chess would gain massive publicity. He is a very approachable and down-to-earth Super Grandmaster and would represent a great role model and ambassador for chess in Scotland.

If you are or know of a potential sponsor, please do not hesitate to contact me.

David Oswald

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[amuir]

David this will cost 2500 Euro at least

12.8.1 The teams shall be composed of six players all of whom must be members of the club and
were entitled to play for the club in the national team championship of the federation which was
organized within one year before the start of the current European Club Cup. However, players who
are foreigners to the federation in which the national team championship is organized, must have
played at least two games in this championship. Foreigners are defined as those which are either
belonging to another federation in the FIDE Rating List valid at the start of the national team
championship or have a permanent residence outside the federation in which this national team
championship is organized.
12.8.2 If a participating club wants to include a player who does not fulfill the requirements of
article 1.2 the club has to pay an amount of 2500 Euro (1000 Euro for the women event) to ECU.
These players have to be announced to the Tournament Director before the deadline for nomination
of teams and the extra fee has to be paid to ECU before start of the competition. In the open
competition no more than two players, in the women's competition no more than one female player,
may be replaced.

[Hugh Brechin]

Tenner at a time, Andy, tenner at a time.

[D-Oswald]

Andy,

Yes I'm aware of this, hence a "significant sponsor" would be required. A lot of teams in the Euro Club Cup have to pay this fee to get players.

Unfortunately players that can do this to Kramnik:

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Don't come so cheap

Cheers,
David

[David Deary]

I think this this would be fantastic if you could make it happen and I wish you well in your endeavour. However, my current focus is on trying to counter the loss of the grant for CS. Whether this is from other public funds or through a commercial partner/sponsor or a combination of both.

[Alex McFarlane]

Attempts to get sponsorship need some degree of co-ordination if we are pushing the Chess Scotland angle.

A hypothetical situation would be that a company considering sponsoring the Scottish decides to sponsor a team member in the European Club. It might think it will get almost as much publicity for less money. Which would be better for chess?

We really need to get money coming in and build on it.