English Chess Forum

Alex Holowczak wrote:Ah well. We can't all be International Masters.

Sure we can.

Paul McKeown wrote:

Roger de Coverly wrote:The ECF directors could give a lead here (not that they will). Propose a motion to Council that as a minimum, league rules should allow a player to insist on playing to a finish on the night. It doesn't have to be quickplay, it could be increment or delay. The point being that adjournments and adjudications should be allowed only on the agreement of both players. In its weakest form the motion would just be recommended practice.

I agree, this sounds sensible.

...

Roger is right, though, in my view, in saying that adjournments should only be acceptable where neither player would prefer a QPF or the use of increments or delay mode.

Best Regards,
Paul McKeown.

Just for the record, I don't agree with any of this. I don't see why there needs to be federal legislation to outlaw one mode or create an automatic default mode for finishing games. All three modes are imperfect and all three have their adherents and opponents (though the rubbishplay finish fundamentalists seem to shout the loudest here). I would have thought it more democratic to allow local leagues to retain their own right to run their leagues as they think fit (within reason) and to grade in accordance with the current rules. They know rather better than the ECF the needs and preferences of their members, and they all have the machinery to change their rules should local opinions change. Having the ECF impose rules on their constituent members from above could adversely affect the number of people who play chess in different areas (and, incidentally, provide some people and constituents with further reasons to resent the federation). It strikes me that legislation on this matter amounts to 'chess prevention' (though I believe the coiner of that phrase may be on the other side of the fence in this particular argument!).

However, for once I feel optimistic that the national federation will do what it does best - nothing.

Richard Bates wrote:

Alex Holowczak wrote:Ah well. We can't all be International Masters.

Sure we can.

Only if the Elo ratings undergo a massive rating inflation, and FIDE keeps the norm qualifications the same...

To be fair, I only started playing eight years ago, and had limited coaching from anyone during that time (none in the last six years). I'll bet a sizeable portion of the people on the current top 100 juniors (for instance) have had a good wad of coaching from various people, be it from parents initially, or from top players as they improved. Indeed, there are names at the bottom of that list who I've done alright against in games. So all things considered, I don't think my measly (albeit overgraded) 158-standard is that bad.

You could always go to Myanmar. I hear it's quite easy to get a high rating there.

(By the way, do you have a legitimate claim to a nationality other than English? You might, once you get a FIDE rating, be able to get a few invitations to norm tournaments if you do.)

IM Jack Rudd wrote: (By the way, do you have a legitimate claim to a nationality other than English? You might, once you get a FIDE rating, be able to get a few invitations to norm tournaments if you do.)

Technically, if I renounce my British citizenship, I could become a citizen of Ukraine (that's the only way for second-generation ex-patriots to acquire it, and I think that's only in special circumstances). I'm not sure Ukraine is much of an improvement over the UK though, in that regard.

In any case, I don't think I'll ever be anywhere near that good...

Nevertheless, my advice stands: if you play in a FIDE-rated tournament, claim Ukraine rather than England as your federation. Once you're a FIDE-rated non-Englishman, you're a valuable commodity to English norm tournament organizers - I know Scott Freeman has had to dig pretty deep to find his last foreigner for an IM norm event before.

Well, what's to stop anyone claiming foreign nations, in that case? Won't the Ukrainian equivalent of the ECF see that and get a bit confused? Particularly if they see I'm a member of the ECF, and not their organisation?

Alex Holowczak wrote:

Richard Bates wrote:

Alex Holowczak wrote:Ah well. We can't all be International Masters.

Sure we can.

Only if the Elo ratings undergo a massive rating inflation, and FIDE keeps the norm qualifications the same...

To be fair, I only started playing eight years ago, and had limited coaching from anyone during that time (none in the last six years). I'll bet a sizeable portion of the people on the current top 100 juniors (for instance) have had a good wad of coaching from various people, be it from parents initially, or from top players as they improved. Indeed, there are names at the bottom of that list who I've done alright against in games. So all things considered, I don't think my measly (albeit overgraded) 158-standard is that bad.

I wasn't saying it was (I would have thought my implication that you could aspire to be an IM was enough evidence of that), in fact you are mistaken if you think my last couple of posts were remotely trying to use my playing strength as validation for the superiority of an opinion. All i was suggesting, in an attempted humorous manner, was that you IMO seem to have too much respect for what a computer can do for an individual's playing strength, especially at lower levels. On the other hand, I suspect I don't have nearly enough, so once you've chucked your computer in the bin it would be best if I took it out again and then we can both get stronger!

Alex Holowczak wrote:Well, what's to stop anyone claiming foreign nations, in that case? Won't the Ukrainian equivalent of the ECF see that and get a bit confused? Particularly if they see I'm a member of the ECF, and not their organisation?

Presumably you would have to be a member of the Ukrainian Chess Federation, would you not?

In that case, sorry. I tend to take such things to heart... I played school KO cup games with adjournment (time limit too long for 1 lunchtimes), and my opponent put it on Fritz overnight, and spent his morning frees learning the lines. This gave him the confidence that what he was doing was right (the machine was telling him so), and I had to second guess what I was doing, knowing I was in effect playing a computer. He gained a time advantage and soon won material and won easily.

I assumed that too, but I'm not sure I want to be sending off forms + ID across continental Europe. Another barrier, if written in Ukrainian, I won't understand the form anyway...

The ECF will allow you to play in a FIDE-rated tournament in England if you're an ECF member, whether or not England is the federation with which you're registered. I don't know what Ukraine's position on the matter is.

(There exist FIDE federations which have no membership scheme, so it's not universally the case that you have to become a member of a federation to adopt its nationality for FIDE purposes.)