Hastings

[David Haydon]

I myself think cherniaev is a nice guy, although sometimes he comes across as arrogant and such sometimes.

I played him back in march or near abouts i think it was, i offered him a draw earlier i the game when i thought the position was drawn, he refused it. then later on in the game the position entered into a theoretical dead drawn game, and there was nothing he could do to win so i offered him another draw, knowing this time he could not refuse.- his reply was "you should not be offering two draws in a game, its unethical". But i thought he could not decline a draw this time, i do not understand why he got the hump about it - perhaps because he dont like drawing or losing vs weaker opponents, which is understandable? some players are just in it to show pity at there own play.

so all in all i do not think cherniaev should be taken seriously when matters like these arise. he is the joker out of the pack.

david

[Ben Purton]

I had a game where i had over an hour... and my opponent had like 1 minute to make 12 moves. In major open 2003. So i walked around for like 55 minutes... Is that wrong

[Paul McKeown]

I had a game where i had over an hour... and my opponent had like 1 minute to make 12 moves. In major open 2003. So i walked around for like 55 minutes... Is that wrong

Not at all - he has a responsibility to manage his clock.

Here is what Bob Wade said on air on the BBC radio 3's weekly chess programme in 1960:

Many players, especially in clock games, tend to build up the tension to one great burst of intensive lightning thinking just before the time control. What happens to the player who has this typical routine drastically interfered with? I remember playing the German master Sämisch in a tournament in Germany in 1949. After twenty-two moves he had used up so much time that he had only two minutes left for his next eighteen – which he was capable of in his tensed-up state, amid the excitement of craning spectators. I viewed the difficult position (and the spectators) sourly; but I noted that I had an hour and a half for my moves. My reaction? I ordered tea, waited till it came (while my clock ticked), slowly stirred it and drank it, and slowly pondered; and did not move for an hour. The frustrated spectators had long moved on to more exciting games. My opponent could not stay at the pitch of intensity to which he had raised himself an hour before; his thinking slowed and wandered, and he became visibly relaxed. After I had moved, he actually only made a couple of moves before overstepping the time, and thus losing. I had learnt a valuable lesson.

[Paul McKeown]

As for cheating, well, its happened already, and probably quite often.

For instance, on Sat., Nov. 4, 2007, Willem Moene, was caught using Pocket Fritz, by the arbiter in Division 2C of the Dutch League. His game was declared lost, and he was banned from official competition by the tournament manager of the KNSB (Dutch federation) until the end of the season 2009-2010. His national rating was 2220 at the time, but his previous season's TPR had been > 2500; his normal rating was about 2130 or so. And it wasn't the first time that suspicions had been raised about him, though, either. Many of his opponents complained like mad (he had racked up huge scores in the previous couple of seasons...) His club, AAS from Aalsmeer - of which he was, then, first team captain - seem to have weathered the storm, as they are currently top of their division, KNSB-2C. Look the story up on the web...

Then there was the story of the 1600 rated Turkish girl who hammered a 2350 IM with 20 consecutive moves of Rybka's first choice, Crete, 2007.

And...

But cheating probably deserves its own thread, where only proven cases are discussed, or otherwise theoretical cases...

[TomChivers]

Here is what Bob Wade said on air on the BBC radio 3's weekly chess programme in 1960:

Many players, especially in clock games, tend to build up the tension to one great burst of intensive lightning thinking just before the time control. What happens to the player who has this typical routine drastically interfered with? I remember playing the German master Sämisch in a tournament in Germany in 1949. After twenty-two moves he had used up so much time that he had only two minutes left for his next eighteen – which he was capable of in his tensed-up state, amid the excitement of craning spectators. I viewed the difficult position (and the spectators) sourly; but I noted that I had an hour and a half for my moves. My reaction? I ordered tea, waited till it came (while my clock ticked), slowly stirred it and drank it, and slowly pondered; and did not move for an hour. The frustrated spectators had long moved on to more exciting games. My opponent could not stay at the pitch of intensity to which he had raised himself an hour before; his thinking slowed and wandered, and he became visibly relaxed. After I had moved, he actually only made a couple of moves before overstepping the time, and thus losing. I had learnt a valuable lesson.

Splendid! And probably a very useful example.

[Justin Hadi]

On the flip side, time trouble can sometimes be used to your advantage if you have a terrible position on the board as well. Witness Korchnoi - Suetin (Leningrad 1960) http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4680.

Hastings was fun! I didn't do very well, 2.5/5 in the weekend major, but played this not bad game:

J. Hadi - A. Waldock

1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. cxd4 e6 7. Bc4 Nb6 8.
Bb3 d6 9. exd6 Bxd6 10. O-O O-O 11. Nc3 a6 12. a3 Bd7 13. Bc2 f5 14. Re1
Qc7 15. Bb3 Rae8 16. d5 exd5 17. Be3 Ne7 18. Bxb6 Qxb6 19. Rxe7 Bxe7 20.
Nxd5 Qa5 21. Nxe7+ Kh8 22. Qxd7 Qb6 23. Bf7 Rd8 24. Qxf5 1-0

[Jonathan Rogers]

Well, Hastings is over now. We didn't actually discuss it as far as I can see, the thread becoming one on cheating and unfounded accusations of cheating from the second page onwards.

That may have been, of course, because the English fared rather badly and there was little of joy to discuss. The three foreigners at the top were a cut above the rest and each of them won at least one game against one or more of each of our most promising young trio (Howell, Jones and Gordon). Howell had a reasonable tournament otherwise - one had the impression that he was never in full gear but still won some very smooth games against respectable opposition and avoided losing rating points. Gordon and Jones struggled to get going in a number of games though. Conquest outperformed both of them, though as I noted on the Olympiad thread, big English swisses often bring out the best in him. Simon Williams won a great game (v Gordon) but that again is not news.

Unfortunately there were not many/any realistic GM or IM norm hunters in the field either. Lawrence Trent and Lorin d'Costa have both been close to the required standard for GM norms of late but neither played at Hastings. Yang Fan-Zhou was the only one of the young teenagers who had qualified for the British to play at Hastings but he was nowhere near to an IM norm and in fact lost quite a lot of points.

I was quite impressed by Adam Hunt who seemed to play steadily and had the better of two draws (in fact should probably just have won) v Howell and Jones but I see that even he lost a couple of points at the end!

Oh dear. And I bet the weather was terrible too.

[Justin Hadi]

I was impressed by Berg's game against Stephen Gordon. Looking at Stephen around move 7 or 8 you could tell he was already unhappy, so I guess it was more of a loss due to preparation than anything else. Still, well played by Berg. Also saw the 13 yr old Indian FM Grover who had an ok tournament for his rating, amazing for most 13 yr olds. It would have been nice to watch the master games a bit more, and follow the lectures by Chris Ward but I was too busy playing The weather was pretty chilly yes!

[Mike Gunn]

The weather was terrible? I'm guessing you haven't been there one of the years when it has snowed? (I remember playing on the pier with most players wearing coats and glovees, all the pipework frozen, the seafront like an ice rink, all roads to Hastings blocked with snow.)

[Jonathan Rogers]

True. My last Hastings was in 1991/2. Perhaps I should not try to remember those days; what joy can it bring? We then had a Premier where Bareev, Shirov and Adgestein all played some great games, including their games against each other. Adams, Speelman, Chandler and Hodgson were all overshadowed but at least they were there.

I suspect that even the Challengers was stronger then than the main event now, at least in depth. Neverov, Berg, Conquest and Hebden were all there then, just as they were now, and so were various foreign GMs, Kosten, Motwani and most of the leading British IMs of the day, including Sadler, Arkell, McNab, Emms (can anyone remember who won it - no cheating?)

[Mike Truran]

Mais ou sont les neiges d'antan? (sorry, not sure how to do the accent over the "u")

Or maybe Sic transit gloria mundi.

[IM Jack Rudd]

Accents over letters usually involve ASCII character codes. (Hold down ALT and type the number in on the keypad.)

For letters involving U:
ù = ALT-0249
ú = ALT-0250
û = ALT-0251
ü = ALT-0252

The character code I use most often is ALT-0189; type it in and you'll see why.

[David Sedgwick]

True. My last Hastings was in 1991/2. Perhaps I should not try to remember those days; what joy can it bring? We then had a Premier where Bareev, Shirov and Adgestein all played some great games, including their games against each other. Adams, Speelman, Chandler and Hodgson were all overshadowed but at least they were there.

I suspect that even the Challengers was stronger then than the main event now, at least in depth. Neverov, Berg, Conquest and Hebden were all there then, just as they were now, and so were various foreign GMs, Kosten, Motwani and most of the leading British IMs of the day, including Sadler, Arkell, McNab, Emms (can anyone remember who won it - no cheating?)

I remember - it was Colin Crouch.

The winner the previous year was equally improbable - Alexei Suetin.

Am I right?

[Jonathan Rogers]

yes you're right on both counts David.

Colin had only just become an IM at that time! But actually there are several examples of players who put a lot of effort into becoming IMs who, after finally achieving it, then carry on with extra momentum and make a GM norm shortly afterwards, only to fade again and who never quite recover that form.

Colin's final round win over Neverov (who else?) was quite extraordinary though - six Black passed pawns at the end!

[Richard Bates]

Well, Hastings is over now. We didn't actually discuss it as far as I can see, the thread becoming one on cheating and unfounded accusations of cheating from the second page onwards.

That may have been, of course, because the English fared rather badly and there was little of joy to discuss. The three foreigners at the top were a cut above the rest and each of them won at least one game against one or more of each of our most promising young trio (Howell, Jones and Gordon). Howell had a reasonable tournament otherwise - one had the impression that he was never in full gear but still won some very smooth games against respectable opposition and avoided losing rating points. Gordon and Jones struggled to get going in a number of games though. Conquest outperformed both of them, though as I noted on the Olympiad thread, big English swisses often bring out the best in him. Simon Williams won a great game (v Gordon) but that again is not news.

Unfortunately there were not many/any realistic GM or IM norm hunters in the field either. Lawrence Trent and Lorin d'Costa have both been close to the required standard for GM norms of late but neither played at Hastings. Yang Fan-Zhou was the only one of the young teenagers who had qualified for the British to play at Hastings but he was nowhere near to an IM norm and in fact lost quite a lot of points.

I was quite impressed by Adam Hunt who seemed to play steadily and had the better of two draws (in fact should probably just have won) v Howell and Jones but I see that even he lost a couple of points at the end!

Oh dear. And I bet the weather was terrible too.

Obviously just jealous... Some of us are on the verge of recovering IM status for the first time in a decade!

I think there should be a rule. People who don't go to Hastings shouldn't complain about it!