English Chess Forum

They announced the rule at the start of the Blitz event that knocking over a piece and pressing the clock counts as a forfeit. Richard also lost a game by making an illegal move in a winning position. Apparently other games had been decided by this rule, this is why Richard is upset that Ghasi escap...

Thanks for the comments. This was a great event and huge appreciation to Malcolm and the team for organising it, and including me. I didn't expect to make the final. I put all of my efforts into the match against Jonathan, but against Luke I had hardly had any sleep the night before, so I was really...

Great event for UK chess fans and proper prize money. I bet Nick Pert is upset if he was not asked. (Can't imagine him turning it down) Thanks for thinking of me Nick! Of course it would have been great to have been asked as even a first round knockout would represent my biggest ever chess prize. L...

I'm not trying to say that anyone didn't deserve to win a tournament. You can only play what is in front of you. There are however numerous examples where 2 players get the same score but one has played significantly higher rated players than another. Players can also get higher scores than other pl...

Over the last few tournaments that I have played I have started to seriously consider whether the Swiss pairing system is actually fair. At the top end of the tournament with a few major contenders it seems to me that the higher the seed you are, the harder the pairings you get on average. During th...

If it makes you feel better Keith I was also refused a bye for the London Classic last year despite requesting in advance of the tournament which is why I was forced to miss the whole event, because I had an event that I had to attend. I've been really unwell over Christmas so I'm just pleased to ha...

There will be another Wellington College Training weekend on 6/7 October. Entry forms can be found on the ECF Calendar. These are getting more popular, and are a massive boost to chess in England. Many people who attended the last training weekend before the British went on to win first prize at var...

The next Wellington College Rapidplay will be taking place on 28 April (Rapidplay) and 29 April (Training Day)

I am delighted to announce that GM David Howell will be helping me with the training day.

If anyone else wants to enter it is not too late, please email me ([email protected])

Rapidplay results:

Open
1 N Pert 6/6 (£150)
2 M Pein 4.5/6 (£70)
3= J Sherwin, B Clarke 4/6 (£20 each)

Major
1= A Freeland, C Boni 5/6 (£75 each)
3 Phanikanth 4.5/6 (£20)

Minor
1= D Gallagher, P Sorino, D Hemmings (£57 each)

Plus 12 Ginger GM DVDs were awarded for strong performances.

Thanks for the ideas Simon. The lectures are aimed at adults and juniors. The psychology is mainly aimed at what to consider when looking to improve performance in any sport, and applying this to chess. As for the level of the lectures, there is a beginners class. After that it is aimed at a level m...

Hope that a few of you can make it to support this new initiative. I can't as I won't be back from Gibraltar in time (unlike Simon Williams presumably). I wish you every success with this commendable new venture. Thanks David. I believe Gibraltar ends on the Thursday, so most people will travel bac...

A new series of rapidplay and training weekends are being organised in a grand venue, Wellington College - Crowthorne: Saturday is a rapidplay and Sunday a training day. The first few dates are 4/5 Feb, 17/18 Mar and 28/29 Apr For the first weekend there are £600 in cash prizes, £300 in DVD prizes...

Another interesting "match" result for you : http://www.berkshirechess.org.uk/match_card.php?fixtureid=132 :D John, you need to give it a rest. Everyone is bored of you moaning about Sandhurst. It has been going on for years. The key points are: 1) Chess players in the local leagues make very littl...

One thing you cannot question is the last time he lost, as everybody remembers their losses I heard an unsubstantiated claim that Nick lost with K+fgh pawns vs K+abc pawns against Gary O'Grady at Hastings. That is actually true, although it wasn't in Hastings, it was in a pub in Godalming, shortly ...

To clarify the facts, my current unbeaten FIDE run is 56 games dating back to the 2008 British Championships. If you include unrated games then my record is well over 100 games, probably about 150 although I have not kept good, up to date records. I guess both must be UK records already. At the ris...