English Chess Forum

Thanks, Jack. Though surely it does make a difference if the possible teams to exclude got beaten by a different score? Even though teams A and B finish on X match points, if your team beat team A 4-0 then you get 4X SB points removed as opposed to 3X SB points removed if you beat team B 3-1. Or am...

Older readers may remember the conclusion of the 1980 Olympiad where the gold medals were determined by the results of adjourned games in the Scotland v Greece match, although a different tie-break method (Buchholz) was used.

Looking at Britishes in my era, winning from 144 rating points (the equivalent of 18 grading points) or more below the top seed is not exactly common. I make it the following: 1996 Chris Ward (155 below Sadler) 2002 R B Ramesh (194 below Sasikiran) 2015 Jonathan Hawkins (144 below Howell) 2022 Harr...

Copilot reckons Eley's performance was 1.21 SD above expectation and that that would be expected to happen once every 7.5 tournaments (of that length). So it was a good performance, but not an exceptional performance. Certainly nowhere near the level where, nowadays, you'd be checking for cheating,...

This may not be a national championship. There's a comment somewhere else on this forum that the ECF might designate the English Championships in October as its national championship (along, I think, with some questions about whether it can do that). Absolutely fantastic There was some discussion a...

I'm not sure if this counts as chess, or not chess. I'll leave others to decide. There's usually a thread on chess players running for election - I'll make the opening move. For Holyrood I think there are 4: Liam Kerr (Conservative) in Aberdeen Deeside and North Kincardine; Alan Reid (Lib Dem) in Ar...

I suspect I will be shaking the drawbot''s hand very shortly.

A win for Sindarov today, and 3 draws.

Too early to piggy back on other selections so I'll go for a win for Giri and 3 draws. And a small flutter on Panic Attack (because I like the name) in the big one.

Another rest day today?

I've just worked out this isn't for the players' benefit, but for that of the pundits, spectators and forumites. (I'm exhausted...)

I think I'm trailing the drawbot so I may have to start taking risks... That's what it's trying to provoke you into doing :) And it's working - I'm trailing by 2 now. This is the real Countdown conundrum – if you’re behind do you gamble with 6 small numbers or try to keep in touch and aim for a cru...

I think I'm trailing the drawbot so I may have to start taking risks...

Hikaru Nakamura – Andrey Esipenko 1-0
Fabiano Caruana – Anish Giri draw
Praggnanandhaa R – Wei Yi draw
Matthias Bluebaum – Javokhir Sindarov draw

How much would performance decline if there were no rest days? Presumably this would be a function of age? They are (mostly) all young and fit, so with plenty of rest days I wouldn't expect tiredness to be much of a factor. Would anyone care to comment? Will draws become more common with the tournam...

On the less important matter of predictions: there is a little breakaway at the head of the field. Would the candidates have had a number in mind at the start of the competition? I think +4 won it last time - Sindarov is there already and you've got to think he'll do better. So it must be getting cl...

I think I'm on 9/16 (including my secret unpublished predictions).

A rest day may change the dynamics.

I'll go with wins for Pragg, Fabi and Sindo. And 1 draw.

I'm running late for my golf lesson, so I'll go for wins for Giri, Naka and Pragg and a draw in whatever's left.