English Chess Forum

Chess performance can, crudely, be reduced to a combination of three elements: natural ability, study and practice. Chess performance measured by grading can be influenced by many factors, including the number of games played, the relative strength and range of the opposition faced etc. IQ is suppos...

In Nottinghamshire, for the past three years, we've issued a letter to Year 6s encouraging them to continue playing chess even if they discover that there is no chess club at their new secondary school in September: www.nottschess.org/files/letter_to_year_6_children_2019.pdf Linked to this, a couple...

Essentially, the old knock-out format in retained under the umbrella of a seeded swiss with two teams unbeaten at the Finals competing in the fourth round for the trophy. Do you amalgamate first , second and third round losers in the pairings? I rather had the impression that after round 1, it divi...

The rules of the Under 19 National Schools Chess Championship may be found at: https://www.englishchess.org.uk/NSCC/under-19-rules-2018-19/ The rules have changed very little in the past four years since Neill Cooper introduced the new format in 2016: sixteen teams at the Final, no age handicap and ...

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...