Search found 164 matches

by TomChivers
Fri Apr 19, 2013 11:21 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Maximizing the Magnus Effect
Replies: 13
Views: 1964

Re: Maximizing the Magnus Effect

Watching the match on a big screen with chess friends while having a marathon Indian buffet has a certain appeal. Mm. Interesting. I did some googling. Masala Zone in Covent Garden has a private room that seats 55... I wonder if enough London chess players would turn out to spectate... then there's...
by TomChivers
Fri Apr 19, 2013 11:17 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Attitudes to chess
Replies: 4
Views: 1178

Re: Attitudes to chess

Kevin Thurlow wrote: "I really enjoyed an ex-boss criticising me for playing chess, and he said, "I don't understand why you play chess." I replied..."
I've been thinking this over. How about this as a reply: "Quite right. Intellectual contest is not for everyone."
by TomChivers
Fri Apr 19, 2013 11:13 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Maximizing the Magnus Effect
Replies: 13
Views: 1964

Re: Maximizing the Magnus Effect

1. Chess club membership offers. Chess clubs to offer new members a cheap deal - say, £1 for six months. It doesn't really matter what Chess clubs offer, the ECF is still going to want its membership take. The possibility of introductory offers for new players died when the ECF directors forced th...
by TomChivers
Sat Apr 13, 2013 8:48 pm
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Maximizing the Magnus Effect
Replies: 13
Views: 1964

Maximizing the Magnus Effect

The World Championship in November is likely going to get more mainstream publicity than its recent predecessors. How can English chess make the most of that? Let's brain storm some possibilities. Here are two to start with. 1. Chess club membership offers. Chess clubs to offer new members a cheap d...
by TomChivers
Wed Apr 10, 2013 10:01 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Attitudes to chess
Replies: 4
Views: 1178

Re: Attitudes to chess

I work in a Philosophy Department, and I have to say, most people are pretty interested in chess in one way or another. Several play, some quite seriously; there's an occasional visiting academic who is an IM, one of the PhD students went to chess school in the old Soviet Union, and the students org...
by TomChivers
Wed Apr 10, 2013 9:39 am
Forum: ECF Matters
Topic: Publicity Officer: job description
Replies: 35
Views: 4893

Re: Publicity Officer: job description

It's good to get some support. I'm wondering what might be a good next step with this... Maybe: email the ECF President, mentioning this thread, and asking him to consider distributing the below letter to the membership? Dear Chess player Are you enthusiastic about promoting chess to the wider Engli...
by TomChivers
Mon Apr 08, 2013 2:15 pm
Forum: ECF Matters
Topic: Publicity Officer: job description
Replies: 35
Views: 4893

Re: Publicity Officer: job description

Thanks for the interesting comments. An updated list might be: 1. Organise and issue daily press releases from all top-tier events held in England. 2. Produce a weekly digest of all mentions of chess in the mainstream media (outside of the standard specialist channels). 3. Respond to mainstream nega...
by TomChivers
Fri Apr 05, 2013 9:11 am
Forum: ECF Matters
Topic: Publicity Officer: job description
Replies: 35
Views: 4893

Publicity Officer: job description

I found out the other day the ECF Publicity Officer role is currently vacant. This got me thinking. What, precisely, should be the basic things someone in this post should do? Here are some ideas to get the ball rolling. 1. Organise and issue daily press releases from all top-tier events held in Eng...
by TomChivers
Mon Apr 18, 2011 2:45 pm
Forum: Rating Debate
Topic: The 40 point Rule
Replies: 78
Views: 10795

Re: The 40 point Rule

@Matt Mackenzie I assume because it's easier to programme the spreadsheet this way?

(Since the ECF website has no justification for or apparent awareness of this side-effect.)
by TomChivers
Mon Apr 18, 2011 2:04 pm
Forum: Rating Debate
Topic: The 40 point Rule
Replies: 78
Views: 10795

Re: The 40 point Rule

Thanks for the replies. It seems to me to be crazy for grading gains from wins (or draws) to be *penalized* by the strength of your opponents!
by TomChivers
Mon Apr 18, 2011 12:54 pm
Forum: Rating Debate
Topic: The 40 point Rule
Replies: 78
Views: 10795

The 40 point Rule

Hi folks This is the 40 point rule from the ECF website: "There is a proviso that if your opponent's Grade differs from yours by more than 40 points it is assumed to be exactly 40 above (or below) yours. This is to prevent a player increasing his Grade by losing to a much stronger player, or decreas...
by TomChivers
Thu Dec 09, 2010 3:14 pm
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Printed Chess
Replies: 9
Views: 2198

Re: Printed Chess

Learning LaTex is not implausible for me; some of my colleagues use it and I have a mathematics degree.

But I think in the first instance I'll try to follow Jon D'Souza-Eva's advice.

Thanks for all the responses though!
by TomChivers
Thu Dec 09, 2010 9:40 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Printed Chess
Replies: 9
Views: 2198

Printed Chess

I would like advice on how to print out chess scores along with analysis and diagrams on to paper, and to make it look nice - magazine or book nice. I would be most grateful for any advice or ideas! [A bit of background for those curious. I hope to make a scrapbook of my games so that I can actually...
by TomChivers
Wed Oct 20, 2010 11:59 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Chess blogs
Replies: 17
Views: 4096

Re: Chess blogs

Elizabeth Vicary's chess blog is my favourite. I also like Mark Week's & Rocky Rook's blogs.

Members of chess.com can blog there - I guess this guarantees you an audience, although perhaps a weak one.
by TomChivers
Thu Sep 09, 2010 4:47 pm
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Karpov Fund-Raiser at Simpsons
Replies: 23
Views: 3068

Re: Karpov Fund-Raiser at Simpsons

Twic has a game. Short, Nigel:Vujatovic, Rajko (2690:2222) - Kasparov, Garry:Crumiller, Jon (2812:0) Staunton Mem Consultation game London ENG (1), 2010.09.08 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Bc5 6.Nb3 Be7 7.Qg4 g6 8.Qe2 d6 9.O-O Nd7 10.a4 b6 11.Na3 Qc7 12.Nc4 Bb7 13.a5 b5 14.Nb6 Nxb6 15.a...