British Championship 2023

[Wadih Khoury]

Thanks. They were not out yet when I looked earlier this evening.

[David Gilbert]

And they’re off! A smooth train ride into Leicester yesterday afternoon. I hadn’t appreciated it would be the first stop after St Pancras I’d double-booked a coach as insurance against any after shock from the previous day’s strike. In the end that wasn’t needed, but I was amused to get an email around 4.00pm alerting me to a delay at the Finchley Road starting point. Most players and a host of arbiters seem to have made it here safely - just a few defaults on the pairings map last night. The Atkins, Penrose and Soanes took place in one large Hall while the Yates had an equally big Hall to themselves - this is the one with a roped off area for the Championship. Big day today with two rounds for the weekenders and the start of the Championship and the Major Open. Don’t you just love chess!

[IM Jack Rudd]

Well, my game was a classic piece of Jack Rudd nonsense.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"Well, my game was a classic piece of Jack Rudd nonsense."

25....Bf5 was nice!

I note that the two "T Kanyamarala"s are rated 2344, which is a bit unusual. Doubtless someone will now show it's the 94th time it's happened.

[IM Jack Rudd]

There's certainly been a pair of siblings with the same rating in the British Championship before - Charles and James Cobb in 1996. And as their rating was the median rating, James ended up playing the top seed and Charles the bottom seed in round 1.

[Geoff Chandler]

Hi Jack,

Nice, very nice. pulling a double Bishop sac out of the hat.

T.Cox - J.Rudd, British Ch. 2023 Rd.1 (Black to play)

4r1k1/4bpp1/4bp1p/2Pp4/1P3Q2/2q2P2/5RPP/1RN3K1 b - - 0 25

Our Jack played 25...Bf5 White did not play 26.Qxf5 but the alert idea warmed this old swindlers heart.
It does appear to have put Toby off his stride. White played 26.Na2 Jack was forced to to allow the Queens off 26...Qe5 and from there Jack went onto win. If White takes the Bishop the mainline is.
[FEN "4r1k1/4bpp1/4bp1p/2Pp4/1P3Q2/2q2P2/5RPP/1RN3K1 b - - 0 25"] 25... Bf5 26. Qxf5 Bxc5 27. bxc5 Re1+ 28. Rf1 Qe3+ *

[David Gilbert]

It’s been raining cats & dogs in Leicester this evening. Last games in a huge weekender today. Thing is that when you’re playing two games a day (and especially if you’ve won them both) the weather isn’t that important. There was a rousing round of applause for the Arbiters and Organisers (and Jack Rudd furiously inputting games into a laptop) before the start of the fifth round. Well done them! Lots of players will be on their way home now - so safe journey to you. I’ve bumped into half-a-dozen old friends who I hadn’t seen for years - certainly pre-Covid. Chess really is back, isn’t it.

Plenty of chat (and opinions) at lunchtime, over sweet chill-chicken sandwiches, about the proposed changes to the FIDE rating to address intrinsic deflation in the present system. In 2024 everyone under 2000 will be moving up and no one will be under 1400. I could have been their prime example. As a 1600(ish) player my rating will improve by 160 points. We don’t know yet what, if any, impact it might have on English ratings. I wonder what Brian Valentine is thinking? It’s early days, and the proposals have to be approved, but the ECF might wish to follow suit, or else we’ll need a new ECF to FIDE converter. Remember that?

New day tomorrow. The old seniors and the young seniors will be starting their competitions with the juniors and the weekday rated sections. This could be the start of something big! Really big.

[Roger de Coverly]

I As a 1600(ish) player my rating will improve by 160 points. We don’t know yet what, if any, impact it might have on English ratings. I wonder what Brian Valentine is thinking? It’s early days, and the proposals have to be approved, but the ECF might wish to follow suit, or else we’ll need a new ECF to FIDE converter.

I just checked your ratings. Your ECF is already 90 points above your FIDE rating and that seems to apply to many players. I don't think the ECF needs to do anything in any hurry.

Particularly the ECF already gives new players a dummy draw. They may wish to give them two games to be in line with FIDE.

One problem the ECF has which FIDE doesn't is the treatment of new high rated players. FIDE are proposing a maximum new rating of 2200. The ECF has to allow for establish FIDE rated players taking part in their first English event and being included in ECF ratings.
http://www.ecfrating.org.uk/v2/new/play ... de=280660F

[Chris Rice]

Game inputters furiously inputting games is frankly doing players like me no favours at all. I’ve lost over 100 Elo since the pandemic ended as I have been playing a mix of really good chess.com/lichess players with low FIDE ratings and hardly any OTB games and really good juniors also with low FIDE ratings and who also have access to all my games but even though they may have played many junior competitions very few are on the database.
I’m not saying I was a very good player to begin with but these days I’m playing handicap chess as they know all about what I do and I have nothing on them.
I do change what I’m playing now but each time I do the game goes up on the database again with my next opponent rattling out the moves, winning the game and telling me afterwards how hard he worked that morning on my repertoire.
I will be interested to see what the new ideas are that FIDE finally put in place. I’m not sure it’ll help to be honest and I may just stop playing official tournaments altogether as it doesn’t feel like a level playing field.

[Jonathan Rogers]

I don't know whether playing seniors chess attracts, but you would avoid juniors and might play fewer under-rated players (at least, if you are playing them while they are only starting to go down!).

In any event, I hope that things start to turn around and that you decide that it is still worth it.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Maybe the solution for Chris is to carry on playing chess, but fewer events where the games are automatically sent to databases?

[Ian Thompson]

Maybe the solution for Chris is to carry on playing chess, but fewer events where the games are automatically sent to databases?

... or play in tournaments with a minimum rating as close to your own as you can find, if you can find one where the organisers enforce their own rules and don't let a load of low-rated players in because they think they're better than their rating. It wouldn't solve the problem of playing underrated players, if that is a problem, but would exclude the very low rated.

[IM Jack Rudd]

Maybe the solution for Chris is to carry on playing chess, but fewer events where the games are automatically sent to databases?

... or play in tournaments with a minimum rating as close to your own as you can find, if you can find one where the organisers enforce their own rules and don't let a load of low-rated players in because they think they're better than their rating. It wouldn't solve the problem of playing underrated players, if that is a problem, but would exclude the very low rated.

These two suggestions are, unfortunately, difficult to pursue simultaneously; tournament organizers who set minimum ratings tend to be doing so to make title norms more likely, but title norm tournaments are obliged to make the PGNs of their games available.

[Paul Cooksey]

Sound openings and trying to win in the middlegame is worth a try.

[NickFaulks]

these days I’m playing handicap chess as they know all about what I do and I have nothing on them.

No doubt there is a level where opening prep can make a crucial difference, but I think you and I are at least 500 points below it.

edit : There is one advantage if, like me, you have a huge number of games on the database. I look up myself to see what they will expect me to play and then do something else. Other times, I can't even be bothered to do that and vary from my repertoire simply because I've forgotten it.