English Chess Forum

David Sedgwick wrote:
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.

Looking at a few known "non-members" on the FIDE site, I was wondering if the ECF policy on this specific issue has been quietly dropped (/lapsed because of the work involved in maintaining)...

John Moore wrote: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.

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

Haha John, William of Ockham would have said don't look for a complicated/deep/sophisticated explanation when a simple one will suffice

We were 11 mins late because we got carried away watching the first half of Everton Chelsea

In his round 3 report Stewart Reuben was right to say that my game wasn't a pre-arrange draw, but wrong to suggest that the moves were in any way weird. Th plan of shuffling our Kings over to the Q-side was very natural. However, he was also right to say I should have played ...g4 (with a big plus) at some point.

Thanks for explaining that away, Keith. William of Ockham is rarely far from our thoughts when watching the footy down the Dog and Duck.

Alan Walton wrote: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

Well it didn't backfire in this round - he's a piece up already against his IM opponent in what looks a very trappy line.

(Edit, a few moves later - Fritz assessment has dropped from around +4 to +0.5)

Can someone explain the end of the Hawkins game. If he resigned it seems a little generous.

Quoting from the mighty Fritz 8: +4.5, with Kf5- e6 and rounding up the 2 q-side pawns being the winning idea.

The design of the DGT software meant the server struggled a little under the load of 8.6 million file requests yesterday alone

Did anyone notice any issues as this will be my last day monitoring

The boards are fine, the issues are all surrounding the attempt at live commentary. And the two connected?

Richard Bates wrote:The boards are fine, the issues are all surrounding the attempt at live commentary. And the two connected?

No

Haven't been even looking at the commentary although it doesn't appear to be online here?

Carl Hibbard wrote:

Richard Bates wrote:The boards are fine, the issues are all surrounding the attempt at live commentary. And the two connected?

No

Haven't been even looking at the commentary although it doesn't appear to be online here?

It turns up for about 2 minutes every 20 minutes or so.

Richard Bates wrote:

Carl Hibbard wrote:

Richard Bates wrote:The boards are fine, the issues are all surrounding the attempt at live commentary. And the two connected?

No

Haven't been even looking at the commentary although it doesn't appear to be online here?

It turns up for about 2 minutes every 20 minutes or so.

Not a clue sorry but there could be a total lack of bandwidth on site to make this possible but someone physically there would need to comment

The live server may exceed the connection tracking limit shortly so the odd hesitation as packets are dropped might be possible, sorry

Hi Guys

We had the commentary working well the other day before we linked to it, but unfortunately the internet connection hasn't been to reliable today. Live streaming does need decent internet connections, fixed wired, close to the hub and good band width etc. etc. We are close to it but not sufficient to make it watchable.

However, I have another live streaming link in the main hall that appears to be holding up quite well. But if I watch it, I end up using a lot of band width. Please could I ask for some volunteers to watch it for me and give me some feedback please?

The link is http://www.livestream.com/ecfwebcam

Many thanks

David

Does any one know who opened the 1922 Hasting International Chess Tournament?

Peter D Williams wrote:Does any one know who opened the 1922 Hasting International Chess Tournament?

Hello Peter.

I'm not sure what prompted this question, but...

The 1921-22 Hastings Congress actually took place entirely in 1921 (26-31 December). I have no information about who opened it. It was billed as the Hastings Christmas Chess Festival and was entirely British apart from Boris Kostich, from Serbia, who won all his games, and the Irish player J.J. O'Hanlon, who was a regular on the English congress circuit at the time.

The 1922-23 Hastings Christmas Chess Congress took place between 27 December 1921 and 4 January 1922 and was a much stronger affair, featuring Rubinstein and Réti. There was a brief speech of welcome by the club President H.E. Dobell.

The opening ceremony of the 1922 London International Congress featured speeches by various dignitaries, including Andrew Bonar Law, who would become Prime Minister two months later, Major Barnett M.P., the Mayor of Westminster and the writer and chess player Lord Dunsany.

Best wishes for 2013 for you and your family. I hope you enjoyed the turkey.