Team Birmingham (UK) Recruitment Drive

JOIN TEAM BIRMINGHAM

Why Team Birmingham?

After playing for Team England for the last twelve months and thoroughly enjoying the competitive nature of group team matches against other nations, each playing for their own national pride, I was shocked to discover that the second largest city in the UK was lacking an active and competitive group playing on it's behalf.  To correct this I have created Team Birmingham.  The hope is to build a dedicated team, of active players, to take part in group matches against other regional teams, local and international, with an aim to eventually playing in the European Cities League.

How many members do you expect?

Looking at other regional teams and considering the fact that we are the second largest city in the country the aim is to initially build the membership of Team Birmingham to around the fifty member mark.  London supports several active groups and Bradford, Bristol and Glasgow manage to play in the European Cities League with similar numbers so I don't see any reason why Birmingham, with a dedicated Admin and support, can't do the same.

We don't have to reach that number before we're able to start playing matches against other teams though, 5-10 active members is more than enough to start laying down the gauntlet to other regions. 

What format will the games take?

As per the international & city leagues, team matches will be mostly standard chess at three days per move but we'll also throw in the odd game of 360 and possibly even an annual inter-team tournament to crown the group champion.

I want to participate but I'm not very good.

Please, come join us.  All teams have a players with wide ranges of abilities and chess.com will automatically pair you with an opponent with closest available rating anyway, so hopefully you shouldn't be too far adrift.  And, so what if you take a few losses, as long as you play for the pride of Birmingham, then who cares.  Losing on time is a different matter though... Grrr!

Is there anything I can do to help.

Yes, yes there is.  Join up, spread the word, get your friends to join, give me feedback, ideas, suggestions, post on the wall, in the forums, play in the team matches, find (or even start) other regional teams for us to play against.

Closing statement.

Ultimately the fate of this group, whether it flounders or flourishes, is going to boil down to the participation of it's members.  If the appetite for a Birmingham based team on chess.com isn't there then the group will cease to exist.  If the appetite is there and people are happy and willing to join in and play with pride in the name of the city then I'm happy to devote as much time as it requires to make this work.  So if you have any connection to the city of Birmingham, whether born here, adopted by her or just passing through then please click through on the following link and help us build a team deserving of her name:

Join Team Birmingham

Regards, Sir_Chjaka.

P.S. My sincere apologies for the blatant group advert in the forums, it is exceptionally difficult to target the region of members beyond their nationality, which makes recruitment through standard methods difficult.  Hopefully you can forgive this one. 

Count me in!

Fantasic!  I look forward to you joining the team and playing in our first team match against London.

You gotta have a Wallace or two.