English Seniors Chess Championships 2023

[Mick Norris]

ECF

The English Seniors Championships will take place between Thursday 4th May and Bank Holiday Monday 8th May 2023 at the Woodland Grange, Old Milverton Lane, Leamington Spa CV32 6RN. There will be two championships for players aged 50 and over and 65 and over respectively

[Owen Phillips]

Am I the only ECF Member who thinks that the choice of the Leamington Hotel at £95/night juts for B&B is rather restrictive....

I think better terms should have been sought if necessary elsewhere....or at least a decent rate for DB&B.

Costs are a major issue these days in particular. Couldn't a University with student acc been a better choice?

[Owen Phillips]

Incidentally even the £65 entry fee seems somewhat unnecessarily high!

[Owen Phillips]

For the sake of clarity I should have said The Woodland Grange Hotel at Leamington Spa.

[Roger de Coverly]

Am I the only ECF Member who thinks that the choice of the Leamington Hotel at £95/night juts for B&B is rather restrictive....

I think better terms should have been sought if necessary elsewhere....or at least a decent rate for DB&B.

Costs are a major issue these days in particular. Couldn't a University with student acc been a better choice?

Regular "tourist" Congress players will be aware that hotels have become a good deal more expensive over the past year or more. The cost at Leamington is lower than the "special rate" at the University Arms in Cambridge. Guaranteed Events no longer seem involved with the ECF. When last used for 4NCL events at the Leamington hotel, their price was a bit lower.

The date chosen I would expect to be during University term times.

The booking.com or hotels.com sites can give cheaper alternatives, I don't think there's anything within easy walking distance though, given the hotel is a mile or more outside Leamington town centre,

[Kevin Thurlow]

It's frequently cheaper to play overseas events, even adding in the air fare!

[NickFaulks]

It's frequently cheaper to play overseas events, even adding in the air fare!

No question. Also, even though Leamington Spa really is a nice place, it's tough to compete with a Mediterranean resort.

[NickFaulks]

These events have now reached round five with no comment here.

https://chess-results.com/tnr760159.asp ... art=2&rd=5

Perhaps this is because our most prolific contributor is busy playing in the over 65s. Currently sharing the lead and locked in combat with the top seed.

https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tourn ... -s65/5/1/1

[LawrenceCooper]

We've reached that stage of the tournament where Hebden and Arkell play. Not for the first time, the result will have a big bearing on who wins the tournament.

[NickFaulks]

We've reached that stage of the tournament where Hebden and Arkell play. Not for the first time, the result will have a big bearing on who wins the tournament.

Nor for the fiftieth time.

[Mick Norris]

Would be interesting to hear from those who played what they thought of it

Chris Baker won the 65+

Keith won the 50+ on tiebreak from Mark I think

[Ian Thompson]

Keith won the 50+ on tiebreak from Mark I think

That depends on whether either of the conflicting rules is applied, or if something else is done:

• The ECF website says the title was shared
• The tournament regulations have Median-Buchholz as the decisive tie-break, making Arkell the winner
• The website has the greater number of games played with black as the decisive tie-break, making Hebden the winner

[Roger de Coverly]

Would be interesting to hear from those who played what they thought of it

The hotel is out of town compared with the Holiday Inn at Kenilworth which was the venue last year and also for the English Championships at the end of this month. It's been used before for 4NCL tournaments. For those with bus passes, there is a very frequent bus service to Leamington from across the road and a slightly less frqeuent service to Kenilworth. It also runs quite late at night making an evening trip to Leanington or Kenilworth plausible. It's on routes which go to and from Warwick University which likely accounts for the frequency and patronage.

I'd rate it ahead of the 4NCL venues of the Holiday Inn/Delta Hotels down the road at the M40/A46 interchange if only because it didn't cost an extra £ 5 per night for car parking.

[Leonard Barden]

Keith won the 50+ on tiebreak from Mark I think

That depends on whether either of the conflicting rules is applied, or if something else is done:

• The ECF website says the title was shared
• The tournament regulations have Median-Buchholz as the decisive tie-break, making Arkell the winner
• The website has the greater number of games played with black as the decisive tie-break, making Hebden the winner

I raised this with the ECF, and have just received the following reply from the ECF Director for Home Chess, Nigel Towers:

Unfortunately there was a discrepancy between the tie break rules on the web page and the rules in the regulations document which was published by way of a link from the web page. The issue was only identified yesterday afternoon during the tie break calculations when it became clear that there were two versions of the rules giving different results in breaking the tie between Keith and Mark. After discussions with the players concerned we decided to make a joint award for this year's 50 plus title given the exceptional circumstances.
We will of course be looking closely at our event regulations and web page text to make sure they are consistent in future and to avoid this happening again.

[Mick Norris]

ECF prizewinners confirms Mark & Keith joint winners

Congratulations also to the Women's champions Susan Selley in the over 65 and Natasha Regan in the over 50