The British itself!

[Martin Crichton]

Hawkins needs a norm with four non-English players in it. Brown, Tan and Fernandez will make three, but where he'll get a fourth non-English opponent from remains to be seen.

I think you will find that special waivers apply to national championships

1.43
Federations of Opponents

At least 2 federations other than that of the title applicant must be included, except 1.43a-1.43e shall be exempt. Nevertheless, 1.43f shall apply.

1.43a
The final stage of the national men’s (or open) championship and also the national women’s championship

thats my reading of the situation anyway.

[Roger de Coverly]

I think you will find that special waivers apply to national championships

I rather think Jack knows that. The Hawkins case, as I understand it, is that there's a limit to the number of Norms taking advantage of that exemption. Both his existing Norms, from the 4NCL and British in 2011 contain just two non-English players each, so he has to complete a third Norm with a few foreigners in it. He just has to hope that one of the other Welsh players has a good run.

http://ratings.fide.com/title_norms.pht ... 6&title=GM

[Christopher Kreuzer]

No, Jack is right. You yourself quoted "Nevertheless, 1.43f shall apply." That is what Jack is referring to:

http://www.fide.com/fide/handbook.html? ... ew=article

Code: Select all

1.43f - At least one of the norms has to be achieved under normal foreigner requirement. (See 1.43 and 1.44).

1.44 - Opponents shall be calculated using rounding up (minimum) to the next whole number, to the next lower number (maximum). A maximum of 3/5 of the opponents may come from the applicant’s federation and a maximum of 2/3 of the opponents from one federation. For exact numbers see the tables in 1.72.

I think one or more of Hawkins's IM and GM norms (at the British and 4NCL) were allowed despite this criterion, but there are less opportunities within the UK currently for tournaments that fulfil 1.43f. Presumably one of his IM norms was achieved under conditions favourable for 1.43f.

[Roger de Coverly]

Presumably one of his IM norms was achieved under conditions favourable for 1.43f.

http://ratings.fide.com/title_applicati ... e=IM&pb=27

Liverpool British 2008
Torquay British 2009 (incorrectly labelled as Swansea)
Hastings 2009-2010

5 non-English at Hastings, none at Liverpool, one at Torquay.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Yes, Hastings is where Hawkins came close to getting a suitable (and final) GM norm, can't remember which year. He played this year and the year before. It may be early days, but if he does well here, it could be interesting.

[JustinHadi]

Great win for Simon Williams yesterday, avenging his loss from a winning position against David Howell last year.

[Chris Rice]

Great win for Simon Williams yesterday, avenging his loss from a winning position against David Howell last year.

I spoke to Simon a couple of months ago and he was seething still about that loss. He felt he could have won the tournament last year and he definitely must believe he can now win it this year.

[John Moore]

I see that Brown-Howell has reached move 9 after 2 hours and 5 minutes of play!

[Andy McCulloch]

I thought Andrew Martin said they were locking the commentary room. Seems that they forgot.

[JustinHadi]

Williams - Tan looks interesting. I'm not sure who is better, Black with the extra pawn and potentially weak king or White with the bishop, active pieces and restraint of the queenside pawns. I guess it's about equal.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Williams - Tan looks interesting. I'm not sure who is better, Black with the extra pawn and potentially weak king or White with the bishop, active pieces and restraint of the queenside pawns. I guess it's about equal.

Well, Williams got the pawn back and might be ahead now. The a6 pawn weakness is only optical, as there are various sacrifices on if the knight tries to do anything. Still looks tense to me. On board one, Hawkins might be about to go to 5/5 and would have Black against Williams next round (if they both win).

[John Moore]

Isn't Williams totally winning. What is Tan's next move. He can't move his horse and his King has nothing useful to do.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Has now freed his knight at the cost of a pawn. Does indeed look like Williams is winning. Do you think Hawkins is winning?

[John Moore]

I suspect the fact that White's King is safer is more important than his material advantage though that too is important. Sorry to be unhelpful - oh something else helpful for White is black squares so all in all I guess White is winning although I would be nervous about something happening tactically

[John Moore]

The unconnected thought process above reflects the way I play - largely guess work and trying to avoid as far as possible any requirement to analyse in depth.