Recently it became clear that next season (2007-2008) no less than four of the nine rounds of the Dutch Premier League will clash with the German Bundesliga rounds. For both Dutch and German chess professionals this is a very unfortunate situation. My question to the Dutch Federation concerning this issue caused a useful email discussion.The problem is that in Germany (like in Belgium) the competition dates are set in january before the new season, while in The Netherlands the competition dates are set much earlier. Not doubt it has advantages to plan very early (even though it did not became clear to me what exactly ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú on a local level it suffices if we can plan activities in the spring, which is our experience with the Apeldoorn Chess Foundation), but it definitely has a big disadvantage as we can see now.In the meantime the Dutch Federation has decided the move the important last round of the Dutch Premier League 2007-2008, which limits the damage a bit. From several people I received reactions, without exception saying ?¢‚Ǩ?ìsmall success, but it seems there is no basic solution yet?¢‚Ǩ?. The Dutch Federation have announced that they will inform the Germans about the Dutch competition dates in the future, so that they take them into account. To be honest, this is putting the world upside down to me: have a look at the map of Europe and realise that Germany has nine neighbour countries and furthermore the Bundesliga (with 125 grandmasters) is the strongest league in the world.
From a neutral perspective it seems more logical that The Netherlands (two neighbour countries, not the strongest league in the world) adjusts itself to the German competion dates and not the other way around. A modern chess federation looks at things from a bigger perspective.Perhaps it is impossible to prevent any clash of the league dates, but every time it happens it results in sportive and financial problems. The Dutch Federation does not seem to realise this fully (yet). For the amateur (and I mean this positively) it is important that the school holidays are taken into account; for the professional (and ambitious youth) it is important that the German Bundesliga is taken into account. The first already happens; concerning the latter the Dutch Federation seems to be just in the process of becoming aware.
Recently it became clear that next season (2007-2008) no less than four of the nine rounds of the Dutch Premier League will clash with the German Bundesliga rounds. For both Dutch and German chess professionals this is a very unfortunate situation. My question to the Dutch Federation concerning this issue caused a useful email discussion.The problem is that in Germany (like in Belgium) the competition dates are set in january before the new season, while in The Netherlands the competition dates are set much earlier. Not doubt it has advantages to plan very early (even though it did not became clear to me what exactly ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú on a local level it suffices if we can plan activities in the spring, which is our experience with the Apeldoorn Chess Foundation), but it definitely has a big disadvantage as we can see now.In the meantime the Dutch Federation has decided the move the important last round of the Dutch Premier League 2007-2008, which limits the damage a bit. From several people I received reactions, without exception saying ?¢‚Ǩ?ìsmall success, but it seems there is no basic solution yet?¢‚Ǩ?. The Dutch Federation have announced that they will inform the Germans about the Dutch competition dates in the future, so that they take them into account. To be honest, this is putting the world upside down to me: have a look at the map of Europe and realise that Germany has nine neighbour countries and furthermore the Bundesliga (with 125 grandmasters) is the strongest league in the world. 
From a neutral perspective it seems more logical that The Netherlands (two neighbour countries, not the strongest league in the world) adjusts itself to the German competion dates and not the other way around. A modern chess federation looks at things from a bigger perspective.Perhaps it is impossible to prevent any clash of the league dates, but every time it happens it results in sportive and financial problems. The Dutch Federation does not seem to realise this fully (yet). For the amateur (and I mean this positively) it is important that the school holidays are taken into account; for the professional (and ambitious youth) it is important that the German Bundesliga is taken into account. The first already happens; concerning the latter the Dutch Federation seems to be just in the process of becoming aware.
