ENGLISH
CHESS
FEDERATION
Registered Offices – The Watch Oak
Chain Lane
Battle
East Sussex TN33 0YD
A Company Limited by Guarantee
Registered in England and Wales
Registration No. 5293039
VAT Registration No 195643626
(Affiliated to Fédération Internationale des Échecs)
Telephone - 01424 775222 | Facsimile - 01424 775904 | Email - [email protected] | Website - www.englishchess.org.uk
1st May 2015
FIDE World Schools Individual Chess Championships 2015
Dear Parents,
We understand from third parties that your child will be participating in the FIDE World Schools Individual Chess
Championships later this month in Thailand. The ECF seeks to protect its junior members and so we are writing to
ensure that you are fully aware of some unusual risks.
It is unclear whether any UK Chess Academy (UKCA) chess coach on this trip has a clear DBS Certificate in line with
English legal norms or a similar foreign police check; or that another risk mitigation measure is in place. You are
recommended to check this if you have not already done so. It is unclear whether the UKCA have arranged appropriate
adult supervision for all children on this trip, which of course is not an issue if each child is accompanied by his or her
own parent. If your child will not be accompanied by you, you are advised to ensure that supervision will be adequate at
all times. Unlike other trips to official FIDE championships, this trip is not covered by the ECF's travel insurance policy
and so you should ensure that insurance that is appropriate and sufficient.
You may be wondering why the ECF is concerned. The most important reasons reflect our concern for your child's (and
our member's) safety and protection outlined above. Other reasons are associated with your child's ECF membership
and the ECF's role as one of FIDE's member federations. Whilst we actively encourage children to compete in
international tournaments and we support independent FIDE Academies that respect English legal norms, we cannot in
good conscience support all of the UKCA's actions in this matter. Some children do not have the required level of ECF
Membership, and therefore need to upgrade to Gold. You may wish to check the level of your child’s membership.
Some children appear to have been added to FIDE's database without the ECF's knowledge, which could be a problem if
parents object to their child's personal data leaving the European Economic Area. Your child was registered for this
official FIDE championship (normally closed to national federations) possibly as a result of your client relationship with
the UKCA and/or possibly by virtue of a merit-based UKCA selection. Your child's participation was not based on the
ECF's selection policy, which aims to develop cohorts of mutually-supportive English chess players regardless of which
chess coach or training service is employed and confers the status of officially representing England. As such you should
be aware that your child will not be representing England, playing for England or part of the England Team in this
championship tournament. Whilst your children will be identified as English, they are not representing their national
chess federation. They are representing the UKCA.
Rest assured there is no detrimental effect to your child's future eligibility for ECF selection resulting from his or her
participation in this championship tournament through the UKCA. The ECF's legal responsibilities, player development
strategies and commercial interests are continuously reviewed in light of changing FIDE practices. The situation for
ENGLISH
CHESS
FEDERATION
Registered Offices – The Watch Oak
Chain Lane
Battle
East Sussex TN33 0YD
A Company Limited by Guarantee
Registered in England and Wales
Registration No. 5293039
VAT Registration No 195643626
(Affiliated to Fédération Internationale des Échecs)
Telephone - 01424 775222 | Facsimile - 01424 775904 | Email - [email protected] | Website - www.englishchess.org.uk
future FIDE championship tournaments will probably evolve. To summarise, our advice for this trip is to remain vigilant
in all aspects of safety, respect Foreign Office travel advisories, review your travel insurance policy, and strive to get the
most chess value out of this trip.
We wish your child success at the tournament.
Finally, we would appreciate your help to foster greater co-operation among organisations working to improve English
chess.
Kind regards,
Phil Ehr, Chief Executive
English Chess Federation
Traci Whitfield, Director of Junior Chess and Education
Cc Executive Director, FIDE
Tournament Organiser, World Schools Individual Chess Championship 2015
Chairman, FIDE Trainers’ Commission
Director, UK Chess Academy