(Chess) Life Returning To Normal

[Tim Spanton]

The bottom line is if we are on the same path as Spain and France, probably in 3 weeks time we'll be on 8 to 9,000 cases being recorded a day. I don't think people at that point will be thinking so much about a return to over the board chess.

I will!

[Roger de Coverly]

The bottom line is if we are on the same path as Spain and France, probably in 3 weeks time we'll be on 8 to 9,000 cases being recorded a day.

Unlike April and May, when monitoring the weekly total of deaths from all causes, there's nothing special being observed. if that's still the case in two to three weeks time, something is different from earlier in the year.

[Matt Bridgeman]

The bottom line is if we are on the same path as Spain and France, probably in 3 weeks time we'll be on 8 to 9,000 cases being recorded a day.

Unlike April and May, when monitoring the weekly total of deaths from all causes, there's nothing special being observed. if that's still the case in two to three weeks time, something is different from earlier in the year.

Yes, going off Sky News charts and figures, the death rate won't be the same. A doubling of numbers perhaps every 10-15 days, but nothing like it was in the beginning. NHS staff are so much more proficient at using ventilators now for one.

[Reg Clucas]

Of course, a few years after "Fools Mate" there was "Pawn Hearts" - has Hammill ever talked about chess in interviews etc?

Don't know, but there are numerous chess references in his works in addition to those you mention, e.g. -

- Cover art for "H to He..." is entitled "Checkmate", although there is no chess motif
- Cover art for "Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night" shows him sitting at a chessboard
- "The Comet, the course, the tail" contains the lyric "In the slaughterhouse all corpses smell the same/Whether queens or pawns or innocents at the game"

[Matt Bridgeman]

The bottom line is if we are on the same path as Spain and France, probably in 3 weeks time we'll be on 8 to 9,000 cases being recorded a day. I don't think people at that point will be thinking so much about a return to over the board chess.

I will!

Do you think the Czech event will run till the 28th? Reports today are that hospital intake, intensive care and deaths are swiftly returning to March/April numbers there.

[Tim Spanton]

The bottom line is if we are on the same path as Spain and France, probably in 3 weeks time we'll be on 8 to 9,000 cases being recorded a day. I don't think people at that point will be thinking so much about a return to over the board chess.

I will!

Do you think the Czech event will run till the 28th? Reports today are that hospital intake, intensive care and deaths are swiftly returning to March/April numbers there.

The Czech authorities have a different take:
The overall numbers of people who are hospitalised are increasing somewhat, as are the numbers of patients requiring intensive care. This is not, however, a risk which is being seen nationwide. Mortality is very low and most newly-diagnosed cases are asymptomatic or very mild. There has been no major impact on public health and the burden on the intensive care system is low. “Capacities in hospitals have plenty of reserves and are sufficient to handle the current development of the disease in the Czech Republic. The total number of beds (including intensive care beds) is sufficient and the hospital sector in the Czech Republic is ready to handle a much greater number of hospitalised patients, even severe cases, than the current number. The bed status is continuously monitored and evaluated. The whole system is set up to detect any risky development of the epidemiological situation early and to adopt the necessary measures to maintain the availability of care. On a regional level, medical care for COVID patients is coordinated by Regional Intensive Care Coordinators,” stated Vladimír Černý, Head of the COVID Clinical Group, providing additional information.
Also:
The high number of diagnoses corresponds to the large numbers of tests performed and naturally reflects the spread of the disease in the population. Around 15,000 tests a day are performed on working days. “The increase in the number of people diagnosed positive relates to the majority of districts in the Czech Republic. This is no longer a limited number of clearly-defined clusters or outbreaks of infection. Nevertheless, this still concerns sporadic and isolated cases in the majority of Czech districts, not generating dangerous and interregional clusters. The overall reproduction number calculated for the whole of the Czech population equals 1.35 (95% confidence interval: 1.32 – 1.38). Thus, this still concerns the controlled spread of the disease, linear, not exponential,” explains Ladislav Dušek, Director of the Institute of Health Information and Statistics, saying that it is still good news that vulnerable population groups have not been affected on a nationwide scale, e.g. the share of newly diagnosed people aged 65+ constitutes approximately 10% of the total new cases and in the 75+ category, the figure is less than 5%. Most newly diagnosed patients are symptom-free or only have a mild form of the disease.
So my guess is the Czech events will go ahead.
Full details, with Prague as the centre of the increase, here: https://koronavirus.mzcr.cz/en/several- ... -in-prague

[Matt Bridgeman]

R rate reported as 1.58 today in Czech and a record 1677 cases in last 24 hrs. You must be cringing a bit. No masks while playing and handshakes a go still? Are you going to play in a mask or go with the flow?

[Tim Spanton]

R rate reported as 1.58 today in Czech and a record 1677 cases in last 24 hrs. You must be cringing a bit. No masks while playing and handshakes a go still? Are you going to play in a mask or go with the flow?

Things certainly seem to be getting worse in Czechia (although remember total cases will go up as testing goes up).
I won't wear a mask anywhere I play unless regulations change at the last moment and I cannot reasonably pull out.
As for handshakes - I would happily dispense with them in normal times as well as during plagues, but I if someone wants to shake my hand, I'll oblige.

[Simon Rogers]

R rate reported as 1.58 today in Czech and a record 1677 cases in last 24 hrs. You must be cringing a bit. No masks while playing and handshakes a go still? Are you going to play in a mask or go with the flow?

Things certainly seem to be getting worse in Czechia (although remember total cases will go up as testing goes up).
I won't wear a mask anywhere I play unless regulations change at the last moment and I cannot reasonably pull out.
As for handshakes - I would happily dispense with them in normal times as well as during plagues, but I if someone wants to shake my hand, I'll oblige.

How many entries are there currently for Pardubice Tim, what nationalities?

[Tim Spanton]

R rate reported as 1.58 today in Czech and a record 1677 cases in last 24 hrs. You must be cringing a bit. No masks while playing and handshakes a go still? Are you going to play in a mask or go with the flow?

Things certainly seem to be getting worse in Czechia (although remember total cases will go up as testing goes up).
I won't wear a mask anywhere I play unless regulations change at the last moment and I cannot reasonably pull out.
As for handshakes - I would happily dispense with them in normal times as well as during plagues, but I if someone wants to shake my hand, I'll oblige.

How many entries are there currently for Pardubice Tim, what nationalities?

162 entries in the main tournament.
Stats show many more entries - more than would seem correct, unless as well as lesser tournaments they have also included - this must be the case - entries to other games (it is a games festival, rather than just a chess event).
Federation statistics
No. FED Federation Count
1 ARM Armenia 2
2 AUT Austria 5
3 BEL Belgium 3
4 BER Bermuda 1
5 BLR Belarus 2
6 BUL Bulgaria 3
7 CAN Canada 1
8 CZE Czech Republic 521
9 DEN Denmark 6
10 ENG England 7
11 ESP Spain 2
12 FRA France 2
13 GER Germany 65
14 HUN Hungary 3
15 IND India 4
16 IRQ Iraq 2
17 ISR Israel 6
18 ITA Italy 2
19 NED Netherlands 5
20 POL Poland 36
21 ROU Romania 1
22 RUS Russia 1
23 SUI Switzerland 2
24 SVK Slovakia 3
25 SWE Sweden 9
26 UAE United Arab Emirates 1
27 UKR Ukraine 3
28 VEN Venezuela 1
Total 699
Title statistics
Title Count
GM 29
WGM 2
IM 28
WIM 6
FM 52
WFM 4
CM 13
Total 134

[Matt Bridgeman]

Local lockdown in the North East has been announced from Friday, with a ban on socialising with anyone outside your own household. Hopefully nobody is going to try the argument that playing in a chess congress isn’t socialising! Lol
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/no ... s-18945698

[NickFaulks]

Local lockdown in the North East has been announced from Friday, with a ban on socialising with anyone outside your own household. Hopefully nobody is going to try the argument that playing in a chess congress isn’t socialising! Lol
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/no ... s-18945698

Each to their own, but I'd sooner be in Pardubice.

[Simon Rogers]

Things certainly seem to be getting worse in Czechia (although remember total cases will go up as testing goes up).
I won't wear a mask anywhere I play unless regulations change at the last moment and I cannot reasonably pull out.
As for handshakes - I would happily dispense with them in normal times as well as during plagues, but I if someone wants to shake my hand, I'll oblige.

How many entries are there currently for Pardubice Tim, what nationalities?

162 entries in the main tournament.
Stats show many more entries - more than would seem correct, unless as well as lesser tournaments they have also included - this must be the case - entries to other games (it is a games festival, rather than just a chess event).
Federation statistics
No. FED Federation Count
1 ARM Armenia 2
2 AUT Austria 5
3 BEL Belgium 3
4 BER Bermuda 1
5 BLR Belarus 2
6 BUL Bulgaria 3
7 CAN Canada 1
8 CZE Czech Republic 521
9 DEN Denmark 6
10 ENG England 7
11 ESP Spain 2
12 FRA France 2
13 GER Germany 65
14 HUN Hungary 3
15 IND India 4
16 IRQ Iraq 2
17 ISR Israel 6
18 ITA Italy 2
19 NED Netherlands 5
20 POL Poland 36
21 ROU Romania 1
22 RUS Russia 1
23 SUI Switzerland 2
24 SVK Slovakia 3
25 SWE Sweden 9
26 UAE United Arab Emirates 1
27 UKR Ukraine 3
28 VEN Venezuela 1
Total 699
Title statistics
Title Count
GM 29
WGM 2
IM 28
WIM 6
FM 52
WFM 4
CM 13
Total 134

Sounds like a great tournament. I'll be there in spirit. Keep us all on the forum updated with entries.

[Kevin Thurlow]

I know this is an advert, but I think they will have massive sales of this...

https://www.redmolotov.com/2020-one-sta ... cking=mail

[Simon Rogers]

Local lockdown in the North East has been announced from Friday, with a ban on socialising with anyone outside your own household. Hopefully nobody is going to try the argument that playing in a chess congress isn’t socialising! Lol
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/no ... s-18945698

Each to their own, but I'd sooner be in Pardubice.

Best of luck for Pardubice Nick. When is your first game?