British Chess Championships 2011

[LozCooper]

Pert,R v Bates, R 2000 SWYM Black won
Pert,R v Bates, R 2000 Wittley Draw

Careful with that. Witley (one l) was the home to the Smith & Williamson Young Masters (SWYM). I have Pert(R) v Bates as round 1 and Pert (N) v Bates as round 3 in the 2000 event.

Let's hope we don't have Pert-Ledger in one of the later rounds

[Matthew Turner]

Only betting worth mentioning £302 on Adams at 1-2 That seems quite low odds to me.

[Charlie Linford]

If you feel like it's too short, there's an order for £445 queuing up that you could fill. At the start of the tournament I would certainly have agreed with you, but 1½/2 against Howell and Gawain, combined with the fact that Mickey is just so darn hard to beat, probably means that he really does take this down 66% of the time. The only ways I see him being turned over are a) a loss to Short or b) a loss in a play-off.

[E Michael White]

If Nigel Short wins this event, would that make him the oldest winner since Stefan Fazekas ?

[Matthew Turner]

Charlie,
It is not clear to me that Adams has had a better first week than Short and David Howell is well placed having played both Mickey and Nigel. I think 1-2 is a bit too short a price for adams and I have laid him for a small amount (I did the same last year too).

[Richard James]

If Nigel Short wins this event, would that make him the oldest winner since Stefan Fazekas ?

The oldest since Bob Wade, I think. Wade won in 1970 at age 49. Short is now 46.

[Alex McFarlane]

With the final tournament starting this afternoon the total number of paid and played stands at 951.

This is the highest number since Edinburgh's 1009 in 2003.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Round 7 pairings:

http://www.livechess.co.uk/british2011/ ... rings.html

No less than 4 all-GM clashes (top 3 boards and board 6), but not yet had a day where all the places on the top four boards have been taken by GMs. Always been someone else up there.

Head-to-heads for the top 7 boards:

...

Chris, I think you need to rely on a site a bit more comprehensive than chessgames.com for this to be a meaningful exercise!

Of course, even a good database is unlikely to tell you, for example, that Adam and Nick have probably played each other an awfully large number of times.

Yeah, I know chessgames.com is very small (and has inaccuracies) compared to some of the databases out there. I should be putting a big disclaimer on every post using that database. But I don't have access to anything that you have to pay for, and I was hoping that those with access to such might add stuff here. Oh look, they have!

Though I'm sure some players have extra games squirrelled away on their personal databases...

[Christopher Kreuzer]

David Howell is well placed having played both Mickey and Nigel.

And has now beaten Wells. He has also played (and beaten) Gordon. Looking at who Howell still has to play, for the last four rounds he will probably have to play people like Conquest, Pert, Williams and Jones. Should be interesting.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Jovanka Houska and Jonathan Hawkins, both on 5/7, are the highest placed IMs. Houska has played 3 GMs and an FM, and Hawkins has played 2 GMs, an IM, and an FM.

http://www.livechess.co.uk/british2011/ ... /p018.html
http://www.livechess.co.uk/british2011/ ... /p013.html

Do both have good chances of a 9-round GM norm?

I had a look here:

http://www.fide.com/fide/handbook.html? ... ew=article

But the rating calculations look complicated.

[Paul Cooksey]

James Adair with a decent IM norm chance too

[LozCooper]

Jovanka Houska and Jonathan Hawkins, both on 5/7, are the highest placed IMs. Houska has played 3 GMs and an FM, and Hawkins has played 2 GMs, an IM, and an FM.

http://www.livechess.co.uk/british2011/ ... /p018.html
http://www.livechess.co.uk/british2011/ ... /p013.html

Do both have good chances of a 9-round GM norm?

I had a look here:

http://www.fide.com/fide/handbook.html? ... ew=article

But the rating calculations look complicated.

I'll have a look when the round 8 pairings are out. It'll give a better idea of what's needed in rounds 8 & 9.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Chessbase mid-way report:

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=7425

[LozCooper]

Round 8 pairings now available online: http://www.britishchess2011.com/events_ ... p_2011.htm

[Andrew Stone]

Chessbase mid-way report:

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=7425

Looks like there's an Under 8 who is barely big enough to see the pieces playing the Sniper! Anyone know who he is (not that I know who any Under 8's are) ?