English Chess Forum

There are only 62 players this year, and many are staying elsewhere. The food, accommodation and service are all very good. If you check prices on suitable internet sources, you will find they are all higher than pre-Covid. Is there anything, other than the chess, going on at the hotel, or in Guern...

I listen to his YouTube channel and he's often unhappy with the state of modern chess so I extrapolated it's cause he needs more opportunities given to him without him needing to take them by force in tournaments every time What opportunities should someone with an English ranking of 21 and a world...

Alan Walton wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 31, 2026 11:09 am

2) Location : isolated venue, Peterborough Holiday Inn is in the middle of nowhere; I thought Kenilworth last year was perfect (nice and central)

The Kenilworth Holiday Inn is not so good for anyone living/staying elsewhere and driving to the venue due to its very small car park.

The Chessbase obituary states he was awarded a "FIDE stipend" from 2020. Are these stipends like pensions and are they primarily for chess players who have fallen on hard times or are they more a form of recognition? I assume they mean the FIDE veteran support program which is a one-off payment (so...

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 30, 2026 7:53 pm

How are Jan's norm chances after the two draws that took him to 5.5/8? I presume he needs a final round win?

Non-existent because I think the required score is 7/9.

Obituary of the "Chief Geologist of Mongolia".

With a Swiss pairing system, prizes are usually awarded to the players who scored most points because they played better than players who scored fewer points. Obviously, it's not perfect because players who start poorly and finish strongly tend to play weaker opponents, on average, than those who st...

This event is turning into a huge title generating machine. I've seen some criticism of this player and team (scroll down to the bottom of the page and look at team 106), the objection being that they put their best player on bottom board and the accusation being that this was done to give him a go...

There's at least one player, whose name I've forgotten, who got the GM title by dint of winning the World Senior championship. That was probably several decades after he got the IM title. Are you thinking of Larry Kaufman or Yuri Shabanov? Janis Klovans who became an IM in 1976 and a GM in 1997. It...

Is there some cutoff point where all those who attain IM by a certain (young) age have gone on to be GM (absent external factors)? Not sure if that could also be established. There's at least one player, whose name I've forgotten, who got the GM title by dint of winning the World Senior championshi...

The difference, if you look back at the previous quote, is: "Rank after Round 7" vs "Final Ranking after 7 Rounds". That is quite unprofessional, to publish results and rankings like that and then change them. I think you'll find "Rank after Round 7" is continuously updated as results come in so it...

Having 6 boards in the Open and squads of 8 players makes for some bizarre board medals permutations. https://s3.chess-results.com/tnr1475190.aspx?lan=1&art=81&turdet=YES&flag=30&SNode=S0 Must be some rules somewhere on how to calculate that! The normal arrangement, which seems to have been applied...

Just to let you know, the Gold Members Representatives will be meeting on Teams this Sunday. If you have any questions, please let us know. Will the two Gold Member reps who submitted the comfort break proposal be belatedly gathering opinions on it from Gold members? Will they vote against the prop...

ECF AGM Agenda 14 November 2026 C43 12 Motion by Barbara Farrar – Direct Member Representative – Gold [C45.12] Proposed request to the Board That the ECF Board appoint an arbiter with relevant experience to lead a review, with input from organisers, arbiters and interested players, of whether and u...

Players rated over 2400 and those who beat them or draw with them in unrated games. Why will they mind? The game wouldn't have been FIDE rated before and still won't be. I suspect a player rated 2350 who beats a player rated 2450 and loses to a player rated 2250, in the same event, would not be hap...