English Chess Forum

With the promotion of Angela Eagle, the Cabinet now contains a former British Chess Champion.
https://www.gov.uk/government/people/angela-eagle

U18 Girls 1976

The Eagle has landed!

And Ellie Reeves is now the Attorney General. As Shadow Prisons Minister in 2023, she visited the Bronzefield Prison Chess Club and played a full game, lasting about 20 minutes, with a resident. I tried to attach a photograph here ( probably unsuccessfully!)

Angela Eagle was responsible for changing the female British champion title to "Womens" from "Ladies". She persuaded Stewart Reuben to do this at the 2008 British Championships at Liverpool.

Mike Gunn wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 27, 2026 9:38 am

Angela Eagle was responsible for changing the female British champion title to "Womens" from "Ladies". She persuaded Stewart Reuben to do this at the 2008 British Championships at Liverpool.

Do we know what her reasoning was for doing this?

I am not one to get hung up on language - and indeed there should be more important things to worry about, like opening, middlegame and endgame - but I can imagine Angela found 'ladies' overly genteel. On a similar principle perhaps, I note Wimbledon umpires now call female players by their surname, omitting their title.

John Upham wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 27, 2026 10:12 am

Do we know what her reasoning was for doing this?

Leftist feminism.

Mike Gunn wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 27, 2026 1:09 pm

John Upham wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 27, 2026 10:12 am

Do we know what her reasoning was for doing this?

Leftist feminism.

Oh dear. Dare I ask how that differs from just "feminism"?

Maybe we should talk about the chess instead? I forget where the threads are that went over the chess exploits of the Eagle sisters in great detail.

EDIT: The current AI-assisted chess-related search summaries for the Eagles and the Reeves are... interesting!

The Eagle sisters were always on the left. They were never outstandingly strong at chess, certainly not by the standards of a modern prodigy like Bodhana.

I have fond memories of them. This is because I stayed several times with them at their house in Formby, in order to take part in the biennial junior jamborees at the Bluecoat school.

Mike Gunn wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 27, 2026 9:38 am

Angela Eagle was responsible for changing the female British champion title to "Womens" from "Ladies". She persuaded Stewart Reuben to do this at the 2008 British Championships at Liverpool.

I think it was at the Liverpool 2008 prizegiving that I was impressed by Angela Eagle's impromptu speech in place of the Mayor, who was unexpectedly absent/late after getting soaked by a rainstorm at a previous engagement. She was part of the official party (as MP for the Wallasey constituency?) but I am fairly sure she wasn't scheduled to speak.

Nick Ivell wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 27, 2026 1:59 pm

The Eagle sisters were always on the left. They were never outstandingly strong at chess, certainly not by the standards of a modern prodigy like Bodhana.

Not many are as good as Bodhana, mind you.

Their father Andre Eagle was also a regular at tournaments though not a terribly good player.

Fair to say he played a big part in their politics too.

Indeed I played Andre in my first ever Open at Preston; I can vouch for the fact that he wasn't very good. Great guy to talk to though.

I have to say I am not a big fan of 'inherited politics', but I won't say more than that.

My late father was a lifelong Labour voter, just like me. That doesn't mean we agreed on everything, though - anything but.

(same with football, despite supporting the same team)

Is it A Kind of Loving where two guys from the same family (maybe the narrator's father and uncle, but it's been forty-five years since I read it) have a short conversation but they're both Labour and both Huddersfield so they haven't got anything to disagree about?

Nick Ivell wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 27, 2026 10:52 am

I can imagine Angela found 'ladies' overly genteel.

That's my view too - unlike Mike G, I don't see anything particularly "feminist" about the change. "Ladies" for me somehow always conjures up a mental image of the players sipping tea daintily from bone china cups (never mugs). Pinky fingers extended, of course.