(Chess) Life Returning To Normal

[Ian Thompson]

[Hastings] Cancelled on Saturday .... I have spent the last 30 New Years in Hastings - what else is there to do on Dec 31?

At the moment your chess playing possibilities in comparable tournaments appear to be:

Groningen - going ahead unless something changes to prevent that. Detailed arrangements to be published in September.

Krakow - possibly going ahead. The Polish language entry form has been published, but the foreign language ones haven't been. No other information available as far as I'm aware.

Rilton Cup - must be in considerable doubt. No announcements at all about this year's tournament on their website or on their Facebook page.

[Tim Spanton]

[Hastings] Cancelled on Saturday .... I have spent the last 30 New Years in Hastings - what else is there to do on Dec 31?

At the moment your chess playing possibilities in comparable tournaments appear to be:

Groningen - going ahead unless something changes to prevent that. Detailed arrangements to be published in September.

Krakow - possibly going ahead. The Polish language entry form has been published, but the foreign language ones haven't been. No other information available as far as I'm aware.

Rilton Cup - must be in considerable doubt. No announcements at all about this year's tournament on their website or on their Facebook page.

Groningen was always on my radar. Krakow over Christmas/New Year sounds like fun.
It has long been a dream of mine to spend Christmas in a hotel in Austria or somewhere similar with lots of snow and activities based around drinking gluhwein.

[Matt Bridgeman]

There’s the Prague event again not long into January. The same format as the Summer one. Often it’s cold and icy, but it seemed very mild weather at this January’s event.

[Tim Spanton]

There’s the Prague event again not long into January. The same format as the Summer one. Often it’s cold and icy, but it seemed very mild weather at this January’s event.

Good one - yes that's a definite possibility, assuming it goes ahead.
I was told at Prague this month that CzechTour would (very) soon be announcing more tournaments, but I find it ominous nothing has happened.

[Simon Rogers]

We will all be cheering you on in these tournaments Tim.
When are you playing John Cooper online next?
I beat John a few years ago in the League Cup when I played 1.b6 with black. Perhaps you could try that.
Hope too see you at our local Blackpool Chess Congress in the future.

[Matt Bridgeman]

Is the Blackpool Congress a rated or unrated tournament these days?

[Simon Rogers]

Not sure. Can't remember. Regrettably I am not strong enough to play in Opens.
Sadly, on a different note, I've just been on the New Zealand Chess Federation website and a number of Chess tournaments in Auckland have been cancelled due to the increase in infections and the higher Alert Level.
One was cancelled at particularly short notice.
Also Chess Clubs have been closed but not sure if it's across the whole country.

[Roger de Coverly]

Is the Blackpool Congress a rated or unrated tournament these days?

Having been one of the earlier weekend tournaments to be FIDE rated, it's reverted to being unrated in recent years.

[Michael Farthing]

Edit:

This post originally made a comment on the non-grading of the Blackpool Conference. On reflection I decided it was inappropriate because, though this should have occurred, I am aware that there are extenuating circumstances.

[Matt Bridgeman]

The March Blackpool Congress still hasn't been ECF rated in the August revision. How strange!

[Simon Rogers]

The March Blackpool Congress still hasn't been ECF rated in the August revision. How strange!

That is an absolute nightmare. Half my long play games were at Blackpool and will dramatically affect my grade.

On a lighter note. I have another of my "hot tips" to post regards an OTB tournament taking place in October.
Perhaps I should start a new topic titled:
"Simon's Hot Tips"

[Simon Rogers]

Thanks for PM, Michael to inform me. I don't know how to edit my post regards Blackpool Congress. We all will have to be patient regards the results for Blackpool Congress.
My phone is now just about to run out of battery.
Apologies all. I'll have to post the new OTB tournament
tomorrow.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"Krakow over Christmas/New Year sounds like fun."

I played in it some years ago and it was. I believe the venue has changed, but it was a good event. I was the only English player. They didn't have an analysis room then, which seemed odd, I don't know if they do now. Krakow is an interesting place and they organized a trip to the local salt mine https://www.wieliczka-saltmine.com/ which was amazing. Hotels are generally cheaper than Hastings and rather better!

I did ponder going to the City Square for the New Year's Eve festivities, but the temperature was about -4 C by 5 pm, so I watched it on TV instead. You can also do a half-day trip to Auschwitz, which was extremely interesting, but obviously not fun.

[Tim Spanton]

We will all be cheering you on in these tournaments Tim.
When are you playing John Cooper online next?
I beat John a few years ago in the League Cup when I played 1.b6 with black. Perhaps you could try that.
Hope too see you at our local Blackpool Chess Congress in the future.

Ha! No idea re John Cooper. These days I only play corr chess when invited to play for a team. But if you want to see how I got on against your friend: https://beauchess.blogspot.com/2020/06/ ... chess.html

[Brian Valentine]

We had to fix that glitch. Matt Carr's heroics in getting Blackpool graded have now been rewarded by inclusion on the website.