Qualification for British Championship

[Roger de Coverly]

From last year and presumably ongoing, it seems the Over 65 winners will have a qualification place in the British Championship itself.

From https://www.britishchesschampionships.c ... ying-2026/ and the pdf list of qualifiers

A7 – British Over 65 Champions 2025
FM Andrew P Lewis, IM Nigel E Povah

I think it will become increasingly likely that one or more of the Over 65 Champions (if tied) will be qualified anyway by virtue of being an IM, GM, WIM or WGM.

[John Moore]

Someone ahould have taken a bit more care. Even on a cursory glance, I saw that Dietmar Kolbus and Gavin Wall are included in the list of IMs and, of course, both are sadly no longer with us.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Dietmar Kolbus should have been removed from the list long ago as he died in 2024. Gavin died in July 2025 just before last year's Championship (no idea if he had been scheduled to play).

When someone dies in the qualification period (which may end and start again before the event itself) there may be an argument to include them with "(deceased)" next to their name (this would apply for the historical record, especially if it was their first time qualifying).

But for those qualifying by title, this does not really apply. Sometimes it only comes to light that people have died when such lists are checked. Not here, though. Hopefully a suitable update will be applied.

[Ian Thompson]

Someone ahould have taken a bit more care. Even on a cursory glance, I saw that Dietmar Kolbus and Gavin Wall are included in the list of IMs and, of course, both are sadly no longer with us.

I'm also somewhat surprised to see the president of the German chess federation on the list. While she would have qualified in the past, it's not obvious to me how she still does.

[LawrenceCooper]

Dietmar Kolbus should have been removed from the list long ago as he died in 2024. Gavin died in July 2025 just before last year's Championship (no idea if he had been scheduled to play).

When someone dies in the qualification period (which may end and start again before the event itself) there may be an argument to include them with "(deceased)" next to their name (this would apply for the historical record, especially if it was their first time qualifying).

But for those qualifying by title, this does not really apply. Sometimes it only comes to light that people have died when such lists are checked. Not here, though. Hopefully a suitable update will be applied.

Jonathan Hawkins is another one who is still on the list. I've passed the message on to the events director and sent an e-mail to the office so hopefully the list will be updated in June.

[LawrenceCooper]

Dietmar Kolbus should have been removed from the list long ago as he died in 2024. Gavin died in July 2025 just before last year's Championship (no idea if he had been scheduled to play).

When someone dies in the qualification period (which may end and start again before the event itself) there may be an argument to include them with "(deceased)" next to their name (this would apply for the historical record, especially if it was their first time qualifying).

But for those qualifying by title, this does not really apply. Sometimes it only comes to light that people have died when such lists are checked. Not here, though. Hopefully a suitable update will be applied.

Jonathan Hawkins is another one who is still on the list. I've passed the message on to the events director and sent an e-mail to the office so hopefully the list will be updated in June.

All done. Many thanks to Andrew Walker for his prompt action.