English Chess Federation Strategy Statement
https://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-c...-Statement.pdf
ENGLISH CHESS FEDERATION
DRAFT STRATEGY AND BUSINESS PLAN
STRATEGY
Furthering the Cause of English Chess
The ECF will lead the development and organisation of chess for all players in England and our
international teams. This will encompass:
• Extending the number of active competitive and social chess players.
• Increasing the number of juniors playing competitive chess and transitioning to becoming adult
competitive players.
• Encouraging the development of women’s and social chess as part of a wider commitment to
increasing the diversity of participation in chess.
• Increasing the awareness of chess and its wider social benefits outside the existing ECF
membership.
• Building the financial strength of chess and chess organisations.
• Developing the number of elite players and individual players of exceptional talent.
Priority areas
A Director for Women’s Chess has been appointed to the Board. Our ambition is to increase
participation in chess among women of all standards to 15% of ECF membership (including ECF
Supporters) within four years, and to facilitate the transition from junior, to adult, to senior.
We have already begun, and we will continue to develop and refine, programmes to encourage
participation among junior players and to help them achieve their potential.
We will continue, and improve, our support to English players taking part in international
competitions, with the aspiration of re-establishing England as a force in the chess world.
Our biggest asset is our membership. We will continue to improve the attractiveness of
membership through good communication and enhanced membership services and offerings. We
recognise that the ECF needs to grow its membership and improve the attractiveness of the game
in order to sustain a viable future. The Board will continue to focus on these targets.
We will work with member organisations, supported by the Development Officer, to grow chess
activity at all levels across England, focussing in particular on junior, women’s and social chess.
We will keep the operation of the membership system under review, ensuring the system is well
maintained, remains fit for purpose and provides additional benefits to members.
We will continue to provide support to chess organisers and we will keep under continuous review
all competitions organised for which we are responsible, including the British Championships, the
UK Open Blitz Championships, the County Championships and the Women’s English Championships.
Commercial sponsorship generates additional income that can help us to make extra investment in
areas such as junior, women’s and international chess. We will continue to seek out new sponsorship
opportunities and build on our relationship with existing sponsors, and support them to build their
brands.
We will actively engage with other chess organisations in England and elsewhere to improve
coordination, efficiency and knowledge-sharing across English chess.
We will continue to develop a set of key performance indicators in order to monitor our progress
against our objectives.