English Chess Forum

Matthew Turner wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 17, 2020 7:19 pm

Not meant to be harsh, simply meant to be good marketing

Whoosh!

Oh that's sad news. A familiar face (and for short period in my very early teens, familiar potential opponent) through 30 years of playing league and weekend chess. As above, I wouldn't have guessed he was quite that age, but then it is one of those strange features of being a chess player (particul...

About 10 years ago, all players found guilty were stripped of their titles also. Given my FIDE position at the time, I'm surprised that I didn't know about that. Do you mean you were completely unaware of the Myanmar scandal (which I thought was quite common knowledge (or at least gossip) at the ti...

Care to elucidate? Well the fact that he was British U14 champion is a bit of a clue! But he also once told me an amusing (for me) story about a tournament in Surrey once when we were a bit younger that i (as a relative 'superstar') turned up to play. He said he had some memory (being down on board...

If you want some serious possible candidates, although still not "that" late, i would suggest Keith Arkell (learnt at 13). Not sure when Mark Hebden started.

Justin, I had a number of names in mind, but I couldn't say for definite. The one that I'm 95% sure about is Mark Ferguson Don't think so. Care to elucidate? Well the fact that he was British U14 champion is a bit of a clue! But he also once told me an amusing (for me) story about a tournament in S...

Need to distinguish between people who started late, and were late developers (eg. who played a lot but were not considered anything special as younger juniors but suddenly make dramatic advances in late teens or later)

Matthew Turner wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 11, 2020 6:23 pm

Justin,
I had a number of names in mind, but I couldn't say for definite. The one that I'm 95% sure about is Mark Ferguson

Don't think so.

In this horrible year that just gets worse and worse, it is with the greatest sadness that I relay the news, that will I suspect come to as a complete shock to many, of the passing yesterday of Nick Mitchem at the tragically young age of 46, having been in hospital for a number of weeks. Many across...

Another factor could be the reducing strength of the junior events at the British; back when I was playing these (around 1990) the events where very strong; nowadays because they let any Tom, Dick or Harry into the championship has impacted this; back then it was extremely difficult to qualify, so ...

Richmond Juniors? I am a great admirer of the wonderful work Richmond has done over the decades - and the Complete Chess Addict was my absolute favourite book as a child. However I felt, then and now, that clubs like Richmond are very good at developing a large pool of juniors who are competitive a...

The numbers work for me. I think it's simply wrong to say that they only have any value for beginners. I would say that they are my fundamental starting point when assessing any position, and without them i would find it very difficult.

Although perhaps that's what's holding me back.

I agree with Richard. I would have thought that a major attraction for a number of players in team events is that they (potentially) get FIDE-rated games without taking a week off work. But if deals are made outside the match, (e.g. captains agreeing all boards drawn) that does affect the rating sy...

I should add, perhaps, that of course the above arguments aren’t absolute. There will of course be those who care little for rating anyway -so can be dismissed as a motivator, and who might anyway lose interest once team result is determined. Just as there are those who will try their best and fight...

“Mystified” is perhaps laying it on a bit strong. I get the principle. However, I’m not saying that most people play 4ncl (or any team chess) solely for an individual rating. But they play for a range of reasons, one being that it is an opportunity to play competitive chess, hopefully against player...