Tromso Olympiad 2014

[Douglas Bryson]

The Open team for the Olympiad is announced <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.chessscotland.com/news/?p=502">http://www.chessscotland.com/news/?p=502</a><!-- m -->

[Douglas Bryson]

In December I was invited to join the selection board and give an opinion on the players to be picked for the Olympiad. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://chessscotland.com/international.htm">http://chessscotland.com/international.htm</a><!-- m --> (see top right of page)

This was after GM John Shaw had stepped down specifically to avoid any "conflict of interest" of picking himself. Any of the posters claiming that such a conflict existed with my own presence on the panel could have tried to make themselves aware of the facts first by checking with me and they would then have known I had indicated at the time that I was not available for selection.

It is strange that such an issue is being mentioned now since at any time in the last 50 years of Scotland's unbroken run of participation in the Olympiad the selection panel has always contained high rated players among its number. Ideally if the players are sufficiently strong that their own selection is not in doubt then no such conflict exists.

[David Deary]

It is strange that such an issue is being mentioned now since at any time in the last 50 years of Scotland's unbroken run of participation in the Olympiad the selection panel has always contained high rated players among its number. Ideally if the players are sufficiently strong that their own selection is not in doubt then no such conflict exists.

Dougie you're not seriously using the old "its always been this way" as justification for not changing things? History is littered with bad examples of this... I won't draw any parrallels.

Out of curiosity, over the last fifty years how has the Captain been appointed? Other than Andy M, has an International Director appointed themself Captain in the past? Is there any guidance or rules that prevent an International Director from appointing themself?

[Matthew Turner]

There cannot be anyone in Scottish Chess who doesn't think that John Shaw and Dougie Bryson are completely honest and trustworthy members of the community. They bring important skills to bear and are exactly the sort of people we want as selectors. The fact that John Shaw stepped down over a potential conflict of interest when it was pretty obvious that he didn't need to merely reinforces the observation that he didn't need to!

The issue of captaincy is somewhat different because there are a number of possible approaches
1. A playing Captain
2. A strong Scottish Player who hasn't quite made the team (but may have previous Olympiad experience)
3. A very strong foreign GM to act as a coach
4. A CS official

Andy Muir tricks boxes 2 and 4, so is an obvious candidate. However, if as Andy says a number of the players don't support him then maybe there is a better candidate. Whilst ChessScotland might want to think about how and why a captain is appointed in future perhaps Andy Muir should seek a compromise this time. How about Jonathan Grant being made Captain of the Scottish Teams in Tromso and Andy Muir being made Vice-Captain with particular responsibility for the Open(Mens') Team. Any player unhappy with Andy would have to accept him and Andy would have to accept that if anything really contentious came up he could be over-ruled.
Compromise - nobody gets entirely what they want.

P.S. I am not privy to any private correspondence

[PRoberts]

Alan Minnican was International Director and captain of the Open Team in Istanbul 2000 (I captained the women's team) and as far as I know he picked himself. He was also team captain in 2002, though I can't recall whether he was still International Director. I can't recall any of the players (or anyone else) having issues with Alan picking himself.

Andy was playing captain in European Team Championship in Porto Carras in 2011 (I was one of the players). As far as I know, none of the team had any issues with Andy picking himself as team captain. Had anyone else expressed an interest in being non-playing captain, i'm sure Andy wouldn't have objected.

Being team captain can often be a challenge, often as a result of non chess related issues. It is not simply just a matter of submitting the team sheet on time each morning as I learnt in Batumi 1999 (see the archived report on this site.)

Reading some of the above postings I get the distinct impression that some people simply don't like Andy Muir and are using the selection process for the olympiad team as a convenient excuse for putting insulting posts on the noticeboard.

[robin moore]

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.chessscotland.com/archives/euro99.htm">http://www.chessscotland.com/archives/euro99.htm</a><!-- m -->

Just had a chuckle or two at Paul's report from Batumi 1999. The Euroyouth Championships this year are in...errm.. Batumi, Georgia.

[andyburnett]

Reading some of the above postings I get the distinct impression that some people simply don't like Andy Muir and are using the selection process for the olympiad team as a convenient excuse for putting insulting posts on the noticeboard

I can only assume you are referring to me here Paul, as no-one else has posted anything particularly 'controversial'.
Just to make it clear, if I wanted to 'insult' someone on this noticeboard I would simply do so - I certainly wouldn't use (or need) the Olympiad as a vehicle.

Also, I have better things to do with my time than insult Andy Muir for the sake of it - besides which, he is a grown man and can defend his own position should he see fit. Which he hasn't so far.

Once again, trying to obfuscate the issues by trying to introduce a 'personal' side to this debate is not very helpful - the rest of your post is however, and I'll read it again carefully before making any other comments.

[D-Oswald]

I guess there would be no problem with the International Director choosing himself IF the team were happy with that International Director being their captain. Therefore, it is of no great surprise to me that there was no issue with Alan Minnican (strong player, great laugh, serious gent, cares for Scottish chess) going in 2000.

But you can count on your cornflakes, that this doesn't seem to be the case here - it seems that it is of no great secret that the players do not want Andy to be their captain. Is this similar to Paulo Di Canio at Sunderland? Cause that didn't end well...
I'm just worried that there will be a tense and uncomfortable atmosphere that will mean the players will not perform to the level they are capable of.

[D-Oswald]

PS. Without wanting to add any fuel onto the fire, (apologies if this does!) I was wondering if the application deadline for team captain had passed? I would certainly be very interested in the role, if I had support from CS and the players.

[David Deary]

Can anyone confirm or deny the preference from the players was to appoint a 'foreign' GM as Captain? someone who has made no contribution to scottish chess. I have to say, when finances are as tight as they are, our scarce resources should be focussed on those who actually make a contribution to scottish chess and not on paying for friends of players on our Olympiad team to go on a jolly paid for by CS! [-x

I appreciate the above may be controversial and will retract it if it is incorrect as I said there is so much incorrect information flying around this thread already and I don't wish to add to it.

I should make a correction to the above, it seems the preference of the players was a 1900 rated Greek player who has experience of working with 2600+ GMs regarded as an expert on openings.

Would this have represented best value for CS? I have serious doubts. What is clear to me is that matters of who is the Captain/Manager in the future cannot be left to the International Director and/or the players.