England football international wins chess tournament.

[MJMcCready]

Anyone know anything about this? Is he fide rated?

He can do it all' - Palace's Eze wins chess tournament - https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/arti ... 4q01vye5vo

[IM Jack Rudd]

There is only one E.Eze on the FIDE database, and he's a 10-year-old from Nigeria.

[MJMcCready]

Not the footballer then. There are videos on youtube but perhaps the quality of the games wasn't so high.

[Leonard Barden]

As a Crystal Palace supporter since 1938, I watched Eze's Pogchamps final on chess.com.
I would estimate him about 1200 strength, though he has a good eye for tactical opportunities. He was totally lost in the second game, but his opponent panicked in time pressure and allowed a queen-rook check and mate in two.

Earlier, I watched two online games between Eze and his former team mate
Michael Olise (now with Bayern Munich). Olise won both, and I would reckon
him around 1300. That's at least as good as the Liverpool pair Trent Alexander-Arnold (who has played a game with Carlsen) and Mohammed Salah (who wants to play Carlsen).

[Joey Stewart]

I've heard of this guy yes, he's been coached by Eric Hansen (known for the chessbrah channel). Basically what happens is every year chess com reaches out to a bunch of streamers and celebrities with little to no chess experience and puts them in a ludicrously well financed tournament called pog champs where they battle to be king of the sandcastle. Presumably it draws in a lot of new players to the game, since we are seeing more and more in the last few years, so I guess it's a net positive even if the chess isn't that good and the prize money is far more then they deserve

[MJMcCready]

I suppose it's good publcity for the game and reaching a wider, younger audience.

[Mick Norris]

As a Crystal Palace supporter since 1938, I watched Eze's Pogchamps final on chess.com.
I would estimate him about 1200 strength, though he has a good eye for tactical opportunities. He was totally lost in the second game, but his opponent panicked in time pressure and allowed a queen-rook check and mate in two.

Earlier, I watched two online games between Eze and his former team mate
Michael Olise (now with Bayern Munich). Olise won both, and I would reckon
him around 1300. That's at least as good as the Liverpool pair Trent Alexander-Arnold (who has played a game with Carlsen) and Mohammed Salah (who wants to play Carlsen).

Hopefully Eze can be part of an FA Cup winning team

I would imagine 87 years of supporting Palace hasn't seen much success

If Eze only started playing a couple of years ago, he's doing well; his chess is better than most of us at football, and we're worse at chess than he is at football

[MJMcCready]

As a Crystal Palace supporter since 1938, I watched Eze's Pogchamps final on chess.com.
I would estimate him about 1200 strength, though he has a good eye for tactical opportunities. He was totally lost in the second game, but his opponent panicked in time pressure and allowed a queen-rook check and mate in two.

Earlier, I watched two online games between Eze and his former team mate
Michael Olise (now with Bayern Munich). Olise won both, and I would reckon
him around 1300. That's at least as good as the Liverpool pair Trent Alexander-Arnold (who has played a game with Carlsen) and Mohammed Salah (who wants to play Carlsen).

Hopefully Eze can be part of an FA Cup winning team

I would imagine 87 years of supporting Palace hasn't seen much success

If Eze only started playing a couple of years ago, he's doing well; his chess is better than most of us at football, and we're worse at chess than he is at football

He's my favourite England player presently as you can't quite tell what he will do next, for example the goal he scored in the fa cup semi final the other week. Maybe more room for improvement with his chess than his football.

[Mick Norris]

I would be chuffed if he got much better at football lol

[MJMcCready]

Can he get that much better?

[Leonard Barden]

I would imagine 87 years of supporting Palace hasn't seen much success

An uninterrupted decade in the Premier League is heaven compared with the nadir of having to seek re-election from Division Three South, although the actual peak I watched was the 1941 wartime regional league which Palace won, ahead of all the major London clubs.

From Google:
1940–1941, the leagues were reduced in numbers to just two: the North Regional League and the South Regional League. Crystal Palace were champions of the South and Preston North End were the North champions.

[MJMcCready]

From what I understand, several Palace players have had England call ups this season and its your second cup final since the turn of the century, so the club is in good stead.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Their two previous FA Cup finals were lost to Man United (the first in a replay, they still had them back in 1990)

Now they are facing the other Manchester club.

Third time lucky?

[MJMcCready]

Hope so yes. Man CIty are in form but still beatable.

[Mick Norris]

I would imagine 87 years of supporting Palace hasn't seen much success

An uninterrupted decade in the Premier League is heaven compared with the nadir of having to seek re-election from Division Three South, although the actual peak I watched was the 1941 wartime regional league which Palace won, ahead of all the major London clubs.

From Google:
1940–1941, the leagues were reduced in numbers to just two: the North Regional League and the South Regional League. Crystal Palace were champions of the South and Preston North End were the North champions.

The tables are really interesting, a stark disparity in the number of games played from club to club

Preston NE last won the FA Cup in 1938, and last reached the final a few months before I was born in Preston, although they have since become 1 of (I think) only 5 clubs to win the top 4 divisions

I wonder if Palace will lose a couple of their star players this summer, so this is their best chance

Wonder when we will hear the outcome of the 115 charges against City