English Chess Forum

Personal opinion: if there is one thing the ECF should ensure takes place, it is OTB British championship events in 2021.| The format doesn't have to be a large seaside venue in which all events occur over a week/fortnight and likewise large Swisses are not a requirement (there was a time when the m...

There's a question of how quickly, presumably with coaching, a player could improve from raw beginner to acceptable standard ( say 80-100 ECF). The allegations are that players appeared to go from raw beginner one week to playing like Carlsen the next. Somewhere online are the games of Carlsen’s fi...

Thanks, Roger. It is indeed helpful and it is good to see that the 'supervised activities provided for children' category holds in all tiers. I am still hopeful of going ahead while at the same time recognising that the government could announce pretty much anything over the next week in terms of po...

With a handful of exceptions, the production line of world standard young players packed up at least twenty years ago probably longer. The collapse of the Soviet Union introduced a lot more potential winners even on a one player per country basis. In regards to parental confusion with national team...

Interesting about the comparison of different junior events; to my eyes the British is always the British, particularly at younger age groups (maybe up to U12) as at older age groups the strongest players start entering the Major Open or main Championship. To my mind the UKCC has a bit of a gimmicky...

Alex - I’m afraid I don’t seem to have received it (sorry).

Alex, This is I think proportionate based on the following factors: 1. The event is for U11 only, who are less affected by the virus and also less likely to transmit it. 2. Given the ages and the time control, each game will typically be 15-30 mins and hands will be sanitised before and after each g...

Good luck but... is this really an event that is allowed within "the rules"? Don’t see why not - if you are thinking ‘rule of six’ and the like, ‘supervised activities for children’ is one of the specifically exempted areas. Plus, covid-secure venues like schools, council buildings etc are a bit di...

Wadih: no, not beforehand. Not really sure what the purpose of such a list is?

Simon: yes. As, indeed, it says on the entry form. Wadih: Yes, rapid 15+8 time control. +8 is intended as 5 seconds +an extra 3 seconds to wait for your opponent to sit back and increase distance before replying...but if this also restrains the instinctive bang-bang-bang of juniors blitzing at the s...

I am organising an OTB U11 tournament in Oxfordshire on the 24th October - obviously subject to potential changes in the rules on what is allowed and what is isn't.

Capacity 30.

Details on the ECF calendar or directly via https://forms.gle/QdA76Z5S64KntGrv7

John - have sent you an email with various full names from U9/U10/U11 in the late 1980s.

Some of the earlier photos are marked 2000 but look more like 1970/1980 - I'm very sure tournaments did not look like that in 2000!

In the immediate future, clarity on "Rule of Six" would be necessary, noticing that in this context, more than six English juniors and presumably their parents had been able to assemble in a hotel venue for the recent European Junior online event. Indoor sports such as five a side football have rec...

So we have it that morally convincing arguments that someone is cheating go like this: Chess - he is *not* a strong player; if he were a grandmaster his moves might be legitimate, but as it is the chance of him playing like that, unless he is cheating, is infinitesimal Poker - he *is* a strong playe...