2026 English Chess Championships

[Christopher Kreuzer]

The 2026 English Chess Championships concluded today.

https://s1.chess-results.com/tnr1519584 ... 0&SNode=S0

Congratulations to Gawain Maroroa Jones who won the Open title and to Elmira Mirzoeva who won the Women's event (both scored 7.5/9).

Mickey Adams came second and dropped a couple more rating points. The twilight of his career compared to Short is interesting to observe. Both Adams and Gormally avoiding the Seniors for now...

Over 50 won by Phil Crocker (6/7).

Over 65 won by Ian Snape (7/7).

Anyone spot any good games from the live boards?

[Thomas Rendle]

The last round game in Roberson-Merry is worth a look.

[Roger de Coverly]

Anyone spot any good games from the live boards?

I wouldn't call it a good game, but I did see one game in the Over 65 where a player resigned thinking he had blundered. There was however a most satisfactory move available. It's possible that the DGT boards misreported the sequence of moves.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

The last round game in Roberson-Merry is worth a look.

Thanks:

https://lichess.org/broadcast/english-c ... T/CIcT0woI

[Graham Borrowdale]

As a French Defence addict I enjoyed this win from Jonah Willow against Brandon Clarke.

https://lichess.org/broadcast/english-c ... S/9xagc9mJ

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Thanks, Graham. I liked the way the black knight went from d6 to d3 via e4 and c5.

[Tim Spanton]

Anyone spot any good games from the live boards?

I wouldn't call it a good game, but I did see one game in the Over 65 where a player resigned thinking he had blundered. There was however a most satisfactory move available. It's possible that the DGT boards misreported the sequence of moves.

That sounds like a game Erdoğan Hassan was telling me about - not sure which round.

[Joey Stewart]

Gormally up near the top again too, he's been having a bit of a late life resurgence recently but nobody seems to give him respect

[LawrenceCooper]

Gormally up near the top again too, he's been having a bit of a late life resurgence recently but nobody seems to give him respect

Whatever gave you that idea?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

It is a good result for Gormally, someone whose chess I enjoy watching. But too many draws in this event. He did gain a lot of rating points (19) but that may be in part due to starting from a low level.

There are other GMs (such as Hebden and Wells and MacDonald) with similarly low ratings in the 2300s, but there has to be something to those low ratings. Pointing this out is not failing to give respect, but you will get hungry juniors thinking "here is a 2300-something old timer I can get a scalp from". And they find it more difficult than they thought.

Saw a video by Chris Ward the other day on the Dragon. He and Keith Arkell are other examples. There are also GMs who are in the 2200s... (Gawain is 2630 for comparison).

[LawrenceCooper]

It is a good result for Gormally, someone whose chess I enjoy watching. But too many draws in this event. He did gain a lot of rating points (19) but that may be in part due to starting from a low level.

There are other GMs (such as Hebden and Wells and MacDonald) with similarly low ratings in the 2300s, but there has to be something to those low ratings. Pointing this out is not failing to give respect, but you will get hungry juniors thinking "here is a 2300-something old timer I can get a scalp from". And they find it more difficult than they thought.

Saw a video by Chris Ward the other day on the Dragon. He and Keith Arkell are other examples. There are also GMs who are in the 2200s... (Gawain is 2630 for comparison).

I doubt that he would view draws with Gawain, Mickey, Brandon, Marcus & Stanley as too many draws

[Christopher Kreuzer]

True. I was thinking more that Gawain manged to win by finding ways to beat Merry, Roberson, Willow and Ghasi. Should probably stop giving opinions before playing through the games... Some big rating gains further down (Cancedda-Dupuis and Khoury). The juniors keep coming (that is where all the rating points go).

[Joey Stewart]

Gormally up near the top again too, he's been having a bit of a late life resurgence recently but nobody seems to give him respect

Whatever gave you that idea?

I listen to his YouTube channel and he's often unhappy with the state of modern chess so I extrapolated it's cause he needs more opportunities given to him without him needing to take them by force in tournaments every time

[Ian Thompson]

I listen to his YouTube channel and he's often unhappy with the state of modern chess so I extrapolated it's cause he needs more opportunities given to him without him needing to take them by force in tournaments every time

What opportunities should someone with an English ranking of 21 and a world ranking of 2031 expect to get (both from the November rating lists) that he's currently not getting?

[Richard Bates]

True. I was thinking more that Gawain manged to win by finding ways to beat Merry, Roberson, Willow and Ghasi.

Just lucky with the pairings i guess