English Chess Forum

Are there any users on “The Forum” who have friends

at chess clubs
or play on the “Congress Circuit”

whom they know are definitely planning to renew their ECF Membership, even though there is only a small possibility of OTB Chess starting in the near future?

Venues for club meeting or congresses, if not closed, are still likely to have restrictions on numbers entering with some form of social distancing being practiced.

I personally plan to continue my membership, but I believe some members might wish to save money & wait until the situation is a little more normal.

Undoubtedly some will not rejoin and some have said so here already Lets hope the number is few because the fabric of the ECF needs to be maintained and much of the expenses cannot be removed. Do we really want to have to sack our staff, for example? The other thing to say is that early renewal will remove a lot of uncertainty and angst for the Board in its planning - please everyone don't wait until you know you can play OTB again.

Nice to see you here Paul!

Do we really want to have to sack our staff, for example? The other thing to say is that early renewal will remove a lot of uncertainty and angst for the Board in its planning

Hopefully staff redundancies will not be necessary.
It may be useful for the ECF contact members earlier than usual, to encourage early renewal of their memberships.

Such efforts are planned. However, it is not possible to start collecting pennies until after the delayed Council meeting on 18 July that agrees the budget and sets membership fees.

I'm not sure about renewing my membership as things stand. I'll wait to see how things develop.

I have Put a idea to the other silver rep and also to the Bronze Rep as well, but will email it to the gold rep as well, as I did have a idea and I think we have miss the cut off time for a proposel, but can suggest an amend, but don't want to mention it till I speak to the other rep

John Reyes wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 19, 2020 9:32 pm

I have Put a idea to the other silver rep and also to the Bronze Rep as well, but will email it to the gold rep as well, as I did have a idea and I think we have miss the cut off time for a proposel, but can suggest an amend, but don't want to mention it till I speak to the other rep

I have no idea what your proposal is John; however I have a suggestion. The government has authorised credit card holidays, mortgage holidays etc for the period of the coronavirus outbreak - these have now been extended into October. There has been no OTB chess since March and indeed my view is that there is unlikely to be much till 2021. I would suggest that the ECF have a membership extension for current members till the end of 2020. This at least will give time to clarify the situation. As regards ECF expenditure, I have no idea about the current situation; however spending on international chess and junior chess must surely be reduced as there are no events to send teams/players to at present.

The question I would have is what benefit would you actually get for your money from renewing the membership. Please don't tell me that I can enter ECF online tournaments. I can enter online tournaments, without the benefit of my ECF membership and did so plenty of times, before I decided that I wanted to get an official over the board ranking.

If there is no benefit to renewing than the ECF really just need to come out and say so in as blunt a message as they can. I would prefer the ECF to actually say "there is no benefit to renewing your ECF membership, but please can you do so, to support the ECF financially" rather than "renewing your ECF gives great benefits such as being able to enter ECF online tournaments and getting an ECF online grade." Because they are not benefits at all, and I simply delete the emails, once they go down that kind of route.

At least if they are honest I can make an informed decision about what I want to do. I may well choose to renew and class my membership fee as a donation for all intents and purposes. However I simply will not renew if they say that I can get a lot of benefits which are not really benefits.

I would prefer the ECF to actually say "there is no benefit to renewing your ECF membership, but please can you do so, to support the ECF financially" rather than "renewing your ECF gives great benefits such as being able to enter ECF online tournaments and getting an ECF online grade."

I would like to think that members will continue to support the ECF financially, if only to ensure it is still there for the return of OTB chess sometime in the future.
Occasionally I have played abroad so my ECF membership is a condition of entry.
I have been in contact with organisers who are cautiously optimistic that their tournament’s will run later this year or the beginning of next year.

As for online chess, I do play this from time to time, but entry is usually free.
…….there is then usually an issue with engine assistance (a topic discussed at length on this forum).

Paul Robert Jackson wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 22, 2020 8:20 am

As for online chess, I do play this from time to time, but entry is usually free.

The ECF has insisted on membership for the events it runs itself, perhaps even for those it doesn't run to be included in its online ratings. That can be as little as its "supporter" class at £ 5 which didn't previously offer anything.

Neil Graham wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 21, 2020 10:08 pm

I have no idea what your proposal is John; however I have a suggestion. The government has authorised credit card holidays, mortgage holidays etc for the period of the coronavirus outbreak - these have now been extended into October. There has been no OTB chess since March and indeed my view is that there is unlikely to be much till 2021. I would suggest that the ECF have a membership extension for current members till the end of 2020. This at least will give time to clarify the situation. As regards ECF expenditure, I have no idea about the current situation; however spending on international chess and junior chess must surely be reduced as there are no events to send teams/players to at present.

I have just finished it and we are sending it to the Office and also the chair to look at

Michael mention it before that the office needed to be paid and any overhead etc, and to keep the ECF going. our proposal has been mention to the Bronze Rep but will email it after work

Sean Parker wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 19, 2020 5:32 pm

I'm not sure about renewing my membership as things stand. I'll wait to see how things develop.

Welcome to the forum Sean

It is a really interesting point, this; how long would you wait for?

If everyone waits long enough, the ECF will run out of money

I'll be renewing as per usual

Documents for the Finance meeting are due out on Wednesday. I'll be interested to see how the accounts look and what expenditure and membership fees are proposed.

I'll be renewing as soon as I can play 2021 2022. same for my clubs. so many queries on all of the economy.