English Chess Forum

Maybe they don’t care as long as the Olympiad players are given a guaranteed place if they want it? Arguably you need a non-ENG player to justify the "British" tag as opposed to "English". It's an explanation for the invites to the otherwise inactive Rowson. Matthew Turner is playing at Telford so ...

Jonathan Rogers wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 18, 2018 9:03 am

Two places, eh?

There will be a need to define a tie break method. Last year Alan Merry won outright, so the issue didn't arise. There was a tie of four players for second though.

but I am interested in the IOC view on the ethics of his campaign. Government involvement in campaigns for the award of the World Cup or the Olympics is nothing new, we may recall the involvement of Mayors of London, England football stars and the Queen's grandson in the presentations for the 2012 ...

Hah! William Winter, in his Chess For Match Players (2nd ed 1951), said something like "I am unable to recommend this famous opening for match* play", giving very similar reasons to those stated by Matt, David and Kevin. He was writing that in the context of games which finished with adjudication a...

I was thinking of a scenario in which nigel was eliminated in the first round. Nigel might come third in the first round, but is only eliminated if he chooses to withdraw. The electoral rule is that if the first ballot doesn't produce a decisive winner, there's a second ballot where it's only neces...

My intent was to highlight how many amateur players shy away from things like Ruy Lopez, Sicilian, and other top table opening choices and are they doing themselves a disservice in their chess development? Almost certainly you need to know what the main lines look like, even if you choose to avoid ...

Why don’t amateurs play mainline openings? The article suggests that the Sicilian Scheveningen is a suitable choice. That's a system where the Black pieces go to f6 and c6 (Knights), d6,e6, b6/b5,a6 (pawns), e7, d7/b7 (Bishops) and c7 (Queen). The Keres attack with 6. g4 is an attempt to disrupt th...

Any national federation that is thinking of supporting the Dvorkovich-Short alliance in the FIDE election should read this article, and be very scared. I don't recall Malcolm's new friends in the FIDE establishment condemning this action back in 2010. At a more trivial level, when will we be able t...

Richard Bates wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 14, 2018 11:18 pm

Approach changes to the amateur side of the game with caution, and only propose changes when genuinely worthwhile and with groundwork laid for realistic prospect of success.

A default view of the ECF from "the amateur side" is that it takes money whilst giving nothing in return.

Some questions about the British Championship. Should the policy of disallowing non-FIDE rated tournaments to be part of the qualification process be continued? Should there continue to be no special prizes for over 65s in the Championship? This is now pertinent to Norm opportunities as the UK now h...

Paul Cooksey wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 14, 2018 6:29 pm

I was surprised to see Alex standing after standing down early from the Home Director role due to other commitments.

Evidently the "other" commitments are to Junior chess organisation. It seems to be an agreed takeover, given the endorsement by the retiring director.

soheil_hooshdaran wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 14, 2018 6:50 am

What does "well as" mean?

It might be a misprint or a non-native English writer, with "as well as" being the usual expression in the context.

Makropoulos has begun heavy shelling of Dvorkovich's position. According to the written statement of Serbia’s former delegate, the Russian Embassy in Belgrade organized a meeting on 1 August and a few days later a specially structured “sponsorship” package of 220,000 euros was offered to the Serbia...

Mike Gunn wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 12, 2018 12:35 pm

FIDE rated Major (U1900 and U160)

Presumably like the recent changes to 4NCL Congress eligibility, you need to be both under 1900 and under 160 if you have both a FIDE rating and ECF grade.

TimWall wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 12, 2018 9:18 pm

Election Address: Director of Home Chess – Tim Wall

Are there any other candidates apart from "none of the above"?