English Chess Forum

mick the money on the the British champion iam going for david howell to win it and keith to be engish champion my bet .

Ian Lamb wrote:mick the money on the the British champion iam going for david howell to win it and keith to be engish champion my bet .

Really? To which federation do you think David Howell is going to defect between now and the end of the British?

well last year it seems Stuart conquest won was British and keith Was English champion so i thought they were seperate titles jack?

Ian Lamb wrote:well last year it seems Stuart conquest won was British and keith Was English champion so i thought they were seperate titles jack?

Conquest and Arkell were English co-champions. The playoff was only to break the tie for the British Champion title. So if Howell shares 1st place and wins the title, he is British Champion but English co-champion with the person he tied with. If Howell wins clearly, he is both British Champion and English Champion.

ok thanks for clearing that up Alex

People backing Hebden may want to reconsider after watching this to the end.

This is great little video and EXACTLY the kind of material that could be used for chess on TV.

Well done to Tryfon Gavriel who has done great work with http://www.chessworld.net/ and loads of great little videos on http://www.youtube.com/user/kingscrusher

A side issue. Usually the new grades are published in time for this event. I wonder what will happen this year as the new grades are not looking like they will be published until 10/08 at the earliest.

championship quite early this year. but new grades are never used at the event so i guess it does not make to much diffrence.

I had not hitherto noticed this thread. Is it Chris Duncan's company?

What odds will you give me on somebody winning four championships in 11 rounds?

Answer: the same odds as you offer on David Howell. He is eligible for the British, English, U-21 and U-18 titles. Michael Adams is the only person who has won all 3 titles, English being a recent invention. Throw in the Alexander Best Game Prize as well and that would make for interesting odds.

Personally I have not been happy there being betting on individual games in events as we have so many junior players involved.

Stewart Reuben

Stewart,
We all wish you well and hope you make a speedy recovery.
Your illness does though seem to provide a betting/fraud opportunity. The betfair market is a 'bets stand run or not' event with any other player listed as a participant. It would be relatively simple to spread a rumour that Adams was playing, it's just your illness had prevented you receiving his E-mail.
Another option would be to lay (bet against) Bob Smith and then fabricate the Bob Smith has Swine Flu option.
I guess what I am saying is that you have to be a bit careful with this market, particularly before the tournament starts. However, I am delighted that Betfair have put this market up, because it means chess is a serious sport.
However, at some point we might have to think whether there needs to be restrictions on players' gambling. This all depends on how liquid the betfair market is, if players can get more by losing the Championships than winning it then we have a problem to deal with.

No Stewart,Chris Duncan's company(or the company which Chris Duncan has some involvement in) is ''Betsson''.
Betfair is the world's leading betting exchange.Betsson is much smaller,but has hitherto involved itself more than Betfair in chess trading/betting.Lately though Betfair has become much more involved.

Hi Matt, I contacted Betfair recently regarding their policy on betting on yourself,or betting on events in which you are directly involved.
The reply I received suggested,by implication,that it is acceptable to back yourself,but not to lay yourself.I presume this also means that you can lay other players but can't back them.
I didn't ask whether it is ok for a player to trade in order,for example,to create a balanced book,where for example they are winning 100 pounds irrespective of who wins.
I suspect that it's ok as long as they do not stand to win more money should somebody other than themself win the title,than they would if they were to win it themself.

I believe that Betfair's own rules,and even the law of the land deal with any unscrupulous behaviour.For example in August 2007 Betfair cancelled all bets placed on the tennis match between Nikolay Davidenko and Martin Arguello,after the betting patterns on the match suggested foul play.
And jockey Kieran Fallon faced a criminal prosecution,but was cleared, over the allegation that he lost on purpose when he rode ''Ballinger Ridge'' in March 2004.

Keith,
One reason why Kieran Fallon got off, is that it is not clear what criminal offence he could have committed since there is no law against insider trading in gambling. Riding not to win is against the Jochey Club rules, but again this is a grey area. The King George on Saturday saw a pacemaker lead the field over the first mile. This would clearly appear not to give the horse the best chance of winning. If betting takes off in chess, then there will be some tricky questions for FIDE and National Federations to address.

Anyone who thinks Fallon rode Ballinger out has never watched the race. Its a bit of a joke. But as Matthew said "shrugs".

I think I might lay Keith...Joking Keith.

And if you agree a draw in a better position is that not riding out to the finish?