Your Chess Federation Needs You!

Hi, everyone! These are strange times we're living in, and your chess federation needs you like never before! Wherever you live in the world, national federations require our support to keep going, particularly when playing over-the-board chess safely is such a difficult challenge.

My national federation, the ECF (English Chess Federation), is no exception to this.

To help chess get back on its feet, we need our national federation to keep its head above water financially.

You might think this is a difficult sell – particularly if we don't have much OTB chess going on – but there has actually never been a more important time to support your national federation and pay your membership dues. As we hopefully emerge safely from lockdown and start playing league matches, congresses and national championships again, we will need to rise to new challenges.

No return to the 'Old Normal'

We are unlikely to go back to the "Old Normal," as social distancing will necessitate extra expenditure on safety measures and more space between players, and it may also be difficult to access affordable venues.     

So, your national federation needs you now, as your support will ensure it is around for hopefully many years to come.

In the case of the English Chess Federation, we need to make sure we join the federation or renew our memberships (either at the minimum £10 Supporter level, which gives entry to a range of online competitions, or at the Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum level - at £18, £27, £39 or £75, respectively, with discounts for juniors - to help the federation get its major events going again).

And it's not just money that chess federations will need. They will also need the talents and the time of willing volunteers, who can help the game revive and thrive in the future.  

Standing for ‘parliament’

With all this in mind, I decided to stand for election as one of the English Chess Federation's Direct Member representatives.

These posts (2 representatives in each of the Life Member, Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze categories) are vital in connecting the grassroots of the game (chess clubs in communities, schools and the like, plus players in local tournaments) with the ECF as a whole, so that ordinary members' views and interests are fully represented at the ECF Council.

The Council is effectively the “parliament” of English chess, which meets twice a year and provides policy and advice for the Board of Directors to run the federation on a day-to-day basis.

(For those people who aren’t familiar with the ECF member categories, the main ones affecting active OTB players are Gold, which allows you to play in any kind of events, including FIDE-rated ones; Silver, which allows you to play in nationally rated leagues and congresses; and Bronze, which allows you to play in local leagues and club events, which are also nationally rated. The common thread between all these categories is the national rating (grading) system, which is the principal service that the ECF provides to its members.)

Direct democracy is key

Most of the representatives at ECF Council have traditionally been from county and regional associations, tournaments and other bodies, but not directly elected by those organisations’ members. So, on the principle of supporting direct democracy wherever possible, I think it’s fantastic that we now also have direct members’ representation on the Council.

When the election was announced last month, I contacted some good friends of mine and encouraged them to stand, too. We need more younger members to get involved, and also more female and BAME members to stand for office. It is vital for the ECF’s future growth that the whole diverse chess community is accurately represented at the Council, and also Board, level.

Excellent candidates

I am happy to say that we now have some excellent candidates standing in these Direct Member elections. There have never been competitive elections before for these posts, so it was great to see this year that the new Chair of Council, Michael Farthing (a former Silver members’ rep himself!) was warmly inviting members to stand for these Direct Member rep positions.

Since two of my very good friends, London-based coaches IM Lorin D’Costa and Rob Willmoth, are already doing a great job at representing Gold members, I decided to stand as a Silver members rep instead – even though I am a Gold member personally. This is entirely within the rules, as the main job of a Direct Members’ rep is to accurately represent the category of members they are elected to serve.

As I have represented various organisations on the Council before, including from my home region of the North East of England, it is no problem for me to do that, as I have always brought the views of ordinary club and congress players to the Council and Board, and will continue to do so. I am also supporting the enthusiastic Manchester player and organiser, John Reyes, one of the sitting Silver reps, for election.

In the Bronze member category, I am supporting the election of Aga Milewska, one of English chess’s growing number of female arbiters who has been instrumental making the London Chess Classic such a roaring success, and Chris Skulte, a key organiser of Hammersmith Chess Club – one of the friendliest and fastest-growing clubs in the country.

Together, if we are elected, Aga, Chris, myself, Rob and Lorin plan to work together as a team to promote an ECF membership drive that will reach out to OTB and online players alike. We will be encouraging existing members to renew their memberships NOW so that the federation can continue to function – and recruiting new ECF members from the many thousands of people who have become enthusiastic online players during the Covid-19 crisis.

I know I have been talking here about English chess and the ECF, and you may well live somewhere else. But I would argue that the same principle holds true: Wherever you are in the world, your chess federation needs you now – like never before.

For more info about the campaign to elect ECF Direct Member reps, you can follow me at: https://twitter.com/timpeterwall

And if you are an ECF member (in any category) please do remember to vote in the Direct Member elections. Emails will be landing in your in-boxes next week, from Monday August 10, and you have just 7 days to respond.

Remember, the best guarantee for chess to survive and thrive is that our national chess federations also survive and thrive.

So, let’s answer their call. Together, we can ensure that we get chess back on its feet!