99th British #Chess Championships 2012

Debate directly related to English Chess Federation matters.
Lara Barnes
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Re: 99th British #Chess Championships 2012

Post by Lara Barnes » Tue Jun 12, 2012 4:13 pm

Wow! New Prize announced - "The Adams Trophy", category U10 to U16, best grading/rating improvement (for any junior who does not win another prize) plus cash.
Big thanks to Tim and Abi Adams for this generous donation.

Ernie Lazenby

Re: 99th British #Chess Championships 2012

Post by Ernie Lazenby » Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:29 pm

Lara's welcome news has reminded me of something I intended to do.
I have contacted Lara and offered a cash prize of £100 to be awarded to the most outstanding Junior(any section) decision to be hers in liason with David Welch and the other officials.

I like supporting juniors, they play the game free of any chess politics and in a manner of 'free spirit' going all out to win every game!

My 5 year old grandson has shown some interest and ability so hopefully he will keep it up. My 9 year old grandson plays at school and generally beats all comers using some of the simple traps I showed him. Hes too interested in his fencing football,rugby and his band to take chess too seriously but he may do so later.

Andrew Martin
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Re: 99th British #Chess Championships 2012

Post by Andrew Martin » Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:45 pm

The cricket match this year will be on Sunday 29th July at 2pm vs local club Monkseaton CC . As usual the ECF XI will be looking for players, colts or adults. Anyone with the remotest interest in cricket is invited to enjoy a great day out as player or spectator. Tea will be provided.

If you would like to play please bring whites, or something white at least and let Andrew Martin or Alec Toll know in the early part of the first week.

This is a great tradition, the 28th or 29th match in the series and the 2012 match promises to be excellent.

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Peter D Williams
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Re: 99th British #Chess Championships 2012

Post by Peter D Williams » Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:50 pm

Ernie Lazenby wrote:Lara's welcome news has reminded me of something I intended to do.
I have contacted Lara and offered a cash prize of £100 to be awarded to the most outstanding Junior(any section) decision to be hers in liason with David Welch and the other officials.

I like supporting juniors, they play the game free of any chess politics and in a manner of 'free spirit' going all out to win every game!

My 5 year old grandson has shown some interest and ability so hopefully he will keep it up. My 9 year old grandson plays at school and generally beats all comers using some of the simple traps I showed him. Hes too interested in his fencing football,rugby and his band to take chess too seriously but he may do so later.
That is very generous of you Ernie to donate a cash prize of £100 for the most outstanding junior.

Juniors may not always be able to play the game free of chess politics has some ideas policy's made by the board or officers could affect junior chess players.

Good luck to your grandson in starting to learn to play chess.
when you are successful many losers bark at you.

Ernie Lazenby

Re: 99th British #Chess Championships 2012

Post by Ernie Lazenby » Tue Jun 12, 2012 7:22 pm

Thanks Peter, 40 years ago I ran a chess club for juniors at our local sports centre. The LA provided the room for free and bought the equipment. It was a time free of red tape ,CRB and all that stuff.(I accept its needed in todays world) I just enjoyed watching the kids going all out for a win every game draws not being on any agenda. Good fun.

Alex Holowczak
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Re: 99th British #Chess Championships 2012

Post by Alex Holowczak » Tue Jun 12, 2012 11:03 pm

Andrew Martin wrote:The cricket match this year will be on Sunday 29th July at 2pm vs local club Monkseaton CC . As usual the ECF XI will be looking for players, colts or adults. Anyone with the remotest interest in cricket is invited to enjoy a great day out as player or spectator. Tea will be provided.

If you would like to play please bring whites, or something white at least and let Andrew Martin or Alec Toll know in the early part of the first week.

This is a great tradition, the 28th or 29th match in the series and the 2012 match promises to be excellent.
Well, I'm an ECB Level 1 Scorer, and I'll be in North Shields. Assuming the schedule Lara designs means I'm free on Sunday, I'd be happy to come and score the game if you like.

Andrew Martin
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Re: 99th British #Chess Championships 2012

Post by Andrew Martin » Wed Jun 13, 2012 9:52 am

Great idea Alex. We will gratefully accept your offer!

abi&timadams
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Location: Northumberland

Re: 99th British #Chess Championships 2012

Post by abi&timadams » Wed Jun 13, 2012 2:36 pm

Excellent news, we live just down the road from there and will certainly spectate (as long as we aren't otherwise involved in chess).

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Peter D Williams
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Re: 99th British #Chess Championships 2012

Post by Peter D Williams » Wed Jun 13, 2012 4:34 pm

Ernie Lazenby wrote:Thanks Peter, 40 years ago I ran a chess club for juniors at our local sports centre. The LA provided the room for free and bought the equipment. It was a time free of red tape ,CRB and all that stuff.(I accept its needed in todays world) I just enjoyed watching the kids going all out for a win every game draws not being on any agenda. Good fun.
I think it is very generous of you Ernie to give out £100 as a prize to a junior chess player.Any financal help towards helping junior chess is really good and im sure very much appreciated by all junior chess player/ parents.Peter my son wont be able to win it has he is not playing this year in the British Chess Championships.

Im not so sure we do need all the red tape that we seem to have for almost everything im sure a little common sense would solve most problems!

I to enjoy watching kids going out for a win in chess and just playing for fun some of the best chess games i watched have been at Richmond Junior chess club /Coulsdon events where junior are playing some amazing attacks.These may not always be sound but great to watch!
Any way many thanks for your support of junior chess.
when you are successful many losers bark at you.

William Metcalfe
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Re: 99th British #Chess Championships 2012

Post by William Metcalfe » Wed Jun 13, 2012 4:58 pm

The Junior champ of Darlington chess club this year is 6 years old he is tactically very strong already as Ernie will be able to testify to as he saw him play a really nice combo one night at our chess club.
I am speaking here for myself and not the NCCU which i am now president of

Alan Burke

Re: 99th British #Chess Championships 2012

Post by Alan Burke » Thu Jun 14, 2012 11:17 pm

Lara; I am certain that this year's Championships will be a resounding success irrespective of which GMs decide to attend - success is not only judged by the standard of players at the event whilst those who feel they don't wish to take part will certainly not be missed.

The vast majority of players attend just because they are dedicated to the game and don't expect to come away with any prize money - and I doubt that many of those (if any) will decide not to attend just because of the absence of any high-ranking player who some might consider to be a 'big name'.

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: 99th British #Chess Championships 2012

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:33 am

Alan Burke wrote:Lara; I am certain that this year's Championships will be a resounding success irrespective of which GMs decide to attend - success is not only judged by the standard of players at the event whilst those who feel they don't wish to take part will certainly not be missed.

The vast majority of players attend just because they are dedicated to the game and don't expect to come away with any prize money - and I doubt that many of those (if any) will decide not to attend just because of the absence of any high-ranking player who some might consider to be a 'big name'.
Alan, that other thread was locked for a reason. Saying what you say above (which is clearly referring to what was said in that thread) risks things spilling over from there to here. And the timing of your post clearly shows that finding yourself unable to post in that thread, you chose to post here instead. Can we please not have this thread derailed as well.

Andrew Farthing
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Re: 99th British #Chess Championships 2012

Post by Andrew Farthing » Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:50 am

Christopher's right. The exchanges on the other thread weren't pleasant to read. I was out at the time and didn't have an opportunity to comment. I would like to say something about this year's British Championships and its Manager from the ECF Board's point of view. I don't intend this to be an invitation to re-open the unsalutory discussion on the other thread.

Unsurprisingly, I don't see everything that Lara is doing, along with others, to make the 2012 British Championships a success. I see more than enough, however, to know that she is making extraordinary efforts in all sorts of ways to turn North Shields 2012 into a fantastic experience for chess players of every standard. Some of this has been mentioned in this thread.

The ECF Board voted (none against) to appoint Lara as the Manager of the event because they thought that she was the right choice. We want the event to succeed. Having seen the phenomenal work that Lara has put in, I'm happy that it was the right decision. The vagaries of sponsorship and the fact that, understandably, professional players need to be paid for their work mean that the strength of the British Championship fluctuates from year to year. This isn't the sole criterion for success, as Lara quite rightly has said.

I would urge anyone thinking about playing in the 2012 Championships to give it a go. There is a special quality to the British which makes taking part a richer experience than the average, as the hundreds who compete each year will attest.


(I apologise to Carl if these comments, picking up on a locked thread, breach the Forum rules. They are intended to be positive and constructive, and the sentiment was something that I wanted to put on record. I wouldn't want them to be seen as an attempt to reignite the utterly unhelpful exchanges elsewhere. Having said what I think needed to be said, I'll respect Carl's wishes and not comment again.)

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Carl Hibbard
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Re: 99th British #Chess Championships 2012

Post by Carl Hibbard » Fri Jun 15, 2012 10:31 am

Andrew Farthing wrote:I apologise to Carl if these comments, picking up on a locked thread, breach the Forum rules. They are intended to be positive and constructive, and the sentiment was something that I wanted to put on record. I wouldn't want them to be seen as an attempt to reignite the utterly unhelpful exchanges elsewhere. Having said what I think needed to be said, I'll respect Carl's wishes and not comment again.
There are no forum rules on this matter or any ban on this discussion, the thread was closed only because if was getting a little personal and was drifting away from the subject in question
Cheers
Carl Hibbard

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Carl Hibbard
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Re: 99th British #Chess Championships 2012

Post by Carl Hibbard » Fri Jun 15, 2012 10:35 am

I would prefer not to lock a thread but to moderate, edit, warn and gently persuade people to keep to topic with my usual poor attempt at light moderation but I am afraid with my current workload and popularity of the forum at times this is not always possible :oops:
Cheers
Carl Hibbard