Hastings

[Richard Bates]

Stewart has produced a rather idiosyncratic "preview" to this year's tournament.

http://www.hastingschess.org.uk/2010/preview.htm

He has highlighted an apparent English 'practice' of not pairing people together who are related to each other, but i think one really must ask to what extreme this is taken. Because it seems to extend way beyond husband/wife combos towards far less clearcut 'relationships'. Even to the extent that there is an implication that the draw will be fixed if possible to keep the second and third seeds apart. I can't help but think that anyone who gets paired against one of these two as a consequence of any juggling of the pairings will have serious cause for complaint. It's not as if one wouldn't expect the 2nd and 3rd seeds to be playing against one another at some point, so why try and keep them apart?

Can anyone put in a list of players they would prefer not to be paired against in advance, provided some sort of relationship can be produced in justification?

[isaac wallis]

No. In FIDE tournaments all relationships are irrelevant - best friend, married, twin, same club. Starting in round one. Always.

[Rob Thompson]

I think the phrase "if reasonably possible" should be noted here.

[Alex Holowczak]

No. In FIDE tournaments all relationships are irrelevant - best friend, married, twin, same club. Starting in round one. Always.

Not necessarily. Exceptions are made for Israel against anti-Israel states, at least at the Olympiad.

[Richard Bates]

I think the phrase "if reasonably possible" should be noted here.

I am not questioning the principle (although others might), merely asking where the line is drawn. I struggle to see how, short of the players in question languishing at the bottom of the field with nothing to play for, it is likely to be "reasonably possible" to keep the 2nd and 3rd seed apart (especially as they are likely to have to play at some point anyway). And secondly i want to know if i can claim "relationship status" for the people i am staying with.

[Alex McFarlane]

As the likely arbiter for the event can I say what I would usually do and this event is unlikely to be different.

If the undesirable pairing is near the top of the event I am unlikely to change it unless a reasonable alternative can be made (ie within a few rating points). I will consider making changes provided the opponents are not disadvantaged nor are other potential prizewinners. By this I mean that the players for whom the favour is being done get similar rated or tougher opponents, the other players get similar or lower rated opponents, but a player must not get a significantly easier opponent if this may disadvantage another's chance of a prize. E.g. A (2400) v B(2200) is a husband and wife. The next pairing is C (2398) v D (2199). A v D and C v B is then an acceptable alternative. However if C had been only 2290 then the original pairing would stand as D is disadvantaged by the new pairing and B is advantaged.

I will try to give husband/wife, siblings etc, the same colour in the first round as this reduces their chances of meeting.

With regard to pairings in the bottom half of the draw I am inclined to be more lenient and will try to observe the same caveats as above but will be more likely to break the pairing provided the basic principles of the Swiss system are not broken.

I hope this addresses your concerns.

[Simon Spivack]

Stewart has produced a rather idiosyncratic "preview" to this year's tournament.

http://www.hastingschess.org.uk/2010/preview.htm

The idiosyncratic can make an article more interesting.

But strangely enough my name causes the greatest problems. My cousins don’t even spell Reuben the same way, many use Rubin. Then there could be Roubin, Rueben, Rubens and so on.

Heaven forfend that I disclose Stewart's age here. I see that he can't bring himself to mention Akiba Rubinstein, ever since that gentleman came equal first in the St. Petersburg '09 tournament.

The "B-V" swap gives rise to Reuven (Hebrew רְאוּבֵן‎, "Behold! a son" {בֵן‎ = "ben" = son; רְאוּ = see). I'm mildly astonished that fans of the spelling "Akiva Rubinstein" don't go the whole hog and opt for "Akiva Ruvinstein", "Stewart Reuven" and so on.

Then there's Rubini, Roubini, ad infinitum.

My father was told by the registrar that Stuart is the correct spelling. My father demanded, ‘Write down Stewart.’ Steuart is a rare variation. People often think my name is Reuben Stewart. In Cyrillic the last name becomes RBN. My spellchecker had a nervous breakdown as I was writing this.

In Russian, Stewart's surname would probably be rendered Рубен.

[Jonathan Bryant]

Does anybody know how far the venue is from the train station? Is it walkable? (By walkable I mean 20-30 mins on foot at most).

J

[IM Jack Rudd]

It's walkable, but it's all uphill.

[Roger de Coverly]

Does anybody know how far the venue is from the train station? Is it walkable? (By walkable I mean 20-30 mins on foot at most).

Less than a mile - but uphill.

Warrior Square station is a little nearer.

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=58 ... hp=ids.srf

The Horntye Park Sports Complex is off Bohemia Road - at the top of the hill.

[Jonathan Bryant]

Thanks for the tips guys.

I might investigate Warrior Square as an option. Failing that at least it will be downhill on the way home

[IM Jack Rudd]

My tip for a big rating gain is Isaac Sanders (seeded n-5th, where n is the number of players in the tournament). He seems a lot better than his current rating.

[Scott Freeman]

Jack is quite correct about Isaac - a dangerous player whose low rating will strike fear into the hearts of quite a few players that he meets. He finished second in the recent Challengers event at CCF.

I arbited at Hastings last year and had a fantastic week (and had the pleasure of working with David, Alex and Lara - who I learned a lot from) - I am gutted I can't be there again but a house move and a stewarding job (Chelsea are at home on Monday) mean that I simply cannot do it. Maybe the Premier League could be asked not to clash Chelsea matches with the Hastings Congress, then I would be able to go! All the very best to everyone playing this year. I will miss it.

[Matthew Turner]

If we are making predictions, then I'll go for David Howell to win and the big performance to come from Nicolai Getz.

[Richard Bates]

If we are making predictions, then I'll go for David Howell to win and the big performance to come from Nicolai Getz.

Well as things stand they'll be playing in round 1!