British Chess Championship 2024

[IM Jack Rudd]

Board 19 looks like a potentially interesting one, as well.

Certainly enough norm seekers for norms to be on the cards, and a strong enough field, as well. I'd be surprised if there were any norms failing for reasons other than TPR.

[Nick Burrows]

Board 12 is a good stylistic matchup: GM Williams, Simon K 2450 0 0 CM Badacsonyi, Stanley 2178

[Keith Arkell]

1 GM Adams, Michael 2672 0 0 CM Villiers, Thomas 2229
2 Boswell, Jacob Connor 2241 0 0 GM Howell, David Wl 2675
3 Shafi, Declan 2222 0 0 GM Jones, Gawain Cb 2640
4 GM Mcshane, Luke J 2617 0 0 CM Pang, Ethan 2212
5 FM Ledger, Dave J 2201 0 0 GM Conquest, Stuart C 2510
6 IM Ghasi, Ameet K 2495 0 0 CM Southcott-Moyers, Indy 2200
7 IM Beaumont, Chris R 2198 0 0 IM Bazakutsa, Svyatoslav 2490
8 IM Royal, Shreyas 2487 0 0 WFM Sivanandan, Bodhana 2185
9 NM Brewer, Callum D 2182 0 0 IM Grieve, Harry 2477
10 GM Gasanov, Eldar 2469 0 0 WFM Hryshchenko, Kamila 2181
11 Larchikov, Maksym 2181 0 0 IM Wadsworth, Matthew J 2456
12 GM Williams, Simon K 2450 0 0 CM Badacsonyi, Stanley 2178
13 WIM Kanyamarala, Trisha 2165 0 0 IM Merry, Alan B 2423
14 IM Willow, Jonah B 2416 0 0 CM Banerjee, Supratit 2161
15 Mitchell, Martin 2159 0 0 IM Pert, Richard G 2415
16 GM Motwani, Paul 2414 0 0 IM Bradbury, Neil H 2153
17 Stubbs, Oliver 2146 0 0 IM Han, Yichen 2414
18 IM Lutsko, Artem 2414 0 0 IM Mannion, Steve R 2139
19 FM Kalaiyalahan, Akshaya 2137 0 0 GM Hebden, Mark L 2385
20 IM Palliser, Richard Jd 2369 0 0 Shearsby, Jude 2130
21 CM Murawski, Jan 2121 0 0 GM Wells, Peter K 2364
22 FM Czopor, Maciej 2361 0 0 Lentzos, Ioannis 2119
23 Verma, Aditya 2118 0 0 FM Derakhshani, Borna 2351
24 IM Kanyamarala, Tarun 2337 0 0 Khoury, Theo 2113
25 Saunders, Aron 2105 0 0 IM Eggleston, David J 2335
26 IM Ledger, Andrew J 2334 0 0 Verma, Shlok 2102
27 CM Arnott, Jonathan W 2089 0 0 FM Wu, Li 2328
28 GM Davies, Nigel R 2325 0 0 Pal, Rohan 2077
29 Verbytski, Oleg 2076 0 0 WGM Yao, Lan 2325
30 FM Balaji, Aaravamudhan 2316 0 0 WCM Rida, Ruqayyah 2064
31 WCM Dicen, Elis Denele 2060 0 0 FM Richardson, John R 2299
32 FM Golding, Alex 2296 0 0 WCM Subramanian, Anusha 2033
33 Starley, Robert 2028 0 0 WGM Mirzoeva, Elmira 2282
34 Taylor, Adam A 2281 0 0 Sanger, Jake M 2026
35 Rathbone-Jones, Ifan 2014 0 0 FM Pein, Jonathan 2279
36 IM Pein, Malcolm 2274 0 0 Atako, Chino C 1999
37 AIM Raju, Sooraj Menothuparambil 1999 0 0 FM Lewis, Andrew P 2272
38 CM Hobson, Kenneth 2266 0 0 Salmons, Calum 1999
39 Merriman, James 1974 0 0 FM Kalavannan, Koby 2265
40 FM Merriman, John 2251 0 0 Sachdeva, Ronit 1972
41 Evans, Ruben Nangalia 1954 0 0 IM Rudd, Jack 2243
42 WGM Toma, Katarzyna 2241 0 0 Larkin, Benjamin 1952
43 Madhavan, Sanjith 1950 0 bye
44 IM Trent, Lawrence 2416 0 0 not paired

It's hard to predict round 1 upsets because of the big gulf in ratings, but I can see the favourites having a tough time on boards 6, 13, 17, 20, 21, 25, 28 and 31.

[NickFaulks]

No entry yet from Vitiugov?

Despite already playing under ENG, I think it's because he doesn't satisfy the residency requirement yet.

The ECF must have certified to FIDE that he was resident in England by 28th August of last year, so he can't have missed by much.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Board 19 looks like a potentially interesting one, as well.

Certainly enough norm seekers for norms to be on the cards, and a strong enough field, as well. I'd be surprised if there were any norms failing for reasons other than TPR.

That is my (less weighty) observation too, and it is also nice to agree with Keith that there a number of games which are not so predictable, both those that (we think) we know about and the known unknowns soon to be revealed. It is wonderful to be able to say that about round one in the British again!

[Richard Bates]

1 GM Adams, Michael 2672 0 0 CM Villiers, Thomas 2229
2 Boswell, Jacob Connor 2241 0 0 GM Howell, David Wl 2675
3 Shafi, Declan 2222 0 0 GM Jones, Gawain Cb 2640
4 GM Mcshane, Luke J 2617 0 0 CM Pang, Ethan 2212
5 FM Ledger, Dave J 2201 0 0 GM Conquest, Stuart C 2510
6 IM Ghasi, Ameet K 2495 0 0 CM Southcott-Moyers, Indy 2200
7 IM Beaumont, Chris R 2198 0 0 IM Bazakutsa, Svyatoslav 2490
8 IM Royal, Shreyas 2487 0 0 WFM Sivanandan, Bodhana 2185
9 NM Brewer, Callum D 2182 0 0 IM Grieve, Harry 2477
10 GM Gasanov, Eldar 2469 0 0 WFM Hryshchenko, Kamila 2181
11 Larchikov, Maksym 2181 0 0 IM Wadsworth, Matthew J 2456
12 GM Williams, Simon K 2450 0 0 CM Badacsonyi, Stanley 2178
13 WIM Kanyamarala, Trisha 2165 0 0 IM Merry, Alan B 2423
14 IM Willow, Jonah B 2416 0 0 CM Banerjee, Supratit 2161
15 Mitchell, Martin 2159 0 0 IM Pert, Richard G 2415
16 GM Motwani, Paul 2414 0 0 IM Bradbury, Neil H 2153
17 Stubbs, Oliver 2146 0 0 IM Han, Yichen 2414
18 IM Lutsko, Artem 2414 0 0 IM Mannion, Steve R 2139
19 FM Kalaiyalahan, Akshaya 2137 0 0 GM Hebden, Mark L 2385
20 IM Palliser, Richard Jd 2369 0 0 Shearsby, Jude 2130
21 CM Murawski, Jan 2121 0 0 GM Wells, Peter K 2364
22 FM Czopor, Maciej 2361 0 0 Lentzos, Ioannis 2119
23 Verma, Aditya 2118 0 0 FM Derakhshani, Borna 2351
24 IM Kanyamarala, Tarun 2337 0 0 Khoury, Theo 2113
25 Saunders, Aron 2105 0 0 IM Eggleston, David J 2335
26 IM Ledger, Andrew J 2334 0 0 Verma, Shlok 2102
27 CM Arnott, Jonathan W 2089 0 0 FM Wu, Li 2328
28 GM Davies, Nigel R 2325 0 0 Pal, Rohan 2077
29 Verbytski, Oleg 2076 0 0 WGM Yao, Lan 2325
30 FM Balaji, Aaravamudhan 2316 0 0 WCM Rida, Ruqayyah 2064
31 WCM Dicen, Elis Denele 2060 0 0 FM Richardson, John R 2299
32 FM Golding, Alex 2296 0 0 WCM Subramanian, Anusha 2033
33 Starley, Robert 2028 0 0 WGM Mirzoeva, Elmira 2282
34 Taylor, Adam A 2281 0 0 Sanger, Jake M 2026
35 Rathbone-Jones, Ifan 2014 0 0 FM Pein, Jonathan 2279
36 IM Pein, Malcolm 2274 0 0 Atako, Chino C 1999
37 AIM Raju, Sooraj Menothuparambil 1999 0 0 FM Lewis, Andrew P 2272
38 CM Hobson, Kenneth 2266 0 0 Salmons, Calum 1999
39 Merriman, James 1974 0 0 FM Kalavannan, Koby 2265
40 FM Merriman, John 2251 0 0 Sachdeva, Ronit 1972
41 Evans, Ruben Nangalia 1954 0 0 IM Rudd, Jack 2243
42 WGM Toma, Katarzyna 2241 0 0 Larkin, Benjamin 1952
43 Madhavan, Sanjith 1950 0 bye
44 IM Trent, Lawrence 2416 0 0 not paired

It's hard to predict round 1 upsets because of the big gulf in ratings, but I can see the favourites having a tough time on boards 6, 13, 17, 20, 21, 25, 28 and 31.

I would add 12 and 29.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I am guessing that those seasoned observers picking out boards to watch left out boards 8 and 14 as a bridge too far.

I see all the games are live, which is all 42 boards. That is good to see.

It did seem slightly odd to see IMs paired in round 1 on board 7 and on board 18.
But that is to be expected with low-rated IMs further down the field.

[Jonathan Rogers]

There are also three GMs below 2400, whom I should imagine that only GM norm seekers are very eager to play.

Absurdly unimportant question (but then, isn't this the place?). Why do the underdogs have White on bath boards two and three? (Elsewhere the usual pattern prevails).

[Paul Cooksey]

I guess Adams has been given board 1 as champion but pairings based on ratings

[ThomasEvans]

There are also three GMs below 2400, whom I should imagine that only GM norm seekers are very eager to play.

Absurdly unimportant question (but then, isn't this the place?). Why do the underdogs have White on bath boards two and three? (Elsewhere the usual pattern prevails).

Looks like Adams has been bumped up to board 1 for the first round as defending champion (bumping the top seed Howell to board 2).

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Computer unimpressed with Gawain's exchange sacrifice. Oh, and a pawn as well.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Thanks to Paul and Thomas, for whom no question is too difficult (so far).

After two and a half hours then, on the top seven boards - the underdogs are doing just fine. Among the top seeds only Luke is substantially better, and to about the same extent that Gawain stands worse.

No doubt it will not end all square on the top seven boards. But this is the first round and the games are still competitive. A long week ahead beckons for everyone!

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Well, Gawain is now winning, so Jonathan is right.

Adams has more work to do than Howell. Didn't Villiers get a good result against Adams at a previous British?

No-one predicted that Martin Mitchell (SCO) would get a draw against Richard Pert. That is a bit unexpected. Only 18 moves. Not a junior either. Born in 1966 so 15 years older than his IM opponent. That is a good result, but surprised the result agreed so early.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Adams is clearly going to draw, though also clearly has every intention of trying to grind out a win from a drawn position. He was winning earlier, has played (IMO) badly, and if he plays like that, doesn't have a chance of defending his title.

Stepping back a bit, is it just me, or is Mickey consistently not playing as well as he was a few years ago? I don't mean a temporary downturn, but a more permanent decline in playing strength. It is only obvious because he used to be such an incredibly strong player! Should he be adapting his playing style (maybe he already has been doing this)? Or maybe I am talking rubbish and there are other factors at play here?

[Matt Mackenzie]

Given his age, maybe a slight dip is only to be expected?