Here is the full version of my post published on the ECF forum about the chess tax (supposedly) coming to Yorkshire, unedited by Jack Rudd who seems to think freedom of speech is ok... when he's the one doing the censoring!

Ok it wouldn't stop players joining local leagues (except those who paid the tax) but the player base for playing local leagues and Saturdays are the same. Either way it's still asking for more money for players- I'm very interested to see how the collection does.

Let's have a view from... my perspective! I played chess in leagues for 12 years (with a couple of gaps in between, but in some seasons I played 40 YCA rated matches, including congresses)... there are a number of things which made me stop playing (not being good enough at calculation, being sensitive to things like noise and Neville Pearce deliberately devouring a cheese sandwich to put me off after a long trip to York, the amount of time it took, the type of venues sometimes had to play in, my grading being messed up a lot (the ECF also did this)) but quite a big thing for me when I stopped playing was the realisation... I put all this effort and time into chess... yet I have to pay to play!

How many smart young chessplayers are going to want to play in Yorkshire in the current conditions... answer is very few long term! And the extra fee will be a deterrant to some older new players as well- teams are struggling to recruit players as it is.