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Re: So who's going to the British Chess Championships?

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 8:32 pm
by Michele Clack
Stewart Reuben said
But there is another factor. It is not open. People have to qualify. That helps to popularise Swisses all over the country. You would have to be very certain indeed that sweeping aside many of these smaller events would be to the advantage of British chess before undertaking such a radical step.
Actually although the golf is an open event players still have to qualify, so that would be the same, there would just be some places that other nationalities could qualify for.

However, I take your point and Roger De Coverley's that chess needs a national championship that is closed as that is the way that it is done in the chess world. I suppose the problem is that you can't watch chess in the same way you can watch golf ( what an amazing final day in the golf I was really sad Watson didn't win) so there isn't the same interest in sponsoring it. Also a lot more people play golf seriously.

I've got to say though I think it is great having the interactive boards where you can watch games on the internet. Well done to the people who set the interactive stuff up. Last year we watched our one and only junior win a game in the under 14 event at the British. It's a pity he's not going this year but he didn't fancy playing in the under 16 event and he is barred from the graded events.

Yes my name is Michele not Michael and I am female. My gg grandmother was French and mum liked French names. It is surprising how few women play chess. When Worcestershire got into the U100 national final a couple of years ago 1/4 of our team was female but I was surprised to find that there didn't seem to be any other female players even though there were lots of teams.

Re: So who's going to the British Chess Championships?

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 9:40 pm
by Keith Arkell
[quote="Keith Arkell"]Go Tom Watson!!!!!!!

AS an ex professional gambler though I would say that the winner is Ross Fisher.His wife is expecting.This kind of thing can have a big effect on normal expectation.We saw it in chess when Flear won a big event,way way above his expectation, when his marriage was imminent in 1986.

In my opinion the only player who can interfere with Ross winning is the Goose.....


And there you have it - proof of why I prefer chess to gambling :idea:

Re: So who's going to the British Chess Championships?

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 10:17 pm
by Alex Holowczak
michele clack wrote: I've got to say though I think it is great having the interactive boards where you can watch games on the internet. Well done to the people who set the interactive stuff up. Last year we watched our one and only junior win a game in the under 14 event at the British. It's a pity he's not going this year but he didn't fancy playing in the under 16 event and he is barred from the graded events.
I know who that person is. To be honest, in my opinion, his interest has been flagging a bit this past 12 months. He didn't once play for my old school team this year through various excuses. Also, his father finished last in the Championship last year, so it's no surprise to me that they didn't go this year.

I do like the Interactive Boards though. I like watching the junior matches at the British Championship, because their standard is similar to mine (on the lower boards, at least!), so it's much easier to understand what's going on, and the thought processes taking place. The games also generate far more results than the Championship section. The one annoyance I get is that the Championship top boards have a chunk of short draws played on the Interactive boards, which is fairly useless as a learning aid.

I'm a big fan of the Championship and Major Open sections' games being put up on the tournament website though, I found that really useful last year.

As for the golf, I think the crowd reaction summed it up:
Watson holes his putt.
<Crowd> Come on Tom!!!
Cink holes his putt.
<Crowd> Come on Tom!!!

It was so sad watching him miss the 10-footer for the Championship. :cry:

I wonder if people are talking about chess on a golf forum at the moment? :lol:

Re: So who's going to the British Chess Championships?

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 10:48 pm
by Stewart Reuben
Sorry I did not look accurately at Michele's name.

Returning to the original question and to avoid incorrect rumours.
I shall not be going to Torquay this year. I have been in hospital for nearly three weeks. Alex McFarlane and David Welch have my total confidence that they will take over the administration of the British at a very difficult time. Thus two years and three organisers of the British falling ill and thus being unable to continue.
When I eventually recover, I should actually be healthier than in June, after several procedures.

Another matter is that the total entry is well up on the last few years.

This problem will test to the limit my belief that organising an event lies all in the pre-preparation.

Stewart Reuben

Re: So who's going to the British Chess Championships?

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 11:53 pm
by David Gilbert
Best wishes for a speedy recovery Stuart - see you in Canterbury! Torquay is going to be great!

Re: So who's going to the British Chess Championships?

Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 8:54 am
by JustinHorton
Best wishes to Stewart.

Re: So who's going to the British Chess Championships?

Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 4:22 pm
by Keith Arkell
I'll echo that. Get well soon Stewart.

Re: So who's going to the British Chess Championships?

Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 10:10 pm
by Michele Clack
Best wishes for a speedy recovery Stewart.

Re: So who's going to the British Chess Championships?

Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 10:48 pm
by Gavin Strachan
Best wishes Stewart. Hope its not a problem that crops up at the same time a tournament looms on the horizon (Gibraltor, etc) that you are involved with as you always do a great job from what I have seen!

Re: So who's going to the British Chess Championships?

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 7:35 pm
by Simon Ansell
Best wishes Stewart.

Simon Williams interviewed on the British Championships on Simon Mayo's BBC Radio 2 show this evening:
http://www.gingergm.com/2009/07/21/on-the-radio/

Edit 21/07/09 19:47: at this precise moment in time the web server appears to be having problems, the link above is correct.

Re: So who's going to the British Chess Championships?

Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:42 pm
by Ian Kingston
You can also catch Simon Williams on the BBC iPlayer for the next week or so:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... 1_07_2009/

Skip to 1 h 43 min (unless you're a particular fan of Radio 2). And don't be confused by the picture of Simon Mayo - he was sitting in for Chris Evans today.

Re: So who's going to the British Chess Championships?

Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 8:48 am
by Alex Holowczak
That's good publicity. It must be horrible doing interviews about chess, because you end up giving slightly "dumbed-down" answers to questions that don't necessarily have an easy-to-picture answer.

Re: So who's going to the British Chess Championships?

Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 9:05 am
by Carl Hibbard
To answer the question of this topic (and in breaking news...) I will actually be there on Monday 3rd for a nose about!

:shock:

Re: So who's going to the British Chess Championships?

Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 11:21 am
by David Gilbert
Good news. The overall entry now exceeds 800 and could eventually surpass the 824 who made the pilgrimage to Great Yarmouth two years ago. But wait a minute. Where are all the U-125s? No indian factor here. Are the factories that manufactured our great ancestors still and silent? A meagre 31 entrants so far. Last year the U-125 had the highest turn out of the graded events with 43. Back in 2002 when Torquay last hosted the championships there were 58 contenders. Should there be no late entries – and the financial penalty for late entry is brutal – it will be the poorest attendance ever, ever, ever in the U-125 – not even as good as Douglas in 2005 when 33 people chipped in.

Re: So who's going to the British Chess Championships?

Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 12:17 pm
by JustinHorton
Maybe nobody's graded under 125 any more?