New Era for Aussie Juniors

In a joint statement, to be published later in the Australian Chess Federation's email newsletter, junior chess organiser Jenni Oliver and ex ACF head Denis Jessop announced that the new body AusJCL has been formally approved as "an Associated Body representing junior chess at the national level and for authority to administer junior chess on behalf of the ACF." Both these aspects will take effect on 1 November, 2008.

Here I quote just a couple of tidbits.

By Denis Jessop:

The basis of the junior chess league concept, which has already been successful in some States and Territories, is that junior chess administration has some aspects that differ markedly from open chess. Moreover, junior chess leagues attract many administrators who would not otherwise be involved. I see it as an undoubted benefit for Australian chess generally for there to be a successful Australian junior chess league. It will benefit junior chess by the presence of experts in that field. It will benefit the ACF as its officers will be able to devote more time to administration of chess generally.

And from Jenni Oliver:

This is an exciting concept and will need the ideas and support of all of those with an interest in Junior chess.

It is not meant to supplant the valuable work being done by State organizations, but to bring order and cohesion to what is happening at the national level with the long term aim of growing participation at the grass roots level as well as increasing the number of elite players. It will also work to improve the migration paths from junior to adult chess.

Terrorists Attack Junior Chessers

The recent World Youth Olympiad in Turkey seemed like a world away from geopolitical trouble, yet the truth is that the event came very close to hitting world headlines for all the wrong reasons. Michael Grossman, father of one of Australia's representatives in the event, Alex Grossman, reports that the opening ceremonies was actually the target of a bombing attempt by Kurdish separatists!

Courtesy of the AusJCL:

The most unexpected aspect of our recent experience was the terrorist attempt to bomb the opening ceremonies. I'm not sure whether this was covered in the Australian media, but we were quite startled when the news emerged.

A "parade of nations" had been scheduled for the evening of August 19 in downtown Mersin. The event was cancelled right before we were scheduled to depart the hotel.

Apparently, a Kurdish separatist group had decided to detonate a bomb at the ceremony in the hope of assassinating both the local Mayor and Governor. They were planning to specifically target the Turkish delegation.

Somehow the police learned of the plot and surrounded the car carrying the explosives whereupon the driver blew himself up. The explosion was audible from the playing venue, but none of us knew at the time what the noise represented.

They never did reschedule the parade of nations!

And here is a report of that incident in the local press.

AusJCL Council Announced

From Jenni Oliver's AusJCL June newsletter, the following were the applications received for the new body's council positions.

President: IA Charles Zworestine
Vice-President: GM Ian Rogers
Treasurer: Tania Simmonds
Secretary: Tracy Gray
Junior Development Co-ordinator: Kerry Lyall
Events Coordinator: Jenni Oliver
Selections Administrator: Shannon Oliver
General Council positions: WGM Daniela Nut-Gajic

All of the above have now been elected, although it looks like there are still positions open for general council. Part of the application process was also to answer the following question, "What do you want to achieve on the council?" Dr Zworestine's answer was interesting. He said: "I feel the control of junior chess at the national level should be in the hands of a national junior body, not the ACF. There have been some problems with the ACF’s handling of junior matters in the past. I would like to see the AusJCL take control, in the interests of furthering the future of junior chess in this country."

AusJCL to Grab Powers From ACF

The first and last time I posted anything about a newly planned junior body, the so-called "AusJCL", was way back in February 2008. Back then there was still plenty of discussion about the form and purpose of such an organisation. But this afternoon, I've just learnt that the AusJCL is a dead certainty. It's coming.

An overwhelming majority of participants in an online discussion forum (actually performed via email) voted for the creation of the AusJCL. Three people opposed the idea with one vote "withheld".

Our big wig insider tells us that there is at least now a draft constitution currently being voted on and that will be followed by the election of an interim council.

Australian Junior Chess League

Is there a need for a new national body that is tasked with specifically governing junior chess affairs? How might such a body, if it were formed, be structured? Exactly what are its areas of responsibilities?

These, among many others, are just some of the questions currently being hotly discussed by some of Australia’s big wigs in junior chess. Dubbed as “AusJCL” (though the formal name is yet to be finalized), the body’s raison d'etre is one of the key points being addressed. In a spirited email, the now retired administrator and junior chess stalwart Jenni Oliver outlines her ideas:

I would see it being primarily responsible over time for the national tournaments, overseeing things like Ergas and overseas team management and most important of all being a repository for procedures and standards. At the moment we have such a vacuum. E.g. every year Charles [Zworestine] writes up some recommendations for improving the Aus Juniors and every year they disappear into a black hole. Another e.g - I spent 2 months in 2006 investigating world youth management and submitting a lengthy report with multiple recommendations to the ACF – it disappeared into the same black hole. I do not mean that an AusJCL would run national tournaments – the current system would continue. However it would develop much better information to be given to a prospective bidder on what were essential parts of the particular tournament and non-negotiable standards and conditions. It could then work with a prospective bidder in a timely fashion to resolve any problems and also make sure that things were on track – e.g. website up by an agreed date etc.

This is not to blame the ACF – it just doesn’t have the resources or expertise to cope with many of these issues.

Of course there are still many issues to overcome. The original proposal document, for instance, written by ex ACF head honcho and lawyer, Denis Jessop, outlines a number of matters from the naming of the new body, its structure and to its relationships with the ACF. Denis, a regular guest to this blog, ends his proposal with the words: “The actual structural relationship with the ACF is a difficult question,” and adding, “Much will depend on the attitude of the ACF to the proposal”.

So - there you have it: the whole thing could collapse at the whim of the ACF. Let’s hope their attitude is a positive one.