British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Details of upcoming UK events, please provide working links if possible.
Wadih Khoury
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by Wadih Khoury » Fri Nov 20, 2020 11:29 am

Seems the document still exists , but maybe they made an error when editing the page.

Chris Rice
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by Chris Rice » Fri Nov 20, 2020 3:01 pm

I've had it confirmed today that what would have been the Major Open will get a trophy in the late John Naylor's name. An amazing gesture by the ECF and much appreciated by all his family and friends. The entry forms are scheduled to go out as well today I'm told and details of the various trophies will be published next week.

Matt Bridgeman
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by Matt Bridgeman » Fri Nov 20, 2020 5:40 pm

Is the online entry form missing a tick box for the Major Open?

...now added!

Wadih Khoury
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by Wadih Khoury » Sat Nov 21, 2020 11:18 pm

Some observations and questions, in no particular order:
  • I noticed that the year groups are defined as per the FIDE years. Is that usually the norm in the British? (Not complaining, I expected the cut-off to be August)
  • In the qualification routes, what does "points" mean? Points across all 3 qualifiers? Fide points? (why not call them ratings?)? ECF grades? Something else?
  • The junior standard championship qualification route is labelled as "rapid championship". Does this mean, the only way to play in the standard tournament is to be one of the 14 qualified to the rapid championship?
  • If the above is "yes", is it normal to gate standard events behind rapid (quite different skillsets).
  • As a general observation, why are junior events gated, when the OtB version is not?
  • There are usually 3 qualifiers, does this mean a player can attempt all 3 qualifiers? If only one, how is each qualifier decided?
  • The qualifiers select 3 players (for juniors), but only have 7 rounds. If I recall, 7 rounds is just enough to guarantee determining a winner for 128 players. To determine the 3 top players (actually the 4 top ones), we would need 2 additional rounds. Any less means the qualification will be heavily reliant on luck and tie breaker. Would there be an argument to extend to 9 rounds the qualifiers?
  • There are 4 junior qualifiers into the Championship: are they selected from a specific age group? (U18?)
  • Is it worth for a junior to buy the "all events" ticket? As I currently see, any junior participating in the rapid qualifiers (needed for standard), cannot play the championship qualifiers (fair enough) but also will miss the last 2 rounds of the Open/grade limited tournaments. They can eventually play the Rapid tournament instead (or alongside?) the junior blitz.
  • In the main calendar (not the blitz specific one), the Championship Qualifier 1 is not showing on Dec 27th
  • Why the choice of 45+15 for many events? Is 60+15 or 60+30 not feasible?
  • "Faster time controls (Rapidplay, Blitz and Bullet) will be run as platform Swiss tournaments". I therefore assume that pairings will use chess.com rating?
  • Have the anti-cheating measures been decided and announced? Will there be audio/video/screen monitoring/recording?

David Sedgwick
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by David Sedgwick » Sun Nov 22, 2020 9:44 am

Wadih Khoury wrote:
Sat Nov 21, 2020 11:18 pm
Some observations and questions, in no particular order:
  • I noticed that the year groups are defined as per the FIDE years. Is that usually the norm in the British? (Not complaining, I expected the cut-off to be August)
  • In the qualification routes, what does "points" mean? Points across all 3 qualifiers? Fide points? (why not call them ratings?)? ECF grades? Something else?
  • The junior standard championship qualification route is labelled as "rapid championship". Does this mean, the only way to play in the standard tournament is to be one of the 14 qualified to the rapid championship?
  • If the above is "yes", is it normal to gate standard events behind rapid (quite different skillsets).
  • As a general observation, why are junior events gated, when the OtB version is not?
  • There are usually 3 qualifiers, does this mean a player can attempt all 3 qualifiers? If only one, how is each qualifier decided?
  • The qualifiers select 3 players (for juniors), but only have 7 rounds. If I recall, 7 rounds is just enough to guarantee determining a winner for 128 players. To determine the 3 top players (actually the 4 top ones), we would need 2 additional rounds. Any less means the qualification will be heavily reliant on luck and tie breaker. Would there be an argument to extend to 9 rounds the qualifiers?
  • There are 4 junior qualifiers into the Championship: are they selected from a specific age group? (U18?)
  • Is it worth for a junior to buy the "all events" ticket? As I currently see, any junior participating in the rapid qualifiers (needed for standard), cannot play the championship qualifiers (fair enough) but also will miss the last 2 rounds of the Open/grade limited tournaments. They can eventually play the Rapid tournament instead (or alongside?) the junior blitz.
  • In the main calendar (not the blitz specific one), the Championship Qualifier 1 is not showing on Dec 27th
  • Why the choice of 45+15 for many events? Is 60+15 or 60+30 not feasible?
  • "Faster time controls (Rapidplay, Blitz and Bullet) will be run as platform Swiss tournaments". I therefore assume that pairings will use chess.com rating?
  • Have the anti-cheating measures been decided and announced? Will there be audio/video/screen monitoring/recording?
Have you seen the detailed Regulations? If so. please would you post a link; I can't find them.

I'm not sure that there is a lot of point in your posting your questions on here. ECF Directors and Officers are unlikely to respond.

In many instances questions on here can be and are answered by someone outside the ECF inner circle who knows the answer, but that won't be the case with this completely new event.

I can give you a partial answer to your last question. The Fair Play measures will be similar to those which applied to the ECF Online Junior County Championships yesterday, including the use of Zoom.

Kevin Thurlow
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Sun Nov 22, 2020 10:54 am

"I'm not sure that there is a lot of point in your posting your questions on here. ECF Directors and Officers are unlikely to respond."

I was going to suggest asking ECF first, to give them a chance to answer, but if you don't get an answer, (or you don't like the answer) then post here.

"The Fair Play measures will be similar to those which applied to the ECF Online Junior County Championships yesterday, including the use of Zoom."

Were the previously identified cheats excluded from the event? I was a bit disturbed to hear that one player was caught cheating then played another one immediately afterwards, but that was ok as he didn't cheat on that occasion!

David Sedgwick
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by David Sedgwick » Sun Nov 22, 2020 2:15 pm

Kevin Thurlow wrote:
Sun Nov 22, 2020 10:54 am
Were the previously identified cheats excluded from the event? I was a bit disturbed to hear that one player was caught cheating then played another one immediately afterwards, but that was ok as he didn't cheat on that occasion!
There was one player with "form", but who continues to protest his innocence to this day. I express no judgment on that.

He has served the prescribed period of exclusion in respect of the earlier event, so he was allowed to play.

Mick Norris
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by Mick Norris » Sun Nov 22, 2020 2:28 pm

Are the results available somewhere?
Any postings on here represent my personal views

David Sedgwick
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by David Sedgwick » Sun Nov 22, 2020 2:32 pm

Mick Norris wrote:
Sun Nov 22, 2020 2:28 pm
Are the results available somewhere?
Yes. I am about to start a new thread.

Edit: Now done.

viewtopic.php?f=7&p=256247#p256247

Joseph Conlon
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by Joseph Conlon » Mon Nov 23, 2020 8:32 pm

On one point, I am guessing that the gaming of all events will be to allow arbiter supervision by Zoom (just a guess - but the main Championships is gated far more than normally, when any UK GM would be guaranteed entry).

Wadih Khoury
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by Wadih Khoury » Tue Nov 24, 2020 11:54 am

The fair play measures have been published.
Quite strong measures for the final phases, am very pleased.
Audio, video and screen sharing. No other people or electronic devices allowed in the room, only browser + zoom allowed on computer. At arbiter's demand player can be asked to show their surroundings.

However, qualifiers are just reliant on chess.com + Pr Regan. Which means that many will be tempted to receive human assistance from friends and family...

Thomas Rendle
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by Thomas Rendle » Tue Nov 24, 2020 11:58 am

No electronic devises allowed in room seems like overkill to me and I suspect it will deter people from entering, it would certainly make me think twice. None allowed in use/turned on would make some sense.

Mick Norris
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by Mick Norris » Tue Nov 24, 2020 1:02 pm

Tournament regs
The schedule has been designed to allow for players who wish to participate in multiple championships and events at different time controls. However there will inevitably be a number of overlapping events in the schedule.
Players may only play in one event at any one time and may not enter for or take part in two tournaments if the sessions are scheduled at the same time.
Fair play regs
Any postings on here represent my personal views

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IM Jack Rudd
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by IM Jack Rudd » Tue Nov 24, 2020 3:36 pm

"No other people allowed in the room" is the killer for me. I don't have reliable internet in my bedroom and I can't reasonably keep people out of any other room.

Wadih Khoury
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Re: British Online Chess Championships 18th December 2020 to 3rd January 2021

Post by Wadih Khoury » Tue Nov 24, 2020 4:36 pm

IM Jack Rudd wrote:
Tue Nov 24, 2020 3:36 pm
"No other people allowed in the room" is the killer for me. I don't have reliable internet in my bedroom and I can't reasonably keep people out of any other room.
Yes the measures are Draconian and not everyone will be able to meet them, but I think it's the only way to have fair play.
Otherwise I can imagine big brothers, mums or dads giving hints while in the same room.

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