The British itself!

[PeterFarr]

Yes at least it's between two talented juniors with a lot of promise.

[Lewis Martin]

Someone mentioned earlier about the top board not featuring a GM, and that this has not happened for a long time in the British. Well, since Tan - Hawkins, there has been Hawkins - Fernandez and now Hawkins - Zhou.

So that's 3 out of 7 rounds.

It is possible for another pairing like that since Richard Pert and a few others on 4 (or even 3.5) aren't that far away, though you would have to say that Hawkins is likely to have to play the likes of Nick Pert, David Howell, Mark Hebden, John Emms or Chris Ward in the next round or two.

He is at least top board for the next round in any case, and since Zhou has performed ok, not brilliant, but not bad either, one would be surprised if Hawkins doesn't at least draw, especially with White.

[Ken Norman]

Am I right in thinking that either Amy Hoare or Akshaya Kalaiyalahan will be British women's champion? And if so, isn't it about time a better way was found, as it is self-evidently a very unsatisfactory way of determining the title, however well either of them may perform. If a proper tournament representation can't be conjured up, how about awarding the women's title to the best performance by a British woman in the 4NCL - which has a hugely more representative selection of female players. Almost anything would be better than the current situation.

The obvious solution would be to have a separate British Ladies Championship with a decent prize fund. The ECF already has the Lander bequest that was left to provide a prize for the British Ladies Championship.

The majority of European Chess federations hold a separate annual Ladies Championship.

The present situation discriminates against the majority of female players as they are not able to compete for the title of British ladies Champion.

A British Ladies Championship open to all British female players would be an excellent way to encourage female Chessplaying in Britain.

[PeterFarr]

Am I right in thinking that either Amy Hoare or Akshaya Kalaiyalahan will be British women's champion? And if so, isn't it about time a better way was found, as it is self-evidently a very unsatisfactory way of determining the title, however well either of them may perform. If a proper tournament representation can't be conjured up, how about awarding the women's title to the best performance by a British woman in the 4NCL - which has a hugely more representative selection of female players. Almost anything would be better than the current situation.

The obvious solution would be to have a separate British Ladies Championship with a decent prize fund. The ECF already has the Lander bequest that was left to provide a prize for the British Ladies Championship.

The majority of European Chess federations hold a separate annual Ladies Championship.

The present situation discriminates against the majority of female players as they are not able to compete for the title of British ladies Champion.

A British Ladies Championship open to all British female players would be an excellent way to encourage female Chessplaying in Britain.

Well yes exactly. Though whether the money is still there and available.....

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Someone mentioned earlier about the top board not featuring a GM, and that this has not happened for a long time in the British. Well, since Tan - Hawkins, there has been Hawkins - Fernandez and now Hawkins - Zhou.

So that's 3 out of 7 rounds.

Yeah. The last time this happened was probably back when there were several strong IMs around on the cusp of becoming GMs. Sadly, online records (where they exist) don't often go into the detail of round-by-round pairings. Even paper records (e.g. ECF Yearbooks) are unlikely to have this information. Will be very difficult to get a definitive answer.

It is possible for another pairing like that since Richard Pert and a few others on 4 (or even 3.5) aren't that far away, though you would have to say that Hawkins is likely to have to play the likes of Nick Pert, David Howell, Mark Hebden, John Emms or Chris Ward in the next round or two.

He is at least top board for the next round in any case, and since Zhou has performed ok, not brilliant, but not bad either, one would be surprised if Hawkins doesn't at least draw, especially with White.

If Hawkins wins, loses or draws today, I think he may end up with the same pairing in round 8 regardless (and he will have Black). Is it possible to make any predictions as to which of the chasing pack he is most likely to play after the rest day tomorrow?

[Roger de Coverly]

The present situation discriminates against the majority of female players as they are not able to compete for the title of British ladies Champion.

As you no doubt recall, that was the case until the mid 1980s. It was changed because the strength of British chess was such that the top female players could and did look for IM Norms in the championship proper. It was the top women themselves who lobbied for the change.

[IM Jack Rudd]

I just had a look on the FIDE rating list to see how many women from the six home federations there were with active ratings 2120+ (which was the automatic qualification rating for women last time I looked); there are ten (nine English and one Scottish).

[Jonathan Bryant]

The present situation discriminates against the majority of female players as they are not able to compete for the title of British ladies Champion.

I’m not really sure I understand your point here.

If woman/girl qualifies for the British Championship she can compete for the title. I agree the qualification system (actually I’d call it a 'qualification' system) is a total horlicks, but the situation for women is no different to the open tournament in that respect.

Not everybody agrees that separate tournaments are the way to go either.

e.g Fanou Lefebvre’s "Dear Magnus" http://streathambrixtonchess.blogspot.c ... aying.html

... I wanted to compete in the boys championships ... I didn’t understand why we had to be separated, segregated.

That said, I do agree that a rethink of how the title is awarded might be a good idea. Not sure I see a entirely satisfactory solution though.

[PeterFarr]

I guess ask the leading women what they want now, as it's so clearly not working.

There's also the issue of the hollowing-out of the British as a whole, with so few of the IM's / 2300-2400 players tempted to play, and consequent knock-on effects to the bottom end on the Major Open I suppose. Maybe a solution to that would also resolve the issues for the top women... but short of throwing cash which isn't there at the problem, I've no idea what the answer is.

[Jonathan Bryant]

I guess ask the leading women what they want now, as it's so clearly not working.

There's also the issue of the hollowing-out of the British as a whole, with so few of the IM's / 2300-2400 players tempted to play, and consequent knock-on effects to the bottom end on the Major Open I suppose. Maybe a solution to that would also resolve the issues for the top women... but short of throwing cash which isn't there at the problem, I've no idea what the answer is.

I agree with pretty much all of this.

Why not make the British Championship an Open? Anybody who wants to play can. It’s not my 'best of all possible worlds' solution, but in the absence of sponsorship/funds it would solve a lot of problems. Not the least of them being doing away with the rather arbitrary nature of the qualification system that we have at present.

[Mick Norris]

I guess ask the leading women what they want now, as it's so clearly not working.

There's also the issue of the hollowing-out of the British as a whole, with so few of the IM's / 2300-2400 players tempted to play, and consequent knock-on effects to the bottom end on the Major Open I suppose. Maybe a solution to that would also resolve the issues for the top women... but short of throwing cash which isn't there at the problem, I've no idea what the answer is.

I agree with pretty much all of this.

Why not make the British Championship an Open? Anybody who wants to play can. It’s not my 'best of all possible worlds' solution, but in the absence of sponsorship/funds it would solve a lot of problems. Not the least of them being doing away with the rather arbitrary nature of the qualification system that we have at present.

Open to British players as now? Or a real Open with foreign players and the best home player becoming British Champion?

I'd like a separate English Championships on an APA basis, but I didn't get far when I tried to get this sorted in Manchester a few years ago - I could give it another go as I have more time now, but then again I probably have better things to do

[Jonathan Bryant]

Why not make the British Championship an Open? Anybody who wants to play can. It’s not my 'best of all possible worlds' solution, but in the absence of sponsorship/funds it would solve a lot of problems. Not the least of them being doing away with the rather arbitrary nature of the qualification system that we have at present.

Open to British players as now? Or a real Open with foreign players and the best home player becoming British Champion?

I'd like a separate English Championships on an APA basis, but I didn't get far when I tried to get this sorted in Manchester a few years ago - I could give it another go as I have more time now, but then again I probably have better things to do

I know that some European countries do (or have done ) the latter, but personally I’d go for the former.

[IM Jack Rudd]

The British would probably be well-served by changing its entry fee structure somewhat. At present, it's £100 for FMs/WFMs, and a grand total of four such players - Jackson, Storey, Tan and Lewis - have entered. (I do not count Waddington because he was a transfer from the Major Open.) It's £200 for untitled players, and 41 such players have entered. Maybe we should do what most international opens do, and have entry fees dependent on rating as well as title.

[Jonathan Bryant]

Maybe we should do what most international opens do, and have entry fees dependent on rating as well as title.

I’d support that. I was assuming that structure when proposing an Open.


Talking of the Major Open. I’d thought that in the past if you qualified for the British you were not allowed to play in the Major Open. Was I wrong about that does anybody know? If not, when did things change? Ali Jaunooby (Major Open top seed) is on the list of qualifiers.

[IM Jack Rudd]

Maybe we should do what most international opens do, and have entry fees dependent on rating as well as title.

I’d support that. I was assuming that structure when proposing an Open.


Talking of the Major Open. I’d thought that in the past if you qualified for the British you were not allowed to play in the Major Open. Was I wrong about that does anybody know? If not, when did things change? Ali Jaunooby (Major Open top seed) is on the list of qualifiers.

A couple of years ago, I think. Qualifiers rated below 2200 are now allowed to play in the Major Open.