English Chess Forum

At the moment I am considering (for August 2019 onwards) FIDE rating the third section at Hampstead, this will probably be Under 1700 (and you would also have to be Under ECF 135). What do you think? As a regular in the U135 section, I would welcome changing this to being FIDE rated for the reasons...

While I normally try to refrain from being critical of volunteers who do their best in sometimes challenging circumstances, I really do think the consultation on grading changes circulated with the latest ECF newsletter is wholly inadequate. I've had experience of a number of consultation exercises ...

Mick Norris wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 11, 2019 8:16 am

There's also Chorlton's Ron Doney who had the misfortune to try and teach me Probability in 1983/4

A name from my past - he taught me in the 1970s.

Mike - thanks for the review. I'm on my way there now and it's useful to know what to expect. Having now returned, I would echo Mike Gunn's assessment of the venue. In practice, there was little difficulty in getting successive slots in the main playing arena if you wished. So, I spent three-quarte...

Mike - thanks for the review. I'm on my way there now and it's useful to know what to expect.

Does anyone know what happened in the U1825 section? The runaway leader on 100% after 8 rounds was not paired for the final round and is currently shown on 0 points on chess-results.

Is anyone else having problems with the ECF grading website at the moment? As far as I can see, all the results for the 2018-19 season that were previously displayed have disappeared. Also, the grades shown seem to have reverted to the original unamended ones, with no record of the supposedly defin...

Is anyone else having problems with the ECF grading website at the moment? As far as I can see, all the results for the 2018-19 season that were previously displayed have disappeared. Also, the grades shown seem to have reverted to the original unamended ones, with no record of the supposedly defini...

The train returned to Prague on Tuesday after a most enjoyable five days travelling through the Czech Republic and Poland. The overall winner was Australian IM Guy West with an amazing 10/11. The least said about my own performance the better, unlike last year when I seemed to play at a much higher ...

Brendan O'Gorman wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 12, 2018 12:03 am

Good luck, Nigel. Looks like great fun. Hope you can give us a full report when you get back.

Thanks! I went for the first time last year which I thoroughly enjoyed.

The annual Chess Train departs from Prague tomorrow morning. There are due to be 22 different nationalities on board, which is a record. Among the 103 starters there are seven registered as ENG, three as SCO, plus another Englishman registered as NOR, which I believe is also a record turnout from th...

A similar situation occurred a few years ago, except on this occasion the clock had been incorrectly set to give no increment. I was less experienced then, so by the time I realised what was happening my flag had fallen and my opponent claimed the win. When explained to the arbiter, he ruled that t...

Stop the clocks and call the Arbiter. That is what I have done on both occasions. However, I've had different rulings (albeit in slightly different circumstances) and wish to know which is correct. With DGT 2010 clocks, the display changes at the point when the time falls below 20 minutes - instead...

It is really down to the arbiter at the event to ensure that clocks are correctly set at the start of the competition and reset at the start of each round. That's understood - but I would still like to know what is the correct procedure when you discover towards the end of a game that the clocks ha...

Is the problem related to a particular make or version of clock? Was it a DGT Easy Plus, DGT 2010 or something different? I think yesterday was a DGT 3000; on the previous occasion a DGT 2010. I realise that if you look closely at these models you can deduce something about the settings. These days...