English Chess Forum

A couple of things to report this month:

1. Adam Raoof has become the new ECF Manager of Arbiters replacing Adrian Elwin who has become the Manager of the British Championships.

Congratulations to both of them and a huge thank-you to Kevin Staveley BEM who has retired from the British Championship role after many years of sterling service starting in 2014 in Aberystwyth.

2. Adam has created a bespoke ECF arbiters WhatsApp group. You need to be a currently accredited ECF arbiter and you will need to have current ECF Gold membership to be eligible.

91 members as at February 1st.

Kevin Staveley's first British as manager was Aberystwyth in 2014. He managed quite a remarkable run in a very demanding and thankless role for British Chess.

Andrew Zigmond wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 01, 2026 11:15 am

Kevin Staveley's first British as manager was Aberystwyth in 2014. He managed quite a remarkable run in a very demanding and thankless role for British Chess.

Thanks Andrew. 2014 was my initial guess but was going to consult my Yearbooks to check.

Kevin Staveley (BEM in 2020) at the prize giving ceremony for the 101st British Chess Championships which were hosted at The University of Aberystwyth, Wales from 18th July to August 2nd.

John Upham wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 01, 2026 10:56 am

Adam has created a bespoke ECF arbiters WhatsApp group. You need to be a currently accredited ECF arbiter and you will need to have current ECF Gold membership to be eligible.

Necessary, but not sufficient, it would appear as I have heard nothing about it.

Any reason given for excluding Bronze ECF members from the group?

Ian Thompson wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 01, 2026 2:47 pm

John Upham wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 01, 2026 10:56 am

Adam has created a bespoke ECF arbiters WhatsApp group. You need to be a currently accredited ECF arbiter and you will need to have current ECF Gold membership to be eligible.

Necessary, but not sufficient, it would appear as I have heard nothing about it.

I believe it would have gone to the email address that you provided to the list of arbiters: https://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-cont ... 260107.pdf

Andrew Zigmond wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 01, 2026 11:15 am

Kevin Staveley's first British as manager was Aberystwyth in 2014. He managed quite a remarkable run in a very demanding and thankless role for British Chess.

Hear, hear!

He will be in attendance at the 2026 British Championships; as Chairman of the Appeals Committee.

Alex Holowczak wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 01, 2026 3:18 pm

Ian Thompson wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 01, 2026 2:47 pm

John Upham wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 01, 2026 10:56 am

Adam has created a bespoke ECF arbiters WhatsApp group. You need to be a currently accredited ECF arbiter and you will need to have current ECF Gold membership to be eligible.

Necessary, but not sufficient, it would appear as I have heard nothing about it.

I believe it would have gone to the email address that you provided to the list of arbiters: https://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-cont ... 260107.pdf

That contains the correct e-mail address, but I haven't received anything to it. I do, from time to time, receive arbiter communications to it, .e.g. requests for arbiters to officiate at events.

Ian Thompson wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 01, 2026 4:25 pm

Alex Holowczak wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 01, 2026 3:18 pm

Ian Thompson wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 01, 2026 2:47 pm

Necessary, but not sufficient, it would appear as I have heard nothing about it.

I believe it would have gone to the email address that you provided to the list of arbiters: https://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-cont ... 260107.pdf

That contains the correct e-mail address, but I haven't received anything to it. I do, from time to time, receive arbiter communications to it, .e.g. requests for arbiters to officiate at events.

Then all I can advise is to check your spam messages. There's 100 people in it, so in general the message has got through. Or you could just email Adam.

I assume that (eventually) the official list of arbiters will be edited to

1. Remove / flag passed away arbiters as passed away
2. Flag inactive arbiters as inactive
3. Flag arbiters who have no intention of arbiting but merely wanted to pass the exam(s) to learn something possibly, maybe.
4. Update the list to promote level x arbiters to be level x+y (where y>1) arbiters whose details have remained static for years.

That would be a start IMHO.

BTW, who maintains the list?

I'd like to acknowledge the hard work of Yury Krylov in encouraging these reforms.

Another hoped for reform will be the creation of an ECF organiser title.

Currently you can organise as many RP and blitz FIDE events as you like but FIDE will never, ever grant an AO or IO or even PO title if you have not organised Standard Play events.

I believe Lance is getting stuck in with organiser titles.

John Upham wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 01, 2026 4:54 pm

Another hoped for reform will be the creation of an ECF organiser title.

I believe Lance is getting stuck in with organiser titles.

I commented on a draft just yesterday...

The ECF arbiter WhatsApp group has grown to 118 members.

Thanks to Adam Raoof for setting this up.