Thank you A.C.T. Government

The ACT Junior Chess League has just received a very generous grant from the Australian Capital Territory Government, to assist junior players taking part in next years Australian Junior Championship. The grant of $2000 is to be used to assist in the travel and entry costs of local junior players for the event which will be held in Melbourne.
At this stage it isn't clear how big the ACT contingent will be, but hopefully this grant will allow all interested players to take part.

Crowd funding chess

More and more I am seeing chess variants pop up on 'kickstarter' type websites. Usually the game is a version of chess that utilises cards to somehow modify the game playing experience. My perusal of such games has been reasonably superficial, but the cynic in me suspects that such additions are designed to lessen the skill factor in the game, allowing the inventor to win at least a few games against otherwise unbeatable opponents.
I am also wondering whether crowd funding chess events might be something worth investigating. At this stage money for tournaments comes from entry fees or sponsorship, and usually draws upon those directly involved in the event (either as a player or oganiser). But if a mechanism that allowed non participating players to contribute to events, would such an approach work. I have done this in the past (in a sense) by sending an entry fee to an event I was unable to play in, and have also provided small sponsorship for a player to take part in the 4NCL. If more people thought to do this, would the net result be better funded activities? Of course there has been a kind of counter example, in Australia at least, with the Olympiad appeal (to help fund the Australian Olympiad teams) often falling far short of the total amount needed. But even in this case it at least shows a willingness of some players to put money into activities that do not offer a direct benefit, and so the whole idea may not be as far fetched at all.

Chess in New Caledonia

The Oceania Chess Confederation (of which I am the Treasurer) has been pretty busy lately, organising a number of activities in the South Pacific. The current event is a FIDE rated Round Robin in New Caledonia which, like previous events in Palau and the Solomon Islands, is designed to allow local players to achieve FIDE ratings. Three Australian players have made the trip to Noumea, Lee Jones, Tony Weller and event organiser, Gary Bekker. A couple of the local players already have FIDE ratings (via the French Chess Federation) and hopefully they will be joined by a few more. Early results from the event are here, and full results should be available in a day or two.
There is also a tournament coming up in the Solomon Islands, while on the organisational side the OCC will be organising another arbiters seminar, in Queenstown in 2012. Importantly, the OCC have been able to attract financial support for these events from both the Asian Chess Confederation and FIDE. There are also plans to hold some larger events, like the Asian Seniors Championship in the next year, with a number of member countries being considered as likely hosts.

Jones,Lee (2114) - Weller,Tony (1895) [A52]
Nouvelle Calédonie Nouméa (2), 03.09.2011

No Mainz, no Linares?

The organisers if the Mainz Chess Classic have announced the tournament will not be taking place this year. The usual reason, a lack of money, is the major reason for its demise, and it is hard to argue with that. Also hinted at by the organisers is the paradoxical effect of it being an event somewhat out of the ordinary (Chess 960, Rapid Chess etc) making it popular with players, while at the same time being taken less seriously by the same players.
Also in doubt are a couple of other events like Linares and Sofia. It seems that the GFC is still biting organisers with sponsors a little shy of putting up big dollars for big names.

If you shake a tree sponsors will just fall out

I'm following some of the discussion concerning the decision by the organising team headed by Malcolm Pein to withdraw their offer of hosting the 2012 World Championship Match. I actually don't have an opinion on who's fault it is, as I suspect it is just a case of two sides looking for different outcomes, and negotiations couldn't bring them together.

What I am seeing however is a group of comments that somehow believe that (a) there are sponsors just waiting in the wings to pour millions of dollars into chess but (b) chess administrators are somehow driving them away. Now as someone who has spent a lot of time looking for sponsorship for chess events I'm pretty sure I would have noticed these millionaires lurking in the shadows. I've certainly noticed the millionaires who have said "not for me", "doesn't fit the companies profile", or "we have other sponsorship priorities", as they are pretty thick on the ground, but not the other sort.

So my advice to those wondering why organisers cannot find sponsors, or why tournaments don't seem to attract the worlds number 1,2,3 etc is to walk a mile in their shoes. But before you do, be prepared to pound a lot of leather.

Junior Elite Training Squad

The Australian Junior Elite Training Squad (formerly the Ergas Squad) has a new sponsor. The new sponsor is Johns-Putra Limited, headed by Geraldine Johns-Putra, an active tournament player in the 1990's. These days she runs a succesful London legal consulting practice "focussing on cross-border China mergers and acquisitions. Its mission is to help clients build bridges between China and the West and to secure success across cultures."
Johns-Putra Limited will fund the 2010 JETS Program, including a coaching camp in Sydney in July. The JETS squad, founded in 2000, features 30 of the best junior players from around Australia, with an emphasis on developing the skills of young talents of 14 years or less.

For further information please contact Geraldine Johns-Putra, on +44 (0)20 7286 7664 or at geraldine@johns-putra.com, or Ian Rogers, Deputy President AJCL, on +61 (0)416599230 or GMIanRogers@gmail.com

Well done, Solomon Islands Chess Federation

The Solomon Islands Chess Federation is only a new body, and were only admitted to FIDE at the Dresden Congress last year. However they are taking their activities seriously, and have just secured a big sponsorship deal with the company Phoenix International. The sponsorship deal is worth $150,000 (SD), which is about $Aus 27,000 at current exchange rates.
A full report can be found here.

Thinking Big

The Myer-Tan Grand Prix series is undergoing a name change for 2009. Starting next year it will be known as the Yulgilbar-Think Big Australian Chess Grand Prix. The sponsors of the event (the Tan family and the Myer family) remain the same, but they have asked the series be named after two horse racing studs they each own.
The choice of the name Think Big resonates for two reasons. The obvious reason is that as chess players I guess that is what we strive to do. The other reason is that ever since I pulled Think Big's name from the hat in a Melbourne Cup sweep when I was in 2nd grade, he has been my favourite race horse. He won the Melbourne Cup in 1974 (when Leilani was the class favourite) and then repeated the win the following year.

A job well done

Good news for the organisers of the 2007 Oceania Zonal held in Fiji. Due to the hard work of the Papua New Guinea Chess Federation President Stuart Fancy, the Asian Confederation has agreed to provide $5000USD to help cover the costs of that event. While this is obviously a help to the 2007 Zonal, it is hoped that this will now become standard policy for Zonal's organised within the Asian Confederation (including the 2009 Zonal).
Also thanks should go to the Asian Confederation and its President Sheik Sultan Bin Khalifa Al-Nehyan for agreeing to the request of the PNGCF.

O2C Doeberl Cup - Sponsorship Handover

Today representatives from O2C confirmed their sponsorship deal with the 2007 Doeberl Cup by handing over a cheque for $6000. As you can see from the attached photos it is a pretty big cheque, which is fitting, given the size of the sponsorship deal. (Right hand picture: Steve Rohan-Jones from O2C handing over the $6000 cheque to Paul Dunn, Doeberl Cup Chairman)
With the assistance of O2C the Doeberl Cup is now offering a prize fund in excess of $16,000. This is a fabulous boost for chess in Australia, and plans are being made for both an increase in the prize pool for next year, as well as the possibility of organising other "Doeberl Cup" type events in other cities around Australia.

And if the Sydney International Open, which takes place straight after the Doeberl Cup, is held against next year, then the Doeberl Cup organisers are considering extending the O2C Doeberl Cup Premier to 9 rounds to allow the opportunity for IM and GM norms in both events.
(Left hand picture: Paul Dunn and Charles Bishop from O2C posing with the sponsorship cheque)