British Senior Championships 2016

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Tim Harding
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British Senior Championships 2016

Post by Tim Harding » Wed Oct 21, 2015 12:38 pm

I have just posted the following also at the Other Place in the hope that somebody in a position to do something about it may read and act on it. Debate on the topic is, however, more likely to occur here, I expect?

***
Now that there is a new ECF board, can we please have an early decision about the British Senior Championships 2016, specifically:

a) Will the FIDE-style 50+ and 65+ tournaments be retained instead of the former 60+? (As an eligible player, I prefer 65+ but would like to know.)

b) In view of the dissatisfaction this year with the shortening of the tournaments to six rounds instead of seven (which led to multiple ties for first, you will recall), can we please have seven rounds again in 2016?

c) Can you please announce definite dates for the senior tournament(s) in Bournemouth a.s.a.p., since without this calendars for summer 2016 cannot be planned, hotels cannot be booked etc.

I suggest that this should be an important agenda item for the next relevant meeting and that you take soundings about this (forum and otherwise) without delay?
Tim Harding
Historian and FIDE Arbiter

Author of 'Steinitz in London,' British Chess Literature to 1914', 'Joseph Henry Blackburne: A Chess Biography', and 'Eminent Victorian Chess Players'
http://www.chessmail.com

NickFaulks
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Re: British Senior Championships 2016

Post by NickFaulks » Wed Oct 21, 2015 1:31 pm

I hope to play. I shall not do so if it involves going to bed early and playing straight after / instead of breakfast, German style.
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Carl Hibbard
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Re: British Senior Championships 2016

Post by Carl Hibbard » Wed Oct 21, 2015 6:28 pm

I crossed 50 and could possibly play one of these?
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Carl Hibbard

Roger de Coverly
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Re: British Senior Championships 2016

Post by Roger de Coverly » Wed Oct 21, 2015 6:37 pm

Carl Hibbard wrote:I crossed 50 and could possibly play one of these?
Next year's over 65 will have a latest birth year of 1951,and the over 50 tournament would require a birth year of 1966 or earlier. Assuming that's the format.

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Carl Hibbard
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Re: British Senior Championships 2016

Post by Carl Hibbard » Wed Oct 21, 2015 6:45 pm

Roger de Coverly wrote:
Carl Hibbard wrote:I crossed 50 and could possibly play one of these?
Next year's over 65 will have a latest birth year of 1951,and the over 50 tournament would require a birth year of 1966 or earlier. Assuming that's the format.
Tempted :)
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Carl Hibbard

Reg Clucas
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Re: British Senior Championships 2016

Post by Reg Clucas » Thu Oct 22, 2015 12:53 pm

NickFaulks wrote:I hope to play. I shall not do so if it involves going to bed early and playing straight after / instead of breakfast, German style.
However early it may start, there's surely no need to play instead of breakfast!

I'm sure I'm not alone amongst seniors in suffering from extreme drowsiness in the afternoon. For that reason I think many of us would prefer morning rounds.

NickFaulks
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Re: British Senior Championships 2016

Post by NickFaulks » Thu Oct 22, 2015 1:22 pm

This confirms my view that, whatever the age limits, there needs to be a separate competition for these who need a nap after lunch.
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Paul Habershon
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Re: British Senior Championships 2016

Post by Paul Habershon » Thu Oct 22, 2015 2:07 pm

I've made these points before but here they are again as this is a fresh thread and things are in a state of flux.
- There will never be unanimity on am v pm but I much prefer mornings so that I can watch the main event/visit the commentary room in the afternoon. I think it was always mornings until the change at Canterbury 2010.
- Mornings much better for players with non-chess partners - afternoons and evenings free. Afternoon play, especially the 3 p.m. start, means that even ing plans are vague.
- Such a pity that the line of 60+ champions has been broken. We don't have to follow FIDE for this particular event.
- 50+ as a 'senior' age is ridiculous. Even amateur golf tends to be 55+.
- 7 rounds minimum, please. I think there may be unanimity on this one.

I'm actually going on a bridge holiday in Bournemouth soon and I probably still won't know the dates of the Seniors event(s) when I am surveying accommodation near the venue.

Roger de Coverly
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Re: British Senior Championships 2016

Post by Roger de Coverly » Thu Oct 22, 2015 3:38 pm

Paul Habershon wrote: - Mornings much better for players with non-chess partners - afternoons and evenings free. Afternoon play, especially the 3 p.m. start, means that even ing plans are vague.
Didn't morning rounds run into problems fitting in with the rest of the Congress? If there was a separate room as at Great Yarmouth, Seniors could follow its own timetable. Otherwise it would either have to adopt the timetable of morning play with consequent faster time controls, or be subject to disturbance when other players were assembling prior to the afternoon sessions.

NickFaulks
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Re: British Senior Championships 2016

Post by NickFaulks » Thu Oct 22, 2015 4:11 pm

Paul Habershon wrote: - 50+ as a 'senior' age is ridiculous. Even amateur golf tends to be 55+.
You have hit the nail on the head by inserting the word "amateur". If the British seniors are intended as an event for amateurs, then I think you are right. Are they intended in that way? I'm guessing that Britain's top over 50 players probably would prefer to play in the main event, so I would say yes.

The FIDE events at World and European level are intended to include the top players and, since nobody over 50 has much likelihood of winning an Open Championship, that is a very sensible age limit for them. I fear that the decision to follow the format for FIDE events was not properly thought through - they are not comparable.
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Craig Pritchett
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Re: British Senior Championships 2016

Post by Craig Pritchett » Thu Oct 22, 2015 10:22 pm

At the risk of seeming to be utterly boring (my views on the wrong-headedness of abolishing 60+ senior FIDE / ECU championships in favour of 65+ are only too well known from many previous posts), can I say that I already posted well over a year ago the fact that the German Chess Federation overwhelmingly voted to retain 60+ as the (sole) category of their very many, well-supported national seniors championships in 2014, in spite of FIDE / ECU's three year 'experimental' change (to 50+ and 65+) that had just been announced.

The Germans virtually invented seniors chess and, in my view, they were thoroughly sensible.

If I were to return to play in the British Championships, by the way (and I quite fancy yet another 'shot' but it's not easy to manage the dates, these days), I would almost certainly still opt to play in the main event rather than in any separate 50+, 65+ or even 60+ championship. Although I am the 2015 Scottish seniors champion (highest 50+ player and 65+), it is only because these two, new age championship categories (aping FIDE / ECU) were incorporated in the Main Open (international) championships and weren't run separately.

Observations only ... for what they're worth.

Roger de Coverly
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Re: British Senior Championships 2016

Post by Roger de Coverly » Thu Oct 22, 2015 11:18 pm

Craig Pritchett wrote: If I were to return to play in the British Championships, by the way (and I quite fancy yet another 'shot' but it's not easy to manage the dates, these days), I would almost certainly still opt to play in the main event rather than in any separate 50+, 65+ or even 60+ championship.
With the weakening of the conditions for qualification for the British Championship, any player with an IM or GM title has a lifetime entitlement to play. Particularly in the 50 to 65 range, that's going to be a lot of players. Nigel Povah elected to compete for the 50 plus title at Warwick University, with a birth year of 1952, he isn't going to be eligible for the Over 65 until 2017.

NickFaulks
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Re: British Senior Championships 2016

Post by NickFaulks » Thu Oct 22, 2015 11:26 pm

Craig Pritchett wrote:(my views on the wrong-headedness of abolishing 60+ senior FIDE / ECU championships in favour of 65+ are only too well known from many previous posts)
I still don't see why it is right that fifty year olds who have in the past contended for World or Continental Championships but by reason of age no longer have any chance of doing so should have to wait another ten years to play in a senior event. Perhaps you don't either.

Given that World Seniors are defined as 50+, I see three choices for "Superseniors".

1. 65+, disadvantaging players in their early sixties.

2. 60+, disadvantaging players in their seventies.

3. 60+ and 70+, which sounds good if there are sufficient entrants.
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Mick Norris
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Re: British Senior Championships 2016

Post by Mick Norris » Fri Oct 30, 2015 2:19 pm

Tim Harding wrote:I have just posted the following also at the Other Place in the hope that somebody in a position to do something about it may read and act on it. Debate on the topic is, however, more likely to occur here, I expect?

***
Now that there is a new ECF board, can we please have an early decision about the British Senior Championships 2016, specifically:

a) Will the FIDE-style 50+ and 65+ tournaments be retained instead of the former 60+? (As an eligible player, I prefer 65+ but would like to know.)

b) In view of the dissatisfaction this year with the shortening of the tournaments to six rounds instead of seven (which led to multiple ties for first, you will recall), can we please have seven rounds again in 2016?

c) Can you please announce definite dates for the senior tournament(s) in Bournemouth a.s.a.p., since without this calendars for summer 2016 cannot be planned, hotels cannot be booked etc.

I suggest that this should be an important agenda item for the next relevant meeting and that you take soundings about this (forum and otherwise) without delay?
Tim

Looks like you have got your wish with 7 rounds in the tournaments, Sun to Sat week 1 and Sat to Fri week 2
Any postings on here represent my personal views

Roger de Coverly
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Re: British Senior Championships 2016

Post by Roger de Coverly » Fri Oct 30, 2015 2:54 pm

Mick Norris wrote: Looks like you have got your wish with 7 rounds in the tournaments, Sun to Sat week 1 and Sat to Fri week 2
They haven't said which way round they are. At Warwick the O65 was first week and the O50 second.

If they overlap in time, presumably anyone wanting to play both will have to take a half point bye in round 1 of the second or withdraw after round 6 of the earlier one. I don't think Warwick featured that many playing in both.

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