English Chess Forum

IM Jack Rudd wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 17, 2026 6:24 pm

Yeah, looking at the Blackthorne match line-ups, the individual rating differences were 400 or more on every board, so that's an expected match aggregate score that cannot be higher than 0.48.

Richard Bates of this place level with Rapport into the endgame until move 30.

Bodhana and Aga were on at the end of tonight's BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00326q4 Pleasant report and accurate apart from the reference to eight wins from eleven matches instead of eight points from eleven games. Clearer would be 'undefeated with x wins and x draws from her eleven...

It depends to some extent on the person's accent. https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+pronounce+bayeux+in+french&oq=how+to+pronounce+&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCAgAEEUYJxg7MggIABBFGCcYOzIGCAEQRRg5MgYIAhAjGCcyBwgDEAAYgAQyBwgEEAAYgAQyBwgFEAAYgAQyBwgGEAAYgAQyBwgHEAAYgAQyBwgIEAAYgAQyBwgJEAAYgAQyBwgKEAAYgA...

Grating news:
I have heard broadcasters mispronouncing Bayeux as 'bio'.

Also a BBC reporter outside the Tapestry exhibition yesterday told us we couldn't 'underestimate' the interest. I think she meant 'overestimate'.

I am so pleased to have a won position that it doesn't worry me in the slightest if my opponent delays resignation or engages in other provocative behaviour. It is important to remain scrupulously polite, smile and shake hands as usual if the opponent is still present at flag fall. The stress of dep...

On Monday 17th August The Times had a lengthy page 3 feature on Bodhana, including a picture of her British Women's playoff game v Trisha Kanyamarala, again erroneously captioned as 14 years old. There was also a leading article on the current popularity of chess. Today, 19th August, there is a lett...

Angela Eagle was responsible for changing the female British champion title to "Womens" from "Ladies". She persuaded Stewart Reuben to do this at the 2008 British Championships at Liverpool. I think it was at the Liverpool 2008 prizegiving that I was impressed by Angela Eagle's impromptu speech in ...

Judit as President would have been good for the sanctioning of Dvorkovich and weakening Kirsan Ilyumzhinov's bid to resume as FIDE President (proposed by the Russian Chess Federation). CHESS magazine reports: The EU is once again considering sanctioning the FIDE president...Mr Dvorkovich was listed ...

England v Norway at 81.56 on the football clock. Fairly sure I just saw camera pick out Magnus in the crowd. No remark by commentator.

Widening this thread to a team selection problem for a club with several league teams. Take a club with five teams, A to E, in a small league with two divisions of 7 and 8 teams, five boards each. The A and B teams are in Division One, selected in rating order, no problem. The controversial topic is...

When chess friends meet up and play something other than chess together, what is most commonly played? Is it golf? I think bridge must be one of the most likely, with golf up there too. I am partnering a fellow chess club member at a bridge club this evening though he is not my regular partner. By ...

If we do enjoy chess it is curious that, unlike most enjoyable activities, we are hoping it will be over as soon as possible, in our favour of course. Perhaps the enjoyment comes from the winning glow which may well last longer than the game.

It seems difficult to find a list of past English Senior chess champions. The ECF website's history starts only in 2019. I am fairly sure that the first champion was Andrew Whiteley in 2008 in the 0-60 tournament organised by Neil Graham at the Izaak Walton Hotel in Derbyshire. Subsequently the comp...

Here is Malcolm beating me in a British Championship Qualifying Zone in the days when games were arranged privately, usually at the home of one of the players. The other participants were N S Cooper, K G Hyde, G Nicholas, F Parr, R Webb. I believe Frank Parr once held the record for appearances in t...

I like this sort of thing:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... 2Hn2IGV6Y2

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