English Chess Forum

Geoff Chandler wrote:
Heard rumblings (again) that other countries GM's don't get treated the
same as English GM's when it comes to the Britsh.
But that's all politics as far as I'm concerned - I stay away
from that stuff. It get all too serious - Chess is fun.

Perhaps I am being naeve,or am missing something,but it seems to me that now the ''BCF' has become the ''ECF'' it should only be a matter of time before we do away with the title ''British Champion'',and let the ECF concern itself with running the ''English Championship''.

Let's take a look:

1) We are discouraging all none-English GMs from playing,by not offering them fees.
2) The BCF is now the ECF.
3) We have the rather silly situation that Stuart Conquest and myself find ourselves in -viz: Stuart is ''British Champion'',and we are both ''English Champion''.
This in effect says that Stuart is sole champion of the bits that aren't England(such as Scotland,Wales and Northern ireland),while he is both sole champion
and co-champion,with me,of the English bits!

By making the ''British championship'' the ''English Championship'' we eliminate any whingeing about unfair treatment of the none-English GMs,we have better consistency,with each Federation running its own championship,and we do away with the messiness of 3).
As far as I can see there is no dowsnide to this.The congress in every other way runs the same as it always has.

I am not trying to undermine the history of the British Championship in any way,it just looks to me as if this is the direction in which we are heading.

I don't see a problem with holding the British Championship, so long as each of the four nations are equally involved in the organisation of it, and each of the four nations are equally supportive of it. As this year's Scottish boycott seems to suggest, the other nations aren't supportive of it at all.

Another problem with the British Championship is that the best players in Britain do not enter it. According to FIDE, the top 3 rated English players, Short, Adams and McShane, haven't entered. I understand that this is to do with the Staunton Memorial tournament overlapping slightly, but there are some players playing in both.

The 4NCL Guildford team contained 7 British players, and the British Champion was of last season was on board 6. Surely the British Champion should be the best player in Britain, or beat the other people who could claim the title in competition. The best players don't enter, so the title doesn't mean as much as it should. It's obviously still a brilliant achievement, but I would think that Mr. Conquest would rather be British Champion if the field contained the likes of Adams, Short etc. In the same way that Mr. Federer was delighted to win the French Open, but it would have meant more if Mr. Nadal wasn't crocked.

Alex Holowczak wrote:Another problem with the British Championship is that the best players in Britain do not enter it. According to FIDE, the top 3 rated English players, Short, Adams and McShane, haven't entered.

As far as Short and Adams are concerned, the ECF hasn't had enough money in recent years to pay their required fee for participation.

Luke M is employed, therefore his chess is presumably limited to his holiday periods. Two weeks in Torquay evidently wasn't attractive.

Keith Arkell wrote:

Geoff Chandler wrote:
Heard rumblings (again) that other countries GM's don't get treated the
same as English GM's when it comes to the Britsh.
But that's all politics as far as I'm concerned - I stay away
from that stuff. It get all too serious - Chess is fun.

Perhaps I am being naeve,or am missing something,but it seems to me that now the ''BCF' has become the ''ECF'' it should only be a matter of time before we do away with the title ''British Champion'',and let the ECF concern itself with running the ''English Championship''.

Let's take a look:

1) We are discouraging all none-English GMs from playing,by not offering them fees.
2) The BCF is now the ECF.
3) We have the rather silly situation that Stuart Conquest and myself find ourselves in -viz: Stuart is ''British Champion'',and we are both ''English Champion''.
This in effect says that Stuart is sole champion of the bits that aren't England(such as Scotland,Wales and Northern ireland),while he is both sole champion
and co-champion,with me,of the English bits!

By making the ''British championship'' the ''English Championship'' we eliminate any whingeing about unfair treatment of the none-English GMs,we have better consistency,with each Federation running its own championship,and we do away with the messiness of 3).
As far as I can see there is no dowsnide to this.The congress in every other way runs the same as it always has.

I am not trying to undermine the history of the British Championship in any way,it just looks to me as if this is the direction in which we are heading.

I agree with you in principle Keith. The Scots, Welsh and Irish have their own championships (although interestingly, the Scots and Irish championships have recently switched from closed to open events). It seems odd that the English don't have their own event.

However, there is one downside that stands out to me. The British lost £13k last year and such losses are clearly not sustainable. If you made the British an English championships instead you would exclude non-English players and so the net entry fees would decrease thus increasing the loss the event makes.

This problem is not insurmountable, but would need to be addressed before such a change could be made.

Entries to the British look about 900 by the time it starts, is this aboive or below Normal?

Ben Purton wrote:Entries to the British look about 900 by the time it starts, is this aboive or below Normal?

They normally are between 800 - 950 is so 900 would be reasonable.

Just looking through some games and I noticed that Michael Adams is playing in the Canadian Championships. How is it that Canada can get the sponsorship needed to get Adams to play in their championships, whilst the ECF can't in ours?

Just updated day 3.

Perhaps I'm wrong and Magnus Carlsen is not playing after all.

http://www.chessedinburgh.co.uk/chandle ... handID=342

Rowson has just been rather drastically cut open in a Sicilian. In case anyone is curious:

http://scottish.blueapricot.com/2009/r3/tfd.htm

Geoff Chandler wrote:Just updated day 3.

Perhaps I'm wrong and Magnus Carlsen is not playing after all.

http://www.chessedinburgh.co.uk/chandle ... handID=342

Should that be day 2?

Jonathan Rogers wrote:Rowson has just been rather drastically cut open in a Sicilian. In case anyone is curious:

http://scottish.blueapricot.com/2009/r3/tfd.htm

I was watching but more to check the hosting was working than the quality of the games...

Not sure I like Nf8...

Well of course Larsen said with a knight on f8 you could never get mated, but perhaps he forgot to mention you needed to castle first. (And maybe have some pawns to castle behind.....)

Did Neave really drop a Rook against Keti in a better position on Board 5

Well player Kjartansson. After 3 rounds he has already surpassed his final tally from the 9 round tournament at the Big Slick Poker Club!

Posted latest Corner from the event. Day 3. (the real day 3).

The Lord Provost threw an evening function for the chess players.

When I left to update C.C. most were drunk (free booze)- pics of do added
on to the latest Corner.

Be some interesting games tomorrow.

http://www.chessedinburgh.co.uk/chandle ... handID=343