English Chess Forum

"Our AGM was the best attended in years with a dozen officers appointed." Wow - what are they all doing!? Off topic, but here goes: President: Ken Inwood Chair: John Foley Treasurer: Adam Nakar Secretary: Alan Scrimgour Fixtures Sec: Nick Grey Liaison Officer: Stephen Moss IT Officer: Ed Mospan Soc...

John Foley's club (Kingston) is struggling at the moment. Kingston is indeed struggling - struggling to keep up with the surge in our membership and the enthusiasm of our members. We recently reached the final of the Surrey team knockout in an exciting match v Surbiton which was covered in the Surr...

Is there a way to measure whether the teams in an amateur league have an equitable distribution of strengths? Typically, some teams have several strong players whereas other teams struggle to put out even moderate players. The resultant matches are often unsatisfactory to both sides. This is relevan...

Although Surrey matches are invariably genteel affairs conducted in salubrious surroundings, glasses brimming with Pimm's, this doesn't mean that our players have lost the competitive urge. Chris Briscoe faces John Nunn's Sicilian Najdorf. Game on!

Every team captain should invest in Paper Chess: Create Your Own Chess Set with a Detachable Board and 2 Full Sets of Punch-out Pieces. From our very own John Saunders

Phil responds to the Florida school shooting

https://twitter.com/philehr/status/964264321382535169

The Scandinavian would revert to the Centre Counter.

The French Defence would revert to the Anglo-Norman Keep

This discussion reminds me of a proposal that I made some years ago on this Forum. The UK Driving Licence hides the DOB by mixing up the numbers in a standard way. We can have a chess-specific encoding method for dates of chess players. We can disguise people's dates of birth so that it is not so ea...

David Sedgwick demonstrates the role of professional arbiter with a sprightly dynamism. London Chess Classic 2012

Surely the most significant change is 11.3.3. because the arbiters now have the power to order body searches. 11.3.3 The arbiter may require the player to allow his clothes, bags, other items or body to be inspected, in private. Will this delicate task be included in the arbiter training course? Is ...

Does anyone have any idea how the by-election might have gone if the Conservatives had put forward an official candidate? Would that have increased the Lib Dem eventual majority, or might it have confused things still further? The key issue here in Richmond Park was Brexit. The only chance for the ...

There will be a presentation on the proposed National Mind Sports Centre on Monday 12th December at the Kensington Olympia Hilton Hotel at 2pm. Amanda Ross will outline the preliminary results of the feasibility study that she has been undertaking on behalf of the British Go Association and the Engl...

Perhaps you can explain to me how somebody who was above the VAT turnover threshold for many years and yet consciously made the decision not to charge VAT, and who as a result has been the subject of bankruptcy proceedings by HMRC which are as we speak being enforced, has not broken the law. I find...

Mike Truran wrote:Basman broke the law

Mike, this is a serious allegation. Unless you are prepared to provide some evidence, then I would respectfully advise you to withdraw the statement and apologise. The fact that someone has a tax bill does not mean they have broken the law.

Given the disputatious nature of the chess world, it would be a pity not to record some of the most significant disputes in a systematic way in book form. Too often, residual bitterness leads to polarised accounts of emotional interludes. The behaviour of chess players, who are generally regarded by...