ABERYSTWYTH - ARE YOU GOING?

[JustinHorton]

That's a shame, Sue Jones-Davies isn't the Mayor any more.

[Roger de Coverly]

Another oddity is that although the programme warns of the events being split over three playing areas and that players should establish where they are playing, it doesn't actually say which event is where.

[Stewart Reuben]

Roger >Another oddity is that although the programme warns of the events being split over three playing areas and that players should establish where they are playing, it doesn't actually say which event is where.<

That seems to me eminently sensible. The number of players in each section is not yet known.

[JustinHorton]

Setting off this morning to drive over the Pyrenees and across France. And then a train to Wales.

(With some business in England first, it's not actually a six-day trip.)

[Roger de Coverly]

With the Championship due to start on Saturday, it now looks as if the Seniors will be the event with the most entries, narrowly followed by the Championship with one of the youngest junior events, or one of the one-week events in a distant third.

[Andrew Camp]

The Major Open looks pitiful.

[Ray Sayers]

The Major Open looks pitiful.

The Major Open entries seem to have fled to the Championship and the Seniors.

Maybe the Seniors should be renamed - it looks an awful lot stronger than the Major Open.

http://britishchesschampionships.co.uk/entries/

[MartinCarpenter]

Well yes, but one event is for senior players and one is an open

Now, taking the MO out behind the woodshed and putting it out of its misery....
(Or doing something about the bottom of the field of the main British.).

[Jonathan Rogers]

Isn't the British itself, at the upper levels, generally dying through lack of sponsorship? Because there is no sponsorship, the event has to be devalued by allowing half the field to be 180s (I mean really, a 2290 player scored 7/11 last year and still lost Elo points, such was his opposition!) and then the Major Open becomes close to death. Both events are extremely unattractive now. It is very sad.

And, since I am going to be shot down for writing what I have done already, I would also venture the view that Aberystwyth, Sheffield and North Shields are patently not the sort of places where most people would look forward to going on holiday. Coventry 2015 has unsurprisingly not been celebrated very loudly either; it doesn't have that many cathedrals!

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Half the field 180s? I had a quick look, is that not a slight exaggeration? Do you mean this year or earlier years?

[MartinCarpenter]

Only very slight as per the FIDE ratings 180 = 2050 as per the conversion formula.

57 entries, 14 > 2300, 8 2299 - 2200, 12 2200 - 2100 a few more down to there. Of course not helped when say Michael Fernandez is a 'massive' 2029, Oskar Hackner 2108 etc. I presume a few more juniors lurking too.

If he mean 'old style' 180's (who shouldn't really be in the British in numbers either!) then it might well be less than half. Or there's massive FIDE grade depression going on, which is possible enough.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I meant current ECF grades. The ones I looked at in the third quartile (by FIDE ratings) were mostly 190s. So I'm not sure where the 'half' 180s bit comes from. Having said that, I've not checked all the current ECF grades of the current entrants. Things might change with the new grading list as well. (My personal impression is that, high-performing juniors excepted, the British should really be contested by those with ECF grades over 200, or over 2200 FIDE).

[Peter D Williams]

People should be aware of the weather warning given by the Met office for Wales for this Saturday

This could cause flooding prompting Natural Resources Wales to urge motorists to take extra care.

The Met Office said frequent lightning, large hail and locally strong gusts were possible in places.

"Significant flooding is possible where these do occur from surface water as well as from small, fast-responding watercourses," it said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-28370270

[MartinCarpenter]

Well post the revisions a bit back and susbequent rebalancing, I guess old style 180 ~= current 190. FIDE grades rather depressed too I suppose.

[Graham Borrowdale]

'180s' is often used as a derogatory term by players around 210, so its arithmetic accuracy is not really the point. Presumably 240s would prefer not to have to risk rating points against 210s either.
The same argument seems to come up every year, about the Major Open and the long tail in the Championship. Trouble is, without sponsorship, if you chop off the tail there is not much left.
Still, looking forward to following the games online.