British Championship...2011

[Jonathan Rogers]

I often heard the £750 per game rumour at the last 4NCL too, and while I tended to believe it (indeed we referred to it in our own team discussions!) I never actually heard it from a reliable source, though. I do wonder whether rumour gallops away, sometimes, on these matters ...

But OK, it is believable. So what - it is a very good fee from a team anxious to secure his agreement. Are you saying that, at number 100 or so in an increasingly impoverished world, he is not going to play for less on occasions? One point to bear in mind is this: seven years ago, when he was among the world top, anyone who wanted him to play in a rated event might expect to have to pay that sort of money because they were asking him to risk his rating and his place among the world elite, with all the comfortable guarantees of invitations to highly paid closed events.

But that was then. Now it is Adams who needs to play more rated games, to get back up to that level. So I can see why his former price might currently be very much open to negotiation. If he gains 15 points at the British, he will be delighted and will hardly care that his profit is 2,800 rather then the £6,000 or so that he might formerly have expected.

[Carl Hibbard]

c) surely I will win the British very easily, and even after expenses and tax etc, an overall profit of some £2,800 or so is still somewhat more than nothing.

Depends on how many other GM's show without any funding, but I don't see Mickey's style of play making it anywhere near easy

[Sean Hewitt]

I'm almost certain that my employer would look about 20 times more favourably on an oppertunity which has come from in-house rather than externally.

Are you able to say why you think that is?

[Jonathan Rogers]

Ok, it's true that there must be many GMs who would surely hope to hold him with White at the moment. But as you say, perhaps not many of them will enter.

There is no doubt that he will win, the only doubt is whether he will gain rating points. But, back to my other point - he is now in a position where he just has to play games, and take the risk of not gaining or even dropping points. He cannot accept just standing still. Not unless he wants to start making money by coaching or writing books, or unless the Daily Telegraph is really paying him very well indeed ....

[Richard Cowan]

Are you able to say why you think that is?

Well, if employees are interested in it, and play in it, it's something they can publiscise - even if it's only in, say, an internal magazine. It looks good for attracting talent that might otherwise go elsewhere. It keeps employee's happy and feel that they've been listened to. They might have not been contacted before / emails may have been junk filtered. Some people who play chess may be quite high up in their organisations, and may have direct influence over allocating resources. Some companies I believe actually get their employees to vote on which charity / organisation to support for a yearly cycle.
In general I just think they take more notice. Maybe they get a lot of speculative applications? Presumably any large company would. Maybe my company is the exception - we do though get up to £1000 for recommending someone with applicable skills to a vacant role - tells you as much as you need to know about valuing employee's input really.

So what - it is a very good fee from a team anxious to secure his agreement. Are you saying that, at number 100 or so in an increasingly impoverished world, he is not going to play for less on occasions?"

I have no problem with sponsors paying / people getting paid to play. I have to say I would like the system to be more transparent (but that's a different issue). I would love every British GM to play in the British championships, but clearly this is impractical. Adams' reasons for entering are his own - I (and I hope I'm not alone) just hope this will result in increased entries / interest / publicity and hopefully attract a sponsor or two. Maybe we could break a record or do something "gimmicky" to drum up publicity? Sponsors like that kind of thing.

[Alex McFarlane]

A couple of comments.

For relatively small amounts having the support of an employee or two certainly helps. For more significant amounts you either need a very attractive package or someone very high up in the company giving support.

I would urge caution on wholesale approaches to potential sponsors. As has been said you might annoy the offending person by what might seem like an organised pressure group but much more importantly you may jeopordise negotiations for a larger amount which may already be underway. It is much better to check with the appropriate directors before proceeding too far. The Marketing, Home and International Directors are the obvious first ports of call and should be able to say what the possible selling points for an event are.
It can also save the embarassing position of, for example, two people arranging sponsorship for the same event e.g two parents getting some money for the British Under 8s.

My advice would be if you have a very good lead in for a potentially significant amount of money speak to someone in the ECF first. If it is for a relatively small amount then check out the possibility before committing yourself to anything. If it then seems likely to produce fruit then speak to a director at that point.

[Alex Holowczak]

Apologies, but to rewind this thread:

I only wish that we had money for conditions this year!!

So is there literally £0 available for conditions, or just a vastly reduced sum from 2009?

[Sean Hewitt]

Apologies, but to rewind this thread:

I only wish that we had money for conditions this year!!

So is there literally £0 available for conditions, or just a vastly reduced sum from 2009?

Both are true. There is zero conditions, and this is a vastly reduced sum from 2009!

[Alex Holowczak]

The qualification routes for the 2011 event has been posted online: http://www.britishchess2010.com/qualify ... s_2011.htm

I'm disappointed by 5, where once again the qualification rating varies with both age and gender.

Route 14 has been tightened, no longer do you need a 2350+ performance in a 9-round FIDE-rated event, you need a 2400+ performance.

The tie-break is interesting; a second qualifier from an event must score 58%. That seems to be a very specific figure.

[Sean Hewitt]

The tie-break is interesting; a second qualifier from an event must score 58%. That seems to be a very specific figure.

I don't think it's a tie break. It seems to relate to the second qualifying player in an event which has two qualifying places.

The qualification routes for the 2011 event has been posted online: http://www.britishchess2010.com/qualify ... s_2011.htm

Route 14 has been tightened, no longer do you need a 2350+ performance in a 9-round FIDE-rated event, you need a 2400+ performance.

Indeed.

We have an event that has lost over £20,000 in the last two year, an organisation in financial difficulty and it's major source of income (DCMS grant) reduced by 25% and in danger of further reductions. Yet they decide to make it more difficult for a player to pay them £200 to enter their tournament. PRICELESS

[Roger de Coverly]

I don't think it's a tie break. It seems to relate to the second qualifying player in an event which has two qualifying places.

They might be thinking Hastings or the London Chess Classic with the 58% - setting a qualification score of 6.5/11, 6/10 or 5.5/9.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Or perhaps a strong weekend tournament where 3.5/6 would suffice - but apparently not 4/7 in an event such as Southend!

[Jon Mahony]

Personally I’m made up with the location of Sheffield - us northerners rarely get a chance to play in the BC without it costing a ton of money for hotels etc. I’ve already booked a weeks holiday to play in the U120’s this year, and can travel up every day.

Sheffield isn’t all that bad a place, admittedly there isn’t a lot of sightseers, but the city has been modernised a great deal over the last few years and there is plenty for families to do