European Team Championship November 2023

[Matt Mackenzie]

Spain made the headlines in the women's event today, I should think.

Their board four has a rather Georgian name, I'm sure the irony of that wasn't lost on either team.

[John Moore]

There's a lot I could say yet I'll limit it to saying bit of a shame Howell wasn't playing today...

Instead of who.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Spain made the headlines in the women's event today, I should think.

Their board four has a rather Georgian name, I'm sure the irony of that wasn't lost on either team.

she was also Spain's highest rated player, but playing on board four.

[Mark Howitt]

Instead of Hari...

I'm actually wondering how much I should say overall and I say a bit more to friends yet will quickly say this...

Not having Short on the team for years hurts the team- I guess he doesn't want to play as much now atm but seriously losing a player of that class due to what seems to be a rift with Pein is bad...

Yet thinking about it more with recent events I can get why Short isn't playing... I mean yeah... there's a lot to that...

I can totally understand why Jones doesn't want to play abroad too much yet he was playing in 4NCL. Having him in the squad would help- yet only if he wanted to or was able to...

That's my restrained comment made!

[Jonathan Rogers]

Sadler is an enormous loss too. I suppose he just doesn't find the idea very appealing.

[Mark Howitt]

Yeah that's true too...

And like thinking way back Nunn could have played more...

If we had the Russian Howell Adams Sadler... that would be a great 4 in terms of chess ability...

But even Jones or McShane on 4 is still good!

[Mark Howitt]

I guess when Sadler quit full time chess it was because he felt he could make easier or more money in IT for less stress than chess...

Chess really is surreal... like I say I've been spending more time on it lately...

I kinda get the feeling there may be 'hidden' money in it in some way or at least some people who play quite a bit are from wealthy families...

Of course if you're smart enough to be a good chessplayer u can make money in many ways...

[jholyhead]

"the Russian".

Jesus. What price for a bit of respect?

[Paul Heaton]

It still seems only Howell and Adams are ECF members (the other 3 not) in the Open team. I still find it odd the ECF insist to play chess IN England you (pretty much) need to be an ECF member, but to play chess FOR England you do not.

[Mark Howitt]

I have to say that it's a factor in me not paying ECF membership yet or ever that...

one it seems a lot of people play without it anyway...

and the more indepth thing is prob too much for me to say atm...

[Mark Howitt]

I have paid ECF and BCF game fees though which in effect has funded the international team...

[Roger de Coverly]

It still seems only Howell and Adams are ECF members (the other 3 not) in the Open team. I still find it odd the ECF insist to play chess IN England you (pretty much) need to be an ECF member, but to play chess FOR England you do not.

Given that the ECF pay appearance fees and expenses for players representing England in Olympiads and Euros, why doesn't the ECF throw in complimentary membership as well?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I have just played through Vitiugov's round 2 win over David Navara, and apart from some computer lines that would have improved the play, I thought it was an impressive handling of a complex middlegame position, and excellent handling of the endgame play after the decisive mistake by Navara (30.Qg3??) that allowed liquidation to a piece up for White. Let's hope this is the first of many such wins!

[Kevin Thurlow]

"Given that the ECF pay appearance fees and expenses for players representing England in Olympiads and Euros, why doesn't the ECF throw in complimentary membership as well?"

That's the obvious thing to do, which requires little effort, and stops multiple players/organizers saying, "Er, I'm told I'll lose my FIDE-titles if I fail to be at least a Gold Member, and these guys get paid to play and aren't members?"

I would suggest that someone at ECF quickly updates the record and says, "oops, we had a computer error, they were members all the time."

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I think that there is some confusion here. Jobava must have been the one making the three fold repetition claim. If David plays Kh6, he is winning although it does appear somewhat risky. Presumably David's complaint is that the arbiter wrongly allowed Jobava's claim.

Coming back to this, it must be possible to get an answer to this? Maybe those who have Twitter accounts can link to anything there that sheds light on this (the full thread is only visible to those with accounts, unless I am still missing some way to follow a thread without being logged in?).

It should be part of the historical record how the game ended. Who made the claim and how the draw was enacted.

From the moves as published, either Jobava or David could have made a claim relating to either of the final two half moves (different procedures in each case). Yes, Kh6 is winning, but David eschewed that move twice and has lost that chance in the final position as Jobava can claim again before the third chance arises.

This is why I am surmising that David was the one making the claim, but it would be nice to know either way.