British Championship 2008

[TomChivers]

Apparently it started yesterday!

Are any forum people following the games? Playing?!

Me, I reckon top-seed Gawain Jones will win it.

[David Haydon]

I tip Lawrence Trent or Stephen Gordon to Win - Stephen came close last year, and Lawrence is capable of winning the event due to his ambitious and attacking nature of play. And also because he is an essex player

Gawain has a good chance though still.

[Andy Kelly]

What about nigel davies? He is going well and i tip him to go close, even though he seems unfancied. Also he plays for my club so come on nigel!!

[TomChivers]

Davies v Trent on board 1 today could prove a crunch game for the whole Championship then . . .

[RichardPalliser]

Very welcome to finally see a thread on this topic! I always suspect that far too many ECF officials, if not the average player, frankly care very little about our leading players.

Should be a pretty close event IMO. Some typically wild games from the usual suspects so far I see!

[Jonathan Bryant]

Well to be fair our leading players aren't there.

I've thought for years the championship should be a 12 player all-play-all. Same prize money could attract the bigger names/higher rated contenders?

[Sean Hewitt]

Well to be fair our leading players aren't there.

I've thought for years the championship should be a 12 player all-play-all. Same prize money could attract the bigger names/higher rated contenders?

Good idea, and I agree in principle, but it would need funding. The current championship has circa 64 players in it. Whilst GM/IM's play for free, the great unwashed pay £175 a head.

If you make it a 12 player all play all, you lose all the £175's and so, I guess, the ability to fund the prizes to the same level.

[Alasdair MacLeod]

I'm only following the results with the odd glance at the live games.

Looks very open - I can see this going to a play-off between several players. Gawain Jones to win.

But come 7th August, my attention will be diverted to the Staunton Memorial tournament. I'm planning to visit a few times - not too hard to do that when I work 15 mins away! It's so rare to have a tournament like this one in London especially with Adams and Short playing.

Here's a good question which probably sums up English chess - when was the last time Adams and Short
played in the same tournament in England? (No, you can't count the UK v. China match in Liverpool, they didn't play against each other!).

Is the answer the English Championship in 1991?

[RichardPalliser]

That's a good question! Did they both play the British in 1998, or was 1997 Adams' last appearance?

I'm not sure that we need to make the British an a-p-a like it used to be (hard for a start to decide on an allocation for each eligible country), but certainly the event is currently a pale shadow of what it was ten years ago. Moreover, as David Robertson has noted on his blog, the Major Open is ridiculously weak. In 1996 the top players would be people rated around 2300. Nowadays it seems those players either don't go or pay a ridiculous sum to be 'promoted' to the British.

I'm not sure how much it would help, but certainly I think we should restrict the British to GMs, IMs, WGMs, a few leading juniors and anyone over 2350. However, it's important IMO that anyone can qualify, so let's go back to having a proper qualification system. A maximum of ten weekenders spread around the country with one berth each. That might also prop up our ailing weekend circuit to an extent.

I fear, however, that it would require a miracle for the Board to even discuss such an idea. Sad really. Moreover, how with such a good venue and the British being held in the EU Capital of Culture have even the ECF failed to find a sponsor?!

[David Robertson]

Adams & Short are going to meet twice in a month. They are both entered for September's 4th EU Open Individual in Liverpool.

See the strong entry field here:

http://www.liverpoolchessinternational. ... ipants.htm

When Ray Keene referred in his Times column on Monday to "a bumper summer of chess", I got the impression he didn't even know about this tournament. It wasn't mentioned anyway. There's still time to enter. We're looking for more players below 2400, especially in the 2200+ and 2300+ categories, to make it a real 'open' event

David
Atticus CC

ps. since Richard has just posted ahead of me, I should add that I also make the sponsorship point on my blog

http://www.atticuschess.org.uk/forum/ph ... cbd73891c1

[Roger de Coverly]

I'm not sure how much it would help, but certainly I think we should restrict the British to GMs, IMs, WGMs, a few leading juniors and anyone over 2350. However, it's important IMO that anyone can qualify, so let's go back to having a proper qualification system. A maximum of ten weekenders spread around the country with one berth each. That might also prop up our ailing weekend circuit to an extent.

To what extent is the current qualification system "not" a proper system? It certainly seems a bit easier than it used to be - but it's always been expensive for those that have to pay.

For reference here's the stated conditions for 2009 - I think Stewart has tweaked these a bit - it used to be top 4 in the Major Open for instance (and half price rather than free). Inclusion of the Senior Champion looks new as well. There are already at least 15 places from regional swisses ( 5 unions * 3 places each)

from
http://www.britishchess08.com/downloads ... ersion.pdf

BRITISH CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2009: How to Qualify

1) British Champion in any of the past five years
2) A score of 6½/11 (6/11 under 20) or more in the 2008 Championship. These players receive free entry.
3) The reigning British Under 21 or Under 18 Champion. These players receive free entry. Should there be a tie for either of these qualifying places; the tie will be split by average of opponents’ FIDE Ratings.
4) The British Senior Champion, if s/he wishes to play.
5) A score of 7½/11 (7/11 under 20) or higher in the Major Open, if eligible to play. These players receive free entry.
6) The highest placed eligible competitor not already qualified, in the British Rapidplay Championship. The tiebreak system as in shall be used.
7) The Champion, or nominee, of each of the English Chess Unions.
The highest placed eligible competitors in three regional Open Swisses organised by each of the English Chess Unions. The tiebreak system will be sum of progressive score, failing that average of opponents’ grades. Any entry fee reduction is as decided by the event organisers.
9) An active rating of 218 (2350) or higher in a current British Isles national grading list (not Rapidplay) or any FIDE list between July 2008 and July 2009.
10) For players Under 21 active rating of 215 (2320) or higher
Under 18 active rating of 210 (2280) or higher
Under 16 active rating of 205 (2240) or higher
Under 14 active rating of 200 (2200) or higher
Under 12 active rating of 190 (2120) or higher
For females active rating of 190 (2120) or higher
For females Under 21 active rating of 180 (2040) or higher
11) The highest placed eligible player, not already qualified, from any British Isles Open FIDE rated event.
The tiebreak system as in shall be used.
12) The highest placed eligible player in each of the six congresses with the highest number of long-play ECF graded games in season 2007-2008. The tiebreak system as in shall be used.
13) If the qualifier in 3, 4, 8, 11, or 12 does not play, the place can only be offered to a player on the same score who did not qualify because of tiebreak.
14) Nominees of the Scottish Chess Association, Welsh Chess Union, Ulster Chess Union, Irish Chess Union, Guernsey and Jersey.
15) One nominee from each of the Congress Manager and the Director of Junior Chess.

[RichardPalliser]

AFAIK the current qualifying system is a shambles. I can remember people touring the country in the 90s to qualify; who does so now? If you want to play and are prepared to pay £175 it seems that you're in. I'm not sure one can directly 'buy' a place, but it's easy to be on a reserve list for weekender x and wangle one's way in; it also seems that any strong players who enter the Major Open get 'moved up' as it were. I hope I'm wrong, but that's certainly been my general perception this millennium.

In effect the British Championship is run to make a profit: as many x £175.00 as the organisers can get away with. Would you really want to sponsor such a national championship?!

[Roger de Coverly]

AFAIK the current qualifying system is a shambles. I can remember people touring the country in the 90s to qualify; who does so now?

The current system isn't really any different from fifteen years or even twenty five years ago - the only real change seems to be that more events are qualifiers and there's more leniency for non-qualifiers on equal score. Another change is that relatively few of the qualifiers take up their places.

In effect the British Championship is run to make a profit: as many x £175.00 as the organisers can get away with. Would you really want to sponsor such a national championship?!

The accounts of the ECF and the BCF are usually presented on the basis that the British (in the sense of the entire event) is expected to be somewhere between breakeven and making a modest profit. Certainly if you read between the lines of David Robertson's blog, there aren't large funds available for the organisers to spend.

The economics of the British are no different from any other chess event:-

Income

Sponsorships/donations/legacies
Entry Fees
Bulletin charges

Expenditure

Prizes
Fees to top players
Cost of arbiters and other organisers
Cost of commentary, bulletin and press
Cost of venue ( but usually the host town provides this for nothing)
Advertising the event

So I expect there's a minimum required number of players paying their £175s.

In my opinion it was a work of genius (not) to remove Commonwealth players from the Championship events and at the same time introduce the 2350 upper limit to the Major Open. My suggestion for improving the "British" would be to remove the upper rating limit to the Major Open and promote this tournament to Commonwealth and European chess "tourists" as a British Isles Open.

[David Haydon]

about the 4th EU Open Individual in Liverpool.

I might consider entering that one, but i have looked on the site and they say the accommodation is only 110 BP per night, how can they expect normal people to pay that kind of price?

does anyone know of any 'Cheaper' VERY cheaper accommodation per night? lets say under 30-25 quid a night?

lawrence trent beat pert today, ha! my favourite is now co-leading the event with 5 other GMs

cheers

david

[David Robertson]

they say the accommodation is only 110 BP per night, how can they expect normal people to pay that kind of price?

We don't - read more carefully.

This particular accommodation is £110/night for three people. Find a couple of playing mates the same strength as you or better, and enter. There are alternatives available too. But it must be said, Liverpool is very crowded these days; hotels are milking it. Nevertheless, numbers for the Brits are the same as for Great Yarmouth. And people seem happy

David
Atticus CC