English Chess Forum

At the recent World Seniors in Italy, where I was playing in the 50+ Open, the daily routine to get into the tournament hall included the Fair Play person squeezing my wallet. She told me this was to check for SIM cards and I told her how I felt about this ridiculous idea. As for lingering in the to...

I live in New Zealand and play a lot in Asia, the continent NZ belongs to, chesswise. Casto Abundo - Toti - will be sorely missed here. He was always involved, always finding ways to promote chess in Asia with seminars and events, always smiling, always taking the time to greet people and make us fe...

From the New Zealand Chess Federation official website. We mourn the loss of our dear chess friend and colleague Hilton Bennett who very sadly passed away on November 12th after suffering a serious heart attack on Wednesday afternoon, November 9th. Hilton was a colossus on the New Zealand Chess scen...

Matt Mackenzie wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 04, 2022 6:02 pm

Something about his being married to Helen Milligan could surely be mentioned?

Murray is not married to me nor was he ever married to me. He split up with me in 2009. Doubtless your info needs some updates.

Hmmm is it allowed for an actual female to comment on this thread?! I've heard that 'more girls give up' line trotted out a lot. What is never mentioned is that an awful lot of boys give up too. You just don't notice, unless the kid was one of the really outstanding ones. I've had students give up c...

Chess results are achieved by skilful thinking and hard work. Not by altering your appearance to fit society’s ideals. Chess is one of few activities where we are judged solely by what we can do. This deal undermines that. Hence, it is humiliating, not empowering. Of course I understand that the top...

Enthusiastic? I haven't seen any enthusiasm. The feelings are overwhelmingly of outrage. A cosmetics company would be fine, of course. Slapping on a bit of lippy has no comparison with major unnecessary surgery. Where is the the IOC on this one? One of the reasons drugs are banned is to prevent peop...

With regard to charges for FIDE-rating Rapid and Blitz: FIDE does not charge but federations can and do. NZL is currently discussing charges (something which I as President of a club which just decided to FIDE-rate everything am not happy about!)

IA Ying Wang runs the Summit monthly FIDE-rated junior rapids in Auckland. They are complementary to her well-organised coaching program; her club Summit was set up specifically to encourage junior chess. More junior events can be found on the Interschools tab of the NZCF website. The Intermediate (...

Auckland Chess Centre owns its own venue but the other big Auckland clubs do not.

Murray bought a church in Devonport primarily to rent out as a wedding venue; it wasn't really used much as a chess centre and has long since been re-sold.

The 'foreigners' are NZ permanent residents or citizens who have retained their original FIDE federation. No-one else can get into NZ at the moment. You can follow it at the website! Lots of juniors... I miss the Asian and World Senior events!

The discussion on a talented 7-year-old needs to be pursued here, because it's exactly the kind of cultural influence that makes a difference to kids. I imagine most of you are aware that World, Continental, and sub-Continental Junior and Youth events extend down to under-6 championships. These are ...

GM Judit Polgar Tweeted "If the coaches see a talented seven-year-old girl, please don't tell them that they can become the world champion between ladies. Tell them that they can be the best in the world." That is the kind of astute comment that illustrates she understands exactly the cultural disad...

I didn't write the article. However, it certainly does reflect my own personal experience. I understand 100% why the author has chosen to remain anonymous - the discussion here and in the lichess thread should make that crystal clear. I have, on occasion, tried to put forward a similar point of view...