Glorney Cup

[David G Congalton]

Put forward a programme to develop our young players and my vote is in the bag.

Simply make the Glorney the top priority. Select the players for that first and the other tournaments follow. The success of winning will encourage a winning mentality.

That is neither necessary nor sufficient.

I suggest waiting till after this tournament is over for such discussions though...

I would echo Clement's sentiments.

Andrew, I couldn't vote for just a three sentence plan, unless it was a really good three sentences that covered the whole plan.

However review is required to see what went wrong.

You didn't wait long Andrew. The tournament isn't officially over yet.

I'm not sure anything "went wrong". The objective (at the moment) is to improve at all age groups, with a view to winning all the sections when we next host the tournament. There is a lot of work that needs done to achieve this and I am looking to put in place a structure that would last long-term.

Having only just taking the reigns of junior home and junior international chess towards the end of last year, the first few months have been spent putting together the events so far and making sure they go as smoothly as possible.

I would hope that within the next four or five months, working in conjunction with regional junior bodies and the CS Management Board, as well as those who have assisted greatly so far, we can publish a positive and constructive plan to further develop our junior chess in Scotland, at all levels.

One idea (of mine) for discussion would be to appoint team coaches for the age groups as soon as possible. The team coaches would work with potential team players, their day-to-day coaches and the players parents throughout the year, with regular meet-ups arranged. Perhaps, treating the likes of the Dundee, Oban and Edinburgh Congresses as training events.

There are other ideas in the mix, such as integrating all of the Chess Scotland events juniors participate in, into an overall structured, pyramid type set up, with the Primary Individual feeding the Liverpool Quadrangular, feeding the Glorney-Gilbert, Under 16 Olympiad, World and Euro Individual.

These are just ideas at the moment, for thought and discussion, with the regional junior bodies and other interested parties.

Simply make the Glorney the top priority. Select the players for that first and the other tournaments follow. The success of winning will encourage a winning mentality.

This is a great objective and a good basis for a plan and is certainly part of what I am working towards just now.