English Chess Forum

Lots of interesting views mainly on the negative side few of my own to add

I think there were more players playing tournaments back in the late 80`s or early 90`s i myself was one of them rated similar to now maybe a bit stronger . I never qualified for the British back then as it was hard work there were more active master players about . I still regard it as a highlight in Chess to play in it even if it is in some peoples eyes a weaker event
Maria`s idea of a week 9 rounder could be an option to attract more players but i find myself agreeing with Richard Bates in that a lot of the views are from people who clearly dont wish to play.
In an ideal world we would all love to see the British top 10 play but we are not in an ideal world at present particularly financially as cost is going to stop a lot of people playing and all the surveys in the world wont fix that in the short term
Hopefully some of the younger guys will benefit from playing and in years to come regard the event as important and also aspire to higher levels of play . I would be very surprised if most of the chess public uk here wont be watching the live games in round 4 or whatever when Williams plays Adams ? The fact is people dont want to play fair enough but i still think interest will be generated

Mark Josse wrote:I would be very surprised if most of the chess public uk here wont be watching the live games in round 4 or whatever when Williams plays Adams ? The fact is people dont want to play fair enough but i still think interest will be generated

I don't think the amount of internet traffic I will have to deal with will be as high as usual no but then who knows?

So...

Who do we think will win it? My gut feeling is Mickey wont, but I'm none the wiser as to who will.

You will have to be a brave man to bet against Mickey

From the current entries there are only 6 players within 300 points of him, and Simon W and Peter W are nearly 200 points adrift, so statistically Mickey would be massive odds on favourite.

I cannot see the 6 within 300 points amassing enough points against eachother to even get within 1 point of Mickey, for one of them to get close they would most probably need to win every game against these players as Mickey most probably only drop a couple of draws

Alan Walton wrote:You will have to be a brave man to bet against Mickey

I will take that bet...

I am not sure his style is aggressive enough to knock over 'easily' some of the lower graded opponents who will be forming a queue to beat him

I would probably take Keith given some reasonable odds

Carl Hibbard wrote:I am not sure his style is aggressive enough to knock over 'easily' some of the lower graded opponents who will be forming a queue to beat him

He style was good enough to win a very strong Gibraltar tournament, admittedly he may draw a couple of games, but unless the field strengthens significantly, say more 2500+ players, I cant see him getting less than 9/11

Carl Hibbard wrote:

Alan Walton wrote:You will have to be a brave man to bet against Mickey

I will take that bet...

I am not sure his style is aggressive enough to knock over 'easily' some of the lower graded opponents who will be forming a queue to beat him

I reckon some of us (career record 0/5+) will be content to let him off with a draw... (although "people forming a queue to beat him" is probably what he would prefer!)

He will have to have a somewhat poor tournament, and somebody else an exceptionally good one, for him not to win by a point at least I would think.

Mickey is a big favourite atm. Sure, he does give away too many draws to players ranked in the 2500s but there are only a couple of those in this event! The only player currently entered who could give him any 'problems' really is Simon Williams- yet Mickey is still quite a bit better than him. He's very good at beating weaker players, which will probably make up at least half of his opponents.

Mark Howitt wrote:Mickey is a big favourite atm. Sure, he does give away too many draws to players ranked in the 2500s but there are only a couple of those in this event! The only player currently entered who could give him any 'problems' really is Simon Williams- yet Mickey is still quite a bit better than him. He's very good at beating weaker players, which will probably make up at least half of his opponents.

It's worth mentioning that Wells-Adams 2007 Staunton & Wells-Adams 2008 Staunton both ended in draws as did Greet-Adams at the May 4NCL. I think at least two other GMs have entered that haven't yet been added to the list on the website and a couple more will enter and so I expect a competitive British but with Mickey as a clear favourite.

Entrants : 401 @ 1st July. Ratings from FIDE 1st July 2010.

Please note that entries can only be accepted on an official entry form. Full details of how to enter, conditions of entry and the correct address for completed forms is here http://www.britishchess2010.com/.

BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIP (48 players)

ADAMS, Michael, 2706g; GORDON, Stephen J, 2534g; WILLIAMS, Simon K, 2511g; WELLS, Peter K, 2488g; ARKELL, Keith C, 2465g; PERT, Richard G, 2460m; GREET, Andrew N, 2451m; HOUSKA, Jovanka, 2433m; SLAVIN, Alexei, 2417f; HUNT, Adam C, 2414m; BATES, Richard A, 2382m; LITTLEWOOD, Paul E, 2361m; BAKER, Christopher W, 2307m; CONSTANTINOU, Peter, 2302f; TYMRAKIEWICZ, Rafal, 2301f; EAMES, Robert S, 2287f; DORRINGTON, Christopher J, 2255; CHAPMAN, Terry PD, 2251; GRIFFITHS, Ryan-Rhys, 2249; RUDD, Jack, 2236m; ADDISON, Bret, 2235; SNAPE, Ian L, 2233; MASON, Donald J, 2219; RICH, Mark C, 2166c; HELBIG, Paul D, 2165; PADILLA CABERO, Pablo, 2149; ALMOND, Richard J, 2148; WILLIAMS, Peter A, 2145; JACKSON, James P, 2135; JOSSE, Mark, 2128; GOODGER, Martyn, 2123; HENDERSON, Ian R, 2108; BROWN, Martin, 2093; MAKEPEACE, Philip J, 2074; SENIOR, Gary, 2069; FREEMAN, Richard CP, 2056; FEGAN, Chris, 2051; JAMESON, David, 2047; PLEASANTS, Allan J, 2032; McCULLOUGH, Simon L, 2030; MACKLE, Dominic, 2021; VRUBL, Jaroslav, 2019; COMBIE, Alexander B, 2018; BUCHER, Grant W, 2012; VAN KEMENADE, Rudy, 1995; CUMMING, Rhys, 1986; DINES, Sheila J, 1931; DORAN, Christopher, 1870;


British Senior Championship (31 players)

JAMES, Geoffrey H, 2211; NORMAN, Kenneth I, 2165; ASHBY, Anthony C, 2147; TIMSON, Paul F, 2143; COLLIER, David O, 2135; PRIZANT, Michael, 2134; DODGSON, John A, 2125; WESTRA, Roelof D, 2108; VICKERY, Jim E, 2107; DICKSON, George, 2105; HABERSHON, Paul F, 2089; ELLISON, D George, 2084; HUTCHINSON, Norman A, 2076; COLLINS, Peter M, 2061; KENDALL, Paul SN, 2059; GAMBLE, Raymond J, 2033; DOYE, Peter C, 2027; PRICE, Andrew, 2014; PHILLIPS, William, 1993; DONAGHAY, Richard H, 1968; BRYANT, Richard BE, 1957; NICOLSON, Jim R, 1930; CORISH, Aidan T, 1920; EWART, Brian R, 1888; FLOCKHART, Hugh S, 1856; ANNETTS, Ivor S, 1848; MOORE, Gillian A, 1837; MACRAE, James S, 1756; TIDMARSH, David, 1696; MITCHELL, Robert, 1688; DEAN, Michael, 1642;

British U180 Championship (15 players)
BRYANT, Richard BE, 178A; WHITE, Graham A, 177A; ARCHER-LOCK, Christopher J, 176B; BOULTON, William JK, 176A; THYNNE, Trefor, 173A; PALMER, Keith J, 171C; LIVESEY, R Nigel, 168B; O'GORMAN, Brendan, 166A; TOLL, Alec J, 165B; PATRICK, David A, 163A; PRIDE, Stephen C, 160A; STOTHARD, David, 156C; BUSH, Martin, 153A; MCCORMICK, Graeme S, 151D; GARTSIDE, Carl, 146A;


British U160 Championship (23 players)
STOTHARD, David, 156C; BUSH, Martin, 153A; PHILPOTT, John A, 153A; REDDIE, Michael J, 153B; MCCORMICK, Graeme S, 151D; DESMEDT, Richard E, 151A; WIGGINS, Andrew S, 149A; NORMAN, Dinah, 148A; WRIGHT, John, 147A; REYNOLDS, Mark A, 147E; GARTSIDE, Carl, 146A; RADFORD, Mark SR, 145A; CORNES, David J, 143A; NICKALS, Peter A, 141A; MITCHELL, Robert, 140A; PEARCE, Neville R, 140A; MITCHELL, Robert, 138*; MARSH, Charles, 131*; JOHNSON, Stanley, 126A; CROUCH, Timothy J, 126A; STONE, Mark, 125A; STRATFORD, Christopher J, 125A; BOZTAS, Lana, 121A;

British U140 Championship (24 players)
NORMAN, Nigel, 139A; JARAH, Edward W, 138C; SANDERCOCK, E Barry, 138A; HORLOCK, Peter J, 137A; TAYLOR, Jonathan, 135D; GILBERT, David J, 134A; ALLEN, Timothy, 132A; MARSH, Charles, 131*; GARDINER, Colin J, 128A; FRASER, Susan, 126C; JOHNSON, Stanley, 126A; CROUCH, Timothy J, 126A; STONE, Mark, 125A; STRATFORD, Christopher J, 125A; EVERITT, David, 123A; LETTINGTON, David, 122B; BOZTAS, Lana, 121A; BILLETT, Stephen J, 115A; SMITH, Mark J, 114A; ADAMS, Michael J, 109A; ENGLISH, Andrew, 107A; BARBER, Gregory, 97*; THORPE, Thomas, 85C; GERGELOVA, Monika,;


British U120 Championship (11 players)
BULLOCK, Alfred, 117A; WADSWORTH, James, 116D; HOLLANDS, George, 115B; SMITH, Mark J, 114A; ARCHER, David, 111A; MORRISON, Joseph G, 108A; COX, Marian, 98A; BAKER, Guy, 96E; COX, Reginald, 94A; CHAPMAN, John R, 59A; MASKELL, James, 45D;

British Under 16 Championship (12 players)
WALKER, Samuel A, 1930; CLEMENTS, Thomas A, 1917; FREELAND, Alex, 1851; ARCHER-LOCK, Adrian, 1827; MENON, Davin, 1804; WANG, Maria, 1730; EHR, Jennifer, 1656; BILLINGS, Alexander J, 1576; SPICER, Jonathan, 1574; PETTIT, Michael, 1544; SUGDEN, Freddie, 1512; LEWIS, Dominic, 1448;


British Under 14 Championship (8 players)
HARVEY, Marcus R, 177A; WANG, Maria, 167A; NOEL, Daniel, 153A; CLANCHY, Nicholas, 151A; EDWARDS-WRIGHT, Miles D, 134A; RAO, Raunak, 126A; LIP, Philomena, 124B; SUTTON, Daniel, 121A;

British Under 13 Championship (5 players)
ZHANG, Roy, 165A; WOOD-ROBINSON, Max, 131A; HEAD, Louise, 93D; TAYLOR, Adam C, 73E; EHR, Claire, 65D;


British Under 12 Championship (11 players)
WADSWORTH, Matthew, 146A; WANG, X Anna, 131A; GRAFF, Barnaby, 119A; ROSE, Marcus, 110A; FLETCHER, Michael JW, 108*; JOHNSON, Rory JS, 103A; WONG, Ryan, 97B; WONG, Alfred, 95D; WEN, Jessica, 94*; TAYLOR, Adam C, 73E; GREEN, Michael, 40*;


British Under 11 Championship (12 players)

CLARIDGE-HANSEN, William, 131A; WANG, X Anna, 131A; LEWIS, Jordan, 128A; SELWAY, Alexander, 115*; CROASDALE, Harry J, 108A; MUIR, Daniel M, 108B; TWIGGE-MOLESEY, Billy, 101B; CROASDALE, John A, 88*; GARLAND HOFF, Florian, 86*; HUSSAIN, Zara A, 72E; BENNETT, Owen, ; BENNETT, Rhys,;

British Under 10 Championship (15 players)
ZHANG, Zheming, 123*; LIP, Aloysius, 93B; GILBERT, Michael J, 93*; LIU, David, 90D; SMAILES, Andrew, 86A; GARLAND HOFF, Florian, 86*; GRIEVE, Harry, 84*; ZHANG, Anthony Y, 77*; ASHCROFT, Ned, 76E; HORSFALL, Ethan, 61E; WEN, Jackson, 56*; STEELE, Beatrice, 55*; POWER, Johann, 51*; GRAFF, Coby, 50C; GILBERT, Isabelle F, 20*;


British Under 9 Championship (13 players)
ZHANG, Zheming, 123*; CROASDALE, John A, 88*; SMAILES, Andrew, 86A; GARLAND HOFF, Florian, 86*; GRIEVE, Harry, 84*; ANIL-KUMAR, Anantha, 81E; ZHANG, Anthony Y, 77*; WEN, Jackson, 56*; SUTTON, Hannah, 47*; RAJA, Alisha, 43*; GREEN, Emily, ; DU TOIT, Stephanie M, ; LUTCHMAN-SINGH, Karanvir,;

British Under 8 Championship (10 players)
ZHANG, Zheming, 123*; CROASDALE, John A, 88*; ANIL-KUMAR, Anantha, 81E; ZHANG, Anthony Y, 77*; AVERBUKH, Adam W, 65*; GILBERT, Isabelle F, 20*; NASON, Dashiel, ; ARCHER-LOCK, Helen, ; DU TOIT, Stephanie M, ; LUTCHMAN-SINGH, Karanvir,;

MAJOR OPEN (21 players)
TALSMA, Paul, 2250; WARMAN, Simon M, 2153y; VARNAM, Liam D, 2138; HAGESAETHER, Arne, 2112; WATERS, Clive L, 2107; DE COVERLEY, Roger D, 2084; FALLOWFIELD, Jeremy R, 2074; WILLIAMS, J Stuart, 2048; GARNETT, John S, 2026; CALVERT, David I, 2025; SALMON, Andrew N, 2014; STAYT, James N, 1996; STEWART, Ashley, 1976; RAMBALDI, Francesco, 1958; CAMPBELL, Eoin S, 1915; HOARE, Amy, 1904; PAYNE, Matthew J, 1874; WADSWORTH, Matthew, 1865; SENIOR, Thomas, 1863; DALE, Hannah J, 1759; MARSH, Charles, 1650;


5 Day Open AM Week 1 (10 players)
ORTON, Stephen, 189A; TALBOT, Nathan L, 182A; KENNEDY, Craig, 176B; BIELBY, Paul R, 172A; TALBOT, Mark A, 168A; SELWAY, Richard P, 162*; MUIR, Martin J, 154C; NARASIMHAN, Aaginey, 140*; MATTHEW, Ian G, 133A; WINTER, Malcolm J, 120*;


5 Day Open PM Week 1 (15 players)

BRYANT, Richard BE, 178A; ESSINGER, James, 178B; KENNEDY, Craig, 176B; FALLOWFIELD, Nicholas K, 171A; PRICE, Andrew, 160A; PRIDE, Stephen C, 160A; GARTSIDE, Carl, 146A; NARASIMHAN, Aaginey, 140*; NORMAN, Nigel, 139A; HORLOCK, Peter J, 137A; MATTHEW, Ian G, 133A; STONE, Mark, 125A; WINTER, Malcolm J, 120*; BILLETT, Stephen J, 115A; CALVERT, John C, 108C;

5 Day Open AM Week 2 (17 players)
CUTMORE, Martin, 181A; BRYANT, Richard BE, 178A; HYDE, Keith G, 176D; MERCS, Peter, 174A; THYNNE, Trefor, 173A; BIELBY, Paul R, 172A; TOLL, Alec J, 165B; ZHANG, Roy, 165A; WATERS, Andrew C, 161A; BLOWERS, Graham K, 161A; PRIDE, Stephen C, 160A; EDNEY, Richard H, 158B; NARASIMHAN, Aaginey, 140*; SELLICK, Simon C, 124A; EVERITT, David, 123A; JAMES, David, 70A; LIP, Quinton,;

5 Day Open PM Week 2 (17 players)

FOULGER, John G, 190*; TALBOT, Nathan L, 182A; TALBOT, Mark A, 168A; TWITCHELL, Neville H, 167A; O'GORMAN, Brendan, 166A; PRIDE, Stephen C, 160A; EDNEY, Richard H, 158B; GARTSIDE, Carl, 146A; CORNES, David J, 143A; MITCHELL, Robert, 140A; NARASIMHAN, Aaginey, 140*; STONE, Mark, 125A; STRATFORD, Christopher J, 125A; EVERITT, David, 123A; CALVERT, John C, 108C; SPICER, Jonathan, 100E; JAMES, David, 70A;


Weekender Atkins - Open (11 players)
PEAT, Matthew, 179E; ESKINAZI, Anthony, 175*; MERCS, Peter, 174A; FALLOWFIELD, Nicholas K, 171A; TWITCHELL, Neville H, 167A; O'GORMAN, Brendan, 166A; MARCHANT, Geoffrey, 164A; PATRICK, David A, 163A; BLOWERS, Graham K, 161A; PRIDE, Stephen C, 160A; RADFORD, Mark SR, 145A;


Weekender Soanes - U150 (16 players)
WIGGINS, Andrew S, 149A; NORMAN, Dinah, 148A; WRIGHT, John, 147A; CORNES, David J, 143A; MITCHELL, Robert, 140A; DRENNAN, William B, 140B; NORMAN, Nigel, 139A; BAILEY, Alan M, 139A; HORLOCK, Peter J, 137A; GILBERT, David J, 134A; SHARP, David R, 133D; MATTHEW, Ian G, 133A; ALLEN, Timothy, 132A; OSBORNE, Keith, 131A; CROUCH, Timothy J, 126A; STONE, Mark, 125A;


Weekender Yates - U125 (14 players)

DAVIS, John G, 124A; EVERITT, David, 123A; BILLINGS, Alex, 122A; NETTLETON, Charlie B, 121A; BILLETT, Stephen J, 115A; SUGDEN, Freddie, 114A; SMITH, Mark J, 114A; CROASDALE, Harry J, 108A; COLLICOTT, Peter, 108D; ARCHER-LOCK, Phillip A, 106A; SULLIVAN, Kenneth, 101B; MCDONNELL, Alan, 100*; HARDWICK, Alexander M, 99E; CHAPMAN, John R, 59A;


1st Rapidplay Sunday 25th July (28 players)

GREET, Andrew N, 225Em; BROWN, Martin, 192B; ARCHER-LOCK, Adrian, 187B; CUMMING, Rhys, 185B; JAMESON, David, 184D; COMBIE, Alexander, 183B; TALBOT, Mark A, 182C; THYNNE, Trefor, 180D; BLOWERS, Graham K, 180D; TALBOT, Nathan L, 180C; BRYANT, Richard BE, 174D; CLEMENTS, Thomas, 173C; STEWART, Ashley, 171X; ARCHER-LOCK, Christopher J, 167C; PAYNE, Matthew J, 166A; HOARE, Amy, 162X; CAMPBELL, Eoin S, 161*; STOTHARD, David, 156C; BOZTAS, Lana, 137X; SUGDEN, Freddie, 131C; MARSH, Charles, 131*; WINTER, Malcolm J, 113A; EVERITT, David, 112X; SMITH, Mark J, 109E; BILLINGS, Alex, 106D; SPICER, Jonathan, 100*; CHANDRAMOHAN, Shamaka, 90*; GERGELOVA, Monika,;


2nd Rapidplay Sunday 1st August (14 players)

MACKLE, Dominic, 189D; ARCHER-LOCK, Adrian, 187B; GARNETT, John S, 174B; STEWART, Ashley, 171X; ARCHER-LOCK, Christopher J, 167C; CAMPBELL, Eoin S, 161*; STOTHARD, David, 156C; NASH, Richard, 138E; BOZTAS, Lana, 137X; MARSH, Charles, 131*; ADAMS, Michael J, 124A; LIP, Aloysius, 106D; CHANDRAMOHAN, Shamaka, 90*; LIP, Quinton,;

Things are starting to shape up a few more GM`s Steve Gordon and Keith Arkell there is still a month to go of course and the field will continue to improve. I agree with the others Adams must be favourite to win on paper by some margin but you never know .

Mark Josse wrote:Things are starting to shape up a few more GM`s Steve Gordon and Keith Arkell there is still a month to go of course and the field will continue to improve. I agree with the others Adams must be favourite to win on paper by some margin but you never know .

I'm just pleased that it looks as if i'm going to be able to maintain my standard 50%/+1 target, thereby avoiding the need to get unjustifiably ambitious! Perhaps an outside chance of avoiding embarrassing myself as usual on the demo boards as well

Well, I'm just about in the top half. Can I make it four appearances in the main prize list in six years? Possibly.

IM Jack Rudd wrote:Well, I'm just about in the top half. Can I make it four appearances in the main prize list in six years? Possibly.

Hope so. That could enable me to complete the set and avoid embarrassing myself against you

Being in the top half isn't that advantageous, I'd have thought, because using an Accelerated Swiss you have to play a top quarter player. Being in quarter three is probably a better starting place. This year also seemingly makes it easier for a 2200ish to get to 6.5/11 than usual, and hence get a half price entry for 2011.