English Chess Forum

There seem to be exceptions to this, Ian...or at least one.

Jason Garcia (Wales) received his FM title after an FM-level performance in the European Club Cup in 2024, despite never reaching 2100 FIDE.

I'm not English and I haven't been following this thread. However, I notice that, of the 30 juniors aged 10 or under who are rated over 2000, England has five of the top 22. Including numbers 1 and 5. Next best is the USA and China with three players. Those with two entries include Scotland. Perhaps...

It's maybe worth mentioning that the player of the black pieces was/will be nine years old this year.

This weekend sees the largest congress in Wales for a decade...and perhaps a lot more. 5 female participants out of 141. 3.5%.

The above entry from Simon, which covers most of the Welsh Chess Union's tribute to Robert, sells his contribution woefully short. Across his half-century of service to Welsh chess, he will principally be remembered for the implementation of a live rating system which is still in place today. He wro...

Sorry folks, I've just been directed back for an encore. Just to clear up a couple of things. I approached the ECF numerous times, more or less the last time being to report someone who had been banned 3 times in the space of 6 months and had 15/15 with his current account. No action was taken and a...

I didn’t see David’s original post. Perhaps it’s just as well. In response to the modified effort, thank you very much for the sentiment. I cannot say I don’t like you as we have never met. However, I don’t like your response. Is this really a witch-hunt? The sentence of mine you select for your des...

On the victimless, trivial non-crime of online cheating which few people should care about, can I raise a few real-life points in opposition to it, though I guess most people know what I think. - Firstly, you're wasting a lot of other people's time, especially if, say, you're a regular in 4NCL onlin...

Although it is bitter-sweet, it is nevertheless a relief for me to hear Fabi say (in Paul C's link above, at about 42 and 51 minutes, respectively).... "I would also take Regan's analysis with a large grain of salt...because I know of a very high profile case where, with absolute certainty, I can sa...

"There is a much higher arbiter / player ratio at a Hybrid event." Sure - and I expected this reply. However, it doesn't come close to covering my entire point by any means, including the quality of this year's Glorney games or indeed arbiters, whatever the arbiter:player ratio, being pro-active, in...

I can't see why a hybrid event would necessarily be safer than an OTB one. There's no opponent to raise concerns about multiple absences from the board so it's wholly incumbent upon the arbiters to take the lead and intervene. Also, as the Glorney games in question were of such a high standard, with...

In other news, Tim Kett (Wales), who many of you will know, secured his FM title in the last round.

William Watson was indeed part of the 1980 team, on board 2. I played him - I think you all turned up half an hour late. You did have a full team that day, as you beat Wales 5.5-0.5.

Since Neil's post, our team captain has booked 6 rooms at Woodland Grange for the next weekend so things may be ok for others too.

Surely hybrid chess, at the moment, is online, with Tornelo, Zoom and local arbiters as safeguards. Given the number of bans (eventually) meted out at the World Youth Championships in 2021, it seems that trustworthy local arbiters are key to hybrid chess working. One player won a silver medal in the...