Winter Butterfly - 20a 3/5/03
Dear Friends
Firstly, I promise to try not to send out so many issues of Butterfly in future months. April was a busy month anyway, but the additional necessities of catching up for the period of hibernation and the covering the Welsh Championship seem to have resulted in issues going out almost every day in the latter half of the month.
A number of you have commented on the rather strange time slip implied by the date of a few recent issues. Perhaps the funniest was a request for the full crosstables of the Welsh Closed rapidplay (May 18th), so that the sender could see how well he had done before he decided whether to enter. Unfortunately that can't be provided, but if anybody wants the results of next year Grand National see the 14 April 2004 edition going out next Wednesday. For the record, I was performing some routine maintenance on my computer and reset the date incorrectly.
Many thanks to Iolo Jones for providing the following information
County Match and Dyfed League
DYFED
27-04-03 GWENT
1 Howard Williams ½-½
Peter Varley
2 Iolo Jones 1-0
Mark Adams
3 Dafydd Johnston 1-0
Jon Gilbert
4 Huw Morcom (DEF.) 0-1
Fred Brown
5 Keith Downey ½-½
J.D. Turner
6 Caerwyn Owen 0-1
Ian White
7 Tony Haigh 1-0
Richard Batey
8 Paul Orton ½-½
Chris Arnold
9 Lowri Johnston ½-½
Chris Dixon
10 Ron Wade 0-1
Nigel Granville
11 Gruffydd Johnston ½-½
Russell Dodington
12 Peter Hupfield 1-0
Jason Evans
6½-5½
Regarding the Dyfed League, Cardigan 'A' have won this year's competition with
44/48, winning 9 of their 12 matches by a margin of 4-0. Runners-up were Carmarthen
'A' with 39½.
Cheers,
IOLO
European Club Championship
Many thanks to Bill Hewitt for the following interesting contribution.
I read your comments on the European Club Ch with some interest. Speaking as the captain of the West Wales club White Knights (Llanelli), we have come second to our Nidum colleagues around 10 times in the last 12 years in WWCL Div1, so we have more than a fringe interest in this issue!
In the last year or so there have been increased mutterings from various quarters over the way that places in the Euro club ch are obtained, and, as you point out, not always taken up. Clearly any arrangements that fail to maximise the number of opportunities for welsh players/teams to play chess in this prestigious competition need to be reviewed.
We must consider why the teams do not take up the places - are there any common reasons here? Is it because after playing a couple of times the incentive is no longer there? Is it because cost is a prohibitive factor? I don't know, but this needs to be considered, for the benefit of any prospective entrants.
Many years ago, the Welsh challenge cup, which is now the gateway to the Euro club ch, was contested by the top two teams in the respective leagues. This was beset by problems, mainly involving defaulted matches which made the event somewhat farcical. I only played in the competition once, but it was very enjoyable and the carrot of European competition was a wonderful incentive!
Clearly, WCU had to address the problems of the previous format and came up with the current one. It worked well for some time, so well done on that count. Maybe the time has come to review that and I think WCU are fully aware of this.
Interesting concept of "Superclubs" - this is the only option if you want to make the strongest team, but would this give the "club" players places - I don't think so, it would give first choice to players already in the international squads, or those close to it. I suppose it depends on what we are looking to achieve!
Your suggestion of a one day event, 3 matches, is an interesting one - a punishing schedule, but an interesting one!
Bill Hewitt
On a different but related issue...
Welsh Super League
I have received the following interesting article from John Trevelyan. Let me nail my colours to the mast straight away, and say that I am in favour of the formation of a super league, but I'll save my comments for a later issue.
South Wales Premier League
The
current system of local leagues has its disadvantages: In the East Glam League
players who are nominated for a club’s 2nd
team can play for both the 1st
and the 2nd team, and can therefore play a lot
of games in a season. Players nominated for a club’s 1st
team are restricted to playing for the 1st
team, and can therefore play fewer games. I don’t know how other zones operate
their leagues, but I suspect that their rules are similar. It would be useful
for these 1st team players to be able to play more
often against other strong opponents.
The
current system of qualification for the European Club Championship also has
its disadvantages: As the Welsh Challenge Cup has only 4 teams, and only teams
that finish in the top half of this competition are eligible, only two teams
can ever qualify. If either, or both, of these teams chooses not to play, then
there is no mechanism whereby Wales can choose a substitute. Even for the teams
that qualify there is little time between qualifying (after the Welsh Challenge
Cup) and deciding whether to play. The SWPL will increase the number of teams
from which the WCU chooses the two that it sends, and will also increase the
time that a club gets between qualification and deciding whether to send a team.
I
proposed the formation of a SWPL about a year ago, but it was felt by some Zones,
probably justifiably, that the removal of their strongest teams would weaken
their own leagues. I have therefore modified my proposal to enable the strongest
clubs to play both in the SWPL and in their local league. I feel strongly that
we should give it a try – Even if it falls flat on it’s face after half a season,
there’s no harm done.
Formation
The
two teams which finish highest in each of the Dyfed, West Wales, East Glam,
and Gwent Chess leagues will be invited to play in the SWPL. If either of the
top two teams, from any of these leagues, do not wish to enter, then the third
placed team from that league will be invited. I suspect that Dyfed teams may
not be too interested due to the distances involved, but any rules must make
them, and possibly teams from North Wales, welcome should they ever change their
minds in the future.
Eligibility
(Players)
We
obviously don’t need “visiting” superstars playing the odd game, and distorting
results. Either a player should play regularly or not at all. On the other hand,
a team which is temporarily short of a player, should be free to use a genuinely
“local” player as a substitute.
If
a player plays in 4 SWPL matches in a season, then this is enough to make him
a “regular” player. A player who plays in fewer SWPL matches than this must
have played enough Local league matches to make him eligible. Local League games
count for (same season) ½ of a game or (previous season) ¼ of
a game. Any player, at the end of a season, must have a total of at least 4
games.
Eligibility
(European Club Championship)
Obviously
I don’t want to upset the current system more than is necessary, but it would
be nice if there was some sort of incentive for playing in the SWPL. So, assuming
that the SWPL exists, with SIX teams, this is the order for qualification:
1) Welsh Challenge Cup (1st
Place)
2) SWPL (1st Place)
3) Welsh Challenge Cup (2nd
Place)
4) SWPL (2nd Place)
5) SWPL (3rd Place)
Obviously
we can skip teams already qualified – If, for example, the same club wins the
Welsh Challenge Cup and the SWPL, then the second method of their qualification
can safely be ignored.
Promotion and
Relegation
This
is made rather complex by the fact that SWPL teams may also be playing in their
own Zonal leagues. At the end of each season, the teams which have finished
highest in each of the Local Leagues, without using any SWPL players (ie: players
who have played in more than one SWPL match), will be invited to play, together
with the team which finishes bottom of the SWPL, in a qualifying competition
similar to the existing Welsh Challenge Cup. The winner of this competition
will play in the SWPL in the next season.
To
start off, each team will play each other team ONCE per season (on a Home OR
away, All play All, basis). If, hopefully, we can get two teams from each of
West Wales, East Glam, and Gwent, this will mean FIVE extra matches per season
for the participants. Due to the increased distances I propose FIVE players
per team, as this number will fit into most cars without too much discomfort.
At the end of each season each of the teams can vote on whether to expand the
League, either by including more teams or by playing on a Home AND Away basis.
It would be interesting to receive some feedback on the above.
Welsh Closed Rapidplay
Less then two weeks to this event. A copy of the entry form will be sent out in a separate email. In the meantime, keep 18th May free.
Finally: Goodbye to an Old Friend
I'm afraid this newsletter is going to have to say goodbye to one of the world's best loved characters, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf. He was one of the all time great Grande Grotesques on a par with Lord Haw Haw in the later stages of World War 2 or the Spanish Press during the Peninsular War (1808-1814). He was so bad that I've been fed some beautiful material by a couple of Iraqi friends, which I had planned to adapt for use in satirising some of the WCU problems (adapted, since some of the humour would probably be lost on Western readers). There are several reasons for wishing to drop him, but mainly a growing feeling of unease caused by the way he is being portrayed on a small number of USA newspaper websites. Rather than a figure of fun there appears to be an attempt to claim that he is representative of the Iraqi people in general. While this is only true for only three of the eleven sites I regularly visit, it is a disturbing development. Its only a personal opinion, but Islamic-Western relations do seem to have been bedevilled by mutual racial hatred and religious intolerance over the past thirteen hundred years. Such conditions turn any dispute into crisis and lower the conflict threshold. For my money they seem to have played more than a minor role in fermenting the present conflict, and its a game I'm not prepared to play. So goodbye old friend and thanks for the laughs.
The Welsh Championship can continue its strange perambulations. That's a separate issue and I've no objection to that.
Best wishes
Dai James