13-04-2022, 09:23 AM
This is probably be long post. I will try not to get ranty but please forgive me if I do.
I'm glad Andy B is angry at Matt's post. It shows he cares.
What Matt and Hamish have said is probably very close to how I feel and have bemoaned many times.
We want chess to grow and flourish in Scotland, but how can we possibly expect that to happen when it is the same small group of people doing everything?
When Jim was elected president, he recognised I was doing too much and we added a 4th member to the Exec to take some of the strain off of me. I am back doing more now than I was then.
In the last 2 year, during the pandemic, I have been CA/DCA for over 150 tournaments including the Candidates and World Championships. I went over 6 months without a day off just to keep Chess going. Yes I paid for it!!!
To me it was essential that we kept some continuity during the lockdowns giving people the chances to play. Along with David C and John Mc we run (and still run) monthly tournaments I also ran a series of prize tournaments. This had an unexpected side effect of bringing people into membership.
We had a long debate about grading the games. I was co fident with the methods we use for online fair play we could safely grade and after a discussion, we elected to use the allegro grade I am glad we did as some of the juniors returning to OTB are thrashing their adult opponents but at least they don't have a 2 year out of date grade.
So 2 years of running tournaments and running the fairnplay system for England, Scotland and Wales. I have been busy.
On top of that we have running the Federation. Even in covid times we still have decisions we have to make.
So that a sample of what I have been doing (there is a lot lore but this is not a job application and I don't want to bore you)
So what is holding Chess Scotland back? The answer is so simple it is laugable
Let's look at various areas pre covid.
Tournaments - Majority were run by SCT which incidentally is headed up by the IRO from England (who is a CS member and contributes greatly to Scottish Chess).
Arbiters - Basically we have 4/5 that are doing everything. Only 3 are hybrid trained meaning if we are in a hybrid we are limited in numbers. We desperately need more arbiters (my wife is training to become one to help me out. Be gentle to her in Ayr!). We are probably 1 or 2 going down sick / retiring from not being able to cover events.
Management Board - 3 posts still unfilled (Home Director, International Junior Director, Scottish Championship Director). No interest for either (If anyone wants International Junior Director, please contact me as Glorney is coming up and with potentially Candidates and Olympiad I am not available)
Council - has not met in years. Why? We do not have enough volunteers. The idea is Exec can be overturned by MB who can be overturned by council who can be overturned by AGM. Unless you have actual numbers, you can't have a council and despite calls for volunteers...
AGM - low numbers attend. From memory we had 14 at last. Given MB at full strength is 10 (not all were there) it does make it a little farcical.
I think we can all see where this is going. We will remain on this trajectory unless people start to step up Harry has made some amazing strides with the Juniors and I have been very impressed with Alan since he came on board. As for the Magazine under Andy, fantastic (and I am not saying that because I keep promising to write articles and end up too busy do it it).
If we want norm tournaments for our Juniors and Norm Seekers, we need people to organise and be the arbiters, we need sponsorship to pay for it.
Simple things can start this off and then they grow but the overriding issue, and Hamish touched on this is, we have the same group of overworked and very unappreciated people working hard to keep the wheels spinning. When was the last time someone turned to Jim or Dougie and thanked them? When I see some of the mails Karen gets from members where something has gone wrong, I really understand why people don't want to get involved.
So the crux of the matter is apathy. People are happy for things to happen as long as they don't have to do anything. We see this at the end of congresses when the arbiters are left to pack everything away.
5/10 year plan? I am all for that but without the buy in and volunteers coming forward, we are destined to just continue and stagnate and that would be a real shame.
If you have got this far, well done!!
So how do we fix this? I honestly don't know. We have tried and tried but people just don't want to volunteer but the facts of the matter are this is what is needed.
Ps if there are any spelling mistakes, I wrote this on the bus going into work on my phone
I'm glad Andy B is angry at Matt's post. It shows he cares.
What Matt and Hamish have said is probably very close to how I feel and have bemoaned many times.
We want chess to grow and flourish in Scotland, but how can we possibly expect that to happen when it is the same small group of people doing everything?
When Jim was elected president, he recognised I was doing too much and we added a 4th member to the Exec to take some of the strain off of me. I am back doing more now than I was then.
In the last 2 year, during the pandemic, I have been CA/DCA for over 150 tournaments including the Candidates and World Championships. I went over 6 months without a day off just to keep Chess going. Yes I paid for it!!!
To me it was essential that we kept some continuity during the lockdowns giving people the chances to play. Along with David C and John Mc we run (and still run) monthly tournaments I also ran a series of prize tournaments. This had an unexpected side effect of bringing people into membership.
We had a long debate about grading the games. I was co fident with the methods we use for online fair play we could safely grade and after a discussion, we elected to use the allegro grade I am glad we did as some of the juniors returning to OTB are thrashing their adult opponents but at least they don't have a 2 year out of date grade.
So 2 years of running tournaments and running the fairnplay system for England, Scotland and Wales. I have been busy.
On top of that we have running the Federation. Even in covid times we still have decisions we have to make.
So that a sample of what I have been doing (there is a lot lore but this is not a job application and I don't want to bore you)
So what is holding Chess Scotland back? The answer is so simple it is laugable
Let's look at various areas pre covid.
Tournaments - Majority were run by SCT which incidentally is headed up by the IRO from England (who is a CS member and contributes greatly to Scottish Chess).
Arbiters - Basically we have 4/5 that are doing everything. Only 3 are hybrid trained meaning if we are in a hybrid we are limited in numbers. We desperately need more arbiters (my wife is training to become one to help me out. Be gentle to her in Ayr!). We are probably 1 or 2 going down sick / retiring from not being able to cover events.
Management Board - 3 posts still unfilled (Home Director, International Junior Director, Scottish Championship Director). No interest for either (If anyone wants International Junior Director, please contact me as Glorney is coming up and with potentially Candidates and Olympiad I am not available)
Council - has not met in years. Why? We do not have enough volunteers. The idea is Exec can be overturned by MB who can be overturned by council who can be overturned by AGM. Unless you have actual numbers, you can't have a council and despite calls for volunteers...
AGM - low numbers attend. From memory we had 14 at last. Given MB at full strength is 10 (not all were there) it does make it a little farcical.
I think we can all see where this is going. We will remain on this trajectory unless people start to step up Harry has made some amazing strides with the Juniors and I have been very impressed with Alan since he came on board. As for the Magazine under Andy, fantastic (and I am not saying that because I keep promising to write articles and end up too busy do it it).
If we want norm tournaments for our Juniors and Norm Seekers, we need people to organise and be the arbiters, we need sponsorship to pay for it.
Simple things can start this off and then they grow but the overriding issue, and Hamish touched on this is, we have the same group of overworked and very unappreciated people working hard to keep the wheels spinning. When was the last time someone turned to Jim or Dougie and thanked them? When I see some of the mails Karen gets from members where something has gone wrong, I really understand why people don't want to get involved.
So the crux of the matter is apathy. People are happy for things to happen as long as they don't have to do anything. We see this at the end of congresses when the arbiters are left to pack everything away.
5/10 year plan? I am all for that but without the buy in and volunteers coming forward, we are destined to just continue and stagnate and that would be a real shame.
If you have got this far, well done!!
So how do we fix this? I honestly don't know. We have tried and tried but people just don't want to volunteer but the facts of the matter are this is what is needed.
Ps if there are any spelling mistakes, I wrote this on the bus going into work on my phone
"How sad to see, what used to be, a model of decorum and tranquility become like any other sport, a battleground for rival ideologies to slug it out with glee"