06-08-2012, 10:02 PM
Quote:You like swimming analogies i.e. Some of the young swimmers (15 year olds at the Olympics) are smashing pbs almost as quickly as they are setting them. How would you keep pace of an advance like that in Chess while employing grading limits.
In swimming you do get these dramatic improvements but most of these young swimmers at the Olympics that did were already world class and had earned the right to compete on merit. The UK swimmers not only had to meet a certain qualifying time but had to do it in the final of a specified event AND be in the top two. That is tough - some did the qualifying time in the semis but won in a slower time while others did the time but came third. In neither case were the swimmers selected.
In Scotland to get into one of the national training squads you need to achieve certain well defined times with the aim of getting a certain number of swimmers within the world top 15. As their policy document states by setting and publishing these times this makes it gives the coaches and swimmers clear targets to work towards. The following quote I think is interesting:-
Quote:The improvements are a result of the hard work undertaken by coaches and
swimmers. Scotland now has a strong pool of swimmers within the National Programme and now is the
time to start squeezing the standards, and asking more of our coaches and swimmers if we are to push
for greater international success in the future
One of the reasons for the chess selectors to define grading targets it makes a clear and strong statement to players, coaches and parents of what is required to be an international class player, and not just a good Scottish player. This is especially true when the pool of players is so small that getting to no 1 in your age group is not a sufficiently strong test of a player's strength.
Personally I thing the swimming targets are too rigid and I think some discretion is required on the part of the selectors. In swimming you do get two entry times specified for competition entries - a qualifying time and a consideration time. The former means you get in for sure, while the latter means that you can apply to swim but whether you do will depend on the event organisers. A similar system could be applied in chess: those achieving the qualifying grade are automatically selected and those the consideration grade are added to a squad from which selections will be made. Initially these grades can be set at a relatively low level and then gradually increased over a number of years as (and if) standards are raised.
I would also add that I would generally give priority to players that have demonstrated their strength over a period, so that greater weight is given to their published grade. If they are fast improving from a low base and miss out this season then if it is a genuine step forward and they continue to progress they will get their chance the following season.