Dear Friends

James Cobb has been kind enough to send me a copy of his reply to Mark's request for comments on the selection procedure. Many Thanks James. His comments are given below.

Mark

Broadly I agree with your selection procedures- I feel a formal
structure based on your grading formula may not be perfect but will
prove a far more accurate assessment than individuals' gut feelings
about players.

I also agree with the respective weightings given to National, Elo and
current ratings.

However, I would like to see (as is the case now?) one place being
given to a junior (say U21) every time provided they are within 50
points of 'normal' selection. Juniors often perform better over
longer events like the Olympiad and of course there is the reason of
gaining experience as well. Wales has many players around 2250-ish
who have been 2250-ish for 20 years and I do not see the point in
sending them when you can send a promising junior. By the next
Olympiad for sure Ioan Rees will be strong enough in his own right to
be selected but if there was an Olympiad next month I would still send
him! It is also important to see if a junior can rise to such a
challenge- as Leighton did in Moscow for example.

I am not sure about 24 games in the last year to be considered either-
obviously a player has to meet the eligibility criteria but there may
be extenuating circumstances. But (now contradicting myself) I think
it is important to keep active playing FIDE-rated games such as in the
4NCL. Local league chess does not prepare you for an Olympiad. In
selecting a player you want to see he has got his 2250 rating from
playing 2200 and 2300 players not 1900s as there won't be many of
those in the Olympiad (and let's not even talk about the Europeans).

Similar to the reasons above I do not believe that participation in
the Welsh is necessary to be considered for selection. But it may
harm a player's chances if they do not play! If they cannot spare that
time how will they find three weeks later on in the year? I also do
not agree with the board order being defined at the Welsh, that could
well be a matter of the luck of the draw- and surely this is the
reason why this formula is being introduced?

These points are minor quibbles however- the formula itself I believe
will provide an accurate indication of both a player's standard and
form.

James

When I sent out details of the forthcoming one day tourny in the Hertitage Park Hotel I forgot to include the following important information. Wales now has a one day Grand Prix, and this event is part of it. So now there's even more reason to play in this event.

This event is part of the Welsh Rapid Play Grand Prix.

The Grand Prix consists of the Barry Rapid Play; this event;

The Welsh Rapidplay Championship and the Swansea Rapidplay.

Best two scores to count.

I've lost my notes on the Keith Williams Memorial Lightning which took place in Penarth just before Christmas. If somebody could send me the main results I'd be happy to publish them.