English Chess Forum

Oh yes. sorry I am unused to Natasha being called "Regan"! I remember a report of her preparing the Kings Gambit in an Olympiad, back in the 1990s, and showing her preparation (as White) in advance. John Nunn would apparently wonder over, and (not realising this was "White" preparation) would say ho...

Which struck me as possibly the strongest ever 8 board team with reserves. The other mini-milestone looks to be as the first board in the shortish ECF history with a former Olympiad player in the mix, provided one disregards Nigel as not strictly speaking a director and Olympiad match captains as n...

FM was a joke. I can't imagine there's much argument there. He gave the great Botvinnik a scare, for starters. ... Did he miss something though, or not? Whether it was a scare perhaps depends on how far in advance Botvinnik saw ...c2+. I imagine the English spectators at the time must have been goi...

oh, it's my habit to leave research to others on this forum. We have RdC, after all.

FM hardly does him justice! (Needless to say). I remember him beating Sadler in 1990 (at the British) and Luke McShane in 4NCL in the late 1990s. They were already IMs by then. Goodness knows how old he was by then.

it was to be unlimited, first to ten (!!)

Euwe was praised by Alekhine for immediately announcing there would be a return match as he accepted the World championship. I don't think anyone expected Alekhine to play Euwe yet again in a further rematch after he regained the world title. After Alekhine's death control of the title eventually p...

I’m just amused by the idea of an appeals panel being reduced from 3 to 2 as a result of one member having to recuse themselves for potential perception of bias - only for the resulting “panel” to be deadlocked with the only way of resolution being... to refer to the previously recused member! (who...

What are the actual rules on disconnections, since they are evidently different from the everyday rule "bad luck, you lose" (since losing games like that is only for the hoi polloi, and not possibly applicable to elite GMs)? I am inferring that the distinction is whether the loss of connection was ...

What are the actual rules on disconnections, since they are evidently different from the everyday rule "bad luck, you lose" (since losing games like that is only for the hoi polloi, and not possibly applicable to elite GMs)?

oh that can't be a good decision. Tough on India to lose in that way, but still...

we knew they were well matched, but .... (did anyone even miss a win? A human win, that is, not whatever Koneru missed).

Predictions then! Come on! I'll take Russia.

Russia win their first match 3.5-2.5 against the USA although it was looking like 3-3 with Shankland two pawns up in an ending against Dubov. Looking at it from the other side, it would have been an impressive comeback from the USA to grab the draw if they had won that game in addition to salvaging...

Russia win their first match 3.5-2.5 against the USA although it was looking like 3-3 with Shankland two pawns up in an ending against Dubov. Looking at it from the other side, it would have been an impressive comeback from the USA to grab the draw if they had won that game in addition to salvaging...

Withdrawing in protest from a knockout is not particularly problematic as these things go; the only participant it harms is you yourself. It's different doing it in an all-play-all or a Swiss, where your action can have knock-on disruptive effects. That’s a fair point. 4NCL Online teams, take note