English Chess Forum

I do not want to paint a picture of doom and gloom, but it is fair to say that there will be a lot of work to do for everyone once chess restarts. As I said it is unimportant at the moment, but it is still something to think about. What I worry about is the loss of chess club venues — pubs and soci...

MJMcCready wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 22, 2020 5:36 am

If the virus is transmuted onto a chess set, which piece are you most likely to catch it from? Are pawns more susceptible to germs than minor or major pieces?

Probably safest are a newly promoted piece, a knight on the rim, disconnected rooks, and an isolated pawn.

https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/index.html

Well worth a browse. I've even contributed to it myself.

Owen Hindle was once a Member of Sutton Coldfield Chess Club, so three years ago I wrote (with his help on a couple of details) a micro-biog for the Club's website http://www.suttonchess.org.uk/ Owen Hindle (b. 1940), author of Further Steps in Chess (1968), and co-author of The English Morphy? (200...

In a local league I lost easily to a 200+ player, which was no surprise. The fixtures were such that we were to meet again in the return match the very next week. I was determined that our new game would not be a procession again, and that now I would force him to think, so I sacced a knight for two...

The following misunderstanding has happened more than once...

I really dislike adjournments.
Why? Is it because of the war?

Colin Patterson wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 06, 2020 5:25 pm

Am I the only non-recipient curious to see what this 'badge' looks like?
Can someone post a photo of it?

Don't you have any arbiter friends? Bad career move.

I assumed this was a post about a track by the popular beat combo "Cream" What badge is this ? The one that the ECF have posted to "esteemed chess colleague" thanking the recipient for "whatever organisational role they play in supporting the ECF" Shouldn't that be E steemed C hess F ellow?

As to "reaching out his hand to the opponent" [...] I was present when a player reached out his hand, intending to resign. But his mis-hearing opponent asked whether he was offering a draw. And when told that he was (in a split-second change of heart or simple opportunism), the opponent actually ag...

An empirical survey could be done, comparing current players with both a FIDE rating and an ECF grading. JP Wilkinson carried out such a survey, but it was a very long time ago, last century, in one of the British chess magazines. I no longer have the details except for his formula itself: (ECF * 5....

Played in a tournament at the weekend - 12 months after my first since returning after a 35 year lay-off. Arrived early on the first day, so helped the bookstall guy unload. He had a large stock. He predicted he would take £200 - £300 over the weekend - not profit, just takings. I suggest that's wh...

On my first visit to a tourney in Poland I was asked about my chess book selection. At that time it was very small. "Eight or nine," I said. The response I got showed we had misunderstood each other. "Eight or nine metres, that's not bad".

During my time my Club has been forced to move 4 times, not exactly from pubs but from social clubs or similar. Venue decides to open doors at 7.30pm (our official match start time) rather than 7pm, with no advance warning. Dozens of bemused/annoyed patrons, not just chessplayers, stuck outside the ...

An important matter. A club can be surcharged (through a league) for fielding players who are not ECF members. This already happens.

I differ with some arbiters regarding this. If White'flag falls and neither the arbiter nor Black notices, then Black's flag falls - IT SHOULD BE A DRAW. My reasoning is that it takes a conscious action to call a flag fall. If Black was unable to do so in time, then it should be a draw. Aha, others...