English Chess Forum

Thanks all, I'll take a look. Yes I think a clock would be an issue - what if the arbiter takes his time to move the piece in a time scramble? None of the players are 2000+ so they are likely to c*ck it up within a couple of moves in a time scramble, but still. I'd also like to be able to run two ga...

Hi all, I've been asked to be the arbiter in a low-key friendly local tournament (only one up from a sub-group of club members) of blindfold chess. I am sure I could make up some rules about illegal moves, clocks/time controls etc, and the need for me to play the game through on a board to keep trac...

If you present a cheque for £200 no-one checks it anyway. And no wonder clubs find it difficult to find treasurers if members fill the need for Fort Knox level security... If you've got £10,000s in the bank maybe, but for your average club? A decent auditor/examiner is probably more important and si...

Are you a chess coach? Do you live in Essex (preferably South East Essex)? If so, please get in touch: cllrcourtenay@southend.gov.uk I'm looking for someone who might be interested in getting their name into the paper when we launch an outdoor chess table in a local park... perhaps you'll get a stud...

He's alive and well, but is maintaining a diplomatic silence in case this lands in his inbox in his official capacity. It would be wrong of me to comment on this without knowing all of the facts first, and without reference to the Chief Arbiter. Is this possible, given 10.2(d)? I suppose the ECF co...

I once considered applying... then I remembered that I'd have to deal with chess organisers. Funnily enough the shampoo and shower looked rather more attractive after that. For the third time in as many hours.

Don't moan about it, nominate! http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/UKgovernment/Honoursawardsandmedals/DG_067917 MBE for Nigel Short certainly seems a tad odd. OBE would be more approriate, although they do like to keep these things in reserve, in case people do better in the fut...

Personally I was considering filling in one of these forms:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentc ... /DG_067917

So what's the extra delay for this time? Wind blowing in the wrong direction? The way these new grades have been handled is nothing short of ridiculous, but then it has become hard to expect anything else from the English Chess Federation to be honest. Hopefully it will only be an extra delay of on...

Article 8.4: If a player has less than five minutes left on his clock at some stage in a period and does not have additional time of 30 seconds or more added with each move, then for the remainder of the period he is not obliged to meet the requirements of Article 8.1. Immediately after one flag ha...

Isn't there a rule about not writing down in the last 5 minutes? Yes there is. You are not required to keep a score of the game during the last 5 minutes of any time control that you are approaching. Your opponent is, unless he also has less than 5 minutes left. At the end of the time control (unle...

Before I begin, James, may I be the first to congratulate you on your own 'great leap forward' A grading improvement of over 300% provides an obvious cause for satisfaction, albeit at the expense of dulled critical sensibilities. And before I continue, David, may I commiserate you on the fact you h...

A quick look at the easily downloadable Excel spreadsheet shows that there are 11,765 chess players of which 10,262 have a standard play grade. Taking just these standard grade players.... Unfortunately the spreadsheet does not show the number of games played, only the category of the grades, howeve...