Richardson and Spens 2013-14

[amuir]

Andy B should be part of the community. That means playing in the Richardson and then going to the AGM, put his name down for Cappelle, Warsaw etc. Then he can have more say.

[andyburnett]

Andy B should be part of the community. That means playing in the Richardson and then going to the AGM, put his name down for Cappelle, Warsaw etc. Then he can have more say.

@Andy M,
Your randomness knows no bounds.

I AM part of the chess community in Scotland, I've played in the Richardson every year since about 1901 and if I was able to play other events such as Cappelle or Warsaw (why this is important or relevant I have no idea) then I would.

I don't want MORE say - I have my say already as a member of CS, just like every other member.

@Joe,
As with almost every other supporter of the 50/80 points rule, you seem to have no desire to answer the basic question I have been asking for a year now. Why should we have a RULE which allows one team to do something that another can't?

I don't care if it is Dragons or Hamilton or the Dingly Dell 'D' team. I don't care whether you want to swap with Pat, or if Andy M is too highly rated this year. That is totally irrelevant to the point in question.

Show me one other rule that allows for such inequity? You might not care about preparation, I might, others also. The fact is that closely-rated squads are given, by the RULES, an advantage over those more spread out in grading.

@Walter B.
I don't think 50 points is too high. I think (without a proviso such as Hamish's) that its existence is just wrong.
I do understand 'democracy' Walter If Craig was representing the club's views, then fine. As it stands I think an abstention is fair.
But let's say that, for example, in Castlehill Chess Club the only person to reply is Keith Rose...and his vote is counted...and he might also be required to give a casting vote if it is tied? You can see what problems this might lead to, particularly if it were on a matter more important than grading/board order issues.

[amuir]

Someone who has a bigger database/better chess engine/more money/more time/highly graded friend has more advantage in preparation. Is this fair ?
Should football teams have to be named 24 hours before a match ?
Same sex marriage - everyone had a vote - majority don't want it - all parties want it - will become law - is it democratic ?
Andy B played since 1901 - oldest man in Britain ?

More random thoughts

[WBuchanan]

"As it stands I think an abstention is fair"

Not sure what you mean Andy, by saying an abstention is fair - but anyway it’s not what happened; as the EW captain allowed Craig’s selection from the multiple choice (that didn't include the best choice a la Hamish, I think we may be in agreement there) to go forward knowing that Andy Muir was going to count it as representing the EW position, it therefore was the EW position in the captains vote. Slightly unusual perhaps, but Andy was just trying to get the vote completed. In your ‘Castlehill’ example, are you making a point about EW or the actual Castlehill vote? I don’t know anything about how Castlehill voted. Agreed, irregularities in voting can cause problems and should be avoided, but not worth a fuss over this issue in my view, when we can always try and get it right next year. Anyway with any luck I’m out of this one until April next year - I hope you do play (so that you can increase your ‘say’ in things :-) ) Cheers

[Adam Bremner]

The Richardson is the premier club competition in Scotland, and as such it is a shame it is not FIDE rated. If cost is the reason, then it is a sad reflection on where we are, but I do wonder if the money earmarked for paying for a venue for the final last year could have been put towards this?

As for the 50/80 point shuffling rule, it is quite funny to see the same people defend it using a very wonky argument. Fortunately, it is not such a problem that cant be solved by a team playing good chess.

[Andy McCulloch]

The trouble is that each match would require a FIDE Arbiter, and Scotland does not have enough of them. If you were up to date with the discussion, FIDE have said that non-playing captains could be FIDE registered at 20 euros a head, problematic on it's own. Last year's Final fiasco has nothing to do with it.

Have to agree about the 50/80 point rule. Despite all the flim-flam and hand waving over the last few years, it is a massive advantage for one club only.

[JRedpath]

I find it strange that the issue suddenly comes up last year , don't recall it ever being discussed before in all my years playing in the Richardson. Indeed I can remember playing out of order many times even when I used to play for Edinburgh West.

I give you a couple of examples of why board variation should be possible, it allows vastly under-graded juniors to switch positions and play according to their true strength. It also allows players who are having a bad season to move down the order.

You don't think it is fair, I guess we will just have to agree to disagree on that!

[Alastair White]

In international team tournaments you will know in advance who you are going to play against. This is fair and normal. In national tournaments we should be aiming for the same thing. Forget about 50/80. That is not going to help. Team orders published in advance would be a step in the right direction and enable us to move towards fair competition and fide graded national competitions. End of..

[robin moore]

Joe makes a fair point about rapidly improving juniors. At the moment a junior with a published grade of 1706 already has a live grade of 2053 and the season has not long started. Not sure how you would deal with something like that regarding board order.

[amuir]

Guess which team holds the trumps this year ? Dragons
Tate 2276, Burnett 2248, Bathie 2227, Orr 2212 , Minnican 2204.
If its Dragons v Hamilton poor Joe Redpath has to prepare for four different players. However I'm sure he'll do his best and play a good game anyway.