Olympiad Captain

[George Neave]

Strange that this side-show is the big story - rather than anyone commenting on fact 3 time Brit champ GM Rowson not available.

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Not sure if anyone actually ventures into the website away from this noticeboard but there are reports on the Olympiad back to 1998 - available from that link. You can see who was captain on most of these.

With regard to the non-Scottish status of the current captain I recall Valentina Jarrett had the job in Armenia 1996 and Elista 1998. It wasn't even clear if she played chess at all but as the Russian wife of the FIDE treasurer she was good for the team by dealing with the local organisation in their native language.

That is indeed the prime function of the captain to deal with all the tedious admin issues. The captain has sometimes also doubled as the FIDE delegate.

You dont need training, you just need to be a competent person capable of dealing with admin. An easy going personality that gets on with people and an enthusiastic supporter of the team would also be plus points.

I cant recall the captain ever offering much in the way of playing advice to the Mens team - this will be the first time the captain is stronger than the players. I still suspect it will only be the womens team receiving any tutoring.

However the prime function is to deal with captain meetings and admin etc.

Be handy if the captain also supplied noticeboard reports to enhance the bare results.

Based on these critieria the idea we would fund a non-CS member irrespective of nationality seems all the more bizarre. I would have thought there is at least 1 or 2 easy going, well organised members who would have enjoyed the chance to take in such an event?

Other observations:
- Harry Rednapp for Scotland manager?
- Great to see Alan Tate playing
- Sadly I do not even recognise all the names of the women's team despite playing most weekenders - maybe that's because the are playing majors and not opens?
- If Andy gets elected to the local council tonight does this mean someone else get to make these decisions in future and will Boris Johnson be Mayor of Hamilton this time next year?
- [EDIT] Come to think of it haven't seen much evidence of main team playing in Scottish weekenders either this year
- [EDIT2] DId anyone ask Topalov if he was interested at the Edinburgh CC / Quality Chess event on Sunday (..................it's a joke Alex!)