English Chess Forum

https://www.chess.com/live#t=2088907
https://www.chess.com/live#t=2088908

Is any more information available?

David Sedgwick wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:06 am

Is any more information available?

https://www.chess.com/club/unofficial-b ... mpionships which suggests that Jack Rudd is the organiser/arbiter.

As is customary with Chess.com, you can only enter within an hour of kick-off, which means entries are now being accepted!

Thanks to International Arbiter Jack Rudd for putting this on for us.

https://www.chess.com/live#t=2088907

Keith Arkell won the Blitz with 6/7. Lawrence Cooper was second with 5½; Jim Plaskett and Ben Gedig equal third with 5.

Here's some typical stuff from Keith that started it all off:

[Event "Live Chess"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2021.02.28"] [Round "?"] [White "KeithArkell"] [Black "BenDGedig"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A41"] [WhiteElo "2602"] [BlackElo "2060"] [TimeControl "300"] [EndTime "6:08:47 PST"] [Termination "KeithArkell won by resignation"] 1. d4 d6 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. c4 Nf6 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O Nc6 7. Nc3 e5 8. dxe5 Nxe5 9. b3 Nxf3+ 10. Bxf3 Re8 11. Bb2 c6 12. Qd2 Bh3 13. Rfe1 Qc7 14. Rad1 Rad8 15. Bg2 Bxg2 16. Kxg2 h5 17. h3 Qe7 18. Qc2 Ne4 19. Nxe4 Qxe4+ 20. Qxe4 Rxe4 21. Bxg7 Kxg7 22. Rd2 Kf8 23. Red1 Ke7 24. Kf3 Re5 25. g4 hxg4+ 26. hxg4 a5 27. e3 Rc5 28. Rd4 Re5 29. Kg3 Re6 30. R4d3 g5 31. R1d2 Re4 32. f3 Re6 33. f4 gxf4+ 34. exf4 Re4 35. Kf3 Re1 36. g5 a4 37. bxa4 Rc1 38. Rb2 Rd7 39. Rd4 Rc3+ 40. Kg4 d5 41. cxd5 cxd5 42. Kf5 Rc6 43. Re2+ Kd6 44. Re5 Kc5 45. Rd1 Kb4 46. Rdxd5 Rxd5 47. Rxd5 Kxa4 48. Rd7 b5 49. Rxf7 b4 50. Ra7+ 1-0

Thanks for running this, very enjoyable.

I had a massive upfloat to lose to Keith in the last round. As usual, I just got pushed off the board!

Perhaps someone could tell me how to download a bunch of my games from chess.com. I can do it on Lichess, but chess.com confuses me... And it's irritating trying to do it one game at a time.

Thanks again Jack. These type of events are wonderful for catching up with friends and opponents from 40+ years ago. Eg here, as well as playing Kevin in the last round, I played Loz Cooper, Jim PLaskett, Andrew Stone , Graham Waddingham and John Sharp. Those last two are friends against whom I was competing back in the late 70s!

Keith Arkell wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 28, 2021 4:19 pm

Thanks again Jack. These type of events are wonderful for catching up with friends and opponents from 40+ years ago. Eg here, as well as playing Kevin in the last round, I played Loz Cooper, Jim PLaskett, Andrew Stone , Graham Waddingham and John Sharp. Those last two are friends against whom I was competing back in the late 70s!

Well done Keith.

Having been the oldest player in the 2018 (I think) UK Blitz final it belatedly occurred to me that I may have been the youngest today!

Chris Duncan won the Bullet with 6/6. Graham Waddingham was second, Keith Arkell third.

I was only able to play in the Bullet event, which I enjoyed, even though I finished 12th of the 13 competitors.

It was a bit disappointing that the small entry meant that only 6 of the announced 15 rounds could be played, owing to Chess.com procedures.

I wonder whether on a future occasion any Bullet event with 20 competitors or fewer might be run as an All-Play-All, with the pairings predetermined, and conducted by an arbiter with the necessary privileges, as with the tournaments in the British Online Championships.

There would be one clear drawback, As games have to be started individually, some games in a round would be over before others have started. However, a lot more chess would get played.

Thanks David, both for your suggestions and for supporting the event.

Another option, were we not to have access to the resources you referred to ( eg an arbiter with the 'necessary privileges' along with the spare time and inclination), would be to run the event as an 'Arena' tournament. I play in hundreds of those on Lichess (and sometimes on Chessdotcom), and one advantage is that you know exactly when the event will begin and end. Another is that they require almost no effort to set up. A disadvantage would be that it wouldn't be ideal, in a national championship, for entrants to play indeterminate numbers of games.

I would also just add that we were at two disadvantages by comparison with the ECF 'official' online championships: 1) we operated with a budget of £zero, and 2) we lacked the advertising capacity of the Federation. Given these constraints, I hope that a combined turnout of 30 entrants will lead to the ECF considering including Senior Blitz and Bullet titles withing its next online Championships.

Keith Arkell wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 28, 2021 11:18 pm

Thanks David, both for your suggestions and for supporting the event.

I was happy to do so as it was made clear that the event was unofficial.

Keith Arkell wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 01, 2021 1:28 am

Given these constraints, I hope that a combined turnout of 30 entrants will lead to the ECF considering including Senior Blitz and Bullet titles within its next online Championships.

I believe that that was already under consideration

Keith Arkell wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 28, 2021 11:18 pm

... were we not to have access to the resources you referred to ( eg an arbiter with the 'necessary privileges' along with the spare time and inclination) ...

Keith Arkell wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 01, 2021 1:28 am

I would also just add that we were at two disadvantages by comparison with the ECF 'official' online championships: 1) we operated with a budget of £zero, and 2) we lacked the advertising capacity of the Federation.

If you were again in that situation, I would be willing in principle to run the event for you on a voluntary basis, so long as it was again described as unofficial.

You could of course ask the ECF to advertise it (saying it will clearly be an unofficial event), and (A) they might do so, or (B) they might think, that's a good idea, we'll do an official one.

David Sedgwick wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 01, 2021 9:58 am

If you were again in that situation, I would be willing in principle to run the event for you on a voluntary basis, so long as it was again described as unofficial.

Thanks - appreciated

Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 01, 2021 10:11 am

You could of course ask the ECF to advertise it (saying it will clearly be an unofficial event), and (A) they might do so, or (B) they might think, that's a good idea, we'll do an official one.

Indeed - hopefully these events will be incorporated into the ECF's Official Online Championships next time. Not only do females and kids under 8 enjoy blitz but many seniors say that it's their favorite form of the game because it doesn't tire them out in the way long classical chess games do.