British Rapidplay Championship Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th April 2023

[Mick Norris]

One FIDE Rated OPEN Section | Prize fund £3,000 | Fee: £40 @ Bradford

4NCL website

[Roger de Coverly]

One FIDE Rated OPEN Section | Prize fund £3,000 | Fee: £40

I wonder where that leaves the tournament in Yorkshire in November or December that hasn't been run since 2019.

http://www.british-rapidplay.org.uk/2020site/index.html
viewtopic.php?f=54&t=10689&hilit=britis ... 50#p286716

[NickFaulks]

I wonder where that leaves the tournament in Yorkshire in November or December that hasn't been run since 2019.

Gone and forgotten, hopefully.

[Matt Bridgeman]

A few probably fine tweaks evident - 15+10 time control, 12pm and 10am starts for days 1 and 2. And only zero point byes (1) allowed.

[Mick Norris]

Only 1 section is the main tweak (apart from the changed venue and time of year)

[Andrew Zigmond]

I wonder where that leaves the tournament in Yorkshire in November or December that hasn't been run since 2019.

Gone and forgotten, hopefully.

Quite uncalled for. The event ran successfully for many years and the main organiser was recognised in 2014 with the Hardcastle Shield for services to Yorkshire Chess. I never played myself as rapidplay is not my thing but if there were complaints about the standard of organisation we would have heard about them.

I agree that the need to run this event trumped the right of the old organisers to choose not to do so. It's possible that, like a lot of heritage events, it needed a reboot to stay relevant. But the history should be celebrated, not forgotten.

[NickFaulks]

But the history should be celebrated, not forgotten.

Fair comment, and all good things do come to an end. But there is work to be done if that event is not to be remembered for the nature of its demise.

[Andrew Zigmond]

But the history should be celebrated, not forgotten.

Fair comment, and all good things do come to an end. But there is work to be done if that event is not to be remembered for the nature of its demise.

The "demise" was no event in 2020 when nothing could take place and no event in 2021 when many people were still jittery about Covid and the risk of a further lockdown was very real. The previous organisers opted not to hold it in 2022 and the 4NCL have stepped in. That's all there really is to it.

[David Sedgwick]

Quite uncalled for. The event ran successfully for many years and the main organiser was recognised in 2014 with the Hardcastle Shield for services to Yorkshire Chess - incidentally the only time the award has gone to an individual outside Yorkshire. I never played myself as rapidplay is not my thing but if there were complaints about the standard of organisation we would have heard about them.

I agree that the need to run this event trumped the right of the old organisers to choose not to do so. It's possible that, like a lot of heritage events, it needed a reboot to stay relevant. But the history should be celebrated, not forgotten.

As her late majesty Queen Elizabeth II said, recollections may vary. You would be entitled to feel that what I have written below says more about me than it does about the former organiser(s).

The glory years of the British Rapidplay Championship were the early ones in the late 1980s. They are indeed worth celebrating.

I first became disillusioned with the organisation of the event in 1996. I have had nothing to do with it since.

Rapidplay is not my thing either, but I am seriously considering playing in 2023.