02-03-2012, 10:42 PM
Thanks to Alex McFarlane ... who's confirmed that FIDE are extraordinarily lax in this area. Unlike FIFA, who are very hands on in trying to manage a level representative playing field in football, including on their ruling on a grandparent rule (thanks to Douglas Bryson for this + light notes, various). As, I am tempted to add, an international sports org should be!
So CS probably doesn't need a grandparent rule at all to allow Matthew to play in a Scottish representative team. It only needs him to be registered for rating purposes with CS and for the bit in his FIDE transfer note saying from what date he can play for SCO rather than his native ENG (though why they conflate the two different things is beyond logic ... in my view).
I think I agree with Douglas and several others above. No grandparent rule. No change. No case made. If Matthew (who's case is probably unique anyway) wishes to be considered for SCO teams, he should not only be registered SCO for rating purposes but be resident in SCO (like others ENG native in the present and past, such as Andrew Greet, Nick Young, Brian Denman, David Levy ...) for what is nowadays a requisite 2 years.
I don't even think that Matthew (who's general commitment to chess and to Scottish chess, I also greatly admire, by the way) would be unhappy at this. As far as I understand it, his only real problem all along has been with the ECF and their policy of deregistration of all ENG players for rating purposes who (like him) didn't want to be paid up ECF members.
Alex McFarlane hinted that that ECF policy may amount to more or less unwarranted "punishment". But with the best will in the world, CS can't be responsible for righting any perceived wrongs by native Englishmen with their national federation. That's really a concern for arbitration between the individual, their federation and FIDE.
So CS probably doesn't need a grandparent rule at all to allow Matthew to play in a Scottish representative team. It only needs him to be registered for rating purposes with CS and for the bit in his FIDE transfer note saying from what date he can play for SCO rather than his native ENG (though why they conflate the two different things is beyond logic ... in my view).
I think I agree with Douglas and several others above. No grandparent rule. No change. No case made. If Matthew (who's case is probably unique anyway) wishes to be considered for SCO teams, he should not only be registered SCO for rating purposes but be resident in SCO (like others ENG native in the present and past, such as Andrew Greet, Nick Young, Brian Denman, David Levy ...) for what is nowadays a requisite 2 years.
I don't even think that Matthew (who's general commitment to chess and to Scottish chess, I also greatly admire, by the way) would be unhappy at this. As far as I understand it, his only real problem all along has been with the ECF and their policy of deregistration of all ENG players for rating purposes who (like him) didn't want to be paid up ECF members.
Alex McFarlane hinted that that ECF policy may amount to more or less unwarranted "punishment". But with the best will in the world, CS can't be responsible for righting any perceived wrongs by native Englishmen with their national federation. That's really a concern for arbitration between the individual, their federation and FIDE.