British Chess Championships 2010

[Adam Raoof]

322 @ 17th June. Ratings from FIDE 1st May 2010.

BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIP (37 players)

ADAMS, Michael, 2697g; WILLIAMS, Simon K, 2527g; WELLS, Peter K, 2506g; PERT, Richard G, 2463m; GREET, Andrew N, 2433m; HUNT, Adam C, 2414m; BATES, Richard A, 2379; SLAVIN, Alexei, 2374f; LITTLEWOOD, Paul E, 2361m; BAKER, Christopher W, 2357m; TYMRAKIEWICZ, Rafal, 2305f; CONSTANTINOU, Peter, 2302f; GRIFFITHS, Ryan-Rhys, 2247; RUDD, Jack, 2241m; ADDISON, Brett, 2235; MASON, Donald J, 2223; CHAPMAN, Terry PD, 2219; HELBIG, Paul D, 2165; RICH, Mark C, 2151; ALMOND, Richard, 2151; GOODGER, Martyn, 2141; HENDERSON, Ian R, 2117; JOSSE, Mark, 2096; BROWN, Martin, 2093; SENIOR, Gary, 2069; FREEMAN, Richard CP, 2061; FEGAN, Chris, 2055; JAMESON, David, 2047; MAKEPEACE, Philip J, 2041; PLEASANTS, Allan J, 2034; MACKLE, Dominic, 2021; VRUBL, Jaroslav, 2019; BUCHER, Grant W, 2017; MCCULLOUGH, Simon L, 1986; COMBIE, Alexander B, 1983; CUMMING, Rhys, 1955 DINES, Sheila J, 1931

Plus Keith Arkell

[Keith Arkell]

wow that is generous! Well done on securing the sponsorship Keith and good luck.

Excellent news Keith![/quote]

Cheers guys!

[Carl Hibbard]

Cheers guys!

About time you won to be honest, let Adams scramble a few draws and then sneak up and win...

How hard can it be

[Stewart Reuben]

Richard Cowan >Stewart, what about schools hosting it / etc? Some of them would surely be big enough, and would fit in well with trying to promote the games to juniors too.
Surely a top private school would gain much presitge from hosting the British?
Somewhere like http://www.stpetersvenue.co.uk/conferences.asp] might be worth contacting?
I don't know if you could get a free venue, but with in-built accommodation, it might be possible?<

The last time we used a school for the British it was Millfield. It wasn't that popular as it was a bit remote and the accommodation was seemingly expensive. That was partly caused by under-marketing the free sporting facilities that would be available.

When I was in charge, I did look into some schools. There always seem to be snags. Also they are usually not on the coast. Nothing wrong with Eton, but I've never tried. That would be a name to conjure with!
Alex H looked into Birmingham. As I expected he made no progress, but he had the gumption to try. How about other people giving it some thought? It is even quite time consuming and expensive to investigate a prospective venue.

Stewart Reuben

[Stewart Reuben]

st Peter's School is much too small. St George's Hall Liverpool, although used, was too small.
The main hall should be a minimum of 900 sq.m (9000 sq.ft). Approximately 800 lumens lighting. Several break-out rooms. A lecture hall and another for evening events. Reasonably priced accomodation nearby (about 1000 bed spaces), or better still onsite. good internet access. Good parking.

Torquay is perfect and would be great for the Championship Centenary in 2013. Canterbury as a venue will be very good, but Sheffield even better.

Stewart Reuben

[John Anderson]

[quote="Stewart Reuben"]...Torquay is perfect and would be great for the Championship Centenary in 2013....

I thought Torquay was far from perfect. The lighting on boards 8-12 in the British was extremely poor and although this was pointed out to the arbiters before round one, nothing was done to correct it for the remainder of the tournament. The catering was a joke - on the first day there were 8-10 staff waiting excitedly for the hoardes of chessplayers that were about to descend upon them only to learn that £2.50 (or whatever it was) for a coffee with UHT milk (!) was not acceptable to most sane players. The hot food only consisted of dodgy pasties and sausage rolls and the like and after a few days the catering staff had been reduced to three and in the second week to one. When are these people going to learn that if you flog teas and coffees to chessplayers for 50p you will have a queue around the block and make a fortune! No parking concessions for players was also a bit of a con - it was £5 or £6 a day to park at the Riviera Centre. Fortunately it only rained twice; once for seven days and then for four ...

Regarding Canterbury 2010, I believe it was Stewart Reuben who mentioned that dance/fitness classes will be held in the same building as the British. Has anyone checked the see if they have been suspended whilst the chess is on? And if not, has anyone double-checked to see if the music (and stomping) carries to the main playing areas? The recent Big Slick tournament was affected in just such a way.

It seems to me that the overwhelming majority of players that attend or are likely to attend the British Championships want a seaside resort. Why can`t the organisers accept this? It doesn`t matter how wonderful the venue at Sheffield is if spending two weeks in Sheffield itself is something most people don`t want to even contemplate (with apologies to anyone that lives in Sheffield!).

I would like to know from the people that have signed the contracts with Sheffield how many other places were contacted.

Finally, if a city center venue is absolutely the only choice available due to cost or whatever reason, then I think we must go to a Saturday to Sunday nine-round, one-game-a-day format (with no rest day) and reserve the two-week traditional model for a coastal resort.

[Sean Hewitt]

When are these people going to learn that if you flog teas and coffees to chessplayers for 50p you will have a queue around the block and make a fortune!

Certainly

When are these people going to learn that if you flog teas and coffees to chessplayers for 50p you will have a queue around the block and make a fortune!

Hardly

[Rob Thompson]

The hot food only consisted of dodgy pasties and sausage rolls and the like

I actually quite liked the pasties, actually

[Alex McFarlane]

To try to answer some of John Andersons points.
There were fluorecent tubes above boards 8-10. These lights were not on prior to the start of play but when they were the lighting was better than adequate. A certain GM did initially complain but was satisfied thereafter.

A agree about overpriced catering. This is how these places pay for the venue. I would disagree about the standard of the food as a selection of full meals were available each day though I too abhor UHT milk. Believe it or not I have been told that a jug of fresh milk is not available for health reasons.

I am fully aware of the parking charges. (Being Scottish) I am known to walk considerable distances to avoid paying parking fees. Unfortunately there is little we can do when all users of the building are charged. Unfortunately I am unable to do anything about the weather .... and Stewart wasn't there to change it!

There should not be any noise in the playing hall at Canterbury from any other activities. We have the two main areas in the building.

I think that the organisers do accept that a holiday venue is preferrable (slightly different from seaside, I know) but these are not easy to find. I don't know how many places were contacted by Stewart before agreeing to Sheffield but do know that he has attended conventions where centres try to sell themselves and has gone to many potential venues.

Whilst you can argue that the Championship and Major Open could be held in 9 days there would need to be other arrangements made for the junior events.

The people from Sheffield are coming to Canterbury. They fully realise that they have an image problem to overcome. Please meet with them and give them a chance to tell you what is available in Sheffielld and the surrounding area.

[Stewart Reuben]

John Anderson >I would like to know from the people that have signed the contracts with Sheffield how many other places were contacted.<

That would be very hard to quantify. Going back to 1982, it must be several hundred. That year I took a tour round Britain getting as far as Oban viewing venues. As Alex says I went to 2-3 conference exhibitions such as Confex in 2008-2010. About 100 sites have stands, some with more than one possible venue. There is a book with lists of conference sites.
One thing that interests me is that NONE of the venues used by the 4NCL is listed by these conventional (pun) databases.

If the organisers can get it together, it is possible the chessplayers of Sheffield will provide host accommodation to chessplayers extremely cheaply. That certainly figured in my thoughts. We last did that in Edinburgh in 1985. That had one of the worst venues at 1500sq.m, but Edinburgh is probably the best place to hold the event.

Changing the format of the event each year would be very poor marketing. How many of you have thought that possibly the British should not be held at the usual time of year in 2012?

Stewart Reuben

[Mick Norris]

It might be an idea that the British 2012 is not scheduled to clash with the Olympics - is that possible, or are the dates not available to do so?

[Alex Holowczak]

It might be an idea that the British 2012 is not scheduled to clash with the Olympics - is that possible, or are the dates not available to do so?

It can't be held earlier than that, because children are still in school. Yes, exams have finished, and the last two weeks are virtually pointless, but it's still unnecessary. Two weeks later, and you're overlapping with the UKCC Terafinal. So there could be an issue with juniors there.

[Stewart Reuben]

Another problem with starting the British two weeks later is that, by 15 August, the Scottish Schools have reopened.
The British could be held in April. The only problem is the very large number of Easter chess events so it would require complete reordering of the chess calendar. But it would be MUCH easier to get a free venue in a resort in April.

Stewart Reuben

[Paul Bielby]

One for Alex or Stewart?

I don't like the ubiquitous ENG attached to most of the players in the championship programme. It's probably at FIDE requirement?

But on the one occasion I made it to the Championship (back in 1969) we were at least told where the players come from or the clubs they played for. P.R.Bielby (Sunderland), P.H.Clark (Holsworthy), J.E.Littlewood (Skelmersdale), J.Penrose (London NE?), etc. Not a great deal to ask for but it would make the programme more informative. Can it be done?

[Andrew Camp]

Two weeks in Sheffield! We'll be there but it still sends a shudder down my spine.