English Chess Forum

Hard to understand why Arkell turned down the draw on offer on move 50.

Superb finish from Brandon Clarke to beat Arkell and finish 1st=

Brian Towers wrote:Hard to understand why Arkell turned down the draw on offer on move 50.

I guess the generous 1st prize would have played a part

Brian Towers wrote:Hard to understand why Arkell turned down the draw on offer on move 50.

The tournament situation, must win game.

By my maths it's Hernandez and Pert through

Paul

Graham Borrowdale wrote:Superb finish from Brandon Clarke to beat Arkell and finish 1st=

It also takes his rating over 2300 and qualifies him for the FM title.

Leonard Barden wrote:...I have a question as a journalist which I hope someone with the necessary knowledge (David Sedgwick or Mike Truran?) can answer speedily

Would 14-year-old Freddie Hand ... become first reserve if any of the eight participants in the British Knockout Championship dropped out? ... Or would Hand be first reserve for just the two qualifiers from the 4NCL Open? Or not be first reserve at all?

In effect the last of your three suggestions.

Apart from the two qualifiers, the British Knockout Championship is an invitation event. If any of the participants were to withdraw, the choice of the replacement invitee would be at Malcolm Pein's discretion.

Spectacular success anyway for Freddie Hand (3/4 against IMs) who is, in the tradition of Mark Taimanov, a talented pianist and who, with the aid of k=40, should notch up around 100+ Fide points from the weekend, bringing him within range of becoming the youngest player in the England top 100.
http://www.winchesterchamberorchestra.o ... -hand.html

I was a bit surprised there was not a bigger entry to the open, given the prize, and the likelihood of getting games against titled players.

Is this because tournaments take a while to become established?

I was more surprised by the U135 section entry, which was very disappointing - so much so that we had to reduce the prize fund (announced in advance and accompanied by the offer of a full entry fee refund for anyone wanting to withdraw, in case anyone asks! Happily nobody did.)

I'm happy to accept that the marketing may have been sub-optimal, although we've not really had the problem in our U135 sections before. Feedback from those who did enter as to possible reasons has been inconclusive; any thoughts from forumites would be more than welcome. As Paul suggests, maybe it is just growing pains?

Mike Truran wrote: Feedback from those who did enter as to possible reasons has been inconclusive; any thoughts from forumites would be more than welcome. As Paul suggests, maybe it is just growing pains?

A possible reason was that it clashed with the Central London Congress at Imperial College, which may have been a more convenient/cheaper option for many London & SE players.

Mike Truran wrote: I'm happy to accept that the marketing may have been sub-optimal, although we've not really had the problem in our U135 sections before.

e2e4 used to see the same effect with low turnout in its lowest section. I might suggest that it's because the lowest section of a Congress would only attract local players who will be loyal to a long established event, but there are still sizeable numbers in the lower Grand Prix sections. Perhaps it's these players who are the potential entrants that aren't being attracted. Does Harben House have any attraction for the chess tourist?

There was a clash with the Exmouth seniors as well, which contained some names you see in the entry list at every Congress.

Nigel White wrote:

Mike Truran wrote: Feedback from those who did enter as to possible reasons has been inconclusive; any thoughts from forumites would be more than welcome. As Paul suggests, maybe it is just growing pains?

A possible reason was that it clashed with the Central London Congress at Imperial College, which may have been a more convenient/cheaper option for many London & SE players.

Or, to put it another way, too far South!
Bet you don't have the same problem the next time you have one of these in Yorkshire.

Clash with the European Club Cup too.
4NCL to be commended - particularly as some of us are too ill to play & concentrate for more than 90 minutes & had lots of live boards.
Worse on Sunday but got updates from Mike here that being fixed & they were.
The offer of two knockout places being unique & showing that organisers/arbiters can work together is really encouraging.

As a local I can say that the low entry from local players was a little bit surprising. My own excuse is that I have not played a weekend congress for 20 years, owing to family commitments. There are a few congresses in the EACU (e.g. Bury St Edmunds was 2 weeks before Newport Pagnell), which a number of players, who play perhaps 2-3 congresses a year, are loyal to. I think Roger's point about minor players is probably about right, but I suspect the market for weekend congresses is just about saturated.
As for chess tourists - Newport Pagnell is ok for a beer and a Chinese, but typical of any other small town, so I think it would have appealed to hardened chess addicts only.

I hope these comments are taken as constructive, as they are meant to be.