British Chess Championship 2024

[Jonathan Rogers]

Thank you for compiling the list, Christopher. I am sorry that I cannot answer any of your questions in return. I did ask on this forum a few months back, in relation to the high number of talented young players "why here and why now"? to which no one offered any answer. Not that we should expect it to be easy to answer ... well, perhaps we are still struggling fully to explain the explosion of young, to-be-world class, players in the late 1970s and early 1980s!

[Nick Burrows]

I think both Ethan & Bodhana discovered chess during COVID, so that may be a large factor in the mini-boom.

[Kevin Thurlow]

The qualification rules have frequently been ignored in the past to get promising juniors in the Championship. I've played several of the younger players recently and they are clearly talented and very well-behaved. So good luck to them,

[Roger de Coverly]

As I have identified 16 qualification routes for the 24 juniors above, presumably the 8 wildcards went to these other juniors? Possibly the two junior Ukrainian IMs qualify under some other rule (involving residency, rating, title or a combination of these - I have not re-read the championship qualification regulations recently).

IMs have an automatic qualification if qualifying by residence. FMs need a minimum rating. I think they have dropped the rule about former British Champions having automatic qualification. I think the only non-titled male ex-British champion still alive is Peter Lee and he still qualifies by FM title and rating. Sheila Jackson prefers to play in the over 65.

[Leonard Barden]

I think the only non-titled male ex-British champion still alive is Peter Lee

!!

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I bet Roger is glad he put the "I think" caveat in there!

Over the board, Alex Golding is on course to win over Harry Grieve in a topsy-turvy game.

Royal and Gasenov were in trouble earlier (but no longer).

Dicen got a draw when Wells repeated (not quite sure what the actual assessment should be there).

Ethan Pang won. Oleg and Bodhana drew (against each other).

[Richard Bates]

This tournament is looking pretty brutal already!

[Christopher Kreuzer]

And a spate of draws in round 2 might mean only about 8 players reach 2/2 (with Jack Rudd and Mark Hebden among them).

Though the Lichess broadcast shows a draw on board 5 (Lan Yao against Ghasi), I am a bit sceptical. No result showing on chess-results (it has been long enough for the result to appear there). Feels like a possible broadcast error.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

And board 14 (Yichen Han vs Katarzyna Toma) is turning into a classic example for White of how to turn a completely winning position into a possible loss! Though it looks incredibly complicated.

[IM Jack Rudd]

I enjoyed that one.

[Mick Norris]

And a spate of draws in round 2 might mean only about 8 players reach 2/2 (with Jack Rudd and Mark Hebden among them).

Though the Lichess broadcast shows a draw on board 5 (Lan Yao against Ghasi), I am a bit sceptical. No result showing on chess-results (it has been long enough for the result to appear there). Feels like a possible broadcast error.

Chess results has 11 on 2/2

Does that mean Adams plays 1 of the 11?

[Kevin Thurlow]

"Does that mean Adams plays 1 of the 11?"

Not necessarily - it depends if the downfloater is due the correct colour to play him. This assumes they are using a sensible pairing system!

[Richard Bates]

I didn’t think FIDE system prioritised colours for floats.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Round 3 draw out:

https://chess-results.com/tnr969132.asp ... ES&flag=30

Adams does get the upfloat - another game for Jack to enjoy, hopefully!

I see Andrew Lewis eventually lost to Gasanov in their round 2 game. You have to feel for Andrew there, as he got a dream position at move 16 and should have won from there, and then made a losing move in a tricky queen and pawn endgame (at move 65).

Still no idea how Gawain beat Andrew Ledger. Was it a win on time? Some comments online are saying that Ledger resigned in a drawn position?

[LawrenceCooper]

Still no idea how Gawain beat Andrew Ledger. Was it a win on time? Some comments online are saying that Ledger resigned in a drawn position?

It's possible he resigned seeing he was going to go two pawns down. Unlikely, but I can't think of another reason (besides missing moves from the transmission).