Hastings

[Alex McFarlane]

There is a spare board here as well as the 32 working so the record might still go.

[Carl Hibbard]

Seems to need 2GB of bandwidth per hour at the moment

[John Moore]

The finish in Duff-Kwiatkowski looks a bit odd. I can't see why Feliks would play Ra5 and then resign - not another loss by telephone, I wonder.

[John Moore]

I am not sure if this is a trend, but today Messrs Arkell and Hawkins both arrived 15 minutes late. I am fairly sure that happened in round 1 as well but that might be due to travel difficulties. I seem to recall this in previous events although I cannot give you chapter and verse. Why is my question - is it intended to gain some psychological advantage. For instance, let us assume that the pairings tomorrow were Flear-Hawkins and Arkell-Jones (perhaps not very likely, I agree) but would it happen against their English peers - as opposed to a couple of guys from Iceland (still very strong, of course) or some hobby players.

I also notice that Ali Jaunooby does it all the time. Personally, I think that it is rather disrespectful of the event and your opponent. Of course, the old Soviet school would sit there watching their opponent's clock go round and wondering where they could buy their replacement deoderant.

But what is the reason - perhaps Keith might tell us!!

[Jonathan Rogers]

A likely win for Jason McKenna against Yang-Fan; and he will then have 2.5/3, with the half point "dropped" against IM Simon Knott. That will add some points to his 2102 rating.

(edited later. He did indeed win)

[John Moore]

I am waiting to see whether Alan Barton plays on till his whole army is destroyed

[John Moore]

Oh and by the way - when was the last time Mark was behind on the clock!

[Alex Holowczak]

I also notice that Ali Jaunooby does it all the time.

He usually arrives late and sits down in the seat of the only game that hasn't started yet.

There was the infamous occasion when another player was equally late for a game for whatever reason. Ali did his usual trick of finding the only game that hasn't started yet, and sat down to play.

Of course, there were two such seats, one of which he was oblivious to, and he chose the wrong one...

[Richard Bates]

Who is this chap, Rufus Duff, who just beat Mark Hebden? Seems to have spent most of his life playing in France, but English registered?

[Alan Walton]

Being a club mate (and captain) of Ali can be quite frustrating sometimes

Some players in the past have used it as a tactic, but I have seen it back-fire (even with Ali), so unless people want the zero default time you have to expect some players to continuing using it as a tactic

[Jonathan Rogers]

Who is this chap, Rufus Duff, who just beat Mark Hebden? Seems to have spent most of his life playing in France, but English registered?

Reminds me of Michael Rahal, who none of us ever met and is only known to have played in England in Lloyds Bank masters, alongside dozens of other foreigners. We mentioned him on this forum a couple or so years ago too. Stewart promised on this forum to be in touch with him (in Spain) and to explain why he is ENG registered, but I don't think he ever did,

[Richard Bates]

Who is this chap, Rufus Duff, who just beat Mark Hebden? Seems to have spent most of his life playing in France, but English registered?

Reminds me of Michael Rahal, who none of us ever met and is only known to have played in England in Lloyds Bank masters, alongside dozens of other foreigners. We mentioned him on this forum a couple or so years ago too. Stewart promised on this forum to be in touch with him (in Spain) and to explain why he is ENG registered, but I don't think he ever did,

Well Rufus Duff played for England in the Glorney Cup, so he must be be known to the Junior selectors at least!

[Richard Bates]

Anyway, on the chess - Burns-Mannion vs Vocatero looks like fun!

[David Sedgwick]

Reminds me of Michael Rahal, who none of us ever met and is only known to have played in England in Lloyds Bank masters, alongside dozens of other foreigners. We mentioned him on this forum a couple or so years ago too. Stewart promised on this forum to be in touch with him (in Spain) and to explain why he is ENG registered, but I don't think he ever did,

I did meet him, at the Lloyds Bank Masters, and I can explain.

When he first appeared on the FIDE Rating list as ENG registered, the then BCF assumed that this was a mistake and the late George Smith queried the matter with FIDE. However, the reply was that Rahal really had indicated a wish to be ENG registered. When he played at the Lloyds Bank Masters some months later, I was asked to raise the matter with him. He told me that he was a British national and had been born in England, and by way of confirmation he produced his British passport for my inspection. On the basis of this evidence the BCF agreed that he could be an ENG player.

However, it would appear that he is not currently an ECF member but has nevertheless been allowed to remain as an active ENG player on the FIDE Rating List. Please don't ask me to explain that.

[AustinElliott]

Anyway, on the chess - Burns-Mannion vs Vocatero looks like fun!

I looked Vocaturo up on chessgames.com the other day and saw he was an occasional Dragonista, but that his results with it hadn't been terribly good.

Anyway, tough loss for Burns-Mannion after being so close to a win. Don't think letting both sides Queen was a good idea, from his POV. I thought he could win w Ng3 (to stop the h-pawn) and Bc3/e3 (to trade off the Nd4 and then play Rb5 and Qb8), but he may not have had quite enough tempi. He was down on time, too.