English Chess Forum

I have entered a tournament in France, l'Open des Vins d'Hourtin. On the publicity leaflet, it says on the subject of who can enter:-

Tout le monde - licence A francaise ou etrangere obligatoire

which I am taking to mean that I need to be a member of the ECF. Does anybody know any different?

The first prize is interesting:-

le poid du vainqueur en bon vin de Medoc

I look forward to this initiative being taken up by English congresses.

An entirely admirable initiative. But given the price of decent Bordeaux in this country compared with France, I fear it may be beyond the means of the 4NCL congresses.

Unless of course a promising (and thin) junior wins first prize.

Phil Neatherway wrote: which I am taking to mean that I need to be a member of the ECF. Does anybody know any different?

I've played in its Naujac predecessor. The sponsors are the local wine producers.

If you are on the FIDE list as ENG, the FFE won't be bothered if you aren't an ECF member or the wrong type of ECF member. Even the ECF who once would have stripped you of your rating have given up on this.

The French system of membership applies to the French and those taking part in the French leagues.

They have to be a member of a club and have a license to play chess. If they have a full license (A) they can play standard chess, with a B license you are only allowed to play in rapids.

For f***'s sake. Is there no subject which you can't turn into a snide attack on the ECF?

I fear that your pathological hatred of the ECF is starting to badly colour your judgement.

Mike Truran wrote:For f***'s sake. Is there no subject which you can't turn into a snide attack on the ECF?

It is however true, is it not, that until recently, had I let my ECF membership lapse and played in a French tournament, the ECF would have removed my rating from the FIDE site and essentially treated me as a player suspended for cheating?

Brilliant. Back onto one of your favourite subjects after only three posts.

Some sort of record?

I think this particular favourite subject of yours has been dealt with ad nauseam over the years. There seems little benefit in resurrecting it here.

Perhaps we can return to the wine?

Mike Truran wrote: Perhaps we can return to the wine?

It is a relevant question and for that matter the OP's question as to what, if any, chess Federation membership is needed to play in a foreign tournament.

Assuming it's a FIDE rated tournament, the minimum requirement is to get yourself on the FIDE list as an ENG player (unless you want to be treated as WLS, SCO, IRL, GCI or JCI). Other Federations, USCF in particular, may want their pound of flesh.

Roger, I appreciate the advice and information ref playing in France. But I do wish you could stay on topic!

How are you going to bring all that wine back to England?!

Regarding the membership type for foreign players, French organisers wouldn't have access to that type of information, and probably wouldn't know what to do with it even if they did.

Regarding the unusual nature of the prize, I've never seen anything like this in my 15 years of playing in France. One tournament gives a couple of bottles as prizes at random tables (announced at the start of the round) to the winner or lower-rated player in case of a draw. I'd imagine that the 'your weight in wine' helps the sponsors get a lot of publicity.

I've mentioned the idea to Mark Jordan - maybe he could get a brewing company interested......

Niall Doran wrote: Regarding the unusual nature of the prize, I've never seen anything like this in my 15 years of playing in France.

It's a successor tournament to Naujac sur Mer which is just up the road. That had been running around 15 years, so not a new development.

You are right that it can get publicity.

Here's chessvibes from 2010

http://www.chessvibes.com/?q=reports/13 ... mer-france

One winner had some knowledge of physics, so when he was balanced against the wine, He stretched as far as possible to the side of the balance, thus dramatically increasing the amount of wine he won.

Roger de Coverly wrote:

Mike Truran wrote:For f***'s sake. Is there no subject which you can't turn into a snide attack on the ECF?

It is however true, is it not, that until recently, had I let my ECF membership lapse and played in a French tournament, the ECF would have removed my rating from the FIDE site and essentially treated me as a player suspended for cheating?

I had that happen to me, and then there was the 25 pounds grade reactivation fee for FIDE.

RdC could now say - the USCF want their pound of flesh, FIDE twenty-five! Of course, the ECF don't want your body, your soul alone will suffice.

Mike Truran wrote:For f***'s sake. Is there no subject which you can't turn into a snide attack on the ECF?

I fear that your pathological hatred of the ECF is starting to badly colour your judgement.

How I feel when I read through Roger's posts: