World Youth Championships

[Mick Norris]

Have we reached the point where players shouldn't be allowed to wear hats or headgear at all?

This might be relatively simple advice for the ECF to give to leagues and congresses

That would be a simple enough measure, apart from the problem of whether or how to make exceptions for those wearing head coverings for religious reasons.

Good point

Although explaining it to Mike Surtees wouldn't be trivial

[JustinHorton]

Have we reached the point where players shouldn't be allowed to wear hats or headgear at all?

This might be relatively simple advice for the ECF to give to leagues and congresses

That would be a simple enough measure, apart from the problem of whether or how to make exceptions for those wearing head coverings for religious reasons.

Well, there are also sometimes good non-religious reasons why people wish to wear head coverings (chemotherapy comes to mind) but other than that, yes it does seem an area that might require some thought.

I wouldn't see any problem just issuing an exemption to anybody who asks for one though.

[Matthew Turner]

I don’t really know how you could use a baseball cap to win a blitz tournament? How could moves be Inputted/received?

[Matt Bridgeman]

...

[Matthew Turner]

Tkachiev had an earpiece and a friend transmitting moves - I agree that that is easily possible. How does a baseball cap help with this? Only as a distraction. For the Tkachiev method to work for Declan, he would presumably need a friend sat close to his board or with incredibly good eyesight. I am surprised nobody has noticed

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Maybe he is raising money for Children In Need?

[Roger de Coverly]

How could moves be Inputted/received?

There was the Bulgarian who was suspected but his exact method never fully established. He was a bit useful at fast time rates as well. That was speculated to involve shoes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borislav_Ivanov

Another guess might be a concealed camera which could read and decipher a chess position from normal three dimensional pieces, coupled with an extremely miniature device in the ear which would speak the suggested move. They would communicate with a hidden phone sized device by wireless.

[Matt Bridgeman]

...

[Carl Hibbard]

Please see the following formal statement so for the time being no further Declan speculation will be considered appropriate here.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=10535

[Tim Spanton]

This exchange of comments on my blog is rather interesting. I do not know the people involved, but it seems there is a claim it was not Declan Lovelock playing in London.

Pete Heaven8 December 2019 at 20:47
He scored 1/10 at the London Chess Classic blitz today with a TPR of 1057 FIDE. Ever since I saw Rfd1 in the game above, together with his speed, I have had my suspicions about how good he really is. Assuming it was him at the LCC today, I think we now have our answer. Others on the EC Forum are of the same opinion.s

Natasha2 January 2020 at 04:16
Rather rude of you. You are utter baggage, and a burden to the chess community.

Pete Heaven4 January 2020 at 23:54
Hi Natasha, I hear what you say in this and your posts below. In that case, are you saying that the games in the London Chess Classic blitz were played by someone else? If that were the case I'd be happy to delete my post above. All the games are available on chess24 and are of near-beginner standard.

Natasha12 January 2020 at 13:57
He did not play in the London Game. We have got evidence for that.

Full post: https://beauchess.blogspot.com/2019/10/blitzed.html

[Roger de Coverly]

Natasha12 January 2020 at 13:57
He did not play in the London Game. We have got evidence for that.

Against that, the organisers and arbiters at the London Chess Classic seem to think he was correctly identified. If there was an imposter in London, it would seem expedient on family and local organisers to make the case.

[Nick Burrows]

His appearance at the LCC was an imposter. The banned online accounts were imposters. "His methods are completely different"

[Ian Thompson]

the time limit was too fast for him.

That seems very plausible. What's odd is that the effect of lack of time apparently resulted in playing games of "near-beginner standard" (Peter Heaven) when a more common consequence for a player strong at slower time limits would be a generally high standard of play interspersed with occasional blunders and/or losses on time.

[Roger de Coverly]

What's odd is that the effect of lack of time apparently resulted in playing games of "near-beginner standard" (Peter Heaven) when a more common consequence for a player strong at slower time limits would be a generally high standard of play interspersed with occasional blunders and/or losses on time.

A time limit of 3 minutes with 2 second increments seems to be getting popular. The logic is that it's 5 minutes to move 60.

There was a rated Blitz evening tournament at Hastings with this rate. I didn't enter, not having ever played any games at that speed. But thinking about it a bit more, it's 4 minutes to play 30 moves, so if you can put your opponent away quickly, time isn't so much of an issue. It's just equivalent to winning a traditional 5 minute game with at least a minute remaining.

[Richard Bates]

the time limit was too fast for him.

That seems very plausible. What's odd is that the effect of lack of time apparently resulted in playing games of "near-beginner standard" (Peter Heaven) when a more common consequence for a player strong at slower time limits would be a generally high standard of play interspersed with occasional blunders and/or losses on time.

Reports of his playing speed in the Dorset leagues certainly indicate he takes excessive care to avoid getting into time trouble.

And they obviously play blitz chess at a very leisurely pace in Dorset, him being their blitz champion and all