English Chess Forum

My sister was on holiday in Spain with some English friends. She used Celsius; they still thought in Fahrenheit.

“How hot is 29?” they asked.

She looked puzzled. “About 30.”

Please don't research what this book is really about, as that would spoil the joke.

Reshevsky never wavered in his Judaism. For him, chess was work and therefore not to be played on the Jewish Sabbath. This led to compromises with tournament organisers and, at times, resentment from some fellow players, as rounds were re-ordered or re-paired, and start or adjournment times altered...

Reshevsky never wavered in his Judaism. For him, chess was work and therefore not to be played on the Jewish Sabbath. This led to compromises with tournament organisers and, at times, resentment from some fellow players, as rounds were re-ordered or re-paired, and start or adjournment times altered....

I suppose it's because 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5 (the Spielmann-Indian Variation) 3.e3 cxd4 4.exd4 d5 transposes.

Free Junior Gold membership was meant to get over the "hassle hurdle" of a child entering their first event, and being told to go fill out a form and pay; so they could dabble in competitive chess.. That was a solution to a self inflicted problem. If the ECF hadn't decided that all individuals shou...

No, my point was that the results of non-contributors would not be processed You cannot reliably do one sided rating. What about international tournaments? Are you suggesting that if you play a foreign player in such an event, the game won't be rated? By the time we get to international tournaments...

Why unacceptable? Isn't the game worth playing for other reasons? An option besides the one you mention is not to allow non-contributors to participate at all in serious play. And that's whether it's the ECF or a local club. It likely would be worth playing for other reasons, but that doesn't alter...

I never understood why non-members should have been included in the rating system in the first place. Because members expect all their games to be rated. I don't think it would be acceptable to tell a member that a game they'd played didn't count because their opponent wasn't a member. One option t...

Here's a happy compromise. No result can be submitted to (or rather be accepted by) the ECF into the ECF-administered rating scheme unless both players are already ECF Members. If you choose not to join the ECF, you should hardly expect to receive an ECF rating. I can remember, years ago, my own clu...

Back on topic, the problem with FPTP was that there could be tactical voting, as disaffected LAB and CON voters would hardly vote for the other party, but might show disapproval by voting LIB. The trouble with PR is that you vote for a party, not an individual. All parties have good and bad people,...

This him?
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=37173

What's stopping you? Or do you really mean that you want to stop other people from voting tactically? Yet we are all stuck with fellow voters disagreeing with our choices. In any case, no electoral system completely eliminates voter strategy, tactical voting being just one form of it. At the recent...

One thing that annoys me intensely is so-called tactical voting. I want to vote for something that I want rather than voting for something to avoid something else. What's stopping you? Or do you really mean that you want to stop other people from voting tactically? Yet we are all stuck with fellow ...

Let me put the case for first-past-the-post (FPTP). Proportional Representation (PR) is not one system but many, each with its own characteristics. A blanket approval of any-old PR is, what shall I say?, unconsideredly hasty. PR can work against local independent candidates, and against parties with...