English Chess Forum

Yes, it does!

In fact, the two played in last year's Championships, although I don't think Katarzyna had represented Worcestershire at the time of that game.

Katarzyna Toma vs Keith Arkell could be considered an all-Worcestershire game, since both players have recently represented that county. I can't remember the last time that happened in the British Championships proper. I'm thinking it was probably when Simon Small was an active professional (more th...

Thanks Roger!

I remember being part of a team plotting to repeat the moves of the famous Sax vs Seirawan, Brussels World Cup 1988 game, which ended in perpetual after just 13 or so moves. We thought a certain strong player might enjoy the beauty of that game and be happy to repeat it, knowing he played the variat...

This is the now defunct "St Johns, Worcester" chess club. For humerous reasons possibly known only to himself, the St Johns club secretary at the time decided to add the suffix "Ear" to the name of the club, when entering. I'm not sure how it subsequently became "St. Johns (EAR)".

Radjabov's been watching too much "Only Fools & Horses".

On the other hand, this might be cause for despair. If, as a group, chess-players are much more skilful today than in previous generations, won't there be some (or many) within the group that won't become GMs despite attaining an "absolute standard" that previously may have been sufficient to be a G...

Maybe H.E.Atkins is the luckiest player ever to emerge from Leicestershire?

Once during a post mortem my opponent said "I was going to offer a draw here but I got up, walked around and saw your grade on the wall, so I decided to play on a bit". He won both the game and, with that comment, the post mortem.

From Yasser Seirawan's recent book: "For those who don't know, the Danish Grandmaster Bent Larsen is my one true hero, and this book is dedicated to him. Of all the masters I've ever known I admire Bent the most. It is not just the strength of his character, his extraordinary mind, his gift for lang...

My first impression is that it has become "The British Chess Magazine", from "British Chess Magazine"! There's a little more advertising in the new edition, dotted across the pages rather than just on the back cover. At the moment I prefer the previous font, although I'm sure I'll happily get used t...

I really enjoyed my Canterbury weekend as well. The stand-out performance for me, though, was that of Keith Arkell. He must have played well over 200 moves in his Friday and Saturday games, was out until the small hours on Saturday night and still had the stamina to share first in the rapidplay on S...