British Championship Thread

[Roger de Coverly]

move 73 Conquest has mate in 20 according to my PC but only 1 min left

It was actually 72 seconds according to the live games feed. I'm not sure how fast Conquest can play with real pieces, but presumably at least as fast as 3 seconds a move. No thought required really to mate with K+R v K.

[Ian Lamb]

there no premove on a real chessboard 73 seconds is really pushing in it to mate from that postion i belive in a pressure situation.

[John Philpott]

Ian Lamb wrote

what happend to alan barton james in the seniors in that section as he was leading and seem he never played again after he had 3.5.

If you look back to page 25 of this thread you will see that I reported on round 6 of the Seniors

Alan Barton, who was due to play White against David Anderton, phoned in ill after the round had started: it is not clear whether Alan will be fit enough to play in the last round. David agreed to play against Michael Dean who had been due to take a bye: this game continues.

Alan did not return for round 7, and Hugh Flockhart received a full point bye. The unfortunate by-product of Alan's illness was that David Anderton's game in round 6, as a result of which he pulled half a point ahead of the field, was against the ultimate tail ender who would otherwise have received a bye in that round. A number of competitors considered this to have been unfair (although it is hard to see what else could have happened - as the round had already started, repairing was not an option), and representations to this effect may not have been totally unconnected with the fact that David agreed a one move draw as White in round 7, allowing others the opportunity to tie him for the title. Outstanding sportsmanship on the part not only of David but of his opponent Ivor Smith who by agreeing the draw deprived himself of any chance of winning the title.

[Jonathan Bryant]

Just had a look at Howell's black games in the tournament...

5 GMs, average elo 2522. Scored +2

To put that in perspective if my maths is correct (and I've had a long day so it might not be) Williams and Hebden played 5 and 4 GMs respectively. Not just in their Black games but in the entire tournament.

More grist for my 'Howell had the toughest British Championship ever' thesis!

[Matt Mackenzie]

there no premove on a real chessboard 73 seconds is really pushing in it to mate from that postion i belive in a pressure situation.

Not for players as strong as the ones we are talking about here, trust me on this

Hell, I think *some* super-GM's could mate with B&Kt in that time

[Paul McKeown]

Mr. Lamb,

Mating with king and rook against bare king might be touch and go with 20 seconds or so on the clock, but with 73 seconds it would be a cake walk for anyone graded above, say, 120 (old style). There is no sportsmanship, whatsoever, involved in resigning K -v- KR when your opponent has 73 seconds, it is a simple recognition of the inevitable. It would be impolite not to resign.

As for king, bishop and knight against bare king, I use to challenge Colin Crouch for beers to see who would mate first. Under a minute and a half is very much par, if you are in good practise. Colin never minded if he lost, because I would buy him a beer anyway!

Regards,
Paul.

[IM Jack Rudd]

I've just looked at the crosstable. My field stands out a bit: 72 points or more weaker than anyone else's on the same score.

[Ben Purton]

opps

[John Upham]

I've just looked at the crosstable. My field stands out a bit: 72 points or more weaker than anyone else's on the same score.

Were you trying the "Swiss Gambit" method?

[Ian Lamb]

looks like i need to sharpen my speed up if you can mate with bishop and knight in 1.5 mins thats fast.

[Paul McKeown]

Haven't done it for ages (years). Still takes rather less than 5 minutes. Actually had to do it live, once, in the 4NCL. My team mates disappeared, thinking I would be forever, they came back after half an hour and were left wondering what had happened, as the board had already been packed away. I had been in the bar for most of their half hour....