English Chess Forum

Nick Ivell wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 15, 2026 5:18 pm

Adams is still there on Saturdays.

Thank you for that. I was looking in the weekend section next to the bridge, but I now see it’s alive and well in the features section.

James Pratt wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 13, 2026 4:39 pm

Mickey Adams in The Telegraph?

James

Is Adams still there on a Saturday? I haven’t seen it in the epaper (ie not their website) for at least a year - though I don’t check every Saturday. And I think that epaper is a reproduction of the print copy (albeit not as good as others do it).

It’s always been unclear to me whether the fee a member of the open team receives is anything to get excited about (from their perspective, not the ECF membership). And as a consequence whether selection for the team was anything also to get excited about. For example, while Nigel Short has made occ...

Seems from the website they still sell bridge products. Though no idea if that is old stock or if that is just online too.

Must confess I don’t recall ever seeing anyone looking at the bridge section of the old store - at least certainly didn’t have the same interest as the chess.

Seems to have rebranded as “The Chess Shop” in the new location too.

MJMcCready wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 26, 2026 2:13 pm

McShane has been called an amatuer because he works for a long time now, often the world's strongest amateur.

This is a myth - his LinkedIn profile shows in reality he worked full time for 5 years (most recently 2014) since he left Oxford in 2007.

Just to pick up on what Graham said, I too hope the amazing juniors we have make rapid and enduring progress. A slight word of caution. 2700 is a massively high target. There is a reason that less than 100 people at any one time are above that level. And that some juniors abroad (Erdogmus and Oro) ...

Spoke too soon. Roberson may have let the draw slip! 44.Qh2 and the assessment swung from -7.0 to 0.0. :shock: EDIT: Stunning. Now Harry is winning. 46.Kg3 and now +6.4. Roberson buckling under the pressure (time pressure and tournament pressure). Harry found 47.Qd3. Very good example of Jonathan R...

4 games from the tail end of 1988. 11 games each from 1989, 1990, 1997, 2010, 2011, 2016. 9 each from 2018, 2019, 2023, 2024, 2025. 3 from start of 2026. That is 4+66+45+3 = 118. Not sure where 87 came from. EDIT: 1990 was crazy. The two people who came first and second (Plaskett and Hodgson) finis...

I had forgotten Adams first won so young (17) in 1989 and only added another two between then and 2010 (for reasons Leonard gives). “When he was campaigning for the world crown” doesn’t really stand up to scrutiny though. As soon as the tournament had an ok prize fund via sponsorship in Hove 1997 (...

(And is it compulsory, or can you just stop the clock and verbally inform the arbiter of your intention? I may have hallucinated this.) Rule 9.2.1 “ is about to appear, if he/she first indicates his/her move, which cannot be changed, by writing it on the paper scoresheet or entering it on the elect...

I think the reasoning goes as follows: (1) If you are about to play the move that produces threefold repetition (in this game, that is Adams playing 99.Qc2+) then Adams would have to claim before doing this, as in the period between playing the move and stopping the clock to call the arbiter, his o...

Well that was funny. Adams allowed the same position three times (moves 92, 94 and 99). Each time it was Qc2+ with Black to move. But Samuel Chow did not spot that. Oops. Adams is now winning. He did spot it, but got an expensive lesson in how to claim this draw correctly by playing his move first.

I suppose it depends on your definition of “soon”, with the ECF website saying “ We expect to announce the successful candidates on the ECF website soon afterwards.” It's about time we had a thread for conspiracy theories on why the result still hasn't been announced. I assume the candidates will ha...

Likewise thanks to John’s photo I recall seeing him at many events and a very decent person.

Was there any particular reason he stopped playing competitively a decade ago?

Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 17, 2026 7:45 pm

Very sad news - I only played him once but saw him at many events, really nice person, and a scary opponent!