English Chess Forum

I have taught myself both descriptive and algebraic notation. An old and therefore cheap book preferred -- Staunton is the author I know of, but other recommendations eagerly sought. As comprehensive as possible, bearing in mind I live in a very remote area and when I play an actual opponent it wil...

Player A and Player B are playing chess. Player B makes his move, but does not press his clock. A teammate of player B watching the game, tells player B that he should press his clock after his move. Player A now claims the game due to assistance from a teammate. If you are an arbiter in this situa...

is to fully learn and only play one opening :mrgreen: If I see an opponent always plays a particular line it means I prepare for one line. If he always plays two, I need to prepare for 2, and so on. Having a diverse repertoire not only makes you harder to prepare for, but exposes you to a more dive...

It used to be much easier to have a narrow repertoire in years gone by. Nowadays your opponent regularly comes to the board armed with database theory against any line you play with regularity. After a recent league game, a certain forum regular told me that after seeing me play the Sicilian Wing G...

The writing down of moves before they were played would not worried me in the slightest, although I understand why the rule was introduced. Using a different hand to move and to press the clock is something that I would certainly complain about though - even if the opponent does not permanently hol...

If it happened to me and I did not suspect foul play I would probably let it go, if anything knowing your opponents move some minutes before they played it could be seen as an advantage as it means you can start thinking up your response on their time. To be honest this ended up being the case. I c...

If you've only been playing club chess for a while, you may not be aware that the rules on writing down moves before playing them changed recently (around 10-15 years ago!), so some of the older players may not have got used to the change. Players could write down their move either before or after ...

Tonight I was playing a cup game for a club I have recently joined and my opponent was doing 2 things throughout the game which I thought were either not allowed or just poor etiquette. The first was to write down every move before playing it (sometimes waiting for several minutes, sometimes scribbl...

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:(hint: no-one really prepares for evening league chess apart from those at the very top end)

Haha, whoops

Kevin O'Rourke wrote:I won’t know who am playing till I sit down. Have e mailed to see if my colour has been decided yet.

In which case I would spend a bit more time on tactics/attacking ideas and just go for an aggressive game. When I play weaker players I am just after an easy advantage without too much trouble.

How do you prepare for a game where your going to play an opponent much better than you. I have been asked to play a 1st team game as a stand in next week but I am a 2nd team player. Will most likely be facing a player of 1900+ and I am about 1300 myself. Is there anything to be done to prepare or ...

Browsing the ECF website I came across a page which seems to rank Chess Scotland and other independent national chess federations as being constituent units of the English Chess Federation: http://www.englishchess.org.uk/clubs-and-associations-ii/constituent-units-of-the-ecf-other-british-isles-nat...

Ray Sayers wrote:Combine the King with the movement of a Knight, then see how long it takes to mate the little swine!

If I remember correctly in Indian chess the king is allowed to move like a knight but only once. I think this is designed as a substitute for castling.

I rarely play the full 5 rounds in any case, but for those who do I see a real plus in not finishing late on Saturday. Don't know about others but after 2 long games I just can't devote much concentration in the third. Certainly it doesn't make for a relaxing weekend, but I do believe that the grue...

As far as I know, Friday evening play is absolutely universal up here. Its not always pleasant - and you always get a fair few byes - but an absolute bargain compared to 3 on the Saturday. I rarely play the full 5 rounds in any case, but for those who do I see a real plus in not finishing late on S...