English Chess Forum

Any news or updates?

Paul Robert Jackson wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 02, 2021 12:42 pm

Any news or updates?

The latest ECF Newsletter has an update.

The update

"British Championships 2021
We are currently looking at options for the British and British Online for 2021 and expect the online event to become a regular fixture with timing to be agreed. Given current circumstances it seems highly unlikely that we will be able to run an OTB British in Torquay this August, and we are looking at carrying the venue booking forward to 2022. We will confirm the postponement/deferral in the next couple of weeks.
Assuming there is no OTB British event at the same scale this year we are organizing a British Online 2021 in August as indicated on the schedule. This will either be a completely online event along the lines of the Christmas 2020 event, or possibly a hybrid with the qualifiers/initial stages online and finals or playoffs OTB as circumstances allow."

That's a shame, although for me personally a deferment is probably good news

Well done ECF.
hopefully OTB possible sept2021 - aug2022.

Very sad news. Hopefully we be in Torquay for 2022. Expecting same news soon regarding Paignton/Torquay in September 2021. Torquay Congress in November 2021 hopefully will go ahead.

Can't they run it with safety measures? (Masks, distancing, lower capacity, etc..)
The venue in Torquay is big enough to cater for increased distancing.
By August I would expect even 30-40 year old to have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and most vulnerable people to have received both.

Wadih Khoury wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 12, 2021 4:49 pm

Can't they run it with safety measures? (Masks, distancing, lower capacity, etc..)
The venue in Torquay is big enough to cater for increased distancing.
By August I would expect even 30-40 year old to have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and most vulnerable people to have received both.

How do you propose the ECF gets insurance cover for the event?

Matthew Turner wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 12, 2021 5:13 pm

How do you propose the ECF gets insurance cover for the event?

I am afraid this is way above my knowledge and competencies. My sentence should have read "would it be possible" rather than "can't they". Maybe checking how events were insured with in other countries?

This is purely hypothetical anyhow until we know the roadmap.
August is in 6 months, and I assume, possible wrongly, that venues will be dying for business, even relatively last minute.

So if there is a legal way to organise relatively safely an event (and get a venue, insurance, and whatever else is needed), then why not?

Wadih Khoury wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 12, 2021 8:39 pm

Matthew Turner wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 12, 2021 5:13 pm

How do you propose the ECF gets insurance cover for the event?

I am afraid this is way above my knowledge and competencies. My sentence should have read "would it be possible" rather than "can't they". Maybe checking how events were insured with in other countries?

This is purely hypothetical anyhow until we know the roadmap.
August is in 6 months, and I assume, possible wrongly, that venues will be dying for business, even relatively last minute.

So if there is a legal way to organise relatively safely an event (and get a venue, insurance, and whatever else is needed), then why not?

As Matthew knows, and no doubt Stewart would confirm, this is an event that takes months to prepare and years to plan. You cannot write details on the back of an envelope and expect a congress to take place in a few weeks. Consequently a very sensible decision has been reached. As for road maps, the news this morning suggested that pubs/hotels might not be opening till June at the earliest. I have as much confidence in a government roadmap as the satnav that keeps saying "At the next junction do a U-turn" and I'm sure we'll see plenty of those in the next months.

If there is an event that might, just might, take place we could consider the English Seniors. I had my first jab earlier this week and one presumes that all prospective entrants would be fully inoculated well before this competition.

"As Matthew knows, and no doubt Stewart would confirm, this is an event that takes months to prepare and years to plan. You cannot write details on the back of an envelope and expect a congress to take place in a few weeks. Consequently a very sensible decision has been reached."

This will be the case with many OTB congresses, especially the large ones such as Blackpool & Scarborough for example.
Hence my speculation that it could be 2022 before we see an OTB congress in the UK.

It might be a nice idea for members to support the ECF & its Organisers, in what is going to potentially be a difficult time.

Paul Robert Jackson wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 13, 2021 9:22 am

This will be the case with many OTB congresses, especially the large ones such as Blackpool & Scarborough for example.
Hence my speculation that it could be 2022 before we see an OTB congress in the UK.

On paper at least, the 4NCL series of Congresses seemed to take place with a limited period between announcement and execution. They would depend on hotels legally permitted residential conference style weekends and willing to host them.

Another consideration is the financial viability. Torquay is a popular venue but these days it costs us money (when I was on the ECF board I recall it cost about £10K). It was always the aim for the British to break even but I think this is more difficult now entry conditions for the main event are more stringent. Although I don't have the figures to hand (they should be in the annual accounts) we have moved more to the situation where a subsidy is required. Any tournament organiser will tell you that the financial success of an event depends crucially on attracting that last 10% of entries and this is going to be difficult coming out of the pandemic when many people will be cautious about attending.

Roger de Coverly wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 13, 2021 10:34 am

Paul Robert Jackson wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 13, 2021 9:22 am

This will be the case with many OTB congresses, especially the large ones such as Blackpool & Scarborough for example.
Hence my speculation that it could be 2022 before we see an OTB congress in the UK.

On paper at least, the 4NCL series of Congresses seemed to take place with a limited period between announcement and execution. They would depend on hotels legally permitted residential conference style weekends and willing to host them.

I would like to think hotels will be looking to fill rooms & have people using their facilities
....I hope the OTB 4NCL Congresses will be start running again once it is safe to do so.
Always well organised & run professionally.

Some venues have a cancellation charge which far exceeds the cost of hire. At least in the past, Torquay and possibly Scarborough have had such clauses in their agreements.
The Scarborough venue (the Spa) was being managed by Sheffield but that agreement has ended. As a result many (all?) staff contracts expired. It is not clear what the situation will be going forward.

In addition, many of the hotels used by congresses will be looking in the first instance to (postponed) weddings for venue hire - much more profitable. Therefore venues may not be available. Further, even tournaments in non-hotl venues may find it more difficult (and expensive) as they will possibly be competing with other events which have been displaced by weddings.