2019 British

[Stewart Reuben]

This will be the 5th time the British has been at The Riviera Centre. 1998, 2002, 2009, 2013, 2019. Does this mean the arbiter will have to declare the whole event drawn? If so, who will be the artist selected?

i think it rather likely that The Riviera Centre already holds the record as the most visited venue.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

This will be the 5th time the British has been at The Riviera Centre. 1998, 2002, 2009, 2013, 2019. Does this mean the arbiter will have to declare the whole event drawn? If so, who will be the artist selected?

i think it rather likely that The Riviera Centre already holds the record as the most visited venue.

Quite probably. The ECF announcement says: "The venue has previously hosted the Championships on five occasions, the most recent of which was the 100th Championships in 2013". You (Stewart) say "This will be the 5th time the British has been at The Riviera Centre. 1998, 2002, 2009, 2013, 2019". The other time the Championships were held in Torquay was in 1982 (the year Tony Miles won). The Riviera Centre first opened in 1987, so presumably the ECF statement is slightly wrong (or they mean "Torquay" when they said "The venue"). Where in Torquay was the event held in 1982?

[Stewart Reuben]

Christopher Kreuzer >Where in Torquay was the event held in 1982?<
It was played in the South Devon Technical College in a sports hall, set slightly out of town on a hill. By 1987 it wouldn't have been big enough.
The area that has been visited most by the British is difficult to define. Richmond 1912 probably means the London one. Crystal Palace 1907, London 1922, 1927, 1932, 1948 (was the last occasion). I don't know where in London it was held.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

If the details here on this Wikipedia page are accurate:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_C ... ampionship

Then it has been held in Brighton five times.

That page says there was no contest in 1927 - was a related event held in London that year?

Hastings five times (but only a Women's Champion in 1919).

The places it has been held three times or more:

Aberystwyth (3)
Blackpool (4)
Bournemouth (3) - 1936 was only men
Brighton (5)
Chester (4)
Eastbourne (3)
Edinburgh (4)
Hastings (5) - 1919 was only women
London (5) - includes Richmond in 1912
Nottingham (4) - 1936 was only women
Plymouth (3)
Scarborough (5) - 1930 was only women
Southport (3)
Swansea (4)
Torquay (5) - six times if you include the forthcoming 2019 event

I am sure someone did these stats before at some point... (looking at Wales, Scotland and the distribution by counties and/or regions).

It would be interesting to know where in London it was held in 1907 (School of Art, Crystal Palace, Sydenham), 1912 (Castle Assembly Rooms, Richmond), 1922 (Central Hall, Westminster), 1932 (Whiteleys, Bayswater) and 1948 (Bishopsgate Institute, City of London).

[With thanks to John Saunders and his Britbase for the venue details.]

[JustinHorton]

So they've been to Hastings, and they've been to Brighton, and they've been to Eastbourne too?

[NickFaulks]

So what?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

So they've been to Hastings, and they've been to Brighton, and they've been to Eastbourne too?

Yes, but different times, different sizes of events, and presumably different venues. I don't suppose a full list exists anywhere of the numbers participating and the exact details of the venues used? Some will no longer be around, particularly the pre-war and pre-pre-war ones. Many of the venue details can be gleaned from Britbase, but some will be obscure. I am currently trying to work out if Bayswater was 'central London' back in 1932. Richmond and Crystal Palace (Sydenham) have always been 'outer London' and Central Hall (am not 100% sure it is this building) and Bishopsgate Institute are about as central as you can get. I think Bayswater was built up even in 1932, but might have been a bit different. The Whiteleys department store seems to be where the tournament was held (see the history of that building here).

Trivia: Eastbourne is the only place that has been the venue two years running (1990 and 1991). Scarborough (1999 and 2001) and Whitby (1962 and 1964) have each scored 2/3.

[Stewart Reuben]

Brighton of course was held at various venues. Just twice at the enormous Leisure Centre. But 1997 it was held in Hove, which just runs into Brighton.

> there was no contest in 1927 - was a related event held in London that year? <
1927 the Chess Olympiad was held in the Royal Horticultural Hall in London. I presume the British wasn't held that year because the Championship would not have had the top 5 players. Also holding both events might have been too taxing. We also held the Olympiad in 1933 in Folkestone. But that didn't stop the British taking place. 1922 and 1930 there was no Championship, but there was a Ladies. I don't know what happened there.

When I took over running the event in 1981, I noticed the British had been held in Brighton, Eastbourne, Clacton in successive years 1972-4. It took some years to restore the balance.

2004 was the Centenary of the British Championship. 2013 was announced as the 100th British Chess Championships. But, as Paul Buswell said to me, 'the dating is just a matter of opinion' (his). There was an U-18 Boys Championship held in 1927. There was a Boys U-18 in 1940. Oddly there was an U-18 Girls Championship held in 1944, but no other British Championship. Did that count?
It used to be called,'The British Chess Federation Congress. I pointed out that was a rather boring title for a sponsored event. So it became the British Chess Championships. From 1987 the Southern Irish became eligible to play. the Commonwealth player ceased to be eligible in 2004.
The 100th British Championship went unrecognised in Hull this year. I think that, in 2013, I decided it would be too difficult to explain the difference between the British Chess Championship and the British Chess Championships.

Hastings is starting to be interesting in this way. 1995 we celebrated the Centenary of the 1895 congress. 1920-21 saw the first Hastings International Chess congress. So its Centenary will be in 2020-2021. Its 100th will come some years later.

[Stewart Reuben]

Christopher > I don't suppose a full list exists anywhere of the numbers participating and the exact details of the venues used? <

Easiest access would be the BCF Year Books. You can access them in Battle. BCM and Chess might also yield useful information.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"> there was no contest in 1927 - was a related event held in London that year? <
1927 the Chess Olympiad was held in the Royal Horticultural Hall in London. I presume the British wasn't held that year because the Championship would not have had the top 5 players. Also holding both events might have been too taxing. We also held the Olympiad in 1933 in Folkestone. But that didn't stop the British taking place. "

1927 - Yes - I believe that was the case. I think there was a "Major Open" though. From memory that was won by RP Michell and his wife won the Ladies event.

[LawrenceCooper]

Christopher > I don't suppose a full list exists anywhere of the numbers participating and the exact details of the venues used? <

Easiest access would be the BCF Year Books. You can access them in Battle. BCM and Chess might also yield useful information.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_C ... ampionship might be of some use, at least in terms of naming the towns.

[Stewart Reuben]

The wikipedia details are not accurate. e.g.
The championship was originally open to citizens of any Commonwealth country
Originally better would have been The championship was originally open to citizens of any country in the British Empire.
Michael Adam won the British U18, U21 and the Championship all in the same year.
Tania Sachdev (India) won the British U8, U8 Girls; U9, U9 Girls and U10 Girls all in 1993. 3 separate tournaments.

[Roger de Coverly]

I don't suppose a full list exists anywhere of the numbers participating and the exact details of the venues used?

BCM and Chess would give very comprehensive reports as did the BCF Yearbook.

Being inside the Circle Line, Bayswater would no doubt always have been regarded as Central London.

Central Hall is presumably the Methodist Central Hall.

[Nick Grey]

Torquay is fine. Well done the organisers. I suggest not booking into Fawlty Towers.
Hopefully temperatures will be a bit cooler than this summer.

[Andrew Zigmond]

Torquay is fine. Well done the organisers. I suggest not booking into Fawlty Towers.
Hopefully temperatures will be a bit cooler than this summer.

Although Fawlty Towers was set in Torquay the building used and the relatively few external scenes were filmed elsewhere (Dorset I think, may be wrong). The Gleneagles Hotel, Torquay which famously inspired Fawlty Towers closed down a few years ago.

A glance at booking.com suggests that prices range from the very affordable to the astronomical. I would suggest prompt booking,