Tromso Olympiad 2014

[andyburnett]

My guess would be that invites have been sent to those selected and the International Director is waiting to see if the invites are accepted.

Obviously, Andrew Greet has accepted and decided to publise it but surely we can all agree it makes more sense to publish the finalised team once all the members have been confirmed.

Agreed David, but a week is a long time when it comes to booking 'cheap flights' Hopefully David C. is right and there will be some savings for CS.

For those who might think I have a chip on my shoulder throughout this thread, let me explain - there were discussions at the winter chess festival over New Year about the behaviour of some members of the Scottish team at last year's Europeans in Poland. A player refusing to play and another refusing to 'sit out' apparently. I am keen to see if those same players have been selected for this Olympiad, given that I gave our International Director Andy Muir the opportunity to respond to '...any negatives' he may have encountered at the Polish event. He didn't mention this 'alleged' disgraceful behaviour at all.

The eligibility issue is a different bugbear. We do have criteria for this and we are sticking to them - so I have no complaint about Andrew Greet (or anyone else who may be chosen) who meets these criteria, but I think we need to have a serious discussion about what is best for Scottish chess with regard to the international set-up.

These matters only affect me personally very slightly at the moment as I am not strong enough to merit a place in the team - but since I am using 'international selection' as a goal for improving my chess, it would be nice to know what to expect if/when I reach that level.

[Phil Thomas]

My guess would be that invites have been sent to those selected and the International Director is waiting to see if the invites are accepted.

Obviously, Andrew Greet has accepted and decided to publise it but surely we can all agree it makes more sense to publish the finalised team once all the members have been confirmed.

I was going to post very much along the same lines.

Let me add that it appears to me that players are accepting offers and then booking flights asap afterwards. Which is sound financial management. Remember these are adults and unlike juniors don't need a chaperone on the same flight. This could be where Robin is getting confused.

Also if Andrew Greet was not asked to embargo news of his selction there is no problem with him publicising it in social media.

[Jacqui Thomas]

Andy Muir,

Facebook I assume. Andrew Greet has announced he has been selected.

Care to tell ChessScotland members where their money is going to?

Why?

Would you be willing to tell everyone what & where the Ijd budget went 2012/13 as you have already mentioned on another thread that it was all spent on HofD, coaches & chaperones & didn't support the juniors. What would it have been circa 10,000 ? Or more

[robin moore]

Jacqui,

Sorry, I didn't realise that mostly spending money on Heads of Delegation, coaches or chaperones didn't support juniors. Thanks for putting me right on this.

[Jacqui Thomas]

Jacqui,

Sorry, I didn't realise that mostly spending money on Heads of Delegation, coaches or chaperones didn't support juniors. Thanks for putting me right on this.

Missed the point which was WHY should Andy M give the breakdown when nobody else does.

It is fact though that the overspend has been between the International budgets & on the junior one it covered 24 heads/chaperones/coaches in 2012/13 & no or little support to the participants financially. Refers me back to a previous point & that is not to be pushing hard to raise more money but to stick to budgets or see where cuts can be made. Not ideal but a valid option. It is good to have a couple of coaches at the Glorney but Liverpool is 3 games only, can it really be justified if there is a tight budget? To have coaches, unless they act as chaperones as well. I repeat if there is a tight budget. There are kind people that volunteer their time for free but their expenses still need to be paid.

Last time the adult Olympiad took place was when the idea of a change of role of the customer service position was suggested, as the team air flights varied by hundreds of pounds as each person booked their own travel. Where as, if someone was willing to co-ordinate they may have been able to have got cheaper flights. So the role is more like PA for the Directors. I noted that Ian Brownlee has shown an interest & someone like him could develop the role so the position could be a proactive service for the Directors as well as providing other services for members.

[robin moore]

Jacqui,

Thanks for highlighting junior international budget issues.

Many thanks for highlighting particularly that Heads of Delegation, coaching support and chaperones do not constitute support for Scottish International Juniors.

I have no idea about what the IJD from 2008-2011 (Phil Thomas) spent the budget on.

Of course it would be guessing to say which "means test" each individual parents went through on the International Junior budget (2008-2011) for Phil to decide which parents received CS financial support. Perhaps some parents received much more than others (page seven of this thread) ?

I would guess that mistakes may have been made previously like "forgetting" to register Scottish teams for events in time and cost ChessScotland 100 Euros penalty clauses per person for team events.

Hopefully those days are in the past.

[andyburnett]

Dear all,
Could you please take your petty bickering about junior issues to another thread? I would like this thread to stay focussed on petty bickering about adult issues. Thank you.

[Phil Thomas]

Jacqui,

Thanks for highlighting junior international budget issues.

Many thanks for highlighting particularly that Heads of Delegation, coaching support and chaperones do not constitute support for Scottish International Juniors.

I have no idea about what the IJD from 2008-2011 (Phil Thomas) spent the budget on.

Of course it would be guessing to say which "means test" each individual parents went through on the International Junior budget (2008-2011) for Phil to decide which parents received CS financial support. Perhaps some parents received much more than others (page seven of this thread) ?

I would guess that mistakes may have been made previously like "forgetting" to register Scottish teams for events in time and cost Chess Scotland 100 Euros penalty clauses per person for team events.

Hopefully those days are in the past.

Robin,
Only you could go digging the dirt and talk from a position of profound ignorance at the same time.
You have made an allegation that is tantamount to fraud - this is a very serious allegation. I suggest you ask the moderator to delete your posting.

I am not on trial here but perhaps you are. The 2012-13 accounts in which you appear, from my reading, to have massively overspent your budget, have not yet been approved by either an agm or an egm (section 13.3.1 of the constitution). Contrary to the constitution they are going to a council meeting instead. All this talk we've heard about rewriting the constitution - why not try following the current one instead? See if it works.

Are you really suggesting that I deliberately entered a tournament late in order to waste money from my own budget? Or are you upset that your efforts to contact multiple juniors on behalf of the IJD for the Liverpool event in December were not widely recognised or because you had minimal success. Maybe you should ask yourself why so many children didn't want to go away with you for the weekend. Maybe the rest of Chess Scotland should ask itself why so many former Chess Scotland directors are still active organisers yet refuse to work for Chess Scotland.

[Patrick McGovern]

here we go again

i wish protagonists would heed Andy Burnett's request

Dear all,
Could you please take your petty bickering about junior issues to another thread? I would like this thread to stay focussed on petty bickering about adult issues. Thank you.

[amuir]

9 people have booked flights to Tromso. These are all reasonably priced. Some of these may be on FB or twitter. Not everyone has confirmed their place.Council on Sunday will clarify funding position for others. Further update when party agreed. Junior chess should not appear on this thread.