English Chess Forum

" ... worked well in the school chess club today."

That is because they have learned not to expect any better.

Further details: https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/ext ... itles.html

On 19 October 2020, on a thread of a similar title, I enquired of John Upham what his source was for McDonnell's supposed date of birth of 22 April 1798 and received the following information in reply: "Also, we do not have a primary source confirming the date of birth. 22-iv-1798 which was obtained...

Despite my 14 September post on this thread, John Upham's article on Alexander McDonnell has not yet been corrected regarding his father. The information that he was Thomas M(a)cDonnell, a merchant, was posted by me in December 2017, in https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/win ... l#CN_10662.

Thank you, Kevin. The "Selection Policy 2023" seems quite complicated and it is hard to see how it could be reduced to a formula that is not debatable. It allows the selectors appreciable freedom for artistic interpretation. It is not at all what the majority of the people in this discussion have ca...

I note the contents of Roger's latest post. The close involvement of the Selection Committee with the drafting of the selection guidelines seems to run counter to what several people in this discussion are all saying. I would suggest that if the guidelines were drafted afresh by persons not connecte...

"off the rails": disorganized, out of control ( Concise Oxford Dictionary ). In this context, I am thinking of problem situations which may arise if guiding principles for selection are not agreed to in advance and subsequently adhered to. Perhaps one or more selectors may become dominant, or the se...

It is important to establish principles which can be applied to all, or most, future situations. The default option should be the players' ratings, and a good reason should be needed to deviate from them, and that good reason should be made known. I would much prefer what Barbara recommended (above)...

Your family tree does not appear to acknowledge its use of data discovered by other researchers, and so bypasses the normal and traditional obligation to give credit to those researchers. For example, that the father of the chessplayer was Thomas, a merchant, and not Alexander, a physician, was only...

Jon D'Souza-Eva wrote:

"I did not cite the Chess Notes item number because this was not from a Chess Notes item."

Ah, but you said (above) that you had used my "evidence". That must have been in Chess Notes.

Jon, I don't readily recall referring to Eliza McDonnell in my research. Did I say she was a sibling of the chessplayer? Could you not cite the C.N. item number you are referring to?

Note the images which Edward Winter gives in https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/ext ... ntity.html

It is an article about mistaken identity. The image which John Upham included is, of course, George Alcock MacDonnell.

John, your text contains this: "However, following painstaking research of primary sources by James O’Fee and Tim Harding it has been demonstrated that the father of AM was not Dr. Alexander McDonnell but, in fact, Thomas McDonnell, a merchant." In reality, proof (utilising "Alumni Dublinenses") tha...

I would have no confidence at all in ECF selectors if they do not have to justify decisions to exclude strong players. It sounds like a disaster area. We have discussed on the forum the ECF book awards, a contest from which Nigel Short went away losing with his very fine book Winning a few years ago...

Overheard at the Chess Quiz:

Quizmaster: What kind of an artist was Alekhine?

Contestant: Pass

Quizmaster: That's close enough, I'll accept it.