English Chess Forum

Nigel Short will be touring England, Wales and Scotland between 13th and 19th February 2011. He'll be giving simultaneous displays and lectures and there'll hopefully be one or two high profile publicity events too.

If you're interested in hosting a simul, please contact me as soon as possible to discuss availability. I'm especially keen to have a couple with just juniors in an attempt to promote chess to everyone, with emphasis on the younger generations.

Please feel free to post below if you'd like to take part but don't get in touch with me at this point as I'd firstly like to hear from those (I've already had a number of offers) in a position to hold the events.

hi
great idea.

happy to help with a london junior event. might be able to provide a good london venue.

claire

Wilson's School in Wallington (Surrey) would be keen to host such an event involving just juniors (U18).

We've had a lot of interest for this and at the moment, the provisional plan is to have 2 days in London, 3 in the rest of Enlgand, 1 in Wales and 1 in Scotland.

The format will be Nigel takes a 30 board simul and will have White in each game. He will then give a lecture followed by a book and DVD signing. I'll also be giving a brief talk followed by a Q&A session.

Is there any indication of the level of fee that Mr Short would charge?

PB

This is great news, congrats to Nigel for his work in promoting the game.

I would have loved to have offered to host a simul in Yorkshire, having recently held a couple of very enjoyable GM simuls. Unfortunately though it is not the best timing for me personally.

I hope that the tour is a great success and if there is an event in the North of the country then I will do my best to attend.

Manchester Junior Chess is very interested in hosting a simul

We are investigating whether it would be possible to hold this at Nigel's old school i.e. Bolton School

CCF in Coulsdon would probably be interested in hosting an event.

Rydal Penrhos School in North Wales would be thrilled to be considered.

Manchester Junior Chess, the Manchester Chess Federation, Bolton Chess Club and Bolton School would be extremely keen to host a simultaneous match, with the majority of the contestants being juniors from Manchester and Bolton. We would also be keen to hear from Nigel about his chess world and how he progressed from Bolton School to the World Championship; perhaps a talk or question and answer session.
We have an assurance of support from the school that we could use this as the venue. Chess is still very much part of the life of the school

Julian Clissold
Manchester Junior Chess

Stephen Whittaker
Head Teacher
Bolton Boys Junior Division

Mick Norris, President
Manchester Chess Federation

I'd be very pleased to offer Winchester College as a venue. I don't suppose an independent school like ours is really what you were thinking of, but the offer comes really on behalf of Hampshire junior chess. The College supports and often hosts Hampshire junior chess events, as well as running its own chess club for Hampshire primary school children, and our ties to the county juniors extends to my managing the U18/U16 teams. After three of four years of hosting most of the larger county junior events, including two Megafinals, most Hampshire junior players know the College by now. Hampshire is a small county in terms of juniors, and a visit from Nigel Short would be a wonderful boost. We're also in range of points farther west if he's trying to cover as much of the country as possible, and we have links with several other junior organisations including Richmond Junior Chess Club and the Andrew Martin Chess Academy, whom amongst others we'd be delighted to invite to the event.

Jon Hunt (Teacher i/c Chess, Winchester College; U18/U16 Team Manager, Hampshire Juniors)

Be interested in hosting Nigel in an Essex venue.

This is proving even more enticing than I'd anticipated. If Nigel insists on having a rest day (really!) then we only have the 17th and 18th available now. Get your reservations in now - PM me as soon as possible please!

Who knew that something I'd organised could actually be popular? One of our remaining days (probably 17th) has now gone so only one day left as apparently we have to give Doctor Short a rest. However, if interest is high enough, we might be able to something smaller on the 16th...

Provisional programme for each event is -

Introductory address by CJ
30 board simul by Nigel
Lecture by Nigel
Signing session by Nigel (he will bring books and DVDs available for purchase)
Speech by CJ (including brief address on National Bullying Helpline)
Joint Q&A session by Nigel and CJ
Press session by Nigel and CJ

Southampton University is very interested in hosting a simultaneous with Nigel.
Hopefully this should promote chess amongst the University population as well as students at Winchester College who we will invite.