English Chess Forum

Getting recognized officially as a sport would bring so many benefits to count. I'm amazed the ECF just gave up on the attempt. The ECF did not just "give up". There are specific rules prohibiting an applicant for recognition as a sport from re-applying for a number of years. Any attempt in the las...

I think stopping 2 games like Alex said would of been a good idea but I dont know how appropriate that is. For me I would not mind too much. And for someone that said it did not effect the prizes. It did. The player who beat my friend then got a full point bye last round and finished 2nd! So knocke...

Any news yet about the online membership payment? I'm sorry for the continuing delay, which is frustrating for everyone, I'm sure. I've been living with the feeling of being tantalisingly close to launch for several weeks now, and frankly it's had me climbing the walls at times. Having been fully o...

Anyway I am sure it will not affect next year's congress and overall it was a good event. Maybe an improvement on catering would be nice as the vending machines were not working and there was nowhere to get a drink or food before play each day. The main cafeteria where the vending machines were loc...

I am very sorry that Lee's friend was so upset by the error in the last round pairings. The pairing cards, which related to the last game to finish from the previous round, were inadvertently omitted from the final round draw. Both the arbiter and I apologised at the time and offered two different o...

4th Worcestershire Open raises £900 for hospice 129 players took part in this year’s event over the weekend of 21-22 July, an increase of nearly 20% on last year. The congress raised funds for a local charity, the St Richard’s Hospice in Worcester. Thanks to the record entry and the generosity...

Yazici is back: http://www.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/6297-fide-president-refuses-resignation-of-ali-yazici-as-vice-president.html and he's up to his usual tricks again: http://www.europechess.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=167:ecu&catid=2:slides The irony of t...

Brendan O'Gorman wrote:Andrew,
I am gobsmacked by your forbearance. You must be the most patient man in Christendom!

Thanks, Brendan. Of course, I might be tearing my hair out in frustration behind the scenes, but those of you who've met me will know that it's a bit late for that in my case.

For clarification, are you now agreeing that though there will be no direct cost of the legal action to ECF members (which I don't necessarily agree with but it does depend on your definition) there could be indirect costs? In my opinion, it's more likely that the introduction of the registration f...

2) Having three rounds on Saturday and two on Sunday is possible but that would be very hard on very young players - who we really need to encourage to play the congress circuit It's not just the very young! I can't be the only not-quite-so-very-young player who routinely takes a half-point bye in ...

However, it is clear that often Andrew is unaware of the bigger picture. Did the FIDE delegate inform him of these proposed charges for arbiters and the potential knock on effect? I very much doubt it but am willing to be advised otherwise. David Sedgewick has pointed out another piece of non-infor...

Andrew, You have misunderstood Lara's point. If the FIDE costs are not repaid in total then that money has to be raised from somewhere (or services cut). I don't think I misunderstood. I was suggesting that Lara's point applied to the CAS legal action, which undoubtedly cost FIDE money. My reply wa...

Of course, having a legal firm produce the memorandum was not free, but it was paid for by a third party and therefore cost the ECF nothing. There is no outstanding liability, contingent or otherwise, relating to the memorandum, so it is a very different situation to the guarantee in respect of the ...

Do you guys like...you know...ever...play chess? Good question. I used to, but dealing with stuff like this has caused me to drop from 20 congresses a year to just one since the start of this year. It's one of the reasons that I've chosen to spare myself the pleasure of standing for re-election in ...

Please do read his response to the question Steve, that he actually wrote about this document - it is carefully worded. I quote below his exact words: "I stress: no legal action, no cost to the ECF. This is all within the framework of FIDE processes and entirely within the normal scope of what the ...