English Chess Forum

On the subject of recognition I would like to suggest that others who have contributed towards English chess are similarly recognized. For example it probably takes circa 10,000 hours or more to get to GM, thousands of hours to get to IM (or even FM), 10-20 days training, exams plus years attending numerous tournaments to get arbiter status and energy plus considerable hassle to actually organize a chess event. Meanwhile there should also be something for those who excel at conversation, rapport and politics rather than playing or organizing. Let's call it the C.R.A.P. award.

Nigel_Davies wrote: Meanwhile there should also be something for those who excel at conversation, rapport and politics rather than playing or organizing. Let's call it the C.R.A.P. award.

I'd recommend that the trophy handed out by Jim Bowen would be the most appropriate.

I have flagged Nigel Davies' post to Carl. His comments about the state of English chess on this forum and elsewhere are well made. Of course we should honour those players who have dedicated themselves to the game and have enriched it as a result. There should be a `hall of fame` where the likes of George Thomas, Leonard Barden, Tony Miles and Nigel Short (a random selection) are honoured.

In the context of this thread Martin Regan was solely talking about a distinction that has been given to several past ECF Chief Executives. Phil Ehr will probably not be remembered as one of the great CEOs but his dedication was genuine. Hijacking this thread for a personal attack is unfair.

The ECF Awards are here:

President's awards

Player of the year

There are also awards for Clubs, Congresses, Websites, Books, Magazines, Schools - bot sure exactly what else is being suggested?

For completeness:

Honorary Life Vice-Presidents
D W Anderton OBE, R J Edwards, A Farthing, B A Fewell, N Graham, D C Jarrett, C F W Johnson, A C Martin, C E Majer, R Moore, J Philpott, J Poole, S Reuben, G Turner, P Turner, G F Walsh, J Wickham

Honorary Life Members
J M Brew, T Bristow, M Foster MP, P C Gibbs, J M Glendinning, N A Grant, C M Gurney, R Gurney, M Johnson, C J A Jones, A F Kent, J A Leake, C R Moore, Sir J Morse, A Mothersill, G Pearce, A Philpott, Sir T Rice

Andrew Zigmond wrote:I have flagged Nigel Davies' post to Carl. His comments about the state of English chess on this forum and elsewhere are well made. Of course we should honour those players who have dedicated themselves to the game and have enriched it as a result. There should be a `hall of fame` where the likes of George Thomas, Leonard Barden, Tony Miles and Nigel Short (a random selection) are honoured.

In the context of this thread Martin Regan was solely talking about a distinction that has been given to several past ECF Chief Executives. Phil Ehr will probably not be remembered as one of the great CEOs but his dedication was genuine. Hijacking this thread for a personal attack is unfair.

Personal attack? Where was that? I was pointing out that there are people who play chess politics, for whatever reason, without actually putting anything in. Misrepresenting this as a personal attack is, let's say, more problematic.

My issue was with the implication that Phil Ehr and others should be honoured with the acronym C.R.A.P. I assumed you had him in mind as one of those who excelled in `conversation, rapport and politics` although I recognise that you didn't mention him by name. In any case I suspect a lot of these people put long hours into chess and things got done that needed to be done as a result.

Andrew Zigmond wrote:My issue was with the implication that Phil Ehr and others should be honoured with the acronym C.R.A.P. I assumed you had him in mind as one of those who excelled in `conversation, rapport and politics` although I recognise that you didn't mention him by name. In any case I suspect a lot of these people put long hours into chess and things got done that needed to be done as a result.

It's you who's saying that they are just political players, not me. So you assume too much.

Just to bring this one to a close, my objection to the comment was its appearance in a thread that's entitled `Recognition Of Phil Ehr` which Martin Regan started to ask why ask Phil Ehr hadn't been recognised as an Honorary Vice President of the ECF like many of his predecessors. The list isn't the highest order of gallantry in English chess and nobody for one minute is suggesting it is.

If we were talking about a wider award for outstanding contribution to English Chess then I wouldn't have had a problem.

I possibly overreacted. It's Carl's call now.

Mick Norris wrote:The ECF Awards are here:

President's awards

Player of the year

There are also awards for Clubs, Congresses, Websites, Books, Magazines, Schools - bot sure exactly what else is being suggested?

For completeness:

Honorary Life Vice-Presidents
D W Anderton OBE, R J Edwards, A Farthing, B A Fewell, N Graham, D C Jarrett, C F W Johnson, A C Martin, C E Majer, R Moore, J Philpott, J Poole, S Reuben, G Turner, P Turner, G F Walsh, J Wickham

Honorary Life Members
J M Brew, T Bristow, M Foster MP, P C Gibbs, J M Glendinning, N A Grant, C M Gurney, R Gurney, M Johnson, C J A Jones, A F Kent, J A Leake, C R Moore, Sir J Morse, A Mothersill, G Pearce, A Philpott, Sir T Rice

It's noticeable that there are no titled players among the Honorary Life Vice-Presidents or Honorary Life Members.

David Anderton and Stewart Reuben are CMs, but I take your point.

Nigel_Davies wrote:It's noticeable that there are no titled players among the Honorary Life Vice-Presidents or Honorary Life Members.

Oh dear, Nigel! That sounds terribly needy. Did somebody not get enough love and affection as a child?

Nigel_Davies wrote:
It's noticeable that there are no titled players among the Honorary Life Vice-Presidents or Honorary Life Members.

But why would there be? To be an Honorary Life Vice President or an Honorary Life Member is a relatively modest distinction. If it was the greatest honour in English Chess then the current list would be a scandal. But it isn't.

This is starting to remind me of the fuss about Jeremy Corbyn being made a member of the Privy Council last year; for decades nobody had noticed what the Privy Council did or cared who was a member.

Nigel_Davies wrote: It's noticeable that there are no titled players among the Honorary Life Vice-Presidents or Honorary Life Members.

I don't know whether it was exaggerated, but was it not suggested that new Indian GMs got a house courtesy of their Government? The ECF could at least offer GMs free membership.

But watch this space, there was a suggestion buried in the Pearce report that titled players should have their own representative at the meetings, AGM and Finance Council of ECF voting members. A means of doing that is to create a category of members and then have someone to represent them.

Nigel_Davies wrote:

Mick Norris wrote:The ECF Awards are here:

President's awards

Player of the year

There are also awards for Clubs, Congresses, Websites, Books, Magazines, Schools - bot sure exactly what else is being suggested?

For completeness:

Honorary Life Vice-Presidents
D W Anderton OBE, R J Edwards, A Farthing, B A Fewell, N Graham, D C Jarrett, C F W Johnson, A C Martin, C E Majer, R Moore, J Philpott, J Poole, S Reuben, G Turner, P Turner, G F Walsh, J Wickham

Honorary Life Members
J M Brew, T Bristow, M Foster MP, P C Gibbs, J M Glendinning, N A Grant, C M Gurney, R Gurney, M Johnson, C J A Jones, A F Kent, J A Leake, C R Moore, Sir J Morse, A Mothersill, G Pearce, A Philpott, Sir T Rice

It's noticeable that there are no titled players among the Honorary Life Vice-Presidents or Honorary Life Members.

Why would there be? I'm not sure how anyone gets on either list, and to be honest I don't know who some of them are

Most of the names I recognise are individuals who have given great service to the ECF, although some departed under a cloud. I assume the unfamiliar names have a similar distinction and are just forgotten now.

England's truly great players and servants have rightly been lauded over the years. There might not be any formal roll of honour but their mantlepieces are hopefully groaning under the weight of trophies and plaques. For those whose contributions were more administrative I suppose the ECF doesn't have much else to offer in way of recognition.