SCA - SJCA Merger Update

The Councils of the Scottish Chess Association and Scottish Junior Chess Association have both resolved to embrace the concept of a merger from July 2001. A merger is seen by both Councils as the potentially best option for maximising development of chess in Scotland.

Update April 26 2001: Your View on the possible merger of the Scottish Chess Association and Scottish Junior Chess Association

Forms were put out on boards to allow the 300 or so players at the Edinburgh Congress to express some views on the merger of the SCA and SJCA. We would like to thank those who took time to complete and return the form.

Here are the results:

The principle of merging: On the question of whether the possible merger seemed sensible, 28 people felt it was, 2 disagreed and 6 wanted to wait for more information to be made available before deciding. 26 of those who voted were members of the SCA with 5 members of the SJCA.

What's in a name? The name of any merged organisation generated helpful feedback. The votes were:

Scottish Chess Federation 22

Chess Scotland 2

Scottish Chess 1

Scottish Chess Association 6

No view 4

The following research also backs up the use of the name Scottish Chess Federation:

Language accuracy: The New Oxford Dictionary defines a federation as "an organisation or group within which smaller divisions have some degree of internal autonomy", whereas an association is defined as "a group of people organised for a joint purpose". Given the presence of regional associations or leagues, congresses etc, "federation" seems more accurate than "association".

National Chess organisations throughout the world: The following countries have "federation" in their organisation's name: Afghan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, England, Ethiopia, Fiji, Macedonia, France, Gambia, Georgia, Guatemala, Guernsey, Guyana, Haiti, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Jersey, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Kuwaiti, Latvian, Lebanon, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Morocco, Mongolia, Mozambique, Union of Myanmar, Namibia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippine, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, El Salvador, San Marino, Senegal, Seychelles, Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, UAE, US, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, British Virgin Islands, US Virgin Islands, Zambia and Zimbabwe

The following countries have "association" in their organisation's name: Antigua and Barbuda, Bermuda, China, Cyprus, Egypt, Ghana, Japan, Kenya, Nepal, Qatar, Trinidad and Tobago and Yemen

An interesting and more modern name was Chess South Africa.

Conclusion: On the information so far, it seems very likely that the merger steering group will recommend Scottish Chess Federation for the name of any merged organisation. If you have alternative views, or even if you agree, please e-mail us and let us know. E-mail Office@ChessScotland.com

John Glendinning President (SCA)

Rod Tweedie President (SJCA)