British Chess Championships 2011

[Ian Thompson]

You are correct - you don't know me personally so why do you think I have something against Andrew?-

From your comments on this thread perhaps?

"Andrew Martin was interviewed without our knowledge/consent some of his comments are being broadcast and others which were inaccurate have been taken out but will be addressed by us privately with the relevant bodies."

and

"he [Andrew Martin] is obviously totally ignorant of home education and its aims and objectives"

[Alan Walton]

Jack

I am sure you are correct in your dates. I was merely stating my preference, having experienced first hand both Andrew's and Chris's commentry.

I think it is important that in a modern progressive society we are all open to change

How is who commentates at the British decided?

If we are going for a modern progressive society, why don't we decide on having a youthful commentary team, in the last couple of years Stephen Gordon, Lawrence Trent, and Simon Williams have all done stirling jobs, no disrespect to Chris or Andrew, but why not have a more youthful look, I don't know you personally but it looks like you have something against Andrew, are you a chess player? and if not how can you differentiate between the two persons mentioned

Hi Alan
I may or may be not a chess player - I don't believe that to be relevant unless you believe that if I am not a chess player I am not entitled to an opinion. - if I am not a chess player observing from the outside can be a wonderfull insight! If I am a chess player then that also can and should be a wonderfull insight. I can differentiate between Andrew and Chris because I have observed both in the flesh.

I think it is important to define the word "youthfull" - this is not in my opinion relevant to one's age but is relevent to one's approach and experience

You are correct - you don't know me personally so why do you think I have something against Andrew?-

The reason why I wondered if you were a chess player is if you are comparing two people regarding their ability to do chess commentary it is not just down to their ability to come across well, I and many believe Andrew and Chris come across brilliantly in their commentary, so therefore I can only presume you base your preference on the quality of the chess analysis within the commentary.

Regarding the word "youthful", this is nothing against the age of said people, I just think we should give more opportunities to the younger players to participate in commentary, currently the players I have mentioned have done London Classic and Gibralter in the past year or so, with great results

Personally it would be interesting to have a commentary team, so you do get different point of view throughout the whole tournament

[James Pratt]

I think the first commentary I saw at the British was Brighton 1980, Ritson Morry and the infant Nigel David Short. Others included Keene at Edinburgh 1985 with Graham Lee, Pein at Southampton 1986, Lalic at Torquay, Mark Condie at Dundee (and what a hit he was!), Andrew in recent years with a break in the middle for David Everitt to get some shut eye.

Andrew is a happy balance of instruction and entertainment.

The first commentary I saw was at Bath 1973 - a Euro Team Ch - when a member of ther Bath corporation said "Now we have a Grandmaster coming on to show you some of the games.." and in came a sheepish DNL Levy.

[cjdemooi]

I think I've only ever been to 3 British Champs (and never played in any section unfortunately) and the only commentary I've seen is Andrew Martin (who IMVHO is excellent)
I'm arranging some visits by ex champions throughout the fortnight and perhaps a few of those could be persuaded to join for a while to give their views too if people might be interested?

[Jonathan Bryant]

I'm arranging some visits by ex champions throughout the fortnight and perhaps a few of those could be persuaded to join for a while to give their views too if people might be interested?

Excellent idea.

[Ben Purton]

The best commentators in Chess at the high level are in my view(no order particular as all are very good):

Conquest
Martin
Ward
Gordon
Williams
Trent

From what I have read on this thread , I can't understand the debate AT all? What criteria were they selected. If you take Steve out because he is still a very active player. Stuart now does Gib organisation+ Lots of stuff in various other countries.

Then you have Trent who does work with Gordon at London Chess classic.
Ward who does Hastings
Williams who now has taken over from 'The Conq' for Gib
And Andy Martin does the British.

it seems that all are quite well spread across the British chess scene? Considering some prefer one to the other, is it not logical to spread them throughout different tournaments. Lets be honest they are very well spread relative to abilities and what each tournament has to offer.

Andy - One of the best at handling a big live crowd and also good at explaining to multiple levels , especially Sub 160, which at the British make up a large amount of the people who watch it regularly.

Chris Ward- Very much the same as Andy in respects to strengths he can explain to but perhaps is better with a slightly smaller crowd, hence Hastings is perfect.

Steve, Simon and Trenty are all 'Fun ones' in respect to commentary. They are also very strong players , which is what you need at Gib + LCC which are the most worldwide publication of all the events. Trent and Gordon are very well liked by the Americans via ICC and chessFM and therefore in order to make the London Chess Classic bigger this is important and Simon is very much like Conquest in sense of he likes a Pint and explains the games uniquely and is not scared to go for non-kosher lines etc.

All in all, I think if there was better candidates for these roles they would come to fruition. But I think they are all the best fits for there roles.

[Alan Walton]

Excellent and balanced response Ben, I think this all started with a personal preference and not looking at the overall options, and like you said the current players doing commentary have each got their own tournament which is an ideal situation

[Jonathan Bryant]

I would add Danny King and Jonathan Rowson to the above list - although I guess Rowson doesn't really count any more. Both were very good at the London Classic the last couple of of years.

I'd also add - for old time's sake - Graham (sp?) Lee. He and Andrew Martin made a good double act in 1989 in Plymouth (I think). I'm pretty sure Malcolm Pein did the British Commentary in 1990. I suspect he would not available these days though!

[Roger de Coverly]

I'm pretty sure Malcolm Pein did the British Commentary in 1990.

I have half a memory of Malcolm at Hastings as well, Julian Hodgson too. Chris Ward has also played at Hastings as an invited player in the Premier. I seem to think Nigel Davies then did the commentary.

Didn't Julian do the 1997 commentary at the British?

[LozCooper]

I'm pretty sure Malcolm Pein did the British Commentary in 1990.

I have half a memory of Malcolm at Hastings as well, Julian Hodgson too. Chris Ward has also played at Hastings as an invited player in the Premier. I seem to think Nigel Davies then did the commentary.

Didn't Julian do the 1997 commentary at the British?

Julian has done the commentary at the 2009 & 2010 London Chess Classics in the VIP room with a lot of input from Viktor Korchnoi. Although he's no longer an active player he's still as entertaining as ever. I'm also impressed with the younger generation of commentators, namely Gordon, Trent, Williams etc

[James Coleman]

I also distinctly remember a year - maybe around 98 - where Bogdan commentated at the British

[cjdemooi]

Will there still be the traditional quiz on the middle Sunday? If so, who'd like to start the bidding for me to join a team? All proceeds to charity of course!

[Alex Holowczak]

Will there still be the traditional quiz on the middle Sunday? If so, who'd like to start the bidding for me to join a team? All proceeds to charity of course!

You'd probably win the quiz if you were a team of your own.

[Alex McFarlane]

It is a tradition of the event that the quiz is on the middle Sunday.

Kevin Stavely is the quizmaster so I hope there won't be a bias towards Welsh residents.

Tea-total vegetarians may be disadvantaged by the Meat & Alcohol Round

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Julian has done the commentary at the 2009 & 2010 London Chess Classics in the VIP room with a lot of input from Viktor Korchnoi. Although he's no longer an active player he's still as entertaining as ever. I'm also impressed with the younger generation of commentators, namely Gordon, Trent, Williams etc

The fact that the VIP room commentators at the London Chess Classic get mentioned in the advertising for the event is a bit misleading in my opinion. I very much enjoyed the public commentary by Trent, Gordon, King and Ward, but reports before the event also mentioned Hodgson and Rowson and Korchnoi:

http://www.chess.co.uk/twic/malcolmpein ... ss-classic

However, there is no mention that the commentary by Hodgson and Rowson and Korchnoi would be for the VIP area only. Possibly I was just not there if those three ever did public commentary (I did see Rowson commentating beside one of the lobby area screens at one point, but that was it), but the impression I got was that those paying for the commentary really only got to see Trent, Gordon, King and Ward, and the advertising before the event should have made that clearer. I hope the advertising before the 2011 event will not list all the commentators as if they will all be giving public commentary, and will make clearer what you get in terms of commentators for the money paid.