English Chess Forum

Coincidence or consequence the two highest performers on each England side are those that recently engaged in the cut and thrust of high level competition at the British Championships?

I don’t understand our Open team policy (and haven’t for a number of years now). What’s the point of not blooding our brightest and best young players in Olympiads when our older players lose to the stronger teams, struggle to beat the weaker teams, and aren’t in contention for medals? One definiti...

MJMcCready wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 23, 2026 11:28 am

Two French defences to watch unfold today.

Vitiugov on his lichess coaching page seems to disapprove of the opening: “Wrote a book lifetime ago about French defence. People like it. Please, don´t play it!”

Will Pragg change his mind back?

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...