British Championship 2023

[Matt Mackenzie]

I was just looking at the history of the British chess championship and it turns out in terms of most championships won Adams is miles off a guy called Atkins, who was apparently a major player back in the 1800s and early 1900s.
It begs the question, why has a guy who has been far and away the strongest player in Britain since the 90s not won the national championship a lot more times??

You have never heard of H E Atkins before?

A genuinely gifted player, the likes of Lasker raved about him. But also a schoolmaster who never devoted himself to the game full time.

[Paul Habershon]

Chess-Results shows Chapman losing by default in Rd7, as Lawrence says, with Sheila Jackson, Alan Punnett, and David Fryer joint winners on 5.5/7. No idea if that is correct, but he might have been a victim of the early start?

I wondered that myself. There are four games in the O65 showing as defaults. As an O65 myself, I personally have more trouble staying awake in the afternoon, and much prefer morning sessions!

Just over half an hour into my O-65 game I got up to get some water from near the results screen. I saw that Terry Chapman seemed to have defaulted and then noticed him beside me, distinctly crestfallen. 'My watch stopped!'

Gutted for Terry who must have been odds on for 6/7.

It's denied me a minor personal coincidence. I lost to Terry in Round 1 (being ranked 27th out of 52). In my first British Congress 60 years ago, Bath 1963, I lost in the U-18 Round 1 to Peter M Jamieson (SCO). He went on to win ahead of none other than William R Hartston (2nd).

[Matt Mackenzie]

Chess-Results shows Chapman losing by default in Rd7, as Lawrence says, with Sheila Jackson, Alan Punnett, and David Fryer joint winners on 5.5/7. No idea if that is correct, but he might have been a victim of the early start?

I wondered that myself. There are four games in the O65 showing as defaults. As an O65 myself, I personally have more trouble staying awake in the afternoon, and much prefer morning sessions!

Just over half an hour into my O-65 game I got up to get some water from near the results screen. I saw that Terry Chapman seemed to have defaulted and then noticed him beside me, distinctly crestfallen. 'My watch stopped!'

Gutted for Terry who must have been odds on for 6/7.

It's denied me a minor personal coincidence. I lost to Terry in Round 1 (being ranked 27th out of 52). In my first British Congress 60 years ago, Bath 1963, I lost in the U-18 Round 1 to Peter M Jamieson (SCO). He went on to win ahead of none other than William R Hartston (2nd).

Shows the value of having some sort of alarm

[Joey Stewart]

A very impressive tournament from Steven Jones. I've felt he was 100 points underrated for a long time, the effect of playing a lot of weaker opponents in opens. But perhaps I was underestimating it.

Inactive as I am, I have not met him, though had also noted him as being a dangerous player with white when following various swiss events. What a tremendous result - it would be nice if he were to log on and tell us a bit about himself, for the benefit of the rest of us who don't attend tournaments in person.

I've sent Steven a text, passing on my congratulations, with the headline "WOW, WOW, WOW."

What did he have to say for himself- that must be the best result of his entire career, getting a norm and coming outright second over tens of masters (although if the ratings werent broken I'm confident he would be FM by now)

[Richard Bates]

Great result for Steven Jones, securing am IM norm in style with the black pieces whilst simultaneously punishing the board 3 players who presumably thought to guarantee themselves a share of the prize money with that draw!

Not really

[Simon Rogers]

Inactive as I am, I have not met him, though had also noted him as being a dangerous player with white when following various swiss events. What a tremendous result - it would be nice if he were to log on and tell us a bit about himself, for the benefit of the rest of us who don't attend tournaments in person.

I've sent Steven a text, passing on my congratulations, with the headline "WOW, WOW, WOW."

What did he have to say for himself- that must be the best result of his entire career, getting a norm and coming outright second over tens of masters (although if the ratings werent broken I'm confident he would be FM by now)

Hi Joey. He replied by thanking me for my message and said "It's been one heck of a championships"

[John Upham]

Here is Steven A. Jones from a recent event:



(Higher resolution available on demand)

gfc_0661_lv.jpg

[John Upham]

and another:

gfc_0582_lv.jpg

[Peter Shaw]

For those interested in what Steven Jones had to say, he appeared in the commentary room. Video here, starts at 3:14:16.

Well worth listening to, some very interesting comments from him. Happy to see him doing well, he always comes across as a genuinely nice guy.

[Mark Howitt]

For those interested in what Steven Jones had to say, he appeared in the commentary room. Video here, starts at 3:14:16.

Well worth listening to, some very interesting comments from him. Happy to see him doing well, he always comes across as a genuinely nice guy.

Watching now.

Well done for representing Yorkshire!

[IM Jack Rudd]

A thought that occurred to me today: with Max Pert playing as a filler, there were four members of the same family playing in the British Championship today; has that happened before?

[James Pratt]

No, at Chester 1979 x3 Littlewoods but this must be a record.

[James Pratt]

Stewart Reuben and I were on Leicester Radio last week talking about the British Championships of yesteryear, making comparisons with today. Did anybody hear it? I am just wondering if it was even used.

James Pratt

[IM Jack Rudd]

There was also one British with three Ledgers and three Buckleys - Scarborough 2001, I think.

[Neil Graham]

In respect of the Over 65s - I spoke to one of the arbiters and he informed me that Terry arrived at 10.36am - play started at 10.00 am and the default time for games was 30 minutes after the scheduled start. The 10.00 o'clock start for Sunday was clearly announced at the start of play on Saturday.