Another Congress Bites The Dust

[Tim Spanton]

This just in:

In light of the ongoing uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, and the need for stringent social distancing measures to keep the community safe, the organisers of the DCCA "Paignton" Congress have decided - after considerable discussion - to formally cancel this year's Congress, which was due to take place on 6-12 September 2020.

https://beauchess.blogspot.com/

[Gordon Cadden]

Believe that Paignton is the oldest Annual Congress, outside of the British Championship

[David Sedgwick]

Believe that Paignton is the oldest Annual Congress, outside of the British Championship

It is my duty as a Committee member of the Hastings International Chess Congress not to allow that statement to go unchallenged.

I send Paignton fraternal greetings. We too have a difficult decision to make.

[Alex McFarlane]

I too am a member of the Hastings Committee.

My challenge though is in regards to an event which with the exception of war years and CV year has been running continuously since 1884 is the Scottish Championships.
As well as the Championship (in the early years called the Major but the winner was Champion) there have always been supporting events so anyone who wanted could enter.

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Alex,

Pity about the 2020 Scottish Championship. The Royal Botanical Gardens is amazing.
In the centre it's so peaceful, you cannot see or hear Edinburgh.
When it rains Is the best time go. Get drenched and dry off in the hot house.
I go at least once or twice a month.



But alas it is cancelled. Can I please be the 2020 Scottish Chess Champion to make it continuous, You cannot just have a gap.

2019 Colin McNab
2020 Cancelled due to virus.
2021 Probably Colin McNab again.

it could/should read.

2019 Colin McNab
2020 Geoff Chandler (no games, or scores available a dog ate all the paper work.)
2021 Probably Colin McNab again.

If you agree I'll back up your claim for Arbiter expenses. Can I Alex...please...Can I?

[David Sedgwick]

I too am a member of the Hastings Committee.

My challenge though is in regards to an event which with the exception of war years and CV year has been running continuously since 1884 is the Scottish Championships.
As well as the Championship (in the early years called the Major but the winner was Champion) there have always been supporting events so anyone who wanted could enter.

Any claim of longevity by Hastings relates only to England.

As I think you know, England and Scotland are different places.

[Alex McFarlane]

Can I Alex...please...Can I?

No!

Any claim of longevity by Hastings relates only to England.

Since the original post compared Paignton to the BRITISH Championship I thought mentioning another British event was acceptable.

I certainly don't dispute the Hastings claims if you limit it to England.

[Stewart Reuben]

For international chess events, it is seldom disputed that Hastingss is the longest running. The older Scottish Championship was not international until relatively reccently, as far as I know. Did non Scots play and, if so, were they strong enough for the event to be regarded as international. Was not the top tournament, the closed Scottish Championship for mny years?
I don't know how international the US Open was. It also precedes Hastings 1920.

It has not yet been decided whether the Hastings ICC will take place this year 28 December to 5 January - or thereabouts. If it doesn't, it will be a great pity as it will be the Centenary of the HICC that has been running, apart from the war years, continuously since 1920.

[Tomis Chagall]

it could/should read.

2019 Colin McNab
2020 Geoff Chandler (no games, or scores available a dog ate all the paper work.)
2021 Probably Colin McNab again.

Something similar happened to the scores of the German Chess Congress in Cologne 1898:
Only 48 games and 4 fragments are available of the 120 actually played. Max Lange, the chairman of the German Chess Association, was entrusted with the score-sheets to prepare a book on the tournament. Mr. Lange lost the score-sheets and a book was never done on this tournament until 1997, when Vlastimil Fiala was able to gather all the known games.

There are rumours that his widow sold and/or threw away everything related to chess after he had died in 1899, thus most of these games are highly unlikely to resurface (albeit from the majour tournament a number of games were published in the Dutch federation journal).

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Tomis,

I posted something about this in chessgames.com in May;

After Max died in December 1899, the year after the tournament in question:

"Apparently his widow no longer wanted to have anything to do with chess, his extensive
collection of chess literature and documents was offered for sale the following year.

During this campaign, the game transcripts of the congresses in 1894, 1896 and 1898, which the federal
administrator wanted to view and publish as a tournament book, may have ended up in the waste paper."

https://www.schachbund.de/news/dr-max-l ... aehlt.html

Somebody mentioned in passing that T. E. Lawrence lost the manuscript of "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom" in Reading Railway Station.

Then to my amusement and amazement I discovered that A group of people (I'd call them optimistic nutcases) led by one Nick Lynch
went looking for the missing m.s. at Reading station in November 2019. (I wonder if they checked out the lost property department.)

https://telsociety.org.uk/event/london- ... -environs/

I am putting on my C.V. that I won the locked in 2020 Scottish Chess Championship by default because only I turned up.

[Simon Rogers]

According to the English Federation Calendar, the Scottish Chess Championship is still going ahead as planned.

[Roger de Coverly]

According to the English Federation Calendar

But not the Chess Scotland website

https://www.chessscotland.com/news-post ... hips-2020/

[Simon Rogers]

Yeah. I noticed on the chess Scotland website a couple of months ago. I put it as a post on Event Cancellations on Thursday 30th April.
However the English Chess Federation doesn't seem to update their calendar very well.
I think there is a number of other tournaments that have been cancelled which are not canccelled on the calendar.

[NickFaulks]

However the English Chess Federation doesn't seem to update their calendar very well.

Perhaps you should cut them a bit of slack in current circumstances.

[Roger de Coverly]

I think there is a number of other tournaments that have been cancelled which are not canccelled on the calendar.

As a working assumption, all tournaments and leagues should be regarded as cancelled unless they announce otherwise.