English Chess Forum

Geoff Chandler wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 17, 2019 2:33 pm

One day when computers have solved chess
we will be left with just one opening.

I think there will be hundreds or thousands. All drawn unless someone changes the stalemate rule.

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 15, 2019 7:02 am

Curious that they only just saw it

There's a full page ad in the January 2019 edition of Chess.

For that matter, it was centre stage on the bookstall at the London Chess Classic.

Here's the whole game. You cannot help feeling that White got absolutely nothing from the opening and didn't even manage to create a middle game where it was easy for Black to go wrong. So Black had the Bishop pair and more space. 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5 Nd7 4. O-O a6 5. Bxd7 Bxd7 6. c3 g6 7. d4 B...

Bridge for a change https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6587431/Champion-bridge-player-72-given-two-year-tournament-ban-threatens-legal-action.html It must be Eastbourne. One of the few recorded instances of violence at or around a chess tournament also took place there. That was the fight over...

Richard Thursby wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 12, 2019 12:44 pm

There are two Buzzards in the ECF grading list whom I wonder might be related.

Roger Buzzard died suddenly at a relatively young age. That might be approaching thirty years ago. I don't think his son played much after that,

Well, if the winner is already a Candidate, you pass the baton on to the runner-up, and so on. Like the World Cup, Carlsen might also show up unless specifically excluded. It remains to be seen if there will actually be a Grand Prix for the next cycle as firm announcements have yet to be made. So t...

Only because the great majority of games played in England go unreported. I think you should reconsider the "only". The Elo method used by FIDE, unlike most national implementations, only has the hit or miss K=40 for dealing with players whose playing strength now differs considerably from what it ...

I would rather see more frequent grades and the additional workload tested in that place before roll-out to other chess. For some years, the grading database has been used to generate tables for the Grand Prix. As a consequence, tournament organisers seem to have become used to submitting results w...

why is the winner of a Swiss a worthy participant in the Candidates? I thought the theory was to invite as many of the top 100 as agreed to play. The winner of an 11 round Swiss against that class of field is clearly worthy of something. In a universe where international titles worked the same way ...

What besides novelty is the real objective here? It gives a relatively open slot for a player to qualify for the Candidates. The World Cup does that as well but introduces the randomness of a knock out format. A Candidates determined by match play has the same disadvantage as seen in the World Cham...

Alex Holowczak wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 11, 2019 12:49 pm

What other arguments are there?

You need to check that everyone has a FIN, or if they don't that they are content to be ENG.

Mick Norris wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 11, 2019 8:10 am

Yes, particularly with only 1 qualifying spot available

When it was 11 round and a similar sized field, the British Championship managed to produce a single winner more often than not. But then there was often just one player a class better than the rest.

105 players. Wouldn't an even number be better? It appears local organisers can have wildcards. FIDE have had difficulty in finding organisers and sponsors for the World Cup. This would seem an event of similar length and possibly greater cost. It's the wrong timing for Gibraltar, but is the Isle o...

J T Melsom wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 10, 2019 11:39 pm

But we do probably need a separate thread out of respect to the deceased.

Getting even more obscure, this guy recruited me for the school chess team.

https://www.newcastle.edu.au/profile/harold-tarrant

What I find so objectionable in England is the commonly held view that somehow FIDE rated chess is only for the elites. A view promoted by the ECF itself by making a membership surcharge for participation in FIDE rated chess. It's not just the ECF though. Some Congresses charge a higher entry fee f...