English Chess Forum

juniors especially, but really all players, should be encouraged to enjoy chess for its own sake and not become obsessed by grades. This should really go both ways: I completely agree we should not be obsessed by grades, therefore we should let the ECF thinker with the systems as they see fit, with...

Anyone willing to predict what might happen (or give their opinion on what should happen) in British politics (especially relating to Brexit) now Boris Johnson (or maybe Dominic Cummings) has revealed the government strategy? Very hard to predict given the players... Watching online chess games I a...

I was more putting myself in their shoes and imagining someone falsely suspected and being snapped sat on the loo. In the current climate it seems only a matter of time before someone is in England. That is the point. Only when a cheater has been caught the "toilet photographer" boasts publicly abo...

His visit to the toilet increased to about 15 times per game, alternating with the three available toilet blocks. He often stayed there for 5-12 minutes, sometimes standing, mostly sitting (the toilet doors allow the feet to be visible). And I don't want to know from anyone how he or she sits on th...

Looks like a mis-configuration of the server: - it should not be browser specific since I get the same issue with google chrome, internet explorer and microsoft edge to name the few at hand at the moment - it should not be not related to the use of iframes since the iframe itself, loaded in the brow...

From that perspective, the proper chess metaphor is definitely zugzwang, even more appropriate that being a German word. Mutual zugzwang, presumably. Not really. The ball is entirely on the UK side at the moment. Once you decide to take back control you can’t keep blaming others anymore. UK to move.

Then ask yourself - can he really make the required moves to avoid, zugzwang, stalemate and checkmate? Not long ago an article on the Guardian compared different Brexit options and ranked them by how much worse they would affect the economy, compared to the baseline of doing nothing and staying in ...

"The article says that it was the players who took it upon themselves to follow Rausis and take a picture in the bathroom. It was then reported to FIDE who then appeared to take all the credit for it." If that is so, it makes Garret's comments sound even sillier. It also makes the whole bathroom ph...

That the photo has made page 3 of The Sun puts the case into the public domain and a quote from Gormally -'It's amazing Rausis wasn't stopped earlier... Perhaps there will be more checking of unusual improvements. Such great news to attract more players to chess, especially youngsters and women: if...

However, one surely has to question the legality of having a camera installed in the bathroom? I wonder what they've done with footage of other patrons who were using the facility for its legitimate purpose. Makes you wonder. I also wonder how many arbiters/organisers thought someone might be cheat...

How wise would it be for anyone to answer that? It would be wise to understand how many players are "being followed with skepticism for quite a while" compared with how many of them are actually caught. It's still up for debate which is more widespread, either the cheating or the players paranoia a...

The story is here: https://chess24.com/en/read/news/gm-igors-rausis-allegedly-caught-cheating I've also been following for a while and players have been extremely skeptical of his results. As has been pointed out it's tough for even a GM to consistently beat these 2200/2300 players. Is there any ot...

I think it would have been better to combine the armageddon game with a 3-1-0 score for the main game, I mean: a win in the main game gives 3 point; a draw in the main game gives 1 point each and 1 point to the winner of the armageddon. Not a big difference but it seems to me the current point syste...

There is, or was, a special FIDE Rule that where countries were at war with each other, pairings fom those federations could be avoided. The problem with Israel is that several countries believe themselves to be at war with them, but Israel does not. Palestine, UAE. Yemen., etc. It is all very well...

As a spectator, I'm not a fan of the current format for the top event. Two games are not enough for interesting commentaires... especially as of lately with so many games drfiting to early drawish positions. Bring back the round robin tournament, out of 5 games it's more likely to have at least a co...