NCCU COUNTIES
The Millenium and beyond
The
Millennium year and the future for the NCCU
Entering
the last few months of the 20th Century, chess, as with so many
sports, games and pastimes, is having to compete with the ever
increasing demands upon people’s time. Work pressures overall
are increasing; the amount of time people have for playing chess,
let alone chess organisation and administration, is limited. Sadly
all too often it is the same few people performing all the work.
But
chess is resilient, and in particular so is the NCCU, having
already passed through two World Wars and several economic
depressions to reach its Centenary. Throughout that 100 years,
volunteers have stepped forward to keep chess in the North of
England alive and competitive. Just how did A. E. Moore persuade
people from all over the North of England to come to that
inaugural NCCU meeting in Manchester 100 years ago, and to
volunteer their services? Perhaps now is the time for those NCCU
officers who have given many decades of support to chess events in
the North, to look amongst their county teams and congress players
and request volunteers to participate within the running of the
NCCU if the organisation is once again to flourish.
Do
we have to see the information technology age as a threat? No! In
fact computerisation readily lends itself to chess playing and
chess organisation. Witness the spread of chess playing on the
internet, of computerised grading systems, of tournament entries
via e-mail.
However
as every chess player knows, nothing can beat facing an opponent
across the board. With motorway systems throughout the North
continuing to improve, perhaps chess playing within the NCCU will
become once again more and more relevant. The calendar overleaf
bears witness to the fact that chess players in the North are well
served. Going the extra step and forming these
participants into county players will once again allow the NCCU to
reclaim its position at the top of British chess playing!
Bill
O’Rourke
NCCU
General Secretary
August
1999
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