14-09-2016, 11:45 PM
Going forward... selection criteria:
Also Scottish Champ should definitely get a board as far as I'm concerned. If you can win that you deserve it.
What could CS do to improve things?
I guess the people in line for this are better qualified to answer than me, but I would suggest trying to provide access to training and games of a high level to these players. I know when I was preparing for Euro Club Cup I played eastern European GM/IMs in training matches online, because that was the sort of level I would be facing, and where else could I get access to those games? Admittedly I got absolutely gubbed in that event, but it definitely raised my game following it. Playing top players makes you raise your level. Perhaps CS could try and arrange training matches online, maybe against each other, maybe a challenge match against a team from another federation? Training weekends aimed at a high level would probably be a great idea too. Just anything to improve access to the sort of things required to improve, and not leave it to the individuals. If they refuse it then fine, other people hungry for it would be grateful I'm sure.
andyburnett Wrote:-minimum 15 FIDE-rated games played during the preceding 6 months to ensure reasonable ‘match-fitness’ when it comes to the big team tournaments.That is surely not practical. If you have a full time job and/or are skint it makes things very difficult. Not every congress is FIDE rated, and even if it was, 4 congresses (Friday travel with a job is almost impossible) in 6 months on the current calendar would give no wiggle room for other things. There is also the question of how much benefit some of these games really would be. If 10 of those 15 games are played against people -500 points, what is the benefit for an Olympiad player? Asking people to play a 9 rounder (using holidays which presumably also need to be used for the Olympiad) to supplement this also seems unreasonable in our current situation. Asking that of a chess professional is one thing, but of a semi-pro (?) is another. I think all you can really ask is a reasonable attempt to play FIDE games given a person's situation. Maybe more useful would be 10-20 CS games to show some activity, and split the difference of FIDE and CS for a selection grade?
Also Scottish Champ should definitely get a board as far as I'm concerned. If you can win that you deserve it.
What could CS do to improve things?
I guess the people in line for this are better qualified to answer than me, but I would suggest trying to provide access to training and games of a high level to these players. I know when I was preparing for Euro Club Cup I played eastern European GM/IMs in training matches online, because that was the sort of level I would be facing, and where else could I get access to those games? Admittedly I got absolutely gubbed in that event, but it definitely raised my game following it. Playing top players makes you raise your level. Perhaps CS could try and arrange training matches online, maybe against each other, maybe a challenge match against a team from another federation? Training weekends aimed at a high level would probably be a great idea too. Just anything to improve access to the sort of things required to improve, and not leave it to the individuals. If they refuse it then fine, other people hungry for it would be grateful I'm sure.