English Chess Forum

Brian Walden, former presenter of ITV's Weekend World, died on Thursday at age 86. He was a strong player as a teenager, won the 1948 Staffordshire championship, and played for the West Bromwich team which won the top division of the Birmingham League. He gave up chess during his university and ear...

In its obituary (13 May 2019) The Times comments on the role of Brian's mother Dora, who sadly died when he was just 14: 'He liked chess but she stamped on his hopes of becoming a professional player, warning it was better to get a "proper" job or even become a priest. … The passion for chess and re...

The results of the Nottingham Congress may be found at: http://chess-results.com/tnr426834.aspx?lan=1 As usual, the results should also appear on the Nottinghamshire Chess Association website in due course: http://www.nottschess.org/index.php Many thanks are due to Simon Scott for mastering Swiss Ma...

This survey is based on more than 900 responses, which seems to be a healthy sample size. However, it would be helpful and usual to see the sample sizes for each group displayed alongside the percentages. It would also be helpful to have the number of ECF members in each category to see what proport...

Yes, the decision was as difficult as that. And that is why the decision to support Makro is not surprising; but the unanimity of the decision, on the other hand, is hard satisfactorily to explain. It would be wrong of me to breach boardroom confidentiality, so I'm not going to report anything beyo...

"Malcolm to his credit has conceded gracefully. "Disappointing election result yesterday but wish FIDE well. I am very proud of ECF President, CEO and Board for unanimously taking moral and ethical stand in the present climate."" "Unanimously"? Well, I wasn't at the meeting, so it may depend on how...

The second National Schools Blitz Championship will take place at The King's School Grantham on Sunday 7th October from 10.45 until 4.00 p.m. Entry is free and done online: https://www.englishchess.org.uk/NSCC/blitz/ where further details may be found. The five-round Team Blitz, which is in the afte...

Matthew was very happy to finish his very last match as a Reading pupil with the team becoming champions for the 3rd time in 5 years 😀 Thanks to all the organisers for their excellent and hard work. Many congratulations to Reading School on their third victory and to all the schools who qualified f...

For the detailed results in all four sections, see: http://nottschess.org/2017_18/congress.php

There is an interesting report about the Fernwood girls' triumph on the website of West Nottingham Chess Club:
http://westnottinghamchess.org/club-new ... girls.html

Many congratulations to the team and their manager/coach John Crawley!

I saw Stan in chess action several times and admired the standard of his play and his sporting approach. My condolences go to his family and to his friends in the Ashfield, Notts and wider chess community. There is an interesting and informative obituary on the Notts website: http://nottschess.org/2...

Presumably that'll now be graded, given there are only three games, and so there is no liability at all? The previous events in 2015-17 were graded but the new system means that counties will no longer be billed for the minority of players who are not ECF members. In answer to Neill Cooper's questi...

There are also U130 "Four Counties" (Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire) 12 board U18 matches which were set up by Phill Beckett in November 2015. The events are held twice a year and work as a three-round all-play-all; each county has hosted once. The current holders of the...

For more details of this offer, see: http://www.englishchess.org.uk/new-dgt-clocks/

The deadline for league entries is only five days away (30 September) Teams can still enter Afternoon Qualifiers after this, or even just play as one of the eight teams at the Repechage at University College London, 2-5 p.m. on Sunday 3 December (a day later than previously advertised). Entries now ...