e2e4 Grand Prix

[Roger de Coverly]

http://www.britishchess2011.com/qualifi ... 11.htm#all

I assume they are all resident in the UK - or does it work some other way?

Mostly they are UK resident.

Qualifiers by birth (presumably) are

GALLAGHER, Joseph G. 2499g SUI
KOSTEN, Anthony C. 2515g FRA
LANE, Gary W. 2373m AUS

There are several other players who have retained their ENG tags, without being UK residents.

[LozCooper]

Who becomes ENG is effectively the domain of the Director of International Chess.

You would be amazed at the number of requests I get from players wanting to transfer to England who have absolutely no connection to England. They weren't born here and they've never lived here. As a result I reject the applications.

[Adam Raoof]

Would you have someone who is registered with FIDE for New Zealand represent England in an Olympiad?

If not, then why would you let them play in the British Championships?

I'm more concerned with finding ways to get more people to play in the Championships, rather than restricting entry - but you have to strike a balance. Is it right that a player changes his affiliation away from ENG and then rushes back when a good sponsor comes along?

Once you have sub-rules about residency you have to police them too - not always possible as I know from working in a University with a large number of international students!

Frankly I would never have changed the rules that allowed Commonwealth players into the British...

[Alex Holowczak]

Would you have someone who is registered with FIDE for New Zealand represent England in an Olympiad?

No, because FIDE don't let you.

If not, then why would you let them play in the British Championships?

Because they're not run by FIDE.

I'm more concerned with finding ways to get more people to play in the Championships, rather than restricting entry - but you have to strike a balance. Is it right that a player changes his affiliation away from ENG and then rushes back when a good sponsor comes along?

By introducing this policy at the British, you make it far more likely that someone will keep switching nationalities.

Once you have sub-rules about residency you have to police them too - not always possible as I know from working in a University with a large number of international students!

Then why does such a rule exist in the Counties Championship, which is run by the English Chess Federation? The rules for the Counties Championship explicitly allows students of any nationality to play in it. They also allow people to qualify by residence, a qualification route that a lot of players use, and no one polices.

Frankly I would never have changed the rules that allowed Commonwealth players into the British...

It didn't work like that. In the old days, "British" meant the Commonwealth. As every Speedway fan knows, Ivan Mauger and Barry Briggs both won the British Final in Speedway, despite being New Zealanders. Commonwealth players were always eligible; the 2003 change was the first one to prevent them from playing.

[Roger de Coverly]

It didn't work like that. In the old days, "British" meant the Commonwealth.

Commonwealth got you special privileges. Len Barden's contemporary Persitz was sufficiently "English" to play for the English (BUCA) student team. Also he was second only to Penrose on the BCF grading list in an era when grades of visiting masters weren't normally published. However he wasn't ever able to play in the British Championships. Internationally he was always ISR.

Bob Wade regularly competed in the British, even though NZL for international purposes. In that period, it may have been better to be NZL than ENG for invites. There are several events where Bob, although only an IM, was invited to compete alongside Fischer and other top players of the era.

[Adam Raoof]

It didn't work like that. In the old days, "British" meant the Commonwealth.

Commonwealth got you special privileges. Len Barden's contemporary Persitz was sufficiently "English" to play for the English (BUCA) student team. Also he was second only to Penrose on the BCF grading list in an era when grades of visiting masters weren't normally published. However he wasn't ever able to play in the British Championships. Internationally he was always ISR.

Bob Wade regularly competed in the British, even though NZL for international purposes. In that period, it may have been better to be NZL than ENG for invites. There are several events where Bob, although only an IM, was invited to compete alongside Fischer and other top players of the era.

I think Bob also got to play in events behind the Iron Curtain, and in places like Cuba in super GM events - what opportunities!

[Alex Holowczak]

Bob Wade regularly competed in the British, even though NZL for international purposes.

Didn't Murray Chandler do pretty much the same?

[Roger de Coverly]

Didn't Murray Chandler do pretty much the same?

Murray became ENG when he became in line for England selection. The 1981 BCF year book shows him as IM with a grade of 237 which ranked him fifth on the BCF grading list. He isn't listed as ENG in the FIDE list shown in the same year book.

We had a home grown team of five young world class players in Miles, Stean, Nunn, Speelman and Mestel. Then Chandler was added but Stean retired. Nigel Short became available not long after .

[Alex Holowczak]

Didn't Murray Chandler do pretty much the same?

Murray became ENG when he became in line for England selection. The 1981 BCF year book shows him as IM with a grade of 237 which ranked him fifth on the BCF grading list. He isn't listed as ENG in the FIDE list shown in the same year book.

We had a home grown team of five young world class players in Miles, Stean, Nunn, Speelman and Mestel. Then Chandler was added but Stean retired. Nigel Short became available not long after .

Fair enough. I knew he was New Zealand now, but didn't know the history.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Bob Wade regularly competed in the British, even though NZL for international purposes.

Didn't Murray Chandler do pretty much the same?

Dunno. Some information on when he arrived in the UK is here:

http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php ... 360#p58360

But not much to confirm when he switched registrations.

I know when he switched back to NZL, as that was more recent.

No hang on, I tell a lie. My notes at the start of that thread say:

"Murray Chandler (gained his IM title while registered for NZL, switched to ENG in 1982, gained his GM title while registered for ENG, switched back to NZL in 2007)"

So obviously there is something somewhere that indicates a switch in 1982. Probably a change in the codes in the FIDE ratings lists from the 1980s (which can be seen at the Olimpbase site).

Yeah, here it is:

http://www.olimpbase.org/Elo/player/Cha ... %20G..html

Not a clue what events he competed in while NZL registered in the 1970s and early 1980s.

[Roger de Coverly]

Not a clue what events he competed in while NZL registered in the 1970s and early 1980s.

He came to England at the age of 16 or 17 so this would have been mid to late seventies. In those days, only one player could compete in international junior events per age group, so rather than have to go head to head with Nigel for the right to fight Kasparov for world junior titles, it was better to stay as NZL. After that, in his early twenties, he elected to play internationally as part of a top 10 (or better) ENG team rather than be top board for New Zealand somewhere down the tournament.

Apart from junior events, he would have played in the same events in England as his contemporaries. These would have included the Lloyds Bank, the British and others.