British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Details of upcoming UK events, please provide working links if possible.
Andy Stoker
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by Andy Stoker » Wed Dec 30, 2020 6:43 am

That's very good of you Matthew, thank you.... but (a) I cannot see the qualifiers for the over 65 Rapid, which is what I've entered - and (b) what time on 3rd Jan?

Wadih Khoury
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by Wadih Khoury » Wed Dec 30, 2020 7:01 am

BRITISH ONLINE SENIORS QUALIFIERS
65+ (born 1955 or earlier) | 50+ (born 1970 or earlier)
Standardplay Qualifier (entry deadline 1900 on Tuesday 15th December – CLOSED for entries)
One tournament per age category – Friday 18th December beginning at 4.00pm; Saturday 19th December beginning at 10.00am and 4.00pm; Sunday 20th December beginning at 10.00am and 4.00pm; – 5 rounds. All moves in 45 minutes with 15 seconds increment per move.
Rapidplay Qualifier (entry deadline 1900 on Wednesday 30th December)
One tournament per age category – Saturday 2nd January – 7 rounds beginning at 10.00 am. All moves in 10 minutes with 5 seconds increment per move.
So if you are specifically looking for senior rapidplay qualifiers, that would be on the second.
Qualifiers tend to be tournaments on chess.com
You will need to find the right tournament section "club", join it, then one hour before the start join the tournament.

Best is to ask by email to the organisers.

Andy Stoker
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by Andy Stoker » Wed Dec 30, 2020 8:44 am

Many thanks Wadih... yes, I have only entered the Rapidplay qualifier, so you've given me a very helpful lead... however, I don't understand how I find 'the right tournament section "club"' ... I've looked in "English Chess Federation - Members" Club on chess.com but that doesn't seem to help, other than give the information for the time and date of the qualifiers you've helpfully given.
I must be missing something obvious - it cannot be this difficult

LawrenceCooper
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by LawrenceCooper » Wed Dec 30, 2020 8:58 am

Matthew Turner wrote:
Tue Dec 29, 2020 11:18 pm
Andy,
The tournaments are taking place on chess.com
If you go to chess-results and click on the appropriate section you can see the playing schedule - looks like you are playing on the 3rd
Isn't that the date for the final?

The tournament schedule https://www.englishchess.org.uk/caplin- ... rs-events/ says:

Rapidplay Qualifier (entry deadline 1900 on Wednesday 30th December)
One tournament per age category – Saturday 2nd January – 7 rounds beginning at 10.00 am. All moves in 10 minutes with 5 seconds increment per move.

Wadih Khoury
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by Wadih Khoury » Wed Dec 30, 2020 9:40 am

Andy Stoker wrote:
Wed Dec 30, 2020 8:44 am
Many thanks Wadih... yes, I have only entered the Rapidplay qualifier, so you've given me a very helpful lead... however, I don't understand how I find 'the right tournament section "club"' ... I've looked in "English Chess Federation - Members" Club on chess.com but that doesn't seem to help, other than give the information for the time and date of the qualifiers you've helpfully given.
I must be missing something obvious - it cannot be this difficult
You should have received an email.
Among the instructions:
We would like everyone to please join the main BOCC club on Chess.com - https://www.chess.com/club/caplin-briti ... mpionships - where we will be making any general annoucements during the events. Joining is straight forward and it would be very helpful if you could please join now if you havent already done so in order that we can check players username and to help us see who is online.

IF you are playing in a rapid or blitz qualifier or the bullet final be sure to also join the correct club for the event which can be found in the list here - https://www.englishchess.org.uk/wp-cont ... m-club.pdf. The clubs can be found in the link column
So if I recall you need to join the club of the first link, then check on the pdf link the specific club for seniors.
Then on the second join the tournament an hour before start time.

Andy Stoker
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by Andy Stoker » Wed Dec 30, 2020 10:16 am

Ah! Really appreciate your help - I don't seem to have received that email - the only mail I have says: "Thank you, your entry has been received. When your payment is confirmed, your entry will be put through ..." the money has been taken, I'm in the list of entrants but no mail as you describe. (Now I find the date, I realise I could not play in the final even if I qualify....!)

Alan Tate
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by Alan Tate » Wed Dec 30, 2020 1:00 pm

PeterFinn wrote:
Tue Dec 29, 2020 10:29 am
Leonard Barden wrote:
Sun Dec 27, 2020 10:14 pm
Who is Peter Finn?


1959 rating, seeded 23rd, 22 years old, 3.5/4 and paired with Adams on top board tomorrow, outplayed IM Wadsworth tonight and GM Hebden in round 3, only draw was with GM Lalic, TPR 2697.....
Hi all, I occasionally read this forum so was quite amused when I became the topic of conversation. I would have estimated I'm about 2300 strength before the tournament but have played well and have had some luck. Adams was too good for me last night, Be3 was a very bad move. The fact I'm still under 2000 rated is I believe due to how slowly the FIDE rating system adapts plus maybe another 100/150 points of improvement during the pandemic.
Hi Finn. First of all, apologies for defaulting against you - I was unwell that day.
One of the main problems with online chess is that people have become so sceptical whenever someone performs above their rating. However it is obvious me that you were simply outplaying your opponents prior to the Adams game.
In that game you mentioned 15. Be3 as being a mistake, however I was surprised by 14. dxe5. What was the reason for this capture? Alan

Ian Thompson
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by Ian Thompson » Wed Dec 30, 2020 11:33 pm

Can anyone explain the board 1 pairing in Round 7 of the Over 50?

David Sedgwick
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by David Sedgwick » Thu Dec 31, 2020 12:05 am

Ian Thompson wrote:
Wed Dec 30, 2020 11:33 pm
Can anyone explain the board 1 pairing in Round 7 of the Over 50?
I was the Zoom arbiter for this event, but the pairings were done automatically on Swiss Manager.

I saw the pairings at about 0100 this morning (Wednesday 30th December) and I was as taken aback as you obviously were. I then spent about half an hour trying to find a legal and sensible alternative set of pairings, without success.

This sort of thing does happen in Swiss Tournaments with small fields. However, I would be interested to hear from anyone who finds a better solution.

Andy Howie
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by Andy Howie » Thu Dec 31, 2020 12:14 am

It took us a while to work out why swiss manager came to that draw. Adrian, Kevin and myself must have talked it over for a good 90 minutes as we were frankly astonished when we saw it.

We came up with a couple of alternatives but anything we came up with had a greater number of total floats and colour switches

If you bear with me as it has been a long tournament. SM came up with

14 5
4 1
9 6
13 7
11 8
12 10

Total 5.5 floats

Best we could come up with was

5 8
4 1
9 6
11 10
12 7
14 13

Total 7.5 floats

But yes it is fair to say we were really surprised at it

Matthew Turner
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by Matthew Turner » Thu Dec 31, 2020 12:18 am

Breaking up three pairings and keeping all the colours the same we can have

Rabindra - Frostick

Conway - Wilmoth

Hill - Brusey

I'm not claiming that is better or worse, just an alternative.

Andy Howie
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by Andy Howie » Thu Dec 31, 2020 12:28 am

Still has more floats than what the computer came up with, we were looking for a solution with Conway near the bottom of the draw

PeterFinn
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by PeterFinn » Thu Dec 31, 2020 12:12 pm

Alan Tate wrote:
Wed Dec 30, 2020 1:00 pm
PeterFinn wrote:
Tue Dec 29, 2020 10:29 am
Leonard Barden wrote:
Sun Dec 27, 2020 10:14 pm
Who is Peter Finn?


1959 rating, seeded 23rd, 22 years old, 3.5/4 and paired with Adams on top board tomorrow, outplayed IM Wadsworth tonight and GM Hebden in round 3, only draw was with GM Lalic, TPR 2697.....
Hi all, I occasionally read this forum so was quite amused when I became the topic of conversation. I would have estimated I'm about 2300 strength before the tournament but have played well and have had some luck. Adams was too good for me last night, Be3 was a very bad move. The fact I'm still under 2000 rated is I believe due to how slowly the FIDE rating system adapts plus maybe another 100/150 points of improvement during the pandemic.
Hi Finn. First of all, apologies for defaulting against you - I was unwell that day.
One of the main problems with online chess is that people have become so sceptical whenever someone performs above their rating. However it is obvious me that you were simply outplaying your opponents prior to the Adams game.
In that game you mentioned 15. Be3 as being a mistake, however I was surprised by 14. dxe5. What was the reason for this capture? Alan
Hi Alan, no problem although actually you were due to be playing Jem Turner and not myself. The reason for dxe5 was I was wanted to play 14. Be3 but believed after 14. Be3 Bxb3 15. Qxb3 exd4 16. cxd4 Nxe4 17. Nxe4 Rxe4 I was dropping the e4 pawn and actually I'm fine after 18. Qxb7 but obviously wasn't convinced during the game (I think my calculation was somewhat affected by nerves also). There was also maybe a phycological factor of wanting to keep the game simple in order to make a draw more easily. In hindsight this was obviously a bad strategy.

After analysing, most of the human games to reach that position continue 14. Bc2 which makes a lot of sense and I did consider but decided against. Stockfish 12 at depth 40 actually wants a4 first then Bc2 and Be3 for white.

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John Upham
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by John Upham » Thu Dec 31, 2020 12:45 pm

Ian Thompson wrote:
Wed Dec 30, 2020 11:33 pm
Can anyone explain the board 1 pairing in Round 7 of the Over 50?
Yes : Peter Conway has the white pieces and Clive Frostick has the black pieces.
British Chess News : britishchessnews.com
Twitter: @BritishChess
Facebook: facebook.com/groups/britishchess :D

Tim Harding
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by Tim Harding » Thu Dec 31, 2020 5:31 pm

John Upham wrote:
Thu Dec 31, 2020 12:45 pm
Ian Thompson wrote:
Wed Dec 30, 2020 11:33 pm
Can anyone explain the board 1 pairing in Round 7 of the Over 50?
Yes : Peter Conway has the white pieces and Clive Frostick has the black pieces.
Thanks to Andy for the explanations above. I shall be trying later to emulate his work with pairing cards to get a better understanding of the issues.
I can confirm that my copy of Swiss Manager produced the identical pairings.
As Alex Holowczak has explained in the Whatsapp group for the tournament, which was news to me, it is actually the JaVaFo engine embedded in the SM program that does the pairings so anybody who follows the pairing rules correctly should get the same FIDE-approved result.
This would make a really tough question for future FIDE Arbiter seminar examinations.
Tim Harding
Historian and FIDE Arbiter

Author of 'Steinitz in London,' British Chess Literature to 1914', 'Joseph Henry Blackburne: A Chess Biography', and 'Eminent Victorian Chess Players'
http://www.chessmail.com

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