Printable View
FIDE and ECU workshop for arbiters this Wednesday, June 10
2 hour online workshop on Zoom, 18:00 CEST (Central European Summer Time)
I believe that would be Noon Toronto time, but somebody check that!
A second on line arbiters workshop on title applications
June 18? 15:00 CEST, or 9AM EST?
See attached pdf for details.
to register, send email to chairman.arbiters@fide.com
Even better, there is a news today from FIDE saying that, due to the great interest that seminar for arbiters in online chess events has generated, they will broadcast it live on the FIDE Youtube channel (https://youtube.com/fidechannel).
That means that it will be kept there (in their YT channel) for a while, and anyone interested could watch it later (if more convenient due to conflicting work/etc schedule).
Cheers, Jose
Yes! Thank you Jose. About 500 Arbiters are tuning in. Great opportunity to learn about Arbiting online chess events. I am looking forward to it. Starts in about 10 minutes.
https://youtube.com/fidechannel
I attended, it was a nice workshop.
I also watched the FIDE seminar on online arbitrators... Very interesting and an indication that "official" online chess is here to stay. Indeed FIDE wouldn't go to the trouble of preparing such a long seminar (2 hours and fraction) if the idea was only to do this during the pandemic. Of course, over the board is THE main way to play. Especially for elite players and youngsters looking to improve and make a name for themselves. But the huge online crowd that already is playing on internet platforms (Chess.com, Lichess, FICS, ICC, etc.) is a tremendous resource that FIDE (and CFC for that matter) could and should tap into.
Also yesterday, while joining Bob and his Hamissauga club (sorry for not being able to stay more than one hour last night, next time I should be able to play for a longer time!), I learned there that there is an attempt to unify online games in Canada (check CUVO.ca, created by Amer Khoury). I think that is a nice step into the goal (stated there) of providing an “ultimate online chess experience, for chess clubs around Canada”.
IMHO, what may encourage more people to join CFC -and there is LARGE crowd of people playing online regularly (just Chess.com had more than 16,000 Canadian accounts in May 2020) is that you are able to provide CFC-rated games. Otherwise most people (from outside CFC) would say, “why do I need to join CFC, when I am already playing online at platform X, and it is free?” Those sites have a long experience in online chess (and are getting much better at dealing with cheating), and most offer nice interfaces and the possibility to play versus thousands (or even millions) of players from all over the world. What they lack tough is an “official” rating from FIDE and/or a national federation. Here is where FIDE/CFC have a unique chance. [FIDE kind of realized that a few years ago with the FIDE Online Arena, but screw that opportunity badly].
Which brings back me to the first paragraph I wrote. If online chess is seen by FIDE/CFC as “only” a way to keep current FIDE/CFC players doing something -while the pandemic recedes, then you will not get many extra players joining. It would be mostly the same club players that already play. Nothing wrong with that, but no opportunity for growing and reaching up to a much larger audience. Only after CFC online-rated games are available at a higher frequency is when larger crowds may show up. So far, the availability of CFC-rated games online is too scarce and sparse. [And I am not even talking about monetary rewards -as I am not interested in that, although I recognize that may motivate some. But I think things can be started in a simpler way].
I have written too much already, but only did so out of interest to share my ideas in case they could be useful. In the meantime I will continue to play with the CFC clubs available, even when there is not much CFC-rated yet.
Cheers,
Jose