London chess classic

[Roger de Coverly]

Two places, eh?

There will be a need to define a tie break method. Last year Alan Merry won outright, so the issue didn't arise. There was a tie of four players for second though.

[Mick Norris]

Two places, eh? Either they have been listening to the crowds about Rowson, or Short and Malcolm have unaccountably fallen out over something or other.

There were 2 qualifiers in 2016 so just reverting to that system?

[Jonathan Rogers]

No, surely the number of qualifiers depends on the availability of a certain number of favoured players, rather than a particular idea of whether there ought to be one or two qualifiers. A proper qualifier has not yet won a match (taking the view that Nick was invited in 2015).

And remember they are probably adding Adams this year. So they would hardly have two qualifiers now, unless....?

[Richard Bates]

Two places, eh?

There will be a need to define a tie break method. Last year Alan Merry won outright, so the issue didn't arise. There was a tie of four players for second though.

There will be but it’s nowhere near as problematic producing a fair tiebreak for a nine round international, as it is for a five round weekender. And qualification will be far less “luck of the draw” dependent. Two years ago somebody was able to come very close to guaranteeing qualification by taking a bye in round 3.

The question on nationality was (I think ) mainly rhetorical. But I have no idea who the sponsor is or their motivation for sponsoring the tournament. It was pretty clearly originally set up with a nationality based focus though. Maybe they don’t care as long as the Olympiad players are given a guaranteed place if they want it?

[Richard Bates]

No, surely the number of qualifiers depends on the availability of a certain number of favoured players, rather than a particular idea of whether there ought to be one or two qualifiers. A proper qualifier has not yet won a match (taking the view that Nick was invited in 2015).

And remember they are probably adding Adams this year. So they would hardly have two qualifiers now, unless....?

Wouldn’t be surprising if Short made himself unavailable regardless of current personal relations with Malcolm. Even ignoring that he may not be willing to commit in advance of the FIDE election. He has commented on the gruelling nature of the schedule so probably the only positive attraction for him is the money. But the starter prize money isn’t huge, and he would probably have lower expected return than in the past (especially if Adams was playing). I think there was a year when he voluntarily opted out of the main event (albeit he probably still got a reasonable wage as a commentator instead).

[Graham Borrowdale]

Two places, eh? Either they have been listening to the crowds about Rowson, or Short and Malcolm have unaccountably fallen out over something or other.

Why should Short and Pein's personal differences over FIDE elections have any bearing on whether or not the former might be invited to play in a chess event organized by the latter?

[Jonathan Rogers]

I left open the other possibility, that Short might have declined.

Why? Well, the tweets flying around at the moment seem to suggest that there is a bit more to it than personal differences of opinion as to who should be the next FIDE President! Though no doubt they will make up again, in the fullness of time.

[Roger de Coverly]

Maybe they don’t care as long as the Olympiad players are given a guaranteed place if they want it?

Arguably you need a non-ENG player to justify the "British" tag as opposed to "English". It's an explanation for the invites to the otherwise inactive Rowson. Matthew Turner is playing at Telford so would add a SCO player should he qualify.

The first two at Telford won't receive directly receive any prize money, so the Knockout place being open is logical from that viewpoint.

[Graham Borrowdale]

I left open the other possibility, that Short might have declined.

Why? Well, the tweets flying around at the moment seem to suggest that there is a bit more to it than personal differences of opinion as to who should be the next FIDE President! Though no doubt they will make up again, in the fullness of time.

Well, yes, my question was rhetorical, but if this event is styled a "British Knockout Championship", then surely the player list should not be influenced by personal differences of opinion or anything else? Perhaps the whole entry criteria needs to be a bit more transparent.

[Alex Holowczak]

I know a bit more than everyone here, but it's information I don't regard myself as being at liberty to disclose. However, you're all going to be disappointed with how mundane the reason is, unless you're the sort of person who gets excited by competition formats.

[Michael Farthing]

Right folks! Close the thread. No point in discussing a chess tournament if there's no skullduggery to agonise over.

[IM Jack Rudd]

I know a bit more than everyone here, but it's information I don't regard myself as being at liberty to disclose. However, you're all going to be disappointed with how mundane the reason is, unless you're the sort of person who gets excited by competition formats.

As a person who does get excited by competition formats, I look forward to it.

[Roger de Coverly]

[As a person who does get excited by competition formats, I look forward to it.

With 8 participants, it could be run on the model of the 1975 Cricket World Cup.

You have two groups of 4 from which the winners and runners up qualify for semi-finals and a final.

[Mick Norris]

I know a bit more than everyone here, but it's information I don't regard myself as being at liberty to disclose. However, you're all going to be disappointed with how mundane the reason is, unless you're the sort of person who gets excited by competition formats.

As a person who does get excited by competition formats, I look forward to it.

Yes, interesting; maybe not 8 players then

[Roger de Coverly]

Yes, interesting; maybe not 8 players then

The Classic as a whole is occupying a nine day slot from Sunday all the way to the Monday of the next week. Only the last three days will feature the Grand Chess Tour as some of that is being played at Google's Deep Mind. So the question comes as to whether the commentary rooms and the lecture theatre will be unused for the first six days or feature some other event.