That the required number of games to qualify for the National or National Women's teams be changed from 10 to 20 (handbook section 906 a3).
That the required number of games to qualify for the National or National Women's teams be changed from 10 to 20 (handbook section 906 a3).
I agree with this motion. I think we want our Olympiad team members to be " active " players - it helps keep them sharp, and having them play in more tournaments, both here and abroad, helps to promote chess.
Bob A
Didn't we already have lots of difficulties finding strong women for the team? I'm afraid this motion would just make it worse...
Michael, if it's okay with Egis as well, can we split the motion and have a vote on extending from 10 to 20 games for National and Women's be separate? I'd hate to see the motion fail on the National side due to concerns about inactive players on the women's side.
Alternatively, I will propose an amendment, "that the number of games to qualify for the women's team remain at 10" and perhaps Fred or Felix can second that.
Christopher Mallon
FIDE Arbiter
I do not understand this at all. Have the top players complained about team members being inactive and too rusty? Once again we are imposing an amateur viewpoint on our elite players.
Hal. You've known for 3 weeks that these votes were coming. What professional CFC players have you attempted to contact ?
Fred - none of the players I have talked to believe this rule change is necessary or good.
I agree with Hal. Generally speaking with many of the Olympic ideas, why are we second-guessing the inputs of our non-Amateur IMs/GMs? I'm humbly confused.
The Bluvshtein's 2 cents:
1. The proposed rule of 20 games.
This rule would practically eliminate adults that have "normal" jobs. Case: National team, a non-chess related professional. For a heat-up with ratings 2400-2700, he would need to play in 3 tournaments over a year. No guy would sacrifice his vacations to have an honour to represent Canada for free for another 2+ weeks at the Olympiad (and take another vacation for that matter). Examples: Pascal C, Igor Z, Yan T, Thomas RR, Mark B.
2. Elimination of the Selection Committee.
The original idea of this Committee was to open the door to youngsters. As far as I know, Kevin S promoted this idea and made this happen. The idea was fruitful. Youngsters selected by the Selection Committee (and otherwise did not make a team by rating) performed well above average. Examples over last 10 years: Thomas RR, Nikolay N, Mark B. The problem is controversy around the Selection Committee and too big power for the Selection Committee (they pick 3 candidates in accordance with current regulations). So...if we just want less problem in the selection process, then the way is to eliminate the Selection Committee. If we strive to send the strongest team, we need the Selection Committee. As I stand to the latter, I would suggest to keep the Selection Committee. To mitigate inevitable problems related to the power of the Committee, I would suggest the Selection Committee to choose only 1 player for the National team and 1 player for the Women's team. No substitutions...meaning if the selected player rejects invitaion, next player would be chosed by rating.
Ilia Bluvshtein