Tweet
In another thread I recently posted:
...how about a Canadian seniors chess organization (or program of the CFC) being created at some point?
CFC President Vlad Drkulec replied:
From what I see there is quite a movement for senior tournaments. Talk to your local chess organizer to add a seniors section.
CFC Rating Auditor Paul Leblanc added:
Kevin, your post reminds me that there has been an informal Canadian Senior Championship in Kitchener for the past few years. I use the term informal because as far as I know the CFC does not award this event through any approval process. I have never seen it discussed at a governors' meeting.
BC has submitted a proposal to hold the 2016 Canadian Senior Championship in Vancouver using the formal event proposal format. If it is approved at the AGM that would be a good first step in the direction you suggest. Recognizing that this is completely off topic, perhaps it is worthy of a separate thread.
My primary hope in raising the topic of the future of seniors chess in Canada is that developing competitive seniors chess to a greater extent would be to the benefit of the CFC and hopefully all of its members to at least some degree. Depending on the lower age limit used to define someone eligible for seniors events in Canada (or their sections, if any used), the topic of seniors chess is becoming of less and less academic interest for me personally since I'm relatively not so far from age 60. Perhaps quite a few senior players feel that winning the Canadian Senior Championship, and then travelling to the World Senior Championship (though with only some expenses paid for by the CFC) could be nice, but so might be having more competitive seniors events in Canada at some point.
Possible issues for organizers or the CFC could be how to check the ages of competitors (a good idea even for junior chess, if it's not being done 100% of the time), whether to have some sort of CFC officer for seniors chess at some point, and whether to lower membership or entry fees for seniors at some point. Aside from that, there is the idea of (from within, or by the CFC) encouraging provincial associations or leagues to hold their own senior championships. There is also the thought of encouraging more seniors only clubs or events to be developed locally. [edit: developing an infrastructure for seniors chess in Canada certainly might well encourage more seniors to join the CFC as members, as at times, in the distant past at least (when the CFC was in better shape financially), I've encountered some seniors whose attitude was 'what's in it for me'? as far as joining went.]
Adding a seniors section to local events already seems to face at least one problem for many organizers at the moment that I've already mentioned, namely checking for ages of the competitors. Hence I'm afraid that this may come up in any talks with an organizer, and that they may point out that the CFC does not (at least nowadays) generally require date of birth information from all of its members (afaik). Trusting that someone is a senior can often be harder than trusting that someone is a junior. Another problem that's possible is that at the moment in Canada it can often be tough drawing enough competitors to a competitive chess event, regardless of age, and so there can only be a handful of sections at best on many occasions, at least for events that are not restricted to seniors only.
In spite of difficulties I've mentioned (real or possible), I still think it may be worth the CFC's while to at present try to lay any foundations it can for encouraging the development of Canadian seniors chess in Canada. Opening up bidding for a Canadian Senior Championship is a good first step.
...how about a Canadian seniors chess organization (or program of the CFC) being created at some point?
CFC President Vlad Drkulec replied:
From what I see there is quite a movement for senior tournaments. Talk to your local chess organizer to add a seniors section.
CFC Rating Auditor Paul Leblanc added:
Kevin, your post reminds me that there has been an informal Canadian Senior Championship in Kitchener for the past few years. I use the term informal because as far as I know the CFC does not award this event through any approval process. I have never seen it discussed at a governors' meeting.
BC has submitted a proposal to hold the 2016 Canadian Senior Championship in Vancouver using the formal event proposal format. If it is approved at the AGM that would be a good first step in the direction you suggest. Recognizing that this is completely off topic, perhaps it is worthy of a separate thread.
My primary hope in raising the topic of the future of seniors chess in Canada is that developing competitive seniors chess to a greater extent would be to the benefit of the CFC and hopefully all of its members to at least some degree. Depending on the lower age limit used to define someone eligible for seniors events in Canada (or their sections, if any used), the topic of seniors chess is becoming of less and less academic interest for me personally since I'm relatively not so far from age 60. Perhaps quite a few senior players feel that winning the Canadian Senior Championship, and then travelling to the World Senior Championship (though with only some expenses paid for by the CFC) could be nice, but so might be having more competitive seniors events in Canada at some point.
Possible issues for organizers or the CFC could be how to check the ages of competitors (a good idea even for junior chess, if it's not being done 100% of the time), whether to have some sort of CFC officer for seniors chess at some point, and whether to lower membership or entry fees for seniors at some point. Aside from that, there is the idea of (from within, or by the CFC) encouraging provincial associations or leagues to hold their own senior championships. There is also the thought of encouraging more seniors only clubs or events to be developed locally. [edit: developing an infrastructure for seniors chess in Canada certainly might well encourage more seniors to join the CFC as members, as at times, in the distant past at least (when the CFC was in better shape financially), I've encountered some seniors whose attitude was 'what's in it for me'? as far as joining went.]
Adding a seniors section to local events already seems to face at least one problem for many organizers at the moment that I've already mentioned, namely checking for ages of the competitors. Hence I'm afraid that this may come up in any talks with an organizer, and that they may point out that the CFC does not (at least nowadays) generally require date of birth information from all of its members (afaik). Trusting that someone is a senior can often be harder than trusting that someone is a junior. Another problem that's possible is that at the moment in Canada it can often be tough drawing enough competitors to a competitive chess event, regardless of age, and so there can only be a handful of sections at best on many occasions, at least for events that are not restricted to seniors only.
In spite of difficulties I've mentioned (real or possible), I still think it may be worth the CFC's while to at present try to lay any foundations it can for encouraging the development of Canadian seniors chess in Canada. Opening up bidding for a Canadian Senior Championship is a good first step.
Comment