English Chess Forum

ECF Grading site is down as of 13:45 The performance of the grading site on the new server is vastly improved however I would like to see the awkward URL being tidied up. Picky yes but still correct :oops: Agreed. It is very fast now so good job whoever is responsible! Next step is to allow sorting...

ECF Grading site is down as of 13:45

Apologies for posting on the chess rather than the pairings :roll: but I have confirmation that Akshaya's convincing win over John Cooper yesterday was indeed her first IM scalp in rated chess. I think that both the result and the game deserve more attention that they seem so far to have received. ...

John McKenna wrote:About time I made an effort -

Composing a witty quintain
Addled many a left-sided brain,
Made poets quite sick
Of the form limerick,
But quatrains - they feel right as rain.

I think that deserves a "hmmm". You've totally lost me there. If I get time i'll visit a dictionary!

There was a chess forum online
Whose members thought they were divine
How wrong could they be
When all came to see
Their clocks had all run out of time

Before a move is made I always go for a win. Why play otherwise? Depending on how the game goes I may change that to aim to a draw. However, as a captain there are times when a draw is sufficient for the team. I will somehow communicate that to my player (without breaking the rules!) usually by show...

So obviously it's not possible to get more than 9 Queens of one colour in a real game, but that aside, try this. Kh8 pawns on h7 & g7 and a knight or Bishop on g8. Put a White king somewhere far away and Queens on all the other squares. Black to move. It's totally impossible but technically stalemate.

John McKenna wrote:How many queens can you have illegal and still only stalemate?

I'd say 59!!!!

If you removed Wood Green so as to restore competition, then Drunken Knights has a potentially unfair advantage against Hackney, Cavendish and others, that by strategic nominations and player usage, it can field half a first team when playing as DK2 and a whole first team when playing as DK1. I can...

Wow that is some collection David. If I had the space I would happily buy them from you. I might be interested in the following though: Foxy 75: The London System - Martin (121 mins) Foxy 50: Torre Attack - Plaskett (85 mins) Roman's Lab Vol 69 - Dzindzi Anti-English Complete and Ambitious System fo...

Most leagues try to get a move rate simlar to 3 minutes per move. Some go down to 2½ minutes per move. But 50 moves in 90 minutes is less than 2 minutes per move. It's a sufficient drop in time per move to be noticeable i think. In the UK I would say evening league chess is the most prevalent and we...

I would like to nominate Robert Parsons from Hatch End Chess Club. He has been a solid 130 player for many seasons, but this year has surpassed all expectations. As his captain for Hatch End A I have kept track of all results and can state that as well as a massive improvement he is also a bloody ni...

Hatch End, a small club by all accounts, has over 50 books in it's library and is expanding all the time. Possibly because of the reason mentioned by MJMcCready, but it does get used. I am revisiting one of my favourite books - Chess Secrets by Edward Lasker. A cracking good read as it is more biogr...

Hi Greg, I have them in stock and at those prices, just waiting for the paperwork and website to be sorted out. Over 50 of them sold last weekend on mentioning it on this forum with alot of other enquiries, it's not a limited offer. You can expect another big order shortly. One quick question, does...

I think the digital clock is only really useful for single sessions and the time taken to set one up for resumption of an adjournment would effectively mean that everyone would just use the analogue clock to resume. One of the requirements for a clock to be FIDE approved is that it must be possible...