Hastings International Chess 29 Dec 2014 - 6 January 2015

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Chris Rice
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Hastings International Chess 29 Dec 2014 - 6 January 2015

Post by Chris Rice » Sun Dec 28, 2014 6:12 am

The tournament starts tomorrow and numbers-wise the entry looks pretty good. For instance 107 players have so far entered the Masters. Unfortunately only 11 players so far over 2500 with just three over 2600. Here's the current list with links to live games etc. Games start at 2.15pm each day. http://www.hastingschess.com/entrants-1415/

One other curious thing, I mentioned in another thread that at the recent Qatar "Open" there was an entry bar where you had to be 2300+ to play and queried what the definition of an "Open" was. Given the strength of the field there it definitely could have been called the Qatar Masters instead. Therefore its strange that only 29 of the 107 strong field entered so far in the Hastings Masters would have been eligible to play in the Qatar Open.

As always I shall be rooting for the legend that is Bernard Cafferty. He may be 80 but is still capable of wiping the floor with any of these young whippersnappers. Great article today from Malcolm Pein http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/ches ... ferty.html

Chris Rice
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Re: Hastings International Chess 29 Dec 2014 - 6 January 201

Post by Chris Rice » Mon Dec 29, 2014 11:05 am

Soon to be game on in the Hastings Masters and it appears 103 players have so far rocked up. Round 1 pairings here http://www.hastingschess.com/2015/SMWSite/

Three immediately took the eye for me:

Board 1 Maxim Rodshtein (Israel 2676 no 1 seed) v Ezra Kirk (2308)
Board 27 IM Bellin (2338) v Bernard Cafferty (2095) - c'mon Sir Bernard!
Board 45 Tim Spanton (2002) v John McKenna (1722) - a first round battle of ECForumites

Live games (given its the first round that's bound to be followed by "in theory" but we have our collective fingers crossed) http://www.hastingschess.com/live-games-1415/

John McKenna

Re: Hastings International Chess 29 Dec 2014 - 6 January 201

Post by John McKenna » Mon Dec 29, 2014 2:28 pm

Chris Rice>Board 45 Tim Spanton (2002) v John McKenna (1722) - a first round battle of ECForumites<

Sorry to disappoint Chris (and Tim) BUT I asked for a 1st round bye on the entry form.
Despite an email this morning and a phone call (answering service) this afternoon - to the contacts on the website - the pairing stubbornly remains in place. Meanwhile I remain absent until tomorrow.

Perhaps if anyone at Hastings reads this they can inform Tim that I have a bye.

LawrenceCooper
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Re: Hastings International Chess 29 Dec 2014 - 6 January 201

Post by LawrenceCooper » Mon Dec 29, 2014 3:19 pm

Chris Rice wrote:Soon to be game on in the Hastings Masters and it appears 103 players have so far rocked up. Round 1 pairings here http://www.hastingschess.com/2015/SMWSite/

Three immediately took the eye for me:

Board 1 Maxim Rodshtein (Israel 2676 no 1 seed) v Ezra Kirk (2308)
Board 27 IM Bellin (2338) v Bernard Cafferty (2095) - c'mon Sir Bernard!
Board 45 Tim Spanton (2002) v John McKenna (1722) - a first round battle of ECForumites

Live games (given its the first round that's bound to be followed by "in theory" but we have our collective fingers crossed) http://www.hastingschess.com/live-games-1415/
They are showing boards 1-5 and 16-27. I'm not sure if 6-15 are somewhere obvious and I haven't noticed them though :oops:

John Moore
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Re: Hastings International Chess 29 Dec 2014 - 6 January 201

Post by John Moore » Mon Dec 29, 2014 3:38 pm

Go lower, Lawrence!

Alex McFarlane
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Re: Hastings International Chess 29 Dec 2014 - 6 January 201

Post by Alex McFarlane » Mon Dec 29, 2014 3:40 pm

Sorry John

Info did not reach me re bye.
You will be included in round 2.
I was puzzled by your non-appearance as I do consider you reliable.

Tim has been repaired.

I am pushing for some form of registration in future to avoid things like this (as well as bye requests being shown on the website).

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John Upham
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Location: Cove, Hampshire, England.
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Re: Hastings International Chess 29 Dec 2014 - 6 January 201

Post by John Upham » Mon Dec 29, 2014 3:53 pm

Alex McFarlane wrote: Tim has been repaired.

Please give Tim my best wishes for a speedy recovery.
British Chess News : britishchessnews.com
Twitter: @BritishChess
Facebook: facebook.com/groups/britishchess :D

John Moore
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Re: Hastings International Chess 29 Dec 2014 - 6 January 201

Post by John Moore » Mon Dec 29, 2014 4:38 pm

Boards 6-15 seem to have stopped working, anyway.

John Moore
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Re: Hastings International Chess 29 Dec 2014 - 6 January 201

Post by John Moore » Mon Dec 29, 2014 4:49 pm

Anybody on site know why this has happened.

John Moore
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Re: Hastings International Chess 29 Dec 2014 - 6 January 201

Post by John Moore » Mon Dec 29, 2014 4:54 pm

Boards 6-15 now working again.

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Matthew Carr
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Re: Hastings International Chess 29 Dec 2014 - 6 January 201

Post by Matthew Carr » Mon Dec 29, 2014 5:02 pm

John Moore wrote:Boards 6-15 now working again.
All part of the service :D

Barry Sandercock
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Re: Hastings International Chess 29 Dec 2014 - 6 January 201

Post by Barry Sandercock » Mon Dec 29, 2014 7:13 pm

Interesting endgame, Sowray-Snape. Is Peter winning, I'm not sure.

Chris Rice
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Re: Hastings International Chess 29 Dec 2014 - 6 January 201

Post by Chris Rice » Mon Dec 29, 2014 7:38 pm

IM Bellin (2338) 1/2 - 1/2 Bernard Cafferty (2095)

John McKenna

Re: Hastings International Chess 29 Dec 2014 - 6 January 201

Post by John McKenna » Mon Dec 29, 2014 10:42 pm

Alex McFarlane wrote:Sorry John

Info did not reach me re bye.
You will be included in round 2.
I was puzzled by your non-appearance as I do consider you reliable.

Tim has been repaired.

I am pushing for some form of registration in future to avoid things like this (as well as bye requests being shown on the website).
Thanks for your response, Alex.

I did not notice mention of my pairing by Chris Rice hereabouts in time. Otherwise I would have posted about my bye much earlier than I did. Apologies for any inadvertent confusion caused by my somewhat hastily planned absence today - I usually circle the bye request on entry forms. This time I entered late and due to the rush did not highlight it.

See you for R2, tomorrow.

John

Brendan O'Gorman
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Re: Hastings International Chess 29 Dec 2014 - 6 January 201

Post by Brendan O'Gorman » Mon Dec 29, 2014 11:16 pm

Some photos (to which I hope to add over the coming week) http://tinyurl.com/Hastings2014

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