The ECF is running an Arbiter Course on five consecutive Tuesdays between 25 March and 28 April, via Zoom, at 7-9pm in the evening. The signup link is here: https://www.englishchess.org.uk/ecf-arbiter-course-registration/

Birmingham, and the wider local area in Warwickshire, are looking to put on more weekend tournaments, which are currently booming. The Birmingham Rapidplay used to get 100-110 entries once per year, it now regularly maxes out the venue at 150 entries three times per year. Warwickshire used to get 100-120 for its once per year Warwickshire Championships, and has so far had 140 entires for a new tournament in Birmingham, and had to close entries a week early at capacity of 115 for the Coventry Open.

In order to meet this rising demand with more tournaments, we need to increase our local supply of arbiters. We do not expect people to do this for free: We typically pay £50 per day, and some tournaments pay more!

To help support chess in the local area, it would be really useful if you can pass information about the course on to your club colleagues, and encourage them to register for the course. The test is multiple choice, and the pass rate is typically very high, and so long as you have played chess before, people needn't be worried or afraid of passing.

Alex Holowczak
Birmingham Rapidplay Organiser
Warwickshire Chess Association Junior Director