The British itself!

[Clive Blackburn]

Well Williams has just won it anyway - not sure if Howell resigned or lost on time.... his clock time was showing as zero on the live feed

[Roger de Coverly]

Something I hadn't noticed until the absence from Wednesday's pairings of the Streatham blogger, was a couple of defaults in the first round. If the system of registration was supposed to avoid this, it evidently didn't work. In a weekend Congress, the prospective winners by default would just be cross-paired, but as the ECF's future FIDE Delegate once pointed out, re-pairing is not in accordance with FIDE rules.

http://www.britishchesschampionships.co ... rings.html
and for round 5
http://www.britishchesschampionships.co ... rings.html

If they continue to be leaders for the rest of the tournament, the two IMs on board 1 are both GM Norm seekers. But doesn't Hawkins need a more "foreign" norm? As for IM Norm seekers, any FM or untitled players doing well are in the frame presumably.

I now see there was a default, withdrawal or no-show in round 4 as well, which results in an odd number of players. I don't know the circumstances but if there isn't a good reason, it reflects badly on the player to both not show up for the first round and abandon the tournament at round 4.

Whilst Aberystwyth is the "back of beyond" for many English players, not that it stops them playing, presumably all that Irish players have to do is get on the Holyhead ferry and head south once they land. That's provided they have a car.

[IM Jack Rudd]

Hawkins needs a norm with four non-English players in it. Brown, Tan and Fernandez will make three, but where he'll get a fourth non-English opponent from remains to be seen.

[Roger de Coverly]

where he'll get a fourth non-English opponent from remains to be seen.

Indian squads permitting, English titled players have been prepared to travel to Scotland when they've made the Scottish Championship an Open. Perhaps the Scots should reciprocate. Some of the Irish have an intense hatred of the idea of guest foreigners in their national championship, but setting that aside, the same point applies. For that matter the titled Welsh players aren't present, but their Championship isn't open to non-Welsh or even at six or seven rounds Norm-enabled. The Olympiad complicates things for this year as employed amateurs might struggle to get holiday leave for a continuous four weeks.

Is it still four "foreigners" for a nine round Norm?

[NickFaulks]

but as the ECF's future FIDE Delegate once pointed out, re-pairing is not in accordance with FIDE rules.

Which rule is that?

[IM Jack Rudd]

Is it still four "foreigners" for a nine round Norm?

Four players not from the player's own federation. Three players not from the host federation.

[JustinHorton]

Something I hadn't noticed until the absence from Wednesday's pairings of the Streatham blogger

So what do I do? Get ratted all day and score a point for it?

[Roger de Coverly]

Which rule is that?

I'm not totally sure of the exact rule. What I do recall is that he withdrew from the Isle of Man tournament when faced with a re-pairing and justified his stance at some later FIDE meeting. Somewhere in the past and current FIDE Rules it states that if your opponent doesn't show up by the default time, then you win without playing. English events still use re-pairing but if FIDE-rated, the players are required to agree.

Re-pairing in English or British events dates back to the early or at least mid -1970s and I've never believed that Nigel was unaware of the practice. It was an excellent Stewart Reuben invention both to ensure that events started on time ( vital for Friday evenings in London) and to accommodate late entries with the minimum of disturbance. What went wrong was that it was never sneaked into the FIDE Pairing Rules.

[JustinHorton]

My word! Are we doing Port Erin all over again?

[Roger de Coverly]

So what do I do? Get ratted all day and score a point for it?

In a similar position at Sheffield in 2011, I had checked with Lara before leaving the day before as to whether I should bother to show up. The answer was yes and the next day they had found a filler. I don't know what policies they are following this year, given the different management.

[Roger de Coverly]

My word! Are we doing Port Erin all over again?

I think not, otherwise the two players with no shows in the Saturday first round would have been paired against each other. The difference, if there is one, is that the absentees were expected to show for the round on Sunday, as indeed they did.

We could also be talking about round 10 of the Major Open at Canterbury in 2010. I was on an adjacent board and I did not appreciate two of my rivals being awarded a point and a half between them.

[JustinHorton]

This is true, Roger, though the fault for that was neither of theirs.

[IM Jack Rudd]

What happened is that Bullen and M.Brown, whose opponents had not shown up on the Saturday, were offered the re-pairing if they both wanted it. Bullen did, Brown didn't. Thus the two one-point byes.

[NickFaulks]

Which rule is that?

Somewhere in the past and current FIDE Rules it states that if your opponent doesn't show up by the default time, then you win without playing. English events still use re-pairing but if FIDE-rated, the players are required to agree.

I should be interested to know more about the first sentence. It would at most be a recommendation, and I can't even find that. The second is certainly something that the ECF has made up.

There may be a complication if the re-paired game is played to a faster time control because of the late start.

[Roger de Coverly]

I should be interested to know more about the first sentence.

I'll let you fight it out with the arbiters. There was definitely a meeting where FIDE arbiters sided with Nigel against the BCF that re-pairings were not permitted in events run under strict FIDE rules and that a no show was a win by default.

It was the late Richard Furness who tried to re-pair Nigel. It was a notorious "incident" and a reason why, justifiably, there are reservations about having Nigel as FIDE Delegate. His election opponents have always been Kirsan apologists which is a much bigger negative.
(edit)
As reported by the local press
http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle-of- ... -1-1750364

For Swiss-style tournaments the governing body FIDE (Fdrattion International d'Echec) handbook clearly states that a default match win can be claimed if an opponent does not show up after one hour.

(/edit)