The Grading List

[Joey Stewart]

Its out for this year!!

I am very impressed, that is the quickest I have ever seen it come out at the 4ncl. Well done to whoever knocked it up - you really put in a good effort there.

How did you lot do? I see a few quite good performances here and there, other then the norm getters.

[Alex Holowczak]

How did you lot do?

Well, it looks like I'll have a FIDE-rating of 1660, which given it comes from a score of 2/9, isn't too bad...

[Rob Thompson]

I was over +2 w-we, which i was understandably quite pleased with

[William Metcalfe]

Nice grade for J Hawkins 2621 will that take him over 2500 in the next fide grading list

[Alex Holowczak]

Nice grade for J Hawkins 2621 will that take him over 2500 in the next fide grading list

He had a W-We of 2.67, which since he's > 2400, is only enough for a rating gain of 26.7 points. So he's going up to something like 2455, but still a long way off 2500.

[Alan Walton]

He is currently 2429, and his 4NCL performance gains him 26 points, so therefore unless he plays other FIDE tournaments before the July published list, he will be rated 2455, therefore he would require a couple more performances around 2600 to get him over 2500.

[William Metcalfe]

Ok thanks for that i dont understand how the fide grading works lol.
It look like Johnathon needs to play tournaments in europe to give himself a real shot at getting to over 2500 and to get his final norms.
Just playing the 4ncl and the british champs is such a small pool of FIDE rated games that any loss hits him hard even draws v lower rated players hurt him

[Roger de Coverly]

He (Jonathan Hawkins) has had a remarkable run of success in British events.

In fact from his initial rating of 2207 in the Swansea Major Open of 2006, it's been

+25 Blackpool 2007
+93 British 2008
+58 British 2009
+27 Hastings 2009-10
+13 4NCL 2009-10
+ 6 British 2010

which adds up to his current rating of 2429

Source data is http://ratings.fide.com/hist.phtml?event=412686

[Jonathan Rogers]

It look like Johnathon needs to play tournaments in europe to give himself a real shot at getting to over 2500 and to get his final norms.
Just playing the 4ncl and the british champs is such a small pool of FIDE rated games that any loss hits him hard even draws v lower rated players hurt him

I'm sure that's right. Even though he is clearly GM level, obtaining GM norms is something else - they often require some fortune as well as good form. He could easily play very well again in the British and next season's 4NCL and miss by half a point each time. Giving himself more opportunities must be the right way forward.

[LozCooper]

Ok thanks for that i dont understand how the fide grading works lol.
It look like Johnathon needs to play tournaments in europe to give himself a real shot at getting to over 2500 and to get his final norms.
Just playing the 4ncl and the british champs is such a small pool of FIDE rated games that any loss hits him hard even draws v lower rated players hurt him

There's far more choice in the UK nowadays. There's Big Slick, Irish, Scottish, South Wales, British, 2 e2e4 internationals, various Coulsdon events, Hastings, 4NCL, London Chess Classic. Apologies for any omissions.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Too many inclusions, maybe? - we are talking specifically of GM norm opportunities here, and some of these events do not routinely offer those.

[LozCooper]

Too many inclusions, maybe? - we are talking specifically of GM norm opportunities here, and some of these events do not routinely offer those.

True, but all I was pointing out was that there are more GM norm opportunities in the UK than the British & the 4NCL. If one can afford to play in all of them is another matter but there are plenty of opportunities out there.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Not all that many - not if you were planning in advance and wanted to be sure that GM norms would be available (composition of all-play-alls often change near the last minute). Anyway there is another reason to play abroad; even assuming appropriately titled and rated opposition in both cases, frankly I'm sure the odds of achieving the result are better in, say, tournaments in France, Italy or Hungary.

It may be that I am still a traditionalist here, but I do also rather expect GMs (technically IGMs) to have travelled around a bit outside their own country.

[LozCooper]

Not all that many - not if you were planning in advance and wanted to be sure that GM norms would be available (composition of all-play-alls often change near the last minute). Anyway there is another reason to play abroad; even assuming appropriately titled and rated opposition in both cases, frankly I'm sure the odds of achieving the result are better in, say, tournaments in France, Italy or Hungary.

It may be that I am still a traditionalist here, but I do also rather expect GMs (technically IGMs) to have travelled around a bit outside their own country.

That's fine if you can afford it but if you can't I wouldn't think any the less of players who support events in their own country. Admittedly you can find some tournaments abroad with dubious practices that guarantee norms but for hard fought honest tournaments you could do far worse than support English events.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Well that was another point I was thinking of making - are you sure that it's cheaper to stay at home and play British events?

For the avoidance of doubt, I did not mean to suggest that anyone should play anywhere, here or abroad, in order to get a dubiously arranged norm. If however, it's a case of the British 2400 being likely to put up more resistance than a French or Italian 2450, then wouldn't that be a acceptable reason for the GM norm seeker to prefer an event abroad?