So who's going to the British Chess Championships?

[David Gilbert]

Let's go! Anyone else?

[IM Jack Rudd]

Me, in my usual set of roles as player, arbiter, bulletin officer, and Lord High Everything Else.

[Ben Purton]

If Im Not working, Im going to british primarly as a "2nd" to my girlfriend, so preparing for people in british whilst playing in major open.

Ben

[David Gilbert]

My first trip to the British Championships was Torquay 2002 when the championships itself was graced by people like
Ramesh, Gallagher, Sasikiran, Kunte, McShane, Ganguly, Gormally, Harikrishna, Lalic, Bogdan, Sandipan, Speelman, Lane, Turner, Wells, Hebden, Rowson, Summerscale, Ward, Wohl, Emms,and Pert (N)....and Rudd.

Has the change in qualification made it a better championships? Of course if this were football the Indians would be eligible to play for Ireland and could still play!!

[Matthew Turner]

David,
A number of high profile players promoted a petition to exclude Commonwealth players from the British - they have have got their wish. Will they play at Torquay? Well if history is a guide probably not! The key question for me is how potential sponsors view the British. I always felt that the presence of Indian players made the event a more attractive sponsorship opportunity, after all where do multinationals want to raise their profile?
Whether I am at the British or not will depend on a number of factors. I like Torquay a lot, but I have to admit that I find it difficult to be inspired by the prospect of playing the 'same old faces'

[David Gilbert]

Mark Hebden is the first of the bigger guns to enter, joining Dietmar Kolbus who proved to be a difficult opponent last year. But with Adams, Short, Howell, Rowson, Jones, Speelman and Davies filling places at the Staunton Memorial it could be the weakest championships since they were held on the Isle of Man in 2005. Can someone explain why the Staunton Memorial is allowed to clash with the British Championships? Is there a big fat plan to undermine our very British game?

[IM Jack Rudd]

Can someone explain why the Staunton Memorial is allowed to clash with the British Championships? Is there a big fat plan to undermine our very British game?

There's no restriction on the scheduling of any tournament. Most tournament organizers won't schedule something to clash with the British, but there's nothing to say they can't.

[Matthew Turner]

The British at Liverpool had a number of good players because the Championships offered conditions. At the moment I have heard nothing about Torquay. A number of English players are looking at going to Norway again and it is looking unlikely that I will play in Torquay. It seems quite likely that it will be a relatively weak Championships.

[Angus French]

Can someone explain why the Staunton Memorial is allowed to clash with the British Championships? Is there a big fat plan to undermine our very British game?

There's no restriction on the scheduling of any tournament. Most tournament organizers won't schedule something to clash with the British, but there's nothing to say they can't.

There may be nothing to prevent tournament organisers scheduling a clash but I wonder why the ECF Board agreed to provide financial support to the Staunton Memorial - see item 8.1 here.

[Stewart Reuben]

The Staunton Memorial is not actually clashing with the British this year, apart from an overlap if there is a playoff. The situation is not ideal. But the dates for the Staunton Memorial are highly specific as well due to the commitments of the sponsor and the availability of Simpson's Restaurant.
So far seven GMs have, I believe entered.
I too liked the participation of Commonwealth players. But the situation could not continue because the event was being overwhelmed by strong Indian players. This was also true of the junior championships.
Stewart Reuben

[Adam Raoof]

I too liked the participation of Commonwealth players. But the situation could not continue because the event was being overwhelmed by strong Indian players. This was also true of the junior championships.

The British Chess Championships should be a flagship event. It should be as strong as it can be. Is Wimbledon any less significant because it is 'overwhelmed' with non-English players?

Recently the Stella Artois event, which normally precedes Wimbledon, was rebranded 'The British Tennis Championships', but you can be assured that Rafael Nadal, four-time champion Andy Roddick, as well as Lleyton Hewitt, Fernando Gonzalez, Novak Djokovic, Ivan Ljubicic and Marat Safin will probably be invited.

The decision to exclude Commonwealth participants was ill-judged and it diminished our biggest and most significant event. Far from being 'overwhelmed', out of perhaps 100 players in 2002 there were at most 10 Indians. (We continued to invite Cypriots and Swiss, however.) If in the future, players demand it, will we then exclude non-English participants?

Are there any Gurkha chess masters out there? Joanna Lumley, can you hear me?

[Roger de Coverly]

Far from being 'overwhelmed', out of perhaps 100 players in 2002 there were at most 10 Indians.

from http://www.bcf.org.uk/events/bcf2003/british.htm

Excluding fillers from 94 players in the 2003 British 14 were federation IND. To qualify, they had to above the minimum rating standard so they occupied the top half of the pairings.

When the commonwealth players in the Championships were temporarily resident in the UK or on an extended holiday, there was little objection to them playing in the British. By 2003, the Indian federation in particular was sending a squad. I think the BCF got it wrong though - confine the British to "UK" but make the Major Open a genuine international event. Encourage the Indian federation to continue sending players.

[Stewart Reuben]

About 100 of the competitors in the British Championships were Indian in 2003. They were winning most of the prize money in the British Championship and many of the titles in the British Junior Championships. A British title was of commercial value to an Indian child. Thus they were flocking to the event.
They have not been British for about 50 years.
How could other players from the UK be excluded from the British Championships? It is a little odd we permit Southern Irish to play (something I introduced in 1987), that is why sometimes the event is referred to as the Championship of the British Isles. It will be different when the English Championship starts in 2011, in addition to the British.
Non-British Isles players are welcome to play in the Major Open. But it would require a substantial financial input in order to make it attractive to large numbers of foreigners. There is now so much competition from other events. It became restricted to players under 2350 when it was the World Major Championship in 2004. That event has never been repeated anywhere. To make the MO attractive would require an input of at east £5000 and to make it open once again to 2350+ players.
I have never seen any suggestion that Wimbledon is a British Championship.
The British Championship could be a British Open Championship if we wanted it. Then people from anywhere could play.

The parlous state of the English Chess Federation finances is such that we are offering support only to GMs and women who are IMs who are registered ENG with FIDE this year.
There is going to be a discussion with the British Isles Coordinating Committee about whether players registered with non British Isles Federations, who are fully eligible to play under current regulations, should be allowed to continue to play in the Championship. Such players include Gallagher, Kosten, Lalic, Kolbus, Lane. The matter has been raised and is worthy of discussion.
Stewart Reuben

[Matthew Turner]

Just a couple of comments on what Stewart has said.
1. I haven't received an invite to the British yet (not even an entry form). If the ECF is going to offer conditions to GM's, then really they should do it soon, otherwise people will have made other plans.
2. If conditions are only to be offered to English players, does this mean they are not available for recent Champions, Rowson and Aagard
3. I think it is important to separate the British Junior and Adult Championships when the issue of Commonwealth players is considered. The key question with the Championships seems to me to be is the Championships more or less attractive to sponsors with the Commonwealth players?

[Carl Hibbard]

1. I haven't received an invite to the British yet (not even an entry form). If the ECF is going to offer conditions to GM's, then really they should do it soon, otherwise people will have made other plans.

That doesn't seem possible after the rather large loss from last years event?