British 2015 Round by Round

[David Robertson]

As of Sunday afternoon, there's still no draw posted for round 7 of the British.

The Arbiters haven't finished breakfast yet

[David Sedgwick]

As of Sunday afternoon, there's still no draw posted for round 7 of the British. I guess the kind organisers want players to relax and not waste their day off preparing?
Last year at the World Seniors (also an 11-round event with a break after six games), the draw for the day after the rest day was posted within about 15 minutes of the last round 6 game ending.
Which would you prefer: blissful ignorance or a whole day to prepare?

The Arbiters haven't finished breakfast yet

It has been a long standing practice for the draw for Round 7 to be published early in the evening of the day before the round (normally a Sunday).

The reason as I understand it is to enable a correct draw to be published in the event of any withdrawals earlier in the day.

[Tim Harding]

Here is the top of the draw for round 7 (everyone on +1 or better):

Bd. Name Rtg Pts. Pts. Name Rtg
1 Howell David W L 2698 5½ v 5 GM Pert Nicholas 2562
2 Flear Glenn C 2450 4½ v 5½ GM Gormally Daniel W 2484
3 Hawkins Jonathan 2554 4½ v 4½ Hill Alistair 2159
4 Pert Richard G 2440 4½ v 4½ GM Arkell Keith C 2502
5 Summerscale Aaron P 2416 4½ v 4½ GM Emms John M 2460
6 Hebden Mark L 2500 4 v 4 IM Cooper John G 2313
7 Taylor Adam A 2055 4 v 4 GM Williams Simon K 2426
8 Ward Chris G 2423 4 v 4 FM Lewis Andrew P 2295
9 Batchelor Peter J 2304 4 v 3½ Lam Paul G M 2136
10 Jackson James P 2343 3½ v 3½ Zhang Anthony Y 2109
11 Weaving Richard 2257 3½ v 3½ Scott Gordon W 2101
12 Asenov Pavel 2081 3½ v 3½ IM Rudd Jack 2247
13 Golding Alex 1963 3½ v 3½ FM Storey Charles H 2245
14 Kalaiyalahan Akshaya 1999 3½ v 3½ Mason Donald J 2145

[IM Jack Rudd]

The round 7 draw for the British and the Major Open is not posted on the Saturday evening for a specific reason: players might withdraw on the Sunday.

EDIT: As, on reading the thread, David S said earlier.

[Tim Harding]

I have been analysing the latter stages of the fascinating Hill-Jackson ending from round 6 with the help of the Lomonosov tablebase.

The results (and several other recent seven-man endgames) can be seen at the link below.
Hill-Jackson is probably the most complex and surprising of them all.

http://www.chessmail.com/xtras/lomonosov-list.html

[MartinCarpenter]

Fascinating thanks. That (drawn) position in the variations with 65..Nh6 really is very cute indeed

7Q/8/5K1n/4n3/8/1p6/1k6/8

Interesting that there are some fortresses with just one knight too.

[Mike Truran]

I see Jack's playing one of Witney Chess Club's bright young things tomorrow.

[David Robertson]

Fascinating thanks. That (drawn) position in the variations with 65..Nh6 really is very cute indeed

7Q/8/5K1n/4n3/8/1p6/1k6/8

All you need to do now is remember the ideas, and hope you get to use them once in your next five trillion games

[Stewart Reuben]

There is a perfectly sound reason for NOT publishing the pairings on Saturday. e.g., where a player is due to play the seventh round but something means he must withdraw. By delaying publication it is possible to get more 'accurate' pairings. That has happened in the British at least twice in the past 60 years.
Whether that should outweigh the advantage of early publication is another matter.

[E Michael White]

There is a perfectly sound reason for NOT publishing the pairings on Saturday. e.g., where a player is due to play the seventh round but something means he must withdraw. By delaying publication it is possible to get more 'accurate' pairings. That has happened in the British at least twice in the past 60 years.
Whether that should outweigh the advantage of early publication is another matter.

Why do you think the pairings are then "more accurate". Norm seekers may disagree.

[Alex McFarlane]

I assume that their is still provision for people to transfer from the Championship and the Major Open to other events. People had until the Sunday to do so in the past. The draw could not be done until all the competitors were known!
Potential illness was a secondary reason.

[MartinCarpenter]

All you need to do now is remember the ideas, and hope you get to use them once in your next five trillion games

I'm happy just admiring it as art

[benedgell]

My predictions for today:

Howell 0.5- 0.5 Pert
Flear 1-0 Gormally
Hawkins 1-0 Hill
Pert 0.5- 0.5 Arkell
Summerscale 1-0 Emms
Hebden 1-0 Cooper
Taylor 0-1 Williams
Ward 0.5- 0.5 Lewis
Batchelor 1-0 Lam
Jackson 1-0 Zhang

[Stewart Reuben]

E Michael >Why do you think the pairings are then "more accurate". Norm seekers may disagree.<

I had forgotten the cogent reason that Alex gives. But if a norm seeker is playing a GM in round 7 and now that GM has to withdraw, then the NS either gets a win by default or plays a filler. If the withdrawal is known in time, then the pairings are cast so that the bye goes to the lowest ranked player, who has not already had a bye. Or a filler is introduced to the tournament. It is very likely that, if you have more information, the pairings will be "more accurate". I did not write that they were 'better'.

[Mike Truran]

Why would a GM (or anyone else) withdraw? And if that happens, why not just redo the pairings?

I don't understand why Sunday (as opposed to any other day) seems to be the preferred day to withdraw.

Or is it more the case that the arbiters are so exhausted by their week long efforts tinkering with the computer pairings that they have to go straight to bed after their well-earned dinner?