BRITISH CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS - THE GAMES

[John Upham]

Can we have odds for the commentary microphone working properly please?

[Adam Raoof]

Can we have odds for the commentary microphone working properly please?

It will be perfect today!

[Gavin Strachan]

£10 on Short v Adams draw

At what odds?

I haven't got odds. but they would probably only worth it as some form of Yankee.

[Charlie Linford]

Bit late in today, so only got boards 1-4:

Short 8/1 - Draw 4/9 - Adams 4/1
Jones 2/1 - Draw 2/1 - Howell 2/1
Houska 5/1 - Draw 5/4 - Pert 6/4
Hawkins 7/2 - Draw 6/5 - Conquest 7/4

[Matthew Turner]

I think you have the odds about right there. My only reservation is I'm not sure Adams is favourite over Short. I think 11/2 each of two is more realistic (assuming we are aiming for a 100% book).

[Charlie Linford]

It's certainly a debatable point; the model only does what I tell it, and I have a very distinct lean towards Adams over Short which is probably unfair. Still, someone made a point about the last English player to actually beat Adams...

[Matthew Turner]

Charlie,
That is interesting if you are using a model, because I make it very slightly more than a 104% book on board 4. I'm surprised it couldn't get closer to 100%

[Charlie Linford]

That's just me shifting the odds for Conquest shorter manually - I didn't have a good handle for the game (don't really know Hawkins at all, and his rating is apparently not representative), and when Conquest came out at just over 2/1 I thought it looked a little big. I do have a few people placing wagers on the games, so I gave myself a break and clipped it just in case.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Does anyone have recent results for Short-Adams and Adams-Short games? The online sources I consulted only gave me 6-5 to Adams with 16 draws. And the last seven games (dating back to 2000) appear to have been draws. I think the last time they played at the British was Swansea in 1987, which Short won (with Black). Can anyone confirm all or part of this?

[Matthew Turner]

A Short, Howell, Pert, Hawkins lucky 15 for me with the quad at 303-1.

[Charlie Linford]

£10 lucky 15 returns £7590... Still five minutes before kick-off if I can tempt you... Only layed two Lucky 15s so far, and dodged four winners on both (no thanks to Jovanka, who keeps drawing when I'm determined she won't, and Adam Hunt, who can't defend rook and pawn endings).

[LozCooper]

Does anyone have recent results for Short-Adams and Adams-Short games? The online sources I consulted only gave me 6-5 to Adams with 16 draws. And the last seven games (dating back to 2000) appear to have been draws. I think the last time they played at the British was Swansea in 1987, which Short won (with Black). Can anyone confirm all or part of this?

The last decisive result I could find is with Adams winning in 67 moves with black in a Petroff in 2000 at Corus.

[Matthew Turner]

Charlie,
I'll keep it hypothetical, but with my predictive record so far I can see why you'd be eager to take the money.

[Charlie Linford]

Very sensible - the best punters are those who know when to keep the powder dry...

[Charlie Linford]

"Hi. My name's David Howell. I'm one of the most talented chess players of my generation, and I knew since last night I would be black against Gawain Jones. I also have a penchant for time trouble. I just spent five minutes debating how to answer 1.e4."