Olympics 2012

[Gavin Strachan]

Are there any plans for a mega chess event in 2012? Living 15 mins from the venue of the Olympics puts me in a rather good position to run something quite special!

[LozCooper]

Are there any plans for a mega chess event in 2012? Living 15 mins from the venue of the Olympics puts me in a rather good position to run something quite special!

The World Champion match in London. Not sure what else is to be organised though.

[Adam Raoof]

Are there any plans for a mega chess event in 2012? Living 15 mins from the venue of the Olympics puts me in a rather good position to run something quite special!

The World Champion match in London. Not sure what else is to be organised though.

I am sure the Golders Green Rapidplay will be mega, if it is still going

[Ljubica Lazarevic]

I am sure the Golders Green Rapidplay will be mega, if it is still going

You might need a bigger hall...

[Gavin Strachan]

when is the world champion match? Since my last biggy, a big hotel has sprung up by the station (one of Lenny Henrys) used to Alan Sugar's old shop. My wife has stayed and says its very nice. I even have a nicer venue than my last place! Just need players

By the way Adam, a player who has entered the Brentwood Rapidplay on the 18th July at Brentwood Chess Club 10am sart, £12 entry, did comment on how impressive that you got 100+ on the England v Germany day playing at Golders Green - well done.

[James Coleman]

I'm sure England v Germany was on a Sunday? Golders would have been on a Saturday....

[Brendan O'Gorman]

Gavin,
I hear the Metropolitan Congress is no more. Why don't you aim to capture some of that market with a weekend congress in late September each year? Metropolitan usually ran in October but there's more competition then.

[Alexander Hardwick]

Gavin,
I hear the Metropolitan Congress is no more. Why don't you aim to capture some of that market with a weekend congress in late September each year? Metropolitan usually ran in October but there's more competition then.

This is certainly news to me...is this verifiable?

On the other hand, one benefit of running a weekender in early to mid-October is that it may well coincide with schools' half-term break...useful if you want larger numbers of juniors playing.

[Brendan O'Gorman]

Brendan O'Gorman wrote:
Gavin,
I hear the Metropolitan Congress is no more. Why don't you aim to capture some of that market with a weekend congress in late September each year? Metropolitan usually ran in October but there's more competition then.


This is certainly news to me...is this verifiable?

I can report only hearsay I'm afraid, but I'm told numbers went down dramatically last year and there's no longer any appetite to run the congress again. Perhaps there's a Metropolitan club member that could comment more authoritatively?

[Gavin Strachan]

Brendan O'Gorman wrote:
Gavin,
I hear the Metropolitan Congress is no more. Why don't you aim to capture some of that market with a weekend congress in late September each year? Metropolitan usually ran in October but there's more competition then.


This is certainly news to me...is this verifiable?

I can report only hearsay I'm afraid, but I'm told numbers went down dramatically last year and there's no longer any appetite to run the congress again. Perhaps there's a Metropolitan club member that could comment more authoritatively?

It is a shame about the Metropolitan, esp as I had a good win in a section there some years back. Seems stupid that a congress (like the central london rapids do you remember them....) died in the heart of the capital of the country which has possibly got the largest number of chess players and is technically the one of the top locations to hold an event. The location is great, well served for food, transport, etc and chessplayers. I can't fathom it! Which is why I made the comment about needing players. The problem they had was costs.

I know there are a lot more chess competitions now than 40 yrs ago, and yet there are less players. Organisers are having to work overtime to think up new strategies to get people thru the door (E2 E4 and Big Slick spring to mind). It was a shame that Southend Chess Congress had an enormous amount of sponsorship (£5k) and yet the entry was no different to recent years.

Chess players have really got to pull their fingers out and support these events and stop blaming everything on the ECF otherwise chess in the country will fade. Yep the ECF ain't perfect but we have to live with the current situation and by not supporting all the fantastic events and competitions on things will not improve. If a player reading this has not entered one competition, even a one day rapid, then I ask why: ok if you have work, family or other commitments that prevent you then fair enough. If on the other hand you can spare one or two weekends then you should look at supporting and entering these events. As Capello said "no excuses".

Enough of the minor rant. Brendan, who I know does 50 million events every year and vies for the title of the most graded games on a regular basis, I intend to look at getting something going again and see where the spaces are if SH leaves any, once the family/baby situation settles down. I have been in contact with someone who is looking to do something quite specific and need a lot of work!

[Alex Holowczak]

Chess players have really got to pull their fingers out and support these events and stop blaming everything on the ECF otherwise chess in the country will fade.

I'm pretty sure that chess players are supporting the events as much as they desire to. What you imply here is that all chess-players should give up more of their time to play in however many events there may be organised. If the number of chess players in the country remain the same, then by having more events, there's no reason why the number of players in them is going to increase.

What needs to happen is getting more new players. More players = more money to spend = more tournaments organised = a higher standard of player coming through = win on every level.

[Adam Raoof]

We need more events. Especially Junior events, because that encourages kids to take part in competitions, and once they've got that bug...Monday's AGM of the Middlesex League has decided to organise a summit in the next couple of months to being together junior organisers and coaches in an attempt to put some life into junior chess in the area, which can only be good.

I was at the City of London Rapidplay League tonight and was sad to hear from more than one person that the Metropolitan Congress was in trouble. There are too few weekend events in London these days, mainly because of the increasing cost of venues. There used to be Imperial, and International Students, and Mill Hill (I was involved in these) plus Metropolitan, Barbican, Islington and others.

We may see the revival of events at Imperial this year. I am also looking for a good venue for weekenders in and around Golders Green

[Richard James]

We need more events. Especially Junior events, because that encourages kids to take part in competitions, and once they've got that bug...

Yes, we need more events. One reason for this is to give juniors more opportunities to compete in open-age competition. I'm not sure we need more Junior events, at least not in the London area. If we put kids into tournaments too soon we put them off, because many of them will lose their games without realising what they've done wrong. The junior chess system in England should be based more on skills development and less on competition. What we need is structured tuition that will enable more kids to reach the level where they can compete in, for instance, the lowest sections of the Golders Green or Richmond Rapidplays. If we looked on participation in chess tournaments (at least outside school, club or very local events) as a privilege rather than a right I believe a lot more juniors would continue their chess into adulthood.

[David Sedgwick]

If we looked on participation in chess tournaments (at least outside school, club or very local events) as a privilege rather than a right I believe a lot more juniors would continue their chess into adulthood.

Spot on, Richard. Moreover, that's the way it used to be.

I went to Whitgift School in the mid-1960s. I remember feeling a real sense of achievement when it was suggested that I enter the U14 section at the London Junior Championships.

And when I got there, the strength of the event was a revelation. I had to raise my game pretty quickly.

[Gavin Strachan]

I concurr with the above about more events and juniors. We now live a society where things are consumable and so the sense of rights, responsibilities and priviledges has sort of got distorted. If I play for Essex cricket 1st team or represent my country at any sport I would be honoured. I am of course not good enough for the national team. So for me to play for Essex u180 was a real priviledge and my aim is to play in the Open team (need another 20 plus points at least)