New Directors of Women's Chess

[LozCooper]

The Zurich event was very well organised by Alex Horowczak. I am delighted that the ECF supported it, but frankly it didn't need a Manager of Women's Chess in order for them to do so. Ljubica might have had some good ideas, but not a lot happened. This is absolutely not her fault, with no budget what was going to happen? I think Ljubica can do a lot more for Women's chess just getting on and doing it and not bothering with the bureaucracy of the ECF. I hope she will.
I am not sure how Sabrina and Jovanka will get on. It seems slightly strange that two people would share this post. Either they will both have expenses for attending meeting, phones calls etc and any budget will disappear instantly or they will have to put some of their own finances into the role (as most volunteers who work for the ECF do). I don't whether Sabrina and Jovanka are able (or want) to do this. I wish them luck.

Frankly it did need the Manager of Women's Chess to provide funding to enable Sarah and Hannah to go. You really have no idea about what happened as you weren't involved with the organisation of the event. It is even more impressive that she provided them with funding given your insistance that she had no budget.

I'm sure Jovanka and Sabrina will do a good job. They will certainly have my support.

[Matthew Turner]

Perhaps somebody could say what the Women's budget is then?

[Alex Holowczak]

Perhaps somebody could say what the Women's budget is then?

I can't remember the precise amount.

What I can tell you is that offers of £50 or £100 were given to Sarah and Hannah depending on fulfilling certain tasks, which included getting something in return for the money. I think a report (which was on the ECF website a few days ago), annotated games and/or videos were part of the deal. I was never privy to which deal which of them chose. Knowing Ljubica, she would be too shrewd to spend a sizeable chunk of her budget on this, so it can be safely assumed it was a lot more than the offers she was prepared to put forward.

[John Foley]

Two directors? Fantastic! It's hard enough to get anyone to stand for anything. Best of luck to them.

[Alex Holowczak]

Another point I should make here... they won't be Directors, they'll be Managers. Directors form the Board, Managers don't.

[Sabrina Chevannes]

I thought it was a nice way of getting 2 women representing our country in such an event and encouraging them to study the game more by annotating their own games and giving us a report - helps encourage other women to aspire to represent their country and also got them studying the game. I say nice idea Ljuba.

[Robert Dale]

I thought it was a nice way of getting 2 women representing our country in such an event and encouraging them to study the game more by annotating their own games and giving us a report - helps encourage other women to aspire to represent their country and also got them studying the game. I say nice idea Ljuba.

As the father of one of the girls who went to Zurich (Hannah), I want to thank Ljuba for arranging the financial support. We are a low income family, and believe me, it really did help. It was also a very imaginative idea, asking for the report and videos in return. Hannah's video hasn't yet seen the light of day (technical problems that I won't go into), but it will; I know it made her think much more deeply about the games she is commenting on, and I hope it will help others when it appears. Well done Ljuba for what you achieved - and best wishes to Sabrina and Jovanka; I am sure you will also do an excellent job.

Incidentally, I also vanished off the grading list last year - but I still play regularly on the internet, run local U18 tournaments and teach chess in a local school.

[Matthew Turner]

Robert,
The World Universities Championships was a fantastic event. It was great that Hannah, Sarah, Peter and Vedantha could play. They were able to participate because Alex Holowczak put in a huge amount of work to make it happen. It is also absolutely appropriate that the ECF should financially support this event and I think it is a very good idea that the players should have to produce post event publicity as a condition of their support. I think everybody agrees on that.
If however you are saying that Geat Britain's female representatives should get more financial support than their male counterparts (because they are female) then I'm not sure that I see why.

[Matthew Turner]

Sabrina,
I think it is great that you are giving up your time to work with the ECF. Hopefully this will form a link between the ECF and the Chess in Schools and Communities project. I know it is early days, but any ideas about how your two roles might complement each other. Are there any issues with the fact that you were given a role in the ECF and your boss wasn't?

[Carl Hibbard]

Are there any issues with the fact that you were given a role in the ECF and your boss wasn't?

You do seem excessively negative at the moment Matthew are we supposed to read anything into this dig?

[Ben Purton]

Matt I cant really understand your posts here , I have been "mr negative" on this forum in the past but finding the negatives here is very tough.

Technically someone who is good with a gun can do more with 1 bullet than someone whos not with a machine gun. "Lazal" seemed to do a good job and shes very passionate about her chess, shes even thrashed me at chess before. So doubting her 'reign' is really poor.

As for the further point regarding Sabrina and Jovanka, niether of these people like me I feel but they are both people who I think will do a great job at promoting the womens game. Sabrina is actively involved in the Chess for schools project , which is largely primary school based. At such a level there is no gender divide, I am just going to teach one of my 4 schools , all of which have a Female dominance in terms of numbers. Jovanka is the active number 1 for England and will be great at promoting the game.

You say little funding, didnt CJ's event bring some money in for Female chess , who knows with the more prominant figures now at the helm this may see this increase in funding increase further. I think that Laz should be applauded for stepping down and allowing these two to take over and congratulated for doing great with whatever 'bullets" she had in the analogical gun.

Be more positive Matt, your a chess teacher at one of the best schools in the country , I hope that your more positive when teaching than you have been here.

Ben

[Matthew Turner]

Carl,
That was in no way negative. I want the ECF to be involved in the Chess for Schools and Communities project. Sabrina would seem to be an excellent entry into that. Presumable Sabrina wants her two roles to work together, so for example if there were free sets to give out from CSC she might target Girls' Schools. This seem eminently sensible and good for everybody.
However, it would be understandable if Malcolm Pein was reluctant to support the ECF at the moment. That seems perfectly fair comment?

[Matthew Turner]

Ben,
This is the breakdown of the fundraising from the Staunton Dinner

Karpov 2010 - £4216.07 (although it also received a private donation of $10,000 on the night)
National Bullying Helpline - £720.42
Child Care Charity - £1200
British Chess Championship 2011 - £7000

So, I don't think that brought in any money for Women's Chess. Perhaps CJ has done something else to raise funds?

I think people are getting a bit confused about Ljubica. I have never criticised her. She is a lovely person and trying to do her best for Women's Chess. However, one cannot be blind to the fact that nothing actually happened in her time as manager of women's chess. If we are not prepared to be realistic then the same thing will just happen again and again. If you want to have a manager of women's chess and you want to develop women's chess then you have to make funds available for it. Claire Summerscale set up a network of girls' events so there are people out there (I was one) who are willing to put in time to develop girls and womens chess, but it does take a lot of (unpaid) work to coordinate it and finance to establish it. That is a positive way forward. The alternative is you just stick your head in the sand and say everything is going fantastically. We carry on with no budget for women's chess, occasionally somebody enthusiastic like Ljubica will come along, but can't do anything and finishes after a year.

[Sabrina Chevannes]

I have to say that Malcolm is not at all against the ECF at the moment and seems to be laughing about the election.

My work for CSC and my role as Women's manager will generally be kept separate as they are not linked exactly. Being women's manager is not all about junior roles, but it would be nice to get women in general more involved in chess.

Matthew, if you can please read up about Chess in Schools and Communities - it is not the same as Chess for Schools and we do not just give out free chess sets.

You can read more about us at http://www.chessinschools.co.uk

Thanks

[Matthew Turner]

Sabrina,
I do appreciate that you don't just give out chess sets, it is much more based on the Bronx project. I was just using the distribution of chess sets as an example.