World Youth Championships

[John Upham]

If he wins, i make that a hat-trick of wins in Dorset.

I see what you did there...

[Tim Spanton]

Meanwhile, the comments on Tim Spanton's blog have become increasingly bizarre.

It is very obviously teenage boys behind the comments.

Now how many teenage boys (other than the subject and his friends) would a) know how to find a comments section on an obscure (sorry Tim!) chess blog. b) would have any interest at all in doing so.

Almost 5,900 views in the past month, I'll have you know

https://beauchess.blogspot.com/

[Roger de Coverly]

Declan has yet to play a FIDE rated game.

You can now find a record of him on the FIDE rating site for his null points in the rated Olympia Blitz in December.

[NickFaulks]

Almost 5,900 views in the past month, I'll have you know https://beauchess.blogspot.com/

You must buy the young lad a fizzy drink next time you see him,

[Ian Thompson]

I hope to attend the Dorset event in person.

Noting your comment on Tim's blog that you will be attending as a journalist, I hope you will be bringing a thermal imaging camera with you to ensure you get the best story.

[Leonard Barden]

1 327319C Lovelock, Declan M Southbourne 229 D

No 1 U16, No 2 U17 after Willow, No 3 U18 after Willow and Kalavannan.....

[Matt Bridgeman]

He’s topped the Under 16 ECF rankings by a full ten points. First grade is 229. Well ahead of the likes of Alex Golding and Ranesh Ratnesan, and numerous other bright and upcoming players.

...beat me to it! lol

[Jaimie Wilson]

I have never met or played Declan so I can't really comment on his chess but I hope he's alright. He's a young lad under a great deal of scrutiny and I can imagine this all being rather stressful for him, especially having read some the comments on Tim's blog. Sorry for coming over all 'snowflakey'!

By the way, Tim's blog is excellent.

[Pete Heaven]

A good point Jaimie. It certainly isn't Declan's fault that this issue hasn't been put to bed three months after it was first raised and seven weeks after his dip in form in the London Classic.

[LawrenceCooper]

That registration was already present before the last series of 4NCL matches, including the yellow highlighting which signifies an ECF membership query (although the Dorset players list has him as a silver member).

The 4NCL rules as required by the ECF demand that ENG players be Gold members.

Yes, I'm aware of that.

I wasn't aware that the registration was an old one though.

He's now disappeared from the list

[Roger de Coverly]

especially having read some the comments on Tim's blog.

The mystery is as to how someone who can get results of a standard of ECF 229 in Dorset events, can play so badly at a Blitz in London so as to not even meet the minimum threshold of 1000 for a FIDE Blitz rating. Part of the art of being able to play at speed is that you can spot a plausible candidate move quickly. The ECF have linked the two results as being the same person, so if not correct, a correction needs to be requested through official grading channels (Tim Spanton's blog doesn't count as official, neither does this forum)

[John Upham]

For those that like to collect records can we agree that 229 ECF is the highest ever first standard play grade for OTB play for someone who has never had a grade or rating from any country ?

I'm struggling to think of anyone who has beaten this record.

If only Roy Castle was still with us...

[Phil Makepeace]

I have never met or played Declan so I can't really comment on his chess but I hope he's alright. He's a young lad under a great deal of scrutiny and I can imagine this all being rather stressful for him, especially having read some the comments on Tim's blog.

I too hope he's okay. The scrutiny was and is correct and should have served to protect him. It should have led to his true playing strength being properly assessed months ago such that he was either celebrated or banned. But now he's sockpuppeting abusive comments online, is ranked 47th in the country with a big fat metaphorical asterisk next to the number 229, and it's clear that in seeking to arrest the scrutiny and commentary, the Dorset association and whomever else with a duty of care has completely failed him.

[Roger de Coverly]

It should have led to his true playing strength being properly assessed months ago such that he was either celebrated or banned.

If you look back at the history of this thread, no doubts were raised until the performance at the Olympia Blitz in early December. Indeed the limited comments were about the emergence of a new star in relation to the players who had represented ENG at the World Youth Championships.

[Matt Bridgeman]

In terms of grading, with the junior plus 50/minus 50 system, a win over a 180 is worth 230. So other than the 6 monthly 5 point junior bonus, he’s already more or less maxed out in the Dorset area for now due to a lack of 200+ rated players in his league. Will it be the case with the new 4 digit system that the limitations will be off and he could steadily build his rating?