British Chess Championships 2011

[Richard James]

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch for 8?

[Paul McKeown]

The bleeding AI would be rightly shafted if it met some of the dinosaurs I know, still using english descriptive. I also know one loon who records in international correspondence notation. In defence he claims to be dyslexic, whatever difference that makes.

[Stewart Reuben]

christopher >I'm confused now. Which one had the MP3 player? The International Arbiter or the spectator?<

Clearly they both had an ipod and an MP3 player AND it was the same one. So they got jealous of themselves.

Get surreal.

Stewart

[Kevin Thurlow]

"If I were the Organiser, I wouldn't do anything, because I'm not the arbiter. That sort of issue is one for the arbiter to deal with, and not anyone else. So I'd bring it to the arbiter's attention, and leave it at that."

This was about the alleged MP3 player if anyone is still awake. It is interesting that nobody raised the issue of responsibilities of organisers and arbiters in the discussion of the T-shirt that dare not speak its name.

I would have thought that organisers, not arbiters, worry about prizegivings. At the end of the Thanet tournament on Sunday night, I will hand the list of prize-winners to the organisers, tell them to check it carefully, and keep in the background as they deal with the prizegiving.

It might be different if someone is arbiter and organiser, I guess.

[Sean Hewitt]

It is interesting that nobody raised the issue of responsibilities of organisers and arbiters in the discussion of the T-shirt that dare not speak its name.

I would have thought that organisers, not arbiters, worry about prizegivings.

Kevin, I've made exactly the same point in private. Whatever the concerns about the T-Shirt or anything else at the British prizegiving, it's not part of an arbiter's remit. If they want to raise such a concern they should do so with the organiser. Similarly, if a spectator had a concern about something (illegal use of electronic equipment, for example) they should raise it with the arbiter. People trying to deal with things that have nothing to do with them can often lead to problems.

[Alex McFarlane]

People trying to deal with things that have nothing to do with them can often lead to problems.

I cannot argue with that viewpoint. However, one of the major problems with society today is that too many people just stand back and let things happen because they don't see it as their job. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" my old granny used to say.

Everyone is responsible for upholding Laws. Sometimes a quiet word is better than going through official channels.

I accept that it is not easy to differentiate when 'officialdom' actually needs to be involved. That would depend, not only on the incident, but the people involved.

Before we travel back into hypothetical situations - this is a general statement not related to any events past, present or future. (I would hate to confuse Chris even more.)

[Geoff Chandler]

To solve the notation problem just Replace ABCDEFGH with CHANDLER
and replace 12345678 with CHANDLER. Players then record the 'from' and 'to' square.

The old method is e2-e4 e7e5
The new method would be 1.dh-dn de-dd

Then the OCR device only needs to know 8 characters.

I plucked the word CHANDLER from thin air.

(have you considered using pigeons to memorise the game as it is being played.
They then fly off to a keyboard and tap in the moves with their beaks.)

Edit: Please no 'pigeons are cheap' jokes.

[Brian Valentine]

There was an English player, in the days when one was advised to write down your move before playing it, that used ruylopez instead of abcdefgh. I guess chandler is better, in that in this situation it would be a more obscure code.

[Adam Raoof]

This year we ran the first British Chess Championships photography competition for many years. There was no entry fee, and all participants had to do to enter was upload their photographs to Flickr and then to the British Chess Championships Group - http://www.flickr.com/groups/1655309@N24/ with a caption.

Over 100 photographs were submitted by 12 amateur photographers. First prize was £100, second prize £50.

The competition was judged by the professional photographer and chess player Ray Morris-Hill (http://www.rmhphoto.eu/), who gave us some feedback on the photographs and who has very kindly volunteered to do the judging for next year's Championships in North Shields.

If you haven't already seen them, have a look at the pictures first and see which ones you would have awarded the prizes to!

Start of Play - http://www.flickr.com/photos/65708433@N ... 655309@N24
Lee Bullock -http://www.flickr.com/photos/65618059@N05/6012905296/
Its the Hat - http://www.flickr.com/photos/epidemiac/5998597108/
Michael Adams -http://www.flickr.com/photos/epidemiac/5998016347/
Lost on Time - http://www.flickr.com/photos/chessplayer/6010669859/
Stephen Gordon - http://www.flickr.com/photos/chessplayer/6011218926/


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Ray's comments follow....


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Start of Play - John Sargent - "easily the best shot of the whole playing area, pleasing lines, good composition"

Lee Bullock - Brendan O'Gorman - "I like the clean blue background and the slight wrinkling of the nose, could crop tighter to remove the OOF forearm, the plastic water cup and the red wrapper"

Its the Hat - Epidemiac - "a very sweet shot and a great hat. I would have cropped tighter on the right to take out the drinks bottle and given the picture a bit more "punch" in post processing by increasing contrast and clarity"

Michael Adams gazes at the ceiling Epidemiac - "caught the moment here, with a good clean background to emphasise Micky's expression. Needs more contrast and a bit of sharpening to increase the impact"

Lost on Time - Greg Tebble - "leaving aside the idea that chess might be sleep inducing, this is a lovely picture, great use of depth of field. Colour balance might need a tweak as the blue background looks a bit cooler than other shots"

Stephen Gordon - Greg Tebble - "good portrait, with a very clean background and enough of the board to set the context. I would probably have not cropped so tight on the right"

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And the winners are....


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1st - £100 - Greg Tebble for "Lost on Time"
2nd - £50 - John Sargent for "Start of Play"

Well done and thank you for your contributions! The winning images will certainly be used on our website and may feature in next year's programme for the Championships. Please feel free to use them with full credits to the photographers on your site.

[E Michael White]

To solve the notation problem just Replace ABCDEFGH with CHANDLER
and replace 12345678 with CHANDLER. Players then record the 'from' and 'to' square.

The old method is e2-e4 e7e5
The new method would be 1.dh-dn de-dd

Interesting idea Geoff ; drawbacks:-

play Ne7-c6 your oppo and the arbiter may feel you have agreed a draw !
play Be7-c5 your oppo and the arbiter might feel you are resigning !

For a pawn promotion you need an additional character.

If everyone used their surname, some players may need to stop playing Nf3 as the first move could be rude.

[John Upham]

Can anyone advise if the Congress Bulletin is available in electronic format? BCM has already purchased paper copies of the bulletins (and very good they are!).

[John Upham]

I agree with you, but attempting to convey this to the rest of the bulletin team is... an interesting exercise.

Who (or what) is the problem here? Someone trapped in a paper based world: I wonder who that could be?

BCM wants to include some of the best junior games but we are not going through all the games by hand from the bulletin. In any case, the bulletin doesn't have all the games.

[Adam Raoof]

I don't think it is an impossibility to get all the games online round-by-round for the Major Open and the Championships, and the junior events should all go online as soon as possible, like this;

http://wycc2010.chessdom.com/pgn/

I am working on some volunteers for Whitley Bay 2012, and I promise that we will resolve these issues by then!

[IM Jack Rudd]

All the junior games should be in the bulletin (except for the U-8s, who do not have to record their games). Are you aware of some that are not?

[Roger de Coverly]

All the junior games should be in the bulletin (except for the U-8s, who do not have to record their games). Are you aware of some that are not?

The bulletins should follow approach used for the grading list. All the games should be posted on-line for download and the printed bulletin becomes a "print on demand" production for those who want a paper record. At the very least, the games should be available for download for historic purposes within a year of the completion of the event. Otherwise never mind OCR and scanning for scoresheets, you will need an OCR to recapture printed bulletins. The only complete tournament from Canterbury available as a download remains the Championship.