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Re: James McQuillan : former child chess champion?

Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:54 pm
by IM Jack Rudd
Richard I do know; he used to play for Thornbury in the Bristol League.

Re: James McQuillan : former child chess champion?

Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 1:56 pm
by JustinHorton
John Saunders wrote:Whenever some non-chess person tells me that they know someone who plays chess, for some reason they always refer to them as a 'chess champion'. Ditto, the general media. 'Chess champion' is usually just hyperbole for 'keen chess player'.
It's not just chess, by the way. If you've read Fever Pitch you may recall the passage in which Hornby says he's always being introduced to people on the basis that they're a mad-keen Arsenal fan and it almost always transpires (until he meets his future wife) that they occasionally see a game on the telly or once went to Highbury or something. In the media this syndrome usually manifests itself as a mention of some celeb's "beloved Tottenham" (or whatever team it may be) which usually means they haven't been to a game in years.

Re: James McQuillan : former child chess champion?

Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 8:02 pm
by John Upham
Against my better judgement I have joined "The Apprentice" Facebook group and posted an item on their fascinating discussion forum.

I've informed them of our discussions here but I doubt if anyone will be in slightest bit interested if any or all of the egotists are fake or not.

Re: James McQuillan : former child chess champion?

Posted: Wed Apr 22, 2009 10:30 pm
by Neill Cooper
I've now heard his being a chess prodigy being referred to on 'The apprentrice - you're fired!'.

Re: James McQuillan : former child chess champion?

Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2009 12:22 pm
by Ben Purton
Lorraine Tighe - if she wins Ill be in disbelief.

Re: James McQuillan : former child chess champion?

Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 9:01 pm
by Richard Colfer
Found your 'sceptical' post via google so this is me posting to verify that I exist and did indeed represent England juniors a few times. Though at least one was 'The rest of England vs London', to be fair. :)

Re: James McQuillan : former child chess champion?

Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 6:05 pm
by Leonard Barden
Reverting to the original topic of this thread, tonight is the big moment. James McQuillan has survived to the final five candidates, and in tonight's episode (BBC1, 9 pm) the contenders will each have an in-depth grilling designed inter alia to find inconsistencies and misstatements in their CVs. Will James's child chess prodigy credentials (presumably fake, in view of previous comments on this thread) be demolished?

Re: James McQuillan : former child chess champion?

Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 6:41 pm
by Neill Cooper
Leonard Barden wrote: Will James's child chess prodigy credentials (presumably fake, in view of previous comments on this thread) be demolished?
If I remember correctly last year's winner had fake University credentials so I doubt if AS will worry that James overstated his chess achievements from primary school.

Re: James McQuillan : former child chess champion?

Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 7:03 pm
by JustinHorton
Neither would I, to be honest.

What bothers me is that everybody went ahead and published what they were told without asking questions.