County Championship Quarter Finals

[David Sedgwick]

Out of interest, were those telephone matches ever graded? And if there was one in 2010/11, would it be graded?

a) Yes, both the matches to which I refer were graded.
b) Yes, to the best of my knowledge it would be.

I was expecting the answer to my question to be sometime before the war, or in the 1950s at the latest.

Don't forget that Subscriber Trunk Dialling was only introduced in the early to mid 1960s. Prior to that it used to take several minutes for a long distance call to be connected and there was an ever present danger of being cut off. I may be completely wrong here, but my guess is that telephone matches only became relatively popular after the introduction of STD.

[Richard Bates]

Thanks. Does anyone know the last time a telephone match was played in the County Championship, or remember playing in one?

I remember playing a School Match over the telephone. I think it was the only practical solution for schools in Belfast. I must say that one got the impression that they were, cough, rather good at them ...

[Neil Graham]

I normally rely on the SCCU website for county match information, but on this occasion Richard Haddrell has been well and truly scooped.

Well and truly. But, having (sort of) caught up, I do have some QF results that haven’t appeared on the Forum yet. See http://www.sccu.ndo.co.uk/new.htm. There are still some missing. Can anyone oblige?

Does anyone know the U-140 result between Yorks(B) and Sussex? Despite Richard putting Surrey through to the semi-finals, Notts will be playing the winner of this match.

[David Pardoe]

So, which forumites are playing this fine day?

I shall be making the journey from Manchester to Worcestershire to play for Leicestershire against Gloucestershire.

Couldn't you have fitted a few more counties into that sentence?

I shall be making the journey from Manchester, via Cheshire, Staffordshire and Warwickshire to Worcestershire to play for Leicestershire against Gloucestershire

Better?

Let's not re-start the is Manchester a county debate.

Sean, if you`re up for captaining our team, I`m sure you would recieve a fair hearing...and no lack of support.
Last I heard our mate Bill (in private discussions `if you know what I mean`), said he`d be happy to take over if they called it Lancs `B`, or something. This idea naturally went down like a lead balloon, and discussions came to a rapid halt, so I believe (reading between the tea leaves).
Butties were nice apparently, and everyone remains all palsey walsey..just like that other coelition....??
He put some `bull` out - or maybe it was a Bull-iten, (the usual stuff), trying to make out that we wouldnt play ball???? ...I think... but dont quote me...
Maybe he`ll approach Liverpool next, & offer to take over Merseyside as Lancs `C`?? That would kill two birds with one stone, creating another supa county....??
Or maybe the scousers would be lobbing the rocks at someone else...!!

[Sean Hewitt]

Sean, if you`re up for captaining our team, I`m sure you would recieve a fair hearing...and no lack of support!

David - I would never play for Manchester, let alone captain them! I'm from Leicester and regardless of where I happen to live I would only ever want to represent Leicestershire at county chess (or anything else for that matter).

[David Pardoe]

Ok Sean, I guess I missed out the smilies on that one!!
I`m from the north east, but Im not sure I could justify treking all that way for a county match, when we have a fair selection of good chess offerings on our doorstep. Thats not to say it couldnt be improved if people round here put there minds to it....

[IM Jack Rudd]

Sean, if you`re up for captaining our team, I`m sure you would recieve a fair hearing...and no lack of support!

David - I would never play for Manchester, let alone captain them! I'm from Leicester and regardless of where I happen to live I would only ever want to represent Leicestershire at county chess (or anything else for that matter).

Your approach is similar to mine on this one. I see myself as from Somerset and wouldn't want to be in the position of potentially playing against Somerset. (This rules me out of contention for another WECU team, although I might in some circumstances play for a non-WECU team, as I did for Cambridgeshire when I was at university. At the moment, Lincolnshire is the only such team I am eligible for.)

[Sean Hewitt]

Ok Sean, I guess I missed out the smilies on that one!!
I`m from the north east, but Im not sure I could justify treking all that way for a county match, when we have a fair selection of good chess offerings on our doorstep. Thats not to say it couldnt be improved if people round here put there minds to it....

The point is I can take county chess or I can leave it.

However, representing my county is an honour, and the opportunity for the odd beer and curry with some mates afterwards makes it a worthwhile afternoon out.

[John Philpott]

Sean Hewitt wrote

David - I would never play for Manchester, let alone captain them! I'm from Leicester and regardless of where I happen to live I would only ever want to represent Leicestershire at county chess (or anything else for that matter).

So was that a different Sean Hewitt playing board E7 for Manchester this season in the County & District Correspondence Chess Championships?

[Alex Holowczak]

Sean Hewitt wrote

David - I would never play for Manchester, let alone captain them! I'm from Leicester and regardless of where I happen to live I would only ever want to represent Leicestershire at county chess (or anything else for that matter).

So was that a different Sean Hewitt playing board E7 for Manchester this season in the County & District Correspondence Chess Championships?

In Sean's defence, Leicestershire don't seem to have a team.

[Gavin Strachan]

You could do a telephone game if you used Livemeeting or webex. Telephone would not be required throughout the match, but the risk of conferencing is cheating using a seperate computer/aide on the side, so something would have to counter that possibility. Also you would have to pay a per minute rate. Actually I think I am over egging this, the cheapest way would be to use FICS or some other game server (cheating would still be a problem).

[Alex Holowczak]

Actually I think I am over egging this, the cheapest way would be to use FICS or some other game server (cheating would still be a problem).

Can FICS or similar handle such a long time limit? What happens if you disconnect from the server for some reason? Do you get defaulted, or do you have the chance to reconnect? Do you lose time if this happens?

If the latter, and a connection drops in a time scramble, there will be an argument.

That said, it would be interesting to see how successful it is!

[Howard Grist]

Does anyone know the U-140 result between Yorks(B) and Sussex? Despite Richard putting Surrey through to the semi-finals, Notts will be playing the winner of this match.

Yorks(B) won this match 6-5.

[Ian Thompson]

Actually I think I am over egging this, the cheapest way would be to use FICS or some other game server (cheating would still be a problem).

Can FICS or similar handle such a long time limit? What happens if you disconnect from the server for some reason? Do you get defaulted, or do you have the chance to reconnect? Do you lose time if this happens?

If the latter, and a connection drops in a time scramble, there will be an argument.

That said, it would be interesting to see how successful it is!

The United States Chess League (http://www.uschessleague.com/) does use the internet for its games, hosted by ICC. The rules cover the problems likely to occur with such games.

[Alex Holowczak]

The United States Chess League (http://www.uschessleague.com/) does use the internet for its games, hosted by ICC. The rules cover the problems likely to occur with such games.

That's very interesting.

It couldn't get more American - a Western and Eastern Conference, playoffs, a red, white and blue logo a la the big four US sports.

Perhaps the ECF could run something similar, but with quicker time limits? A sort of online 4NCL... Perhaps with shorter rapidplay time limits. Would put ChessCube to good use.