British Championship Congress 2022

[Roger de Coverly]

Regarding live games, is there not a delay in transmitting the games to avoid 'friendly advice.'theory.

What you see is what you get, so they are in real time. Incorporating a delay now seems out of fashion.

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Andy,

I have a wife, two kids, three grandchildren all of whom seem to change their mobiles every 6 months.
I have a house full of them. Next time I know you are officiating I'll go to the toilets and hide them all over the place.
It should be good fun for you, at bit like looking for the chocolate eggs hidden by the Easter Bunny.

[Geoff Chandler]

Thanks Roger,

There seemed to be a 20 minute delay before the moves were appearing yesterday
Two games, Justin's and one other had the games finished, Justin's a draw and the other 0-1.
I very rarely look at live games from the start so this teething problem may be the norm.

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Andy (part 2)

I was gathering up the old mobiles and Mrs. C. tells me they are worth money!
So no Easter Bunny, but I will leave wee post-it notes for you saying 'Not Here!'

[Kevin Thurlow]

"Out of curiosity, are there measures in place to deal with an electronic device being stored in a toilet cubicle and being used when the player visits that cubicle?"

Yes - an arbiting colleague at one venue did go into a cubicle after an accused player had left, and searched thoroughly. I asked if he had checked the cistern, and he said "yes". Good to know we had both watched spy movies... (The accused player's higher-rated opponent had complained, on the basis he was losing the game, primarily as he blundered in the opening, but he wouldn't admit that.)

[John Upham]

'The solution is not to ban a cheat for x numbers of years but to make them arbiters with the ruling they
are not allowed to play in any event till they catch a cheat, 'The 'it takes a thief to to catch thief' theory.
Then that arbiter is released from their duties and can play again, the newly discovered cheat has to take their place.

This was the approach more or less taken by the FBI in the case of Frank William Abagnale Jr. as applied to fraud.

[Ian Thompson]

"Out of curiosity, are there measures in place to deal with an electronic device being stored in a toilet cubicle and being used when the player visits that cubicle?"

Yes - an arbiting colleague at one venue did go into a cubicle after an accused player had left, and searched thoroughly. I asked if he had checked the cistern, and he said "yes". Good to know we had both watched spy movies...

What about the ceiling? I noticed that the toilets at a venue recently used by the ECF had polystyrene ceiling tiles resting on a metal framework that could easily be lifted to conceal something above them.

[John Upham]

Incidentally, what happened to the U18 championship? That's the oldest BCF/ECF junior title, first played for in 1923 (Milner-Barry) and won over the years by famous names in British chess.
It's not listed on the entry form. Has it been quietly ditched, a year short of its centenary?
If so, shame.

I can't recall when the U18 and U21 events went from stand-alone to being morphed into the main Championship event (can you?).

Presumably both title winners will be announced following the completion of the main event along with the Hugh Alexander Best Game prize.

Curiously in 2021 the U18 winner was Timur Kuzhelev but there was no U21 winner. Anyone care to explain?

[John Upham]

What about the ceiling? I noticed that the toilets at a venue recently used by the ECF had polystyrene ceiling tiles resting on a metal framework that could easily be lifted to conceal something above them.

I'm told that this is favourite location to store gentlemen's literature of a specialist nature: is this the case?

[Richard Bates]

Incidentally, what happened to the U18 championship? That's the oldest BCF/ECF junior title, first played for in 1923 (Milner-Barry) and won over the years by famous names in British chess.
It's not listed on the entry form. Has it been quietly ditched, a year short of its centenary?
If so, shame.

I can't recall when the U18 and U21 events went from stand-alone to being morphed into the main Championship event (can you?).

Presumably both title winners will be announced following the completion of the main event along with the Hugh Alexander Best Game prize.

Curiously in 2021 the U18 winner was Timur Kuzhelev but there was no U21 winner. Anyone care to explain?

I don't know - but several years ago the ECF changed the historic ability of people to win multiple titles so that they could only win titles specifically within their own age bands, and indeed where there were specific tournaments only enter the tournaments for their age group (historically it was normal for strong juniors to "act up" several age groups, at least in one of the two weeks of the British). I think this was part of the reforms to junior selection at the time which were using the British as dedicated and mandatory selection tournaments.

Hence in the case of U18/U21 in the British, an U18 was not eligible to be U21 champion. This year the entry form only lists U21 in the prize lists - i would speculate that this means that there is no U18 monetary prize (maybe there is still a trophy - if there are any eligible U18 entrants)

[Kevin Thurlow]

"What about the ceiling?"

Yes - he checked that as well! (and the bin etc.)

[Roger de Coverly]

The implication is that the commentators will not be at the venue. Whilst this can improve the technical quality for the benefit of the internet audience it would seem to preclude interaction between the audience at the venue and the commentators as well as the opportunity to get players to talk through their games once they had finished.

It was half and half. Natasha was at the venue and Matthew remote.

This enables player interviews.

There did however seem to be technical problems getting a reliable display at the Riviera Centre. Audio was fine, but not video, where the stream would freeze or crash to desktop or advertising.

[Leonard Barden]

I don't know - but several years ago the ECF changed the historic ability of people to win multiple titles so that they could only win titles specifically within their own age bands, and indeed where there were specific tournaments only enter the tournaments for their age group (historically it was normal for strong juniors to "act up" several age groups, at least in one of the two weeks of the British). I think this was part of the reforms to junior selection at the time which were using the British as dedicated and mandatory selection tournaments.

Hence in the case of U18/U21 in the British, an U18 was not eligible to be U21 champion. This year the entry form only lists U21 in the prize lists - i would speculate that this means that there is no U18 monetary prize (maybe there is still a trophy - if there are any eligible U18 entrants)

The above cannot be accurate. To take a single example (there are others) Akshaya Kalaiyalahan won the girls U18 four years out of five in 2013-18, and for the last two of those years she also won the U21.

For 2022, there are at least three British championship players born in 2004 or 2005 and so eligible for the missing U18 title which the ECF seems to have quietly put in the rubbish bin.

Forgive my sharp response. The British U18s of 1947-48 were my first national tournaments,'
and my opponents who proved stronger than me included Gordon Crown and Jonathan Penrose.

[Leonard Barden]

Since writing the above post I received this email from Mike Truran:

As I understand it the 2019 BCC regs also failed to mention the U18 event, but it was picked up in time to award the prize. The need to update the regs for 2022 (three years later because of Covid, so maybe forgivable) was overlooked. Thank you for your intervention, as a result of which the U18 prize will be reinstated.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"Since writing the above post I received this email from Mike Truran:"

Well done both.