English Chess Forum

Thanks, as ever, to Tim for consolidating all this useful information for all of us who play in the events. Modesty, however, forbids me to accept that I am the top-rated British player in the 65+ championship, as Tim suggests, 'as usual'. While it probably is true that I have been the top-rated Br...

Entries close in a week (17 Sept). The entry lists were updated today at http://chess-results.com/tnr361548.aspx?lan=1&art=0&turdet=YES&flag=30 After the usual late rush there are now 150 players in the 65+. Sveshnikov is in now as second seed. Craig Pritchett, currently 15th seed, is the top Britis...

A few crazy people play both morning and afternoon. It's nice to have the space and sunshine in the morning games but the time limit is fast.

Unless you are on a plus score you will probably play your games in the Open down in the basement restaurant. Sea view but more cramped.

Entry lists have been updated again today at http://wscc2018.european-chessacademy.com/index.php/en/ Entries from our part of the world so far: WOMEN 50+ Petra Fink-Nunn (also Helen Milligan NZL but formerly SCO); total entries to date: 15. WOMEN 65+ Dinah Norman; total entries to date: 8. They prob...

I think the seedings may have changed Yes, the Georgia teams are now included and as a result Ireland are down three places to 68th. Scotland and Wales drop three places too. However the seedings will soon change again when the September ratings are applied. There are now 183 teams in the Open and ...

I did read it though I knew most of that stuff anyway. Actually Michael Portillo covered this quite well in one of his Continental Railway Journeys tv shows for the BBC which included Messina.

Was Christopher Kreuzer's question ("But what possessed Nakamura to play 62...g5 and 66...a5?") answered by Lawrence Cooper? Can it really be that it dawned on Naka at move 62 that he would be better off losing the game? Surely not!? 66...a5 is irrelevant as he was probably losing the pawn anyway to...

After 8 rounds, 32 games played, 26 drawn. 40 games played, 34 drawn. Terrible at maths! Reinforces my argument though. They're off: So v Caruana, Petroff 3 Nxe5 d6 4 Nd3!? Nxe4 5 Qe2 Qe7 Carlsen v Nakamura, QGD Aronian v Grischuk, 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 d6 Anand v Mamedyarov, Open Spanish Karjakin v MVL, ...

After 8 rounds, 32 games played, 26 drawn. In the 2014 Sinquefield Cup, a 6-player double round-robin, 10 rounds, total games played 30, 14 decisive, half of which were Caruana wins. So Caruana alone won more games in 2014 than we have seen so far this year, despite two more games being played. The ...

In the game in which Messina were White, Gerard Killoran quotes the game as lasting 45 moves adopting as his source the Belfast News-Letter of 25.2.1909. However, 'The Chess Amateur' of February 1909 has a longer version of the game, stating that it took this from an article in The Field. The extra...

How are ECF for girls and women in the top junior and senior rankings? In Ireland we have a list online for Top Juniors (age 19 and under) and currently there are 10 girls in the top 100. (Actually in the top 72, but the girl at #101 gained points at a tournament two weekends ago.) I think we also h...

Presumably TV contracts are calling the shots in European sport, but not for chess or Norwegian TV would have got an earlier start for Magnus in Saint Louis.

The final results (a convincing win for IM Alex Lopez) can still be seen at:
http://chess-results.com/tnr357006.aspx ... art=1&rd=9

The closing date for registrations is one month from today (17 September). Arrival date is 17 November, 11 rounds 18-29 November (free day on the 24th). Play starts 3pm for rounds 1-10 but unlike previous years it is 10am for Round 11. Contrary to what the website says, there isn't an online entry f...

For the four players below Nakamura to leap-frog him in the Sinquefield Cup in the most Naka-unfriendly way possible we'd have: Aronian winning with 20 points; So second with 15 points; Karjakin third with 12 points and MVL fourth with 10 points Their standings would then be...Aronian 39, So 38, Ka...