English Chess Forum

We must be doing something right? At least the Money Markets seem to think so. The pound’s been on the rampage against the euro (and the dollar) over the past few weeks, and tourist bookings have surged over the last couple of days. When I first posted here on 22 December 2020 a pound would buy just less than €1.10. Today the rate topped €1.16 and some ‘experts’ are predicting it will climb even higher in March. That’s good news for anyone heading to the ACO events on Rhodes or Crete this year. So long as the higher rates stick, it represents a saving of almost £100 for me against what I would have paid a month or two ago.

The number of registrations for the Crete Seniors in October has grown by six since last week, with Cumbria now represented. With five weeks to go to enjoy the €200 discount, the latest figures have 122 names on the list, including fourteen with an ENG sticker. Last night I ordered another polo shirt for the trip - this time it comes with a Minnesota Twins logo (TC = Twin Cities) and compliments my New York Jets equivalent, and my (not identical) twins shoes. I had my first jab on Monday and a return to over-the-board chess can’t come soon enough. I'm ready to go.

Getting ready for take off! With a little under three weeks left for the full €200 discount, there are now 137 registrations for the ACO Seniors at the amazing Fodele Beach Resort and Water Park on Crete in October, fourteen of those are tagged English. I hear on the grapevine that at least six of us have already booked our flights to Heraklion - some travelling a few days early to acclimatise while others will be staying on for a few days to relax and top-up their tans.

Greece is aiming to re-open to tourism in May. Probably too soon for most of us. But this comes on the back of the EU leaders seeming to agree in principal to a digital ‘vaccination passport’ to facilitate easier travel within the Union. The proposal will be put before the European Council on 25 March 2021. If this goes ahead we could see the UK following suit, maybe?

"The proposal will be put before the European Council on 25 March 2021. If this goes ahead we could see the UK following suit, maybe?"

On vaccination, UK is ahead of EU...

Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 11, 2021 12:22 pm

On vaccination, UK is ahead of EU...

But on releasing the population from captivity, it isn't. I am very keen to see details of vaccine passports ( still officially denied of course, which means less than nothing ). Will you need just one jab, or two like it says on the box?

I may have a reason to travel to Russia this summer on chess business. I fear the UK may not accept a Russian vaccine for our passports, on political grounds. In that case, you could not blame the Russians for a tit-for-tat reaction against the British vaccine. How will this turn out?

"In that case, you could not blame the Russians for a tit-for-tat reaction against the British vaccine. "

Well, yes - nothing changes.

NickFaulks wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 11, 2021 12:53 pm

Kevin Thurlow wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 11, 2021 12:22 pm

On vaccination, UK is ahead of EU...

But on releasing the population from captivity, it isn't. I am very keen to see details of vaccine passports ( still officially denied of course, which means less than nothing ). Will you need just one jab, or two like it says on the box?

I may have a reason to travel to Russia this summer on chess business. I fear the UK may not accept a Russian vaccine for our passports, on political grounds. In that case, you could not blame the Russians for a tit-for-tat reaction against the British vaccine. How will this turn out?

The Russians are trialling giving people a first dose of Sputnik and a second dose of the Astra-Zeneca, to see if (as would be the case with some non-Covid vaccines) this would actually give better immunity than 2 doses of the same one

So, they'll presumably accept the Astra-Zeneca; if they're going to refuse any vaccine, which I think is unlikely but you never know, the American ones (Pfizer being relevant to the UK) might be the ones

As far as I know, we're currently stockpiling the Pfizer to give as second jabs, but there's decent availability at large centres of the A-Z; my friend has been to Blackburn Cathedral this afternoon and being given the A-Z, so expect that's what they'll give me too on Sunday afternoon there

There are supply problems with some of the GP clinics, though; 1 of the 2 Bootle clinics is shut most of next week, so that's the 3rd week running they've been shut for a few days

"my friend has been to Blackburn Cathedral this afternoon and being given the A-Z, so expect that's what they'll give me too on Sunday afternoon there"

With a bit of luck you'll get blessed too.

So if Blackburn has a Cathedral why isn't it a City? More importantly I meant to mention before that the ACO organisers have said they'll ask GM Vlastimil Hort (the Guest of Honour in Crete) if he’ll dedicate one of his lectures to his time on the BBC’s Master Game. However, I've noticed since that he has a new book of chess stories on the shelf and he’ll probably want to promote that. Anyone sense a book signing coming on?

David Gilbert wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 11, 2021 9:26 pm

So if Blackburn has a Cathedral why isn't it a City?

Have you been to Blackburn?

Mick Norris wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 12, 2021 7:27 am

David Gilbert wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 11, 2021 9:26 pm

So if Blackburn has a Cathedral why isn't it a City?

Have you been to Blackburn?

I remember when the 4NCL was held in Blackburn that one of my players was most sceptical about the size of the leaflet I had listing all the things to do when visiting

Mick Norris wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 12, 2021 7:27 am

David Gilbert wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 11, 2021 9:26 pm

So if Blackburn has a Cathedral why isn't it a City?

Have you been to Blackburn?

Also having a cathedral doesn’t automatically make you a city

And vice versa; Preston doesn't have one, but is now a city

Meanwhile, with six months to go before the start of the Seniors in Crete, and only twelve days left to get registered for the €200 discount, there are now 141 names on the list, fourteen of whom are English. The water flumes await - with special mention of the strobe lit ‘Black Hole’. Let’s face it,there can be nothing less graceful than an older chess player shooting out from a flume and splashing down at ten miles per hour. Indeed, if there were Olympic medals handed out for unsophisticated sloshing around, legs akimbo, I reckon we’d take Gold, Silver and Bronze.

There’s been a mini-flood of new registrations for the ACO World Seniors at Crete’s Fodele Beach Resort in October as players aim to beat the 31 March 2021 deadline for the full €200 discount. There are now 156 registrations, and among them are 15 are classified English. Registrations for the ACO Amateur Championships in Rhodes in July are also picking up. There are now 60 names, three of whom have an English tag.

I’ve mentioned before that Guest of Honour, GM Vlastimil Hort, will be asked whether he would address one of his lectures to his experiences on the BBC’s Master Game. He may or may not agree to this. Rather foolishly I said I’d donate a couple of DVD’s from that programme that he could sign and use as prizes. There were only a few copies left on-line so I decided to put in an early order for two series 6 DVDs. They were listed £19.99 each, but above the highlighted version was another link to £14.99 alternative, it didn’t look any different so I ordered two copies at the lower price. They arrived earlier this week. Non-chess players will understand why they were cheaper, it turns out you get series 6 and series 7 for the budget price!!

I get the strong impression (as before) that all these plugs for ACO should be moved to the Adverts section of the Forum