English Chess Forum

And of course, there will be chances of WFM titles for the women. I hope you're right, but 6/9 is quite a target. Also, it tends to depend upon other team members not doing very well. Good point. Alan Tate may make progress (again!) to the IM title (I think he was badly advised when he got to 2399)...

The teams are out . USA are the top seeds in the Open section which is the first time since the break up of the Soviet Union and clearly are heavy favourites to defend their title. Carlsen not playing but Anand back after a break of over 10 years. England are 8th seeds , Ireland 65th Scotland 68th ...

My view has that, as far as possible, each individual's view needs to be approximately equal, rather than each Federation's view. The US Electoral College, for example, doesn't really achieve this very well but it does attempt to address it; it's a compromise between that aim, and the aim of making...

FIDE introduced a rule some while back that it was necessary for a territory to be eligible to compete in Olympics under its own name for its Federation to become a FIDE member. Had these rules been in place in the past, they would have excluded Scotland, Wales, Jersey, Guernsey, Bermuda, Hong Kong...

Yes 2430 or above will do. So if he doesn't draw with Boggy he doesn't get a norm? Seems a bit harsh after such a fantastic performance! FWIW I agreed the calculations. It was sufficiently close that had they used November ratings rather than December ratings, I suspect he would just have needed to...

I’m sorry to hear this. John (I think he pronounced his surname “Tootle” rather than “Toot – hill”) was a regular supporter of the Oban Congress. I’m sure I saw him there on his bike, but I don’t think he cycled all the way… I played him once, in 2005. I was impressed by his willingness to play for ...

Oh, well. Always look on the bright side of life :( We may not have matched our seed. But we did finish Top Island, putting Crete, Iceland and the Faroes in their place And we have established a high water mark to motivate the swarms of ambitious younger players clamouring for selection. Oh, wait.....

Some very interesting views on match tactics and strategies. I suspect this is an underdeveloped area. In football, if you have a slender lead and possession of the ball in stoppage time, it is orthodox thinking to take the ball into the corner and run down the clock. [Unless you have a penalty, as ...

These arrangements are the norm in poker tournaments. Really? The players privately even out disparities in prize monies? Why? The big secret is that poker players don't like gambling ;) In relation to chess, I would guess that the danger is that it might cause trouble with the taxman. Essentially ...

John McKenna wrote: it is French and means payment to a feudal superior.

I've never heard the word prestation before (and the spell-checker doesn't like it). Is it like some sort of ECF membership?

soheil_hooshdaran wrote:What's the difference between 'solemnity' and 'seriousness'?'?

I would have said (off the top of my head) that solemnity implied seriousness (but not the other way round). So one could laugh at a matter, but still be treating it seriously.

In the thread on Bxc6 in Spanish Stewart thinks 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Ke2 ? is possibly the worst ever move. I agree but 3.Ke2?? in the Centre Counter (Scandinavian) is another candidate. 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Ke2 rnb1kbnr/ppp1pppp/8/3q4/8/8/PPPPKPPP/RNBQ1BNR b kq - 0 3 This reminds me of the following gam...

I wasn't sure if my forthcoming comment belonged here, or on the "Strongest chess-playing politicians" thread. I notice that the newly elected MP for Saffron Walden, Kemi Badenoch, claims to be a "keen chess and poker player". Coincidentally, as Geoff Chandler will attest, there is a regular event h...

soheil_hooshdaran wrote:Anyway, thanks room!

? What does "room" mean in this context?

I'm tempted to go with Simon Small after his spectacular result in Dundee, but instead I'll go with:

Hawkins
Adair
Gormally
Arakhamia
WIlliams.

Given it's fun (sorry, FUN) do we have to down a shot (or something) every time one of our nominees scores a point?