British Championship 2014 Schedule

[Matthew Webb]

Hi,

I've just been looking at the British Championships schedule (contemplating a late entry), can anyone tell me why the main championship is running so differently this year to previous? Does the new British Champion really have to wait three days for the prize giving? If the current favourite David Howell wins again, he'll be in Tromso by then presumably? Just wondering what the reasons behind this were...

(Ps. sorry if I've created this topic in the wrong place!)

[Andrew Zigmond]

The Championship is finishing earlier to allow for anybody playing in Tromso to get to this second event in good time. There is normally a daily prive giving - obviously winners of the first week events aren't expected to wait another week. Given that the British champion might not be there may puncture the main prize giving a bit but I'm sure winners of the other sections would enjoy a sense of occasion.

[Matthew Webb]

Okay that makes sense! In which case Mickey, Nigel, Matthew and Gawain should all be playing if the ECF are making such allowances for them

haha

[Roger de Coverly]

Just wondering what the reasons behind this were...

The Championship is running two days early to enable Olympiad participants to make it to Tromso. It's not just David Howell, but also the other British Isles team and also the women.

The final round of the British is on the Wednesday. The prize-giving is at an unspecified time on that day. It's on page 20 of the programme. Trying to arrange a prize-giving on the same evening in an event with incremental time controls might be asking for trouble, as they would have found at Sheffield with the game between Nick Pert and Gawain Jones lasting all evening.

[David Shepherd]

From the Championship website

PLAYING AREAS

SATURDAY, 19th JULY
2.30 pm: Championship – Penbryn Conference Centre

SUNDAY, 20th JULY
10.30 am: Under 2000 Rapidplay – Interpolitics Building
2.30 pm: Championship – Penbryn Conference Centre

MONDAY, 21st JULY
9.30 am: All Events – Penbryn Conference Centre
2 pm: OPENING CEREMONY – Penbryn Conference Centre
2.30 pm: All events – Penbryn Conference Centre

TUESDAY, 22nd JULY
9.30 am: UNDER 16, Under 13 and Under 11 – Students Union
9.30 am: Under 180, Under 140 and Week 1 AM Open – Penbryn Conference Centre
2.30 pm: All events – Penbryn Conference Centre

WEDNESDAY, 22nd JULY
9.30 am: Under 16, Under 13 and Under 11 – Students Union
9.30 am: Under 180, Under 140 and Week 1 AM Open – Penbryn Conference Centre
2.30 pm: Under 16, Under 13 and Under 11 – Students Union
2.30 pm: Championship, Major Open, Week 1 PM, Senior U150 – Penbryn Conference Centre

THURSDAY, 23rd JULY
9.30 am: Under 16, Under 13 and Under 11 – Students Union
9.30 am: Under 180, Under 140 and Week 1 AM Open – Penbryn Conference Centre
2.30 pm: All other events – Penbryn Conference Centre

FRIDAY, 24th JULY
9.30 am: Under 16, Under 13 and Under 11 – Students Union
9.30 am: Under 180, Under 140 and Week 1 AM Open – Penbryn Conference Centre
2.30 pm: U13 and U11 – to be announced
All other events – Penbryn Conference Centre

Under 8 and Weekenders – venues to be announced

No prizes for spotting the error ..

[Joey Stewart]

Is it just me or are there a lot less people playing the championships this year?
Almost like putting it in such a remote town has put people off travelling....

[Rob Thompson]

I think that impression is largely informed by last year, which as the 100th (and in Torquay) is not really representative.

[Jonathan Bryant]

A few years ago, I looked at numbers of entrants to the British Championship tournament from 1970 to 2009.

http://www.streathambrixtonchess.blogsp ... etter.html


The average of the 21st century to that point was 71.8
The average in the 1990s was 63.9
The average in the 1980s was 61.5
The average in the 1970s was 37.7


It seems this year we have 59.




I don’t view the reduction in numbers as an inherently bad thing, incidentally.

[Lewis Martin]

I would suspect that there were fewer qualifying places available for players, throughout last season as well.

I am slightly disappointed at the lack of participation of the stronger Welsh players at this event, namely James Cobb and Richard Jones, amongst others.

[Roger de Coverly]

I would suspect that there were fewer qualifying places available for players, throughout last season as well.

I think only on paper. They didn't enforce the tie break rule, so many events had multiple qualifiers.

The lengthy list of qualified players is at
http://britishchesschampionships.co.uk/qualifiers/

There's a knock on effect, since the more players already qualified, the more likely that a score of 3.5 from 5 in a qualifying weekend Congress will be enough.

Not everyone who enters takes up their place, there are a few qualified players in the Seniors.

[JustinHorton]

Is it just me or are there a lot less people playing the championships this year?
Almost like putting it in such a remote town has put people off travelling....

I'd really like people to knock off this "remote town" nonsense. Aberystwyth is on the coast of Great Britain. So are many or most championship venues. It is not really any more remote than Torquay or North Shields or Great Yarmouth. West Wales is not the other side of the world any more than East Anglia is.

[Roger de Coverly]

It is not really any more remote than Torquay or North Shields or Great Yarmouth.

Two hours on mountain roads from the nearest motorway ,one train every two hours says it is.

[JustinHorton]

Well then people can get on that particular train, Roger. It's not hard.

[JustinHorton]

Here for instance we can see the comprisons, using a popular route-calculator site, for distances and (road) travelling times between Nottingham and:

Torquay
Aberystwyth.

They are not in favour of the former.

[David Pardoe]

You`re quite right Justin....and a glorious scenic drive on a summers day.
But accomodation options might hold some back...Aberystwyth is almost fully booked I think...unless there is spaces at the University campus still unfilled.