Six-Monthly Grading List

A six-monthly rapidplay list was produced in January. This was a success in that more than 90% of events were received by the deadline. I didn't receive a single comment on the list, which I actually considered to be a sign of success. When things go wrong, my in-box fills up with email! On the basis of the success of the rapidplay list, the ECF Board determined that a proposal should be brought to Council to also produce six-monthly standard play lists. If adopted this would mean that Grades would be published in July and January.

More frequent grades are beneficial for juniors and perhaps congresses. They do however create issues for winter league, since a league may not wish to change grading lists in mid season. For this reason, Council may determine to continue with annual grading lists for standard play and six-monthly lists for rapidplay.

In bringing a proposal to Council, the ECF Board is conscious that six-monthly standard play grades can only work if they are supported by the leagues and in particular their graders. It would be necessary for graders to submit a batch of results at the mid-season point. This plainly has significant implications for the league and the graders in particular. A consultation exercise with the graders is underway. The results of this exercise will be reported to Council as part of the proposal. I would suggest that if you have views on this proposal you should contact your ECF delegate for your local league.

Chris Majer
Manager of Grading & Rating