Thank you for your comments. The changes were agreed by a significant majority of the organisations which make up the ECF. The changes resulted from a period of discussion and consultation stretching over 18 months, and I would like to think that the various county associations and other member organisations took the opportunity to seek the views of the players they were representing.

Details of the changes have now been published on the ECF website – see the box at the top of the Home page for the link.

As a club treasurer and captain I find the decision to move away from game fees to individual membership bizarre. Administration will be difficult to say the least and may result in points penalties for clubs when individuals fail to register, it does seem that this is not the choice of the masses of club players but of administrators. However, now that it has been agreed could you please let me know what the rates and limitations are of the Gold, Silver and Bronze memberships. Club membership subs have to be set in the next week and I have been unable to locate them on the web site

Thank you

Anthony Meakin
Rugeley Chess Club

To play in a FIDE-rated event, English registered players will need to be Gold (or Platinum) members. Bronze will cover graded competitions in league, club and county events. Silver will cover all of these plus graded congresses. If an event is FIDE-rated, the level of membership required will be Gold (which also covers graded congresses, leagues, club and county competitions). People who are willing to pay extra to support the work of the ECF can receive all the benefits of Gold membership plus a Yearbook and ECF diary by purchasing a Platinum membership.

I am sorry that you had such an appalling journey home.

It was a mistake to believe that there could be any meaningful discussion of the consultation papers at the Finance Council. In my view past experience should have shown that there was insufficient time, so they should not have been on the agenda except as a footnote.

Thankyou for your comments expressed in your blog.
Unfortunately the ECF is out of touch with grassroots players, and an
us and them culture has developed.
From a personal point of view ‘ what does the ECF do for me?’
very little. The ECF is run similar to a government department collecting
game fee and direct membership fees like VAT.
I am doing all the work organizing chess events, league teams etc.
and paying the ECF for the privilege, for the ECF to redistribute
the funds as they see fit.

U

The ECF has had a very bad six months in terms of being able to respond to critics of its actions or inactions. If it demands from every adult chess player that they become a “member”, then it should expect continued and greater scrutiny.

The logical consequence of introducing a “per head” fee to play chess in competitions graded by the ECF is that fewer events will be graded or fewer games will be graded.

Like all ECF Board members, the Director of Finance is a volunteer, who gives what time he can on an unpaid basis. There is no one to whom the task could be delegated; the ECF does not have the resources to provide such contingency cover. That said, I agree that it is not a satisfactory situation. An apology was made to the AGM and I would repeat that apology now.