Blog Comments

  1. Kevin Pacey's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by John Coleman
    I've been on the periphery of organised chess for a very long time... I organised my first tournament in 1961. There has always been a shortage of volunteers, but it seems much worse now. I suspect the prevalence of information and competition and "company" online means there is simply less need for co-operation. if the local club died, I would barely notice; if Chessbase died, it would make a big difference.

    I tend to take a fairly tough line with volunteers... I give pretty precise instructions (often, more work than doing things myself), and ... people pretty much do what I want them to. Of course, I'm careful not to push too hard. I don't think I've ever had a case like the CFC has with its VMs (governors), where people apparently agree to be a VM, and then do nothing at all. Nothing.

    Part of the problem is that the CFC doesn't have instructions/guidelines for VMs. It's hard to complain to Joe Governor that he isn't doing his job when he never agreed to do anything in the first place.

    Unfortunately, even the Executive and Officers aren't very enthusiastic. The quarterly meeting has no report from the Junior Coordinator, for example, no report from the Women's Coordinator, and only a brief incomplete report from the Treasurer, who apparently does not have the notes to the financial statements.

    Yes, I realise that VMs are "elected" (arm-twisted) by the provinces, and this causes a structural problem in that the CFC can't instruct or put pressure on a governor directly. However, the fact that people have to be pressured into becoming a VM highlights the lack of enthusiasm for the CFC.

    It was this structural problem, and the huge horde of inactive governors, that led many people (about 8 years ago, I think) to wonder if the CFC was un-fixable. With the new NFP act and the energetic leadership of Vlad Drkulec, it might be possible to save the CFC in something approximating its current form.

    But I am not optimistic.
    VMs (formerly Governors) were and still are largely organizers of CFC rated tournaments, I've been told more than once by a past CFC president (Halldor Palsson). In his view, such organizers have already done their bit as far as 'real' work goes, and are thus fully entitled to be VMs (at least that's what I think his position is). It's true that newbie (or rusty) VMs could use some sort of an explanatory welcome package in their inboxes, as far as what is expected of them, and minimum procedural explanation, perhaps, too.

    I once proposed that VMs (formerly Governors) do at least one of five things in a term, minimum, in order to be allowed to be VMs the following year. These I put together with a view that VMs, like real life politicians, ideally should do constituency work or strive to make a difference. The idea never came to a vote, and any comments by Govs were not supportive, at least at the time. Here's a somewhat updated list of five such things (again, at least one must be accomplished during a given term if a VM is to be accepted as a VM again for the following year by the CFC, if her/his name is put forward), if anyone wishes to comment or even try to get them to a vote by the VMs themselves:

    1. Organize or direct at least one CFC rated event;
    2. Donate at least $100 to the CFC, the Chess Foundation or a Fund associated with the CFC (e.g. Pugi);
    3. Pay to be a CFC membership affiliate that sends the names of new or renewing CFC members to the CFC office;
    4. Advertise at least one chess club or CFC rated event in one or more newspapers (includes community papers);
    5. Attend 75% or more of the online CFC VMs meetings, belong to a CFC committee or be a CFC officer.

    I realize this may lead to a bit of a shortage of VMs some years, but is it a bad thing if the ones who don't really do much of anything are gone?
  2. Vladimir Drkulec's Avatar
    With regard to the youth committee there didn't seem to be that much interest among the voting members. Parents that I have talked to have been a bit wary of the idea.

    The National Tournaments Committee is the executive in effect.

    The Handbook Committee consists of Ken Craft and Paul Leblanc who has volunteered to update the section that deals with ratings. The important thing right now is to figure out where the handbook fits in in our NFP compliant CFC. It is not what it used to be. At the moment I think of it as a repository of our historic policies. It really needs to be rewritten from the beginning. Much of what it used to be important for is no longer relevant as it was replaced by our NFP compliant articles and bylaws and the provisions of the NFP Act.

    We may have to look at shortening the online meetings. Some people were not able to vote or participate because the online voting or the meeting coincided with a period of travel. We seem to have a core of about 24 to 30 governors who are somewhat involved at least to the point that they sign into the quarterly meetings. Maybe we are having too many meetings. I'm not sure. In the past we had an annual meeting which was in person and lasted for two days during the Canadian Open. These days we have four or five weeks of online meetings. More is not necessarily better.
  3. Christopher Mallon's Avatar
    Interesting thoughts John.

    The trouble about 8 years ago was events were not getting rated which was the most basic service the CFC offered. Actually what made it worse was that IIRC certain people's events WERE getting rated but not anyone else's. Ontario also lost two major organizers in Mark Dutton and Tony Ficzere.

    However one problem we didn't have 8 years ago was the huge horde of inactive governors. The actual problem was the huge horde of almost inactive governors who would pop out of the woodwork to derail things they didn't like but otherwise not comment on things or provide helpful suggestions.

    Also the level of vitriol these days is astounding. Sure you used to get it in private, but some people these days think nothing of posting hateful comments in public just because they don't agree with your position. I've even noticed some in person! This is not a problem unique to the CFC, just see how partisanized our politics have become for example.

    What's the solution? That requires some more thought.
  4. John Coleman's Avatar
    I've been on the periphery of organised chess for a very long time... I organised my first tournament in 1961. There has always been a shortage of volunteers, but it seems much worse now. I suspect the prevalence of information and competition and "company" online means there is simply less need for co-operation. if the local club died, I would barely notice; if Chessbase died, it would make a big difference.

    I tend to take a fairly tough line with volunteers... I give pretty precise instructions (often, more work than doing things myself), and ... people pretty much do what I want them to. Of course, I'm careful not to push too hard. I don't think I've ever had a case like the CFC has with its VMs (governors), where people apparently agree to be a VM, and then do nothing at all. Nothing.

    Part of the problem is that the CFC doesn't have instructions/guidelines for VMs. It's hard to complain to Joe Governor that he isn't doing his job when he never agreed to do anything in the first place.

    Unfortunately, even the Executive and Officers aren't very enthusiastic. The quarterly meeting has no report from the Junior Coordinator, for example, no report from the Women's Coordinator, and only a brief incomplete report from the Treasurer, who apparently does not have the notes to the financial statements.

    Yes, I realise that VMs are "elected" (arm-twisted) by the provinces, and this causes a structural problem in that the CFC can't instruct or put pressure on a governor directly. However, the fact that people have to be pressured into becoming a VM highlights the lack of enthusiasm for the CFC.

    It was this structural problem, and the huge horde of inactive governors, that led many people (about 8 years ago, I think) to wonder if the CFC was un-fixable. With the new NFP act and the energetic leadership of Vlad Drkulec, it might be possible to save the CFC in something approximating its current form.

    But I am not optimistic.
  5. Christopher Mallon's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Egidijus Zeromskis
    An interesting one.
    Thanks!
  6. Christopher Mallon's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Egidijus Zeromskis
    Did you compose this one?
    Looks to simple and too overcrowded.
    Yes, I compose all of the puzzles on this blog unless otherwise stated (so far, I've done all of them).

    I am still new at puzzlemaking though and some will be "cool-looking" rather than particularly good puzzles.
  7. Egidijus Zeromskis's Avatar
    An interesting one.
  8. Egidijus Zeromskis's Avatar
    Did you compose this one?
    Looks to simple and too overcrowded.
  9. Egidijus Zeromskis's Avatar
    Good luck achieving your goal!