British Championship 2023

[John Upham]

I was thinking about playing, but there seem to be very few entries so far. Any ideas on whether entries will pick up?

Once you've placed your entry David, the rest will flood in!

[Richard Bates]

I was thinking about playing, but there seem to be very few entries so far. Any ideas on whether entries will pick up?

Not remotely something to be concerned about, especially for such a central/accessible venue.

[David Gilbert]

The June rating list hit the streets yesterday. These are the ratings being used to determine eligibility for the rated morning and afternoon sections and the weekender. Some early entrants might be moved up (or maybe down) as a result. But it’s a signal for the rest of us to put our money down before 30 June deadline after which fees shift upwards. My entries - weekender, morning and afternoon - went in yesterday. Good news is that there’s a £20 discount if you play in two rated sections!

Car parking in Leicester looks to be difficult or expensive. So strikes permitting I’ll be on the train - talk to you later!

[Wadih Khoury]

The ECF will also very kindly advance the publication date of the British Grand Prix results (to likely early next week) so that players who qualified to the Championship can make their plans now rather that early July.

[David Gilbert]

Another sixty entries on today’s updated list. Numbers are building-up especially in the opening weekender where nineteen players are so far registered for the inaugural Penrose section for the U2000s. Really good to have that extra rating band and delighted to see it named after the former British Champion. I’ve now got my train tickets in both directions. Only a few seats left on Trainline if you’re commuting from London. I’ve downloaded ‘Spook Street’, the fourth in the Slough House series, for the journeys. I wouldn’t fancy meeting Jackson Lamb over a chess board. Actually I wouldn’t fancy meeting Jackson Lamb anywhere, would you?

[David Gilbert]

Don’t Panic! Don’t Panic! Just five days left to get your entry in before fees take a hike.

31 more names were added over the weekend. Altogether entries now stand at 790. The main Championship is a bit thin following the withdrawal of Gawain Jones in tragic circumstances - just four GMs, but it does include Michael Adams. There’s good numbers (124) at this stage for the weekender which should go close to matching the bumper 191 in Torquay. 126 are down for the six rated sections - still some way to go to match the 189 who played in twelve groups last time.

The rail unions have embroidered train strikes around major events to cause maximum disruption. So perhaps the British Chess Championships was on their mind when they set dates for the latest action on Thursday, 20 July, Saturday, 22 July and Saturday, 29 July. Still if Mancunian football fanatics can flock to Wembley and Eurovision remainers can reach Liverpool, then determined chess players can surely make the moves to terminate their journey at Leicester. Don’t Panic! Don’t Panic!

EDIT: Two hours later and there’s another 23 entries, 813 now.

[Mick Norris]

entrants

Interesting that Mark Hebden is playing in the British, but Keith Arkell in the over 50s

[Phil Neatherway]

Perhaps they are trying to avoid playing each other for the millionth time!

[David Gilbert]

Good news - it might be old news, but it’s good news - I notice Danny Gormally and Adam Hunt who did a great job in the commentary room in 2019 have got the gig again. More details are awaited, but I hope they’ll be on-site rather than just online.

More entries this morning. Up to 843 now. Those blitz & rapid events have come a long way. When I first played at the British in 2002 there was one rapidplay on the middle weekend and no blitz. Now there are nine rapids and six blitz tournaments! Nowadays rapids feel like blitz. I might cope with 15+10, but 10+5 is no good for a slow loris like me. I ran the SCCU/London Club Championship at the weekend 25+5. Now that’s rapid!

[Roger de Coverly]

Interesting that Mark Hebden is playing in the British, but Keith Arkell in the over 50s

The over 50s has virtually no "weak" players, measured by ECF rating anyway. Second seed IM Geoff Lawton almost matches Keith for FIDE rating, but he hasn't played much, if at all, in recent years,

[LawrenceCooper]

Interesting that Mark Hebden is playing in the British, but Keith Arkell in the over 50s

The over 50s has virtually no "weak" players, measured by ECF rating anyway. Second seed IM Geoff Lawton almost matches Keith for FIDE rating, but he hasn't played much, if at all, in recent years,

He played a couple of events this month:

https://chess-results.com/tnr777296.asp ... g=30&snr=3
https://chess-results.com/tnr778858.asp ... g=30&snr=2

but I'm not aware of anything before that for some time.

[Tim Harding]

Perhaps they are trying to avoid playing each other for the millionth time!

Especially after they tied in the English Seniors in May when two different tiebreaks had been announced, one of which would have benefited Mark and the other Keith. So they agreed to share.

Before the British, they are both down to help defend the European Seniors 50+ title England won last November in Dresden.
https://chess-results.com/tnr729101.asp ... rt=8&snr=1

Chris Baker, who was on that team last year (and played only rounds 1 and 9) is now "promoted" to the 65+ team which is much stronger this time as John Nunn is playing. Slovakia provide the main opposition. The fields in Dresden were much larger.

[David Gilbert]

Here we go. The annual hurry-up has begun - another 113 entries over the weekend. One surprise in the main event is the addition of Ukrainian GM Eldar Gasanov. He’s been turning out for West London in the London League and the Hllingdon & District League for the past year - his record, played 17, won 17! So now there are five - Michael Adams, Nick Pert, Daniel Fernandez, Eldar Gasanov and Mark Hebden. Any more out there?

Either I made a mistake up-thread, or the date for the reduced entry fee has changed. Whatever it’s now before Tuesday, 4 July 2023 - quick that's tomorrow! For us club players there are now 178 playing in the weekender. That’s on course to go over 200 and top the bumper 191 who played last year. The six weekday events are close behind with 167 entries and should pass the 189 who played in twelve sections in 2022.

The Rapid & Blitz events are doing well. Most popular so far is the Tuesday Open Blitz with 54 entries. It’s played on the Tuesday evening starting a 7.00pm with 3 minutes on the clock and 2 seconds increments. That’s super-fast blitz. Don't be late.

My entries are in, trains are booked, AirBnb secured and at least two restaurants tables reserved. My favourite trousers are at the cleaners and my collection of Boss polo-shirts are waiting ironing. Just need go through my sock selection - with 103 pairs to choose from there are going to be some disappointed socks left behind.

PS: What’s happened to previous British stalwart Lee Bullock. Where is he now - hope he’s well?

[David Gilbert]

STOP PRESS: Another 52 entries have gone on the board in the last hour. The overall number has reached 1143 with 18 days still to go. That weekender is now on 185 and the weekday events on 172, so little doubt they’ll beat last year’s figures.

Worth noting those pesky juniors are back! The total number of entries for the five age groups is already 3 up on on last time and with a few weeks for more to come. They’ll soon be dishing out more pain for us oldies. I don’t know what’s going on but we seem to get a new bunch every year!

[Keith Arkell]

entrants

Interesting that Mark Hebden is playing in the British, but Keith Arkell in the over 50s

Hi Mick! This was a difficult decision for me, especially after last year leading the British most of the way through.

The problem is I travel back from Poland on Friday and the British starts on Saturday. I'd kind of like to pop back to Paignton between events, so it makes a lot of sense to play in the 50+ as that doesn't start until Monday the 24th.

Perhaps I'm showing my age, because at the 2014 Aberystwyth British I was forced to play round 1 a few weeks in advance and take a zero point bye in round 2. Why? Because the World Senior Team Ch in Lithuania and the British overlapped by 2 days, and unlike at the 2021 British, where half point byes were sprinkled around like confetti, I wasn't given that option. And why was there this 2 day overlap? Because the British had been moved forward 2 days to give some elbow room to the players heading off to the Olympiad straight afterwards! The story had a reasonably happy ending for me though as I managed to claw my way up to tied 3rd by the finish.

Incidentally, I'll also be doing 3 simuls during the Championships, so I guess I can use that as another excuse to take the easier schedule.