New National Blitz event

[Nick Grey]

perhaps this will be the new annual championship?
i'm annoyed that the organisers have chosen my birthday.

[Keith Arkell]

Rumour has it that the bureaucratic 'kerfuffle' is on the verge of being defeated and we will soon be offered a choice of qualifying dates I don't want to speak too soon, but hopefully we are about to see a victory for common sense and opportunity.

[LawrenceCooper]

Rumour has it that the bureaucratic 'kerfuffle' is on the verge of being defeated and we will soon be offered a choice of qualifying dates I don't want to speak too soon, but hopefully we are about to see a victory for common sense and opportunity.

Fingers crossed for you that the additional dates aren't 31st August and 1st September

[Jonathan Rogers]

Sooner the better with the dates, I expect there will be some London/SE based players who need time to find other reasons to be in Birmingham or Bristol on the relevant weekends

[Joey Stewart]

I liked the format of this years event happening on one day (even if it were, probably, a herculean effort of logistics to accomplish) - it meant a lot of players made it through to the finals that would have not otherwise had the opportunity. With a "choice" of dates you would have ever increasing numbers at each event as people more and more desperately pile into the later ones and ruin local players chances.

[Roger de Coverly]

With a "choice" of dates you would have ever increasing numbers at each event as people more and more desperately pile into the later ones and ruin local players chances.

It was suggested that a rule should apply that you can only enter one event. A more stringent version of that rule would say that you can only enter before any event takes place.

[Keith Arkell]

With a "choice" of dates you would have ever increasing numbers at each event as people more and more desperately pile into the later ones and ruin local players chances.

It was suggested that a rule should apply that you can only enter one event. A more stringent version of that rule would say that you can only enter before any event takes place.

All I ever read is drivel, in opposition to multiple qualifying dates. This is the 21st century, for ****s sake. It takes a matter of a few seconds to check that nobody is trying to cheat by entering more than one event. Anyway, as I said earlier, I think ( hope!) that common sense is about to defeat the bureaucrats this time.

[Joey Stewart]

Well I know it doesnt work in the schools megafinals - you will see the same players travelling all over the country to play in those thanks to some sort of dubious eligibility rules.

If you can only enter one event then fair enough, hold them on different weeks, but if not then everyone should have to pick their tournament and have done with it - and tough if you live in london and have to play with 10 other GM's, that is the price of chasing those big buck jobs

[LawrenceCooper]

From the ECF eNewsletter:

Nigel Towers on the 2019 UK Open Blitz Championship --- The UK Blitz 2019 will be staged as a series of qualifiers over two weekends in September followed by an all-play-all final in November. The Finals and qualifiers combined will have a total prize fund in excess of £5,000. This will be an Open Championship and there is no geographic or citizenship restriction on entry.
Qualifiers: There will be eight 15-round qualifying Swiss tournaments played over the weekends of 7th and 14th September at regional venues as below. Eligible players will be able to enter one qualifying tournament of their choice.
7th September
Birmingham – Quinborne Community Centre, Ridgacre Road, Quinton, Birmingham B32 2TW
Newcastle – venue to be confirmed
Cardiff – The Cardiff North Hotel by AccorHotels, Circle Way East, Llanederyn, Cardiff CF23 9XF
Edinburgh – Broughton High School, 29 East Fettes Avenue, Edinburgh EH4 1EG
Belfast – Ormeau Bowling Club, Ormeau Park, Park Road,Belfast BT7 4NA
8th September
Bristol – Bristol Grammar School, University Road, Bristol BS8 1SR (TBC)
14th September
London – The Rugby Portobello, 221 Walmer Road, W11 4EY
Manchester – Ukrainian Social Club, 99 Castle Street, Bolton BL2 1JP
Final
The top two players in each qualifier will qualify for the Open Final on 16th November 2019, to be played at St John’s Hotel, Solihull. The top two female players in each qualifier will qualify for a Women’s Final, held concurrently. Each of the finals will be a 16-player FIDE-rated Round Robin tournament. The time limit will be all moves in 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move for all matches.

[Mick Norris]

ECF

Those intending to visit Bolton for the Manchester event need to be aware of the cycling

[David Sedgwick]

Rumour has it that the bureaucratic 'kerfuffle' is on the verge of being defeated and we will soon be offered a choice of qualifying dates I don't want to speak too soon, but hopefully we are about to see a victory for common sense and opportunity.

I'm pleased to see that there was a happy ending.

http://chess-results.com/tnr467056.aspx ... 15&flag=30.

Congratulations to Keith, to Matthew Turner, and to all the other qualifiers.

[LawrenceCooper]

Congratulations to Keith, to Matthew Turner, and to all the other qualifiers.

Not least James Sherwin. Born in 1933, he scored 13.5/15 in Cardiff finishing ahead of last year's runner-up.

[LawrenceCooper]

Justin Tan has won the open and Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant the women's event, both with a round to spare.

Final crosstables:
http://chess-results.com/tnr485040.aspx ... turdet=YES &
http://chess-results.com/tnr485039.aspx ... turdet=YES

[Keith Arkell]

The British Blitz Championship is going from strength to strength. Last year 3 GMs and 5 IMs made it to the final 16. This year 4 GMs and 7 IMs qualified, and the overall level was significantly higher. I think this is partly because some of us successfully argued for multiple qualifying dates.

Congrats to Justin Tan, the new British Blitz Champion, 13/15. Ameet Ghasi was runner up with 12. Danny Gormally finished 3rd with 9.5 and Matthew Turner and myself scored 9.

Congrats also to Keti Keti Arakhamia-Grant, who dominated the women's section with a whopping 14.5/15.