French tournaments

[Phil Neatherway]

Hi again,

My French is reasonable but I could do with some help with chess phrases, in particular 'I resign' and 'would you like a draw?'

Any help much appreciated.

[Roger de Coverly]

My French is reasonable but I could do with some help with chess phrases, in particular 'I resign' and 'would you like a draw?'

According to Averbakh's "small chess dictionary" of 1988, these are respectively
"J'abandonne" and "Je vous propose nulle" or just "Nulle?" The German word Remis is sometimes used as a draw offer.

You might not be playing a French player of course.

There's useful stuff in the phrase book, one for Topalov perhaps could be "Donnez-moi une dame, s'il vous plait and for Naka's opponents "Vous devez jouer cette pièce".

It's always possible to resign wordlessly by just stopping the clock.

[Jonathan Bryant]

would you like a draw?'

It's >>>
mon aéroglisseur est plein d'anguilles

[Mike Truran]

I have no doubt that if Mr Izzard were to resign a game of chess "le singe est dans l'arbre" would be "le mot juste". Or, for the pedants among us, perhaps "la phrase juste".

Roger - I fear that you may have mislaid a circumflex. But your suggestions were jolly good nonetheless.

[Mike Truran]

"le singe est dans l'arbre" would be "le mot juste"

Or indeed "de rigueur".

[Kevin Thurlow]

I beat a French opponent some years ago and he just said "merde".

As for Phil's original question, "nulle?" seems to work as Roger said. I would advise not turning up wearing an England football shirt.

[Phil Neatherway]

Thanks for the tips everyone, and especially Roger, although I'm not expecting to play Naka or Toppy!

Roger, did you ever play in the tournament at Naujac, and if so, did you enjoy it?

[Roger Lancaster]

While on the subject, can anyone recommend any tournaments in France (preferably within reasonable driving distance of Calais) suitable for strongish (ECF100-150 range) juniors, preferably during school holidays? Or Belgium/Netherlands, for that matter!

[Roger de Coverly]

Or Belgium/Netherlands, for that matter!

Leiden (15th to 24th July) is the week before the British.
http://www.leidenchess.com/

It runs both an A and B section, ratings in the latter running from 1035 to 1945.

It's just north of Rotterdam, meaning less than an hour's drive from Hook of Holland (ferry from Harwich), if a somewhat longer run to or from Calais or Dunkirk.

[Niall Doran]

While on the subject, can anyone recommend any tournaments in France (preferably within reasonable driving distance of Calais) suitable for strongish (ECF100-150 range) juniors, preferably during school holidays? Or Belgium/Netherlands, for that matter!

List of future Fide rated tournaments here:

http://www.echecs.asso.fr/ListeTournois ... CE&Level=1

No way to filter by distance or location though, you'll just have to go through the list.

[Ian Thompson]

While on the subject, can anyone recommend any tournaments in France (preferably within reasonable driving distance of Calais) suitable for strongish (ECF100-150 range) juniors, preferably during school holidays? Or Belgium/Netherlands, for that matter!

This one in Saint-Lô maybe? I played in it a long time ago.

It's got an open tournament (currently 82 entries) and a tournament for juniors rated under 2000 (currently 120 entries). The open isn't that strong for an open, so someone graded 150 might expect to score about 50%.

[Stewart Reuben]

Niall >Regarding the unusual nature of the prize, I've never seen anything like this in my 15 years of playing in France. One tournament gives a couple of bottles as prizes at random tables (announced at the start of the round) to the winner or lower-rated player in case of a draw. I'd imagine that the 'your weight in wine' helps the sponsors get a lot of publicity.<

In London in the 1972-80s the Evening Standard Congress had a large number of non-cash prizes. One was a glass of Cutty Sark Whisky a day for a year. That came to 12 bottles. It went to the highest placed Veteran, who was defined as being over 40. Typically there were 3 contestants out of 250 in the open. How times have changed.

[Phil Neatherway]

Here is Alex Wohl's blog piece about the Hourtin tournament, wherein you can see the prizewinners being weighed for their prizes:-

http://doubleroo.blogspot.co.uk/

Unfortunately, I had to withdraw 2 rounds before the end, as I injured myself falling off a bike! Still, I gained 20 rating points for my 4 / 7.

This was quite a low-key tournament with 38 players, ranging from IMs to virtual beginners. My opponent in Round 1 didn't appear to know the en passant rule. But it was fun and I would defnitely play in it again.