County Chess 2018-19

Discussion about all aspects of the ECF County Championships.
John Reyes
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Re: County Chess 2018-19

Post by John Reyes » Tue Oct 09, 2018 2:57 pm

Joey Stewart wrote:
Mon Oct 08, 2018 2:12 am
WECU county chess is on its last legs now, with both Somerset and Gloucestershire no longer entering teams it is just Devon and Cornwall left holding the fort.

just like Lancashire and Yorkshire!!

Lancashire loves getting the bye to the national final, as every year at there AGM, they always say that they are the only team to field all teams in the national sections
Any postings on here represent my personal views only and also Dyslexia as well

Neil Graham
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Re: County Chess 2018-19

Post by Neil Graham » Thu Oct 11, 2018 2:33 pm

The MCCU programme has started. There is one extra team overall (u160 -1; U140 +3; U120-1).

I make the usual comments about this. My estimations is that there could easily be at least 10 further teams competing minimum and if each county could maximise that figure could be doubled. The U160, down now to two teams, is extremely disappointing - eight years ago six teams competed in this competition. The reason as mentioned many times by me is not the lack of players but the paucity of volunteers to run teams. The fact that the U140 has suddenly moved from four teams to seven is indicative of this, volunteers have been found and suddenly three more counties have entered - clearly there was potential to run these teams in the past - just nobody who would take on the captaincy. The same arguments are not exclusive to the MCCU - witness Joey Stewart's post - however I think Somerset are competing in the WECU.

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Joey Stewart
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Re: County Chess 2018-19

Post by Joey Stewart » Fri Oct 12, 2018 11:32 pm

John Reyes wrote:
Tue Oct 09, 2018 2:57 pm



just like Lancashire and Yorkshire!!

Lancashire loves getting the bye to the national final, as every year at there AGM, they always say that they are the only team to field all teams in the national sections

I guess at least you guys know they you have every chance of winning the national final with the strength of your sides, but most of the genuine minor counties are sick of cowardly open strength teams treating it as a plate event and winning year after year - the reason it is so hard to get captains is that nobody wants to have to motivate players to drive a 200 mile round trip, get mashed by a team who is going to outgrade you by exactly the right margin to qualify for the minor, oh and pay £5 for the pleasure.
Lose one queen and it is a disaster, Lose 1000 queens and it is just a statistic.

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IM Jack Rudd
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Re: County Chess 2018-19

Post by IM Jack Rudd » Sat Oct 13, 2018 12:52 am

Joey Stewart wrote:
Fri Oct 12, 2018 11:32 pm
I guess at least you guys know they you have every chance of winning the national final with the strength of your sides, but most of the genuine minor counties are sick of cowardly open strength teams treating it as a plate event and winning year after year - the reason it is so hard to get captains is that nobody wants to have to motivate players to drive a 200 mile round trip, get mashed by a team who is going to outgrade you by exactly the right margin to qualify for the minor, oh and pay £5 for the pleasure.
That might explain the absence of teams from the national stages (although that particular national stage event is one of the more popular ones), but it wouldn't affect the regional stages, which is where the absence of captains is really being felt.

Nick Grey
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Re: County Chess 2018-19

Post by Nick Grey » Tue Oct 16, 2018 11:47 pm

As Surrey won the Minor for the first time ever can we defend our title if our open team qualify for national stages but our u180S/U160S do not.?

Jon Underwood
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Re: County Chess 2018-19

Post by Jon Underwood » Sun Jan 20, 2019 12:16 pm

Nick Grey wrote:
Tue Oct 16, 2018 11:47 pm
As Surrey won the Minor for the first time ever can we defend our title if our open team qualify for national stages but our u180S/U160S do not.?
No. The Open and Minor are mutually exclusive.

Jon Underwood
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Re: County Chess 2018-19

Post by Jon Underwood » Sun Jan 20, 2019 12:32 pm

IM Jack Rudd wrote:
Sat Oct 13, 2018 12:52 am
Joey Stewart wrote:
Fri Oct 12, 2018 11:32 pm
I guess at least you guys know they you have every chance of winning the national final with the strength of your sides, but most of the genuine minor counties are sick of cowardly open strength teams treating it as a plate event and winning year after year - the reason it is so hard to get captains is that nobody wants to have to motivate players to drive a 200 mile round trip, get mashed by a team who is going to outgrade you by exactly the right margin to qualify for the minor, oh and pay £5 for the pleasure.
That might explain the absence of teams from the national stages (although that particular national stage event is one of the more popular ones), but it wouldn't affect the regional stages, which is where the absence of captains is really being felt.
It's all about the captains as Jack says. WECU is sadly down to three teams now (Cornwall, Devon and Somerset). There is still interest there - I spoke to a player who would love to represent their county and didn't even realise there was such a thing as the county championship.

I can totally sympathise with what Joey says about not being able to motivate people to drive 200 miles to get thrashed - that's why Devon don't enter the Open, but actually in the national stages Gloucs are pretty central compared to the other WECU counties? They've dropped out of the WECU competition where the biggest journey would be to face Cornwall where Gloucs would be favourites anyway.

In spite of the travel issue Cornwall get virtually the strongest side available to play in both the WECU and national competitions year after year. They always expect to lose in the first round and yet they still make the trip, which could easily be 350 miles.

John Reyes
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Re: County Chess 2018-19

Post by John Reyes » Fri Jan 25, 2019 12:35 pm

Jon Underwood wrote:
Sun Jan 20, 2019 12:32 pm
IM Jack Rudd wrote:
Sat Oct 13, 2018 12:52 am
Joey Stewart wrote:
Fri Oct 12, 2018 11:32 pm
I guess at least you guys know they you have every chance of winning the national final with the strength of your sides, but most of the genuine minor counties are sick of cowardly open strength teams treating it as a plate event and winning year after year - the reason it is so hard to get captains is that nobody wants to have to motivate players to drive a 200 mile round trip, get mashed by a team who is going to outgrade you by exactly the right margin to qualify for the minor, oh and pay £5 for the pleasure.
That might explain the absence of teams from the national stages (although that particular national stage event is one of the more popular ones), but it wouldn't affect the regional stages, which is where the absence of captains is really being felt.
It's all about the captains as Jack says. WECU is sadly down to three teams now (Cornwall, Devon and Somerset). There is still interest there - I spoke to a player who would love to represent their county and didn't even realise there was such a thing as the county championship.

I can totally sympathise with what Joey says about not being able to motivate people to drive 200 miles to get thrashed - that's why Devon don't enter the Open, but actually in the national stages Gloucs are pretty central compared to the other WECU counties? They've dropped out of the WECU competition where the biggest journey would be to face Cornwall where Gloucs would be favourites anyway.

In spite of the travel issue Cornwall get virtually the strongest side available to play in both the WECU and national competitions year after year. They always expect to lose in the first round and yet they still make the trip, which could easily be 350 miles.

I feel that the SCCU area is very active in county chess, and part of the MCCU, but I do believe that the County Championship should be done Zonal in certain area as 4ncl is the future and County chess is the past
Any postings on here represent my personal views only and also Dyslexia as well

NickFaulks
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Re: County Chess 2018-19

Post by NickFaulks » Fri Jan 25, 2019 4:05 pm

John Reyes wrote:
Fri Jan 25, 2019 12:35 pm
done Zonal
Meaning what?
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David Pardoe
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Re: County Chess 2018-19

Post by David Pardoe » Sat Jan 26, 2019 9:17 pm

John has a point about zonal formats..it just needs a bit of county organising. THe MCCU is lucky to have a reasonable number of volunteers to help with this..
Yes, there are challenges.. you need captains and I`d also advocate vice captains who can give some time to team selection and match arrangements.
You need a good county structure in place to get things up and running.
Captains need a good list of player contacts.. I`d suggest about 30 would be a good starting point for each team.
There are some difficulties in the `OPEN` section, due to player numbers in the EAST AND WEST of ENGLAND regions.
For these areas, due to limited populations and travel issues, I`d suggest a rule change so that these zones could enter `zonal teams` for just the OPEN section. By doing this all he regoins could be represented in the Finals stages.
For all other sections the event should run fine. This is an event that has a special place in our chess scene and caters uniquely for big team chess on a Saturday afternoon.
I`d like to see more county chess played at the county stages, with more teams entering the various sections.
This is not to be compared to 4ncl or other chess formats. Its a different animal with its own set of challenges. YES, 4ncl also has its challenges, as do other formats. Quite a lot of this is about finding captains who are willing to get teams up and running. Don't expect instant success, it takes time to get things established.
BRING BACK THE BCF

John Reyes
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Re: County Chess 2018-19

Post by John Reyes » Sun Jan 27, 2019 10:22 pm

NickFaulks wrote:
Fri Jan 25, 2019 4:05 pm
John Reyes wrote:
Fri Jan 25, 2019 12:35 pm
done Zonal
Meaning what?
Zonal area
Any postings on here represent my personal views only and also Dyslexia as well

John Reyes
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Re: County Chess 2018-19

Post by John Reyes » Sun Jan 27, 2019 10:32 pm

David Pardoe wrote:
Sat Jan 26, 2019 9:17 pm
John has a point about zonal formats..it just needs a bit of county organising. THe MCCU is lucky to have a reasonable number of volunteers to help with this..
Yes, there are challenges.. you need captains and I`d also advocate vice captains who can give some time to team selection and match arrangements.
You need a good county structure in place to get things up and running.
Captains need a good list of player contacts.. I`d suggest about 30 would be a good starting point for each team.
There are some difficulties in the `OPEN` section, due to player numbers in the EAST AND WEST of ENGLAND regions.
For these areas, due to limited populations and travel issues, I`d suggest a rule change so that these zones could enter `zonal teams` for just the OPEN section. By doing this all he regoins could be represented in the Finals stages.
For all other sections the event should run fine. This is an event that has a special place in our chess scene and caters uniquely for big team chess on a Saturday afternoon.
I`d like to see more county chess played at the county stages, with more teams entering the various sections.
This is not to be compared to 4ncl or other chess formats. Its a different animal with its own set of challenges. YES, 4ncl also has its challenges, as do other formats. Quite a lot of this is about finding captains who are willing to get teams up and running. Don't expect instant success, it takes time to get things established.

The Problem is that the SCCU is against this (if you was at the ECF agm when the guy from Hastings was there)

Let be Real for a second, County chess in certain areas are dying and people are not big fans of change, but the true is that people don't want change and that is sad!!

Look at what happen to the WDF and BDO in which certain people in the bdo, was living in the past and did not think about the future
Fast forward to 2019 and the WDF has become the PDC and the BDO is dying a slow death. their world champ has now a tour card and the bdo is now like in the past and they have really that the need to apapt.
Any postings on here represent my personal views only and also Dyslexia as well

NickFaulks
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Re: County Chess 2018-19

Post by NickFaulks » Sun Jan 27, 2019 11:07 pm

John Reyes wrote:
Sun Jan 27, 2019 10:32 pm
The Problem is that the SCCU is against this (if you was at the ECF agm when the guy from Hastings was there)
I think you may have got the wrong end of the stick. What exactly do you believe the SCCU is against?
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Roger de Coverly
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Re: County Chess 2018-19

Post by Roger de Coverly » Sun Jan 27, 2019 11:19 pm

NickFaulks wrote:
Sun Jan 27, 2019 11:07 pm
What exactly do you believe the SCCU is against?
Weren't the ECF proposing to take over the entire competition? In other words invite entries and then figure out a format. This would have been instead of, or perhaps as well as, the Union competitions, particularly the SCCU.

The counties competition is contracting. Perhaps the notion of establishing team eligibility on the basis of a restricted birth or residence franchise is obsolete, but the ECF doesn't share this view.

Alex Holowczak
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Re: County Chess 2018-19

Post by Alex Holowczak » Mon Jan 28, 2019 7:54 pm

Roger de Coverly wrote:
Sun Jan 27, 2019 11:19 pm
The counties competition is contracting. Perhaps the notion of establishing team eligibility on the basis of a restricted birth or residence franchise is obsolete, but the ECF doesn't share this view.
I think the Board shared the view you quoted in your first sentence, which is why it wanted to try to do something about it. Council decided the best solution was to do nothing.

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