Chess Scotland Noticeboard

admin · Site Admin Joined: 09 Jan 2007 Posts: 1386

Than this one? Yes

DGCongalton · Queen Joined: 07 Nov 2010 Posts: 113

The annual Consumer Price Index was 4.4% in July. The annual Retail Price Index stood at 5%.

Cost cutting can be detrimental to a business, organisation, government or country as a whole. Stifling growth, suppressing creativity. Confusing loss-making parts of a business with inefficient components can have serious consequences.

200 memberships at £10 should have the potential to generate more overall income than 100 memberships at £20.

Some congresses could perhaps be persuaded that slightly higher grading fees for tournaments would be acceptable if all or part of the additional revenue was ring-fenced for initiatives that could be utilised by events but are outwith the budget of a single congress. I'm specifically thinking of sensory boards, in this instance, which could be used by all contributing events. There may be other initiatives that all events could benefit from.

Take an average of 75 entrants at Marymass, Grangemouth, Lothians, Dundee, Glasgow??, Glenrothes, Edinburgh and Prestwick. Eight congresses 600 total entrants £1 extra on the entry fee equals one dgt board and at least £42 left over. Add SNCL in to the equation.

Chess can be a very cheap or very dear pastime, depending on the individual. The fact that it can be as cheap as the price of a chess set makes it attractive to many.

For the majority of club standard chess players prize money at a congress is nice to win but not the main reason for playing. How many clubs or leagues offer prize money for the winners of their club championship or league title?

Is the 5th best chess joke at the Edinburgh festival the best chess joke ever?

Stuart Blyth · King Joined: 11 Sep 2008 Posts: 209

Some interesting discussions!

One thing I'd say is don't assume that there is a majority of chess players in favour of some kind of radical, professional overhaul - I think many are quite happy with things just plodding along.

DGCongalton · Queen Joined: 07 Nov 2010 Posts: 113

I'll throw in a potential efficiency for the magazine. I play most congresses nowadays, so I can collect mine at any congress taking place around the time of publication. Possibly saves the price of postage.

I'm old school so I like getting something physical for my membership, otherwise I'd just say e-mail it to me. There may be those who aren't as selfish as me and being a bit more up-to-date with modern tech, would like an e-magazine e-mailed to them instead of a physical item.

The costs involved in the print run might make an e-magazine inconsequential to overall production costs but then I'd look at alternative printers.

The administration of collecting at events might be nightmarish, especially with the majority of entrants not entering until shortly before but as Royal Mail postage is ever increasing a solution could be found. I'm not averse to picking up a box on my way to an event and handing them out. A saving on envelopes too. I'd even post off the uncollected ones. In envelopes, of course.

To return to the original thread - Isn't an octopus that's unwell six squid too.

DGCongalton · Queen Joined: 07 Nov 2010 Posts: 113

Ideas just poppin into my head tonight. Maybe it's the medication for my swollen face. Don't ask! Wimbledon has Grand Slams, Golf the Majors. What's the big four in Scottish Chess (or should be the big 4). The Scottish, The West of Scotland, The East of Scotland and em, okay I'll go for the Edinburgh congress (as it's in the capital). Could anybody win all four with a perfect score. If it's too tough to score 9 out of 9 at the Scottish substitute Dundee, Grangemouth or Marymass. Could we get anybody to put up £500 to £1000 for anybody that did? Would the four events be able to put in £125 each if a backer couldn't initially be found?

Roll the prize money on for the perfect score from year to year or event to event.

£1 onto the entry fee (as an alternative or in addition to a £1 levy for sensory boards) towards a winner takes all perfect prize fund. Start with the Marymass, if you've got the bottle to go for the max (pepsi-max sponsor it?) and you're the clear winner of your section with 5 out of 5, you pocket an extra £25 (quarter of £100 - 4 sections). Or put it all in the open to try and tempt the top players to attend.

No winners at the Marymass, £200 in the kitty for Grangemouth. Roll it over for every congress. No winners by the time the Scottish or the East of Scotland (if we're dumping the Scottish) comes round - how many entries?

Could anyone score 9 out of 9 at the Scottish? Has it ever been done? Would an insurance company underwrite a nice large prize in exchange for a premium? Would a perfect prize tempt more entries, sufficient to offset such a premium and leave a bit over?

admin · Site Admin Joined: 09 Jan 2007 Posts: 1386

Some excellent ideas here.

Here's one for you. Taking your idea on board, would you be willing to pay £1 if it meant we could have sensory boards?

I have quite a bit of feedback on the session we did at the Scottish where we broadcast the minor section. None of it was negative. People loved it!

Lets say for example we got 8 wireless boards (I am wanting the wireless system as it is easier to teach people it, no miles of cabling!) In a 3 section tournament you could have the top 6 in the open + the 2 board ones. This is why I like this system. It was hard to do this in the past because of wiring.

JR · King Joined: 23 Jan 2007 Posts: 447 Location: Edinburgh

DGCongalton · Queen Joined: 07 Nov 2010 Posts: 113

[quote="admin"]Here's one for you. Taking your idea on board, would you be willing to pay £1 if it meant we could have sensory boards?

I have quite a bit of feedback on the session we did at the Scottish where we broadcast the minor section. None of it was negative. People loved it!
quote]

Admin - not sure if the question was specifically directed at me or to the forum readers as a whole. My answer is yes. I would pay £1 per congress if it meant sensory boards.

I was lucky enough to be one of those in the minor at the Scottish playing on a sensory board. Do not ask me why but it was a thrill. May have been a diff story had I lost but the opportunity was worth the entry fee alone. For me, it certainly alleviated a large degree of the pain in what otherwise would have been one of the most disastrous personal weekends I had all season.

Here's one for you. If someone was lucky enough to get a sensory board of the bluetooth variety for, oh say their birthday in November or found one in their Christmas stocking from Santa (in December) because they'd been very, very good, would you demonstrate how to use it at a willing, participating event.

Here's one for all. If such a nice present were available to all events in Scotland for a very small fee per event entry (say 25p), would events be willing to hire this very nice item, with full instructions or onsite wizard. Any finances raised would go into a fund to buy a little sensory friend for the original and so on until we had a whole little sensory family.

Lets start the fundraising for board 2 at this Saturday's AGM. Pass the hat around for loose change donations. Nothing spectacular needed, we're talking 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p and the occassional 20p.

Congress organisers make a commitment to ask for loose change donations, pass the chess church plate on a Sunday before the last round.
Small change only please. Donald, start the ball rolling at Grangemouth. Let's keep it going at Lothians and Dundee. I'll back it up at Prestwick, which will have at least one sensory board, perhaps still with a little Christmas tree at the side. How many entrants in total? How much spare change? I'll have one sausage roll for my lunch and not two. I never enjoy the second one.

Would any or all clubs be willing to use one of their club nights to host a rapid-play or allegro tournament sensory fundraiser? £1 entry. Half to the sensory fund, half to the club or as prize money. It's a fun night thing.

Anyone know a reasonably priced venue for a Saturday allegro event run along similair lines? Smaller prizes but for a good cause.

Admin - this is all a bit off the thread of visitin doun souf should we start another thread - fundraising ideas?

DGCongalton · Queen Joined: 07 Nov 2010 Posts: 113

Alex McFarlane · King Joined: 13 Mar 2007 Posts: 413

2 players on 8/8 in the last round. Brilliant as that would mean the original entry was at least 511!!!

If that was the case we could pay for the £5000 out of entry fees!

admin · Site Admin Joined: 09 Jan 2007 Posts: 1386

admin · Site Admin Joined: 09 Jan 2007 Posts: 1386

DGCongalton · Queen Joined: 07 Nov 2010 Posts: 113

George Murphy · Knight Joined: 14 Aug 2007 Posts: 19 Location: Cardross

Brilliant! Some really cracking creativity here.

I’d be willing to ‘donate’ £12.00 towards the purchase of these special Boards. (Should we start a fund?) I’d raise the money easily by committing not to play in Blackpool and Scarborough next year, thereby ‘saving’ 2 x £6.00 by way of the proposed ECF levy on non-ECF members for playing in Graded Congresses down ‘South’.

On this note, please don’t switch away from this thread to a new one as one poster has suggested. I am confident Mr Raoof is monitoring, and it could be uplifting for him to see that ‘unintended consequences’ can actually be inspirational! Who would have thought when this thread began that we might end up with the buoyancy now on show here?

(Don’t worry Alex, if I decide after all that I want to play at Blackpool or Scarborough, I won’t let a little ‘red tape’ stop me.)

admin · Site Admin Joined: 09 Jan 2007 Posts: 1386

I think George is spot on, we have some really good ideas coming out here on funding and fundraising. I don't think we should open a separate thread as they are connected.

Keep it coming Very Happy