ABERYSTWYTH - ARE YOU GOING?

[Barry Sandercock]

Will Keith Arkell be allowed byes on Sunday or Monday ?

[David Gilbert]

Oh dear! On the next set of live games Keith Arkell is down to play Alan Brusey. That can't be right can it?

Horton, Justin 2104 - IM Zhou, Yang-Fan 2475
GM Williams, Simon K 2462 - Lenier, Jude A 2099
Wager, John D 2099 - GM Emms, John M 2456
GM Arkell, Keith C 2433 - Brusey, Alan W 1951
Simons, Martin J 2087 - IM Pert, Richard G 2430
GM Ward Chris G 2422 - Elwin, Adrian G 1974

[David Gilbert]

...or has the Arkell v Brusey game already been staged?

[Andrew Camp]

Keith has already played his first round game. He will 'receive' a zero point bye for round two.

[Roger de Coverly]

On the next set of live games Keith Arkell is down to play Alan Brusey. That can't be right can it?

I think they may already have played, given that they are both from the Torquay area. The full pairings have now been published. Local player, Rudy Van Kemenade, is in the pairings, but out of sequence, so presumably the "filler".

[Andrew Camp]

Yes, Rudy is playing in the seniors.

[Brendan O'Gorman]

Arkell v Brusey http://www.chessdevon.co.uk/HTML/games/ ... /base.html

[Alan Tate]

Are there any plans to encourage more non-English players to play in the future (assuming eligibility if Scottish independence happens)? Not one Scot is playing the championship this year and despite the fact it's in Wales, their number one is missing. I see there is one Irish player as well.

[David Sedgwick]

Are there any plans to encourage more non-English players to play in the future (assuming eligibility if Scottish independence happens)? Not one Scot is playing the championship this year and despite the fact it's in Wales, their number one is missing. I see there is one Irish player as well.

I don't want to say very much, but I think that you might usefully ask on the Chess Scotland Forum whether there are any plans to encourage Scottish players to play.

[Alan Tate]

I would like to encourage other Scots and even play myself, but there is little incentive for the <2300/<2400 player which is what Scotland is made up of these days. Admittedly I am comparing the British to excellent tournaments such as Gibraltar and the returning Isle of Man, but £200(£100) entry for what is essentially a kind of weakish open in a usually not so appealing destination (I realise Glasgow is no more appealing than Aberystwyth), with little chance of winning a prize and every chance of contributing to David Howell's bank account, is the main deterrent. Add to that exorbitant train fares + accommodation + food, and one could probably play two Czech opens (many strong opponents, hot and cheap beer) for the same price.
Just some friendly comments from someone who would like to experience the electric atmosphere of Plymouth 1992 again.

[Gordon Cadden]

Are there any plans to encourage more non-English players to play in the future (assuming eligibility if Scottish independence happens)? Not one Scot is playing the championship this year and despite the fact it's in Wales, their number one is missing. I see there is one Irish player as well.

GM Jonathan Rowson is a supporter of Independence for Scotland, so we should not be surprised that he is not playing at Aberystwyth this year.

[MartinCarpenter]

Would have thought that, if anything, that might provide encouragement to steal the trophy away over the border

[Matthew Turner]

I would like to encourage other Scots and even play myself, but there is little incentive for the <2300/<2400 player which is what Scotland is made up of these days. Admittedly I am comparing the British to excellent tournaments such as Gibraltar and the returning Isle of Man, but £200(£100) entry for what is essentially a kind of weakish open in a usually not so appealing destination (I realise Glasgow is no more appealing than Aberystwyth), with little chance of winning a prize and every chance of contributing to David Howell's bank account, is the main deterrent. Add to that exorbitant train fares + accommodation + food, and one could probably play two Czech opens (many strong opponents, hot and cheap beer) for the same price.
Just some friendly comments from someone who would like to experience the electric atmosphere of Plymouth 1992 again.

Alan,
The points you raise apply equally to Scottish, Welsh, Irish and English players. I have been surprised how well the numbers in the Championships have held up in recent years. I think this might be down to two factors

1. The playing conditions at the British are very good, so people are inclined to go to an event where they know what they will get.
2. The concept of qualifying still has some gravitas for quite a few players.

You would expect these factors to weaken over time and perhaps they have now. However, I think the entry at Aberystwyth has been affected by three additional factors

1. The venue is problematic for some people, particularly those using public transport.
2. The bizarre changes to the scheduling of events
3. The strengthening of the pound making overseas events more attractive.

The problem for the British organisers is they either they have to continue pretty much as they are, relying on the kudos of qualifying to maintain the entry level, or make sweeping changes to make the championships potentially more attractive relative to European events. It is obviously easier and more prudent to go for the former. I suspect it would probably take a big financial disaster at the British to create a clamour for substantive changes.

[JustinHorton]

Listening to conversations here, some people seem to feel that the change in scheduling has been a big problem and I understand that this will not be retained for next year. The problem with starting on a Saturday is that for many people it means travelling here on a Friday, and a Friday which was also the last day of the school year. (This latter point obviously affects people with kids generally, not just those whose kids would otherwise be competing!)

From my point of view I have no problems with Aberystwyth as a venue at all, and I don't think it's really the issue.

[Roger de Coverly]

The problem with starting on a Saturday is that for many people it means travelling here on a Friday, and a Friday which was also the last day of the school year.

People felt obliged to travel on the Friday because of the general remoteness. Had it been Torquay, travelling on the Saturday morning would have been much more feasible, particularly by rail. I'm not playing until the Seniors starts next Saturday, but I decided not to risk trying to travel on the Saturday morning. It's the same decision as I made for North Shields and Douglas, but for Torquay, Great Yarmouth, Canterbury and Sheffield, it seemed easy enough to travel on the morning, as it will be for Warwick University next year.