No more Seadevil?

Originally posted by Squelchbelch
I'm not sure that's right actually.
I think you just have to be a member of a National Federation, preferably have a FIDE rating & most importantly stump-up the admission fee of £175!

There were 3 players rated under FIDE 2000 at the start of this year's British Championships & I have 3 people rated around that at my little local club!

Good for your club, but they would still have to qualify to play in the event. The qualifiers for the 2008 tournament can be seen here:

http://www.bcf.org.uk/events/bc2008/qualifiers08.htm

Apparently the person in question isn't on the list?!. Is everyone 100% sure this is the same person who played in the British championship ?!

Originally posted by Tryfon Gavriel
Hi there

If he qualified for the British Championship main section, that that in my opinion is an achievement in itself to be applauded ...

There are already some people on this forum that seem to want to actively run down the British championship - I wish they would first qualify and play in it before wanting to attack the championship for not being as strong as it used to be.

Tryfon,

qualifying for the British is indeed an achievement to be applauded but with all due respect to you the British simply isn't as strong as it used to be. The fact that I still can't qualify for it doesn't alter that.

Originally posted by JonathanB of London
Tryfon,

qualifying for the British is indeed an achievement to be applauded but with all due respect to you the British simply isn't as strong as it used to be. The fact that I still can't qualify for it doesn't alter that.

Right, okay Jonathon - what age do you think Nigel Short won the championship ?! And do you think he would have gained incredibly valuable experience or not, if he had been forced to play in the Major open instead when he was an up and coming junior ?!

Originally posted by Tryfon Gavriel
The qualifiers for the 2008 tournament can be seen here:

"THIS LIST OF QUALIFYING CONGRESSES IS BASED ON LAST YEARS LIST SO MAY BE INACCURATE"

- quoted from the link you give.

Originally posted by Tryfon Gavriel
Good for your club, but they would still have to qualify to play in the event. The qualifiers for the 2008 tournament can be seen here:

http://www.bcf.org.uk/events/bc2008/qualifiers08.htm

Apparently the person in question isn't on the list?!. Is everyone 100% sure this is the same person who played in the British championship ?!

The Welsh Chess Union is allowed to nominate three players. There was only one (Tim Kett) on the list you gave so maybe they added a few more at a later date.

In other words, Lee Davis probably qualified by being Welsh!

Originally posted by Tryfon Gavriel
Right, okay Jonathon - what age do you think Nigel Short won the championship ?! And do you think he would have gained incredibly valuable experience or not, if he had been forced to play in the Major open instead when he was an up and coming junior ?!

I don't really understand the relevance of Nigel Short and other talented juniors. Short first qualified just before his 12th birthday and was 12 when he actually played in the Championship.

But, the thing is - he wasn't awarded a place in the Championship because he was a very strong prospect and the experience would be good for his chess development, he qualified by doing well in some qualifying tournament.

There are clearly more weak players in the Championship nowadays compared to the "good old days". Presumably that's because the qualifying tournaments are weaker than they used to be.

Originally posted by Tryfon Gavriel
Good for your club, but they would still have to qualify to play in the event. The qualifiers for the 2008 tournament can be seen here:

http://www.bcf.org.uk/events/bc2008/qualifiers08.htm

Apparently the person in question isn't on the list?!. Is everyone 100% sure this is the same person who played in the British championship ?!

Ah ok. Apologies.
I accept that was incorrect. 🙂

Originally posted by Fat Lady
I don't really understand the relevance of Nigel Short and other talented juniors. Short first qualified just before his 12th birthday and was 12 when he actually played in the Championship.

But, the thing is - he wasn't awarded a place in the Championship because he was a very strong prospect and the experience would be good for his chess development, h ...[text shortened]... ays". Presumably that's because the qualifying tournaments are weaker than they used to be.

JonathonB had supported the idea (or suggested idea) that the British championship be an elite 12 player all play all or something. I was a little annoyed at the seeming undermining of the British championship as it is, on the Streatham and Brixton blog a few weeks back. This was after I had come back from it, and was feeling quite exhausted from it.

So when I saw JonathonB posting again, in relation to the British championship, in relation to someone that qualified, I thought I should try and point out about the need to qualify for the event, and that might be seen in a positive light.

However, it is now apparent that perhaps the person in question didn't qualify by taking a high place in a tournament - or maybe he did in Wales?! Who knows?

Yes, I suppose the qualifier tournaments are becoming weaker - but perhaps this can now be seen as a great opportunity for players under 2300 to try and qualify more from the qualifier events. It is a shame that the OTB tournaments seem in decline - perhaps Southend is an example of that, where there were less titled players in the tournament I qualified from - the Southend open. It gave for me a special opportunity to play in the championship though - I just needed to beat FM ledger in the last round.

BTW, I spoke to Tim Kett at the British and he said he also represented Wales in the Olympiads - there are some benefits from being a strongish player in Wales 🙂

Originally posted by Tryfon Gavriel
BTW, I spoke to Tim Kett at the British and he said he also represented Wales in the Olympiads - there are some benefits from being a strongish player in Wales 🙂

Hi Tryfon,

I used to play for Tim's old club, Hackney, many years ago. In fact I played you when you were still a junior. I can't remember the result (which almost certainly means I lost), let alone the game. I don't remember Tim being very Welsh in those days! There was a player called something like Simon Leblanc in the club who wasn't much stronger than me, but always got to play in the British and go to the Olympiads because he came from the Channel Islands.

It looks to me like the Southend Congress was reasonably strong:
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/southendchess/club/2007/Open.html
Plenty of players graded over 180. An in-form 180+ player probably won't disgrace himself in the British Championships. But Lee Davis is 163, and as far as I can tell didn't have to prove he was playing well to qualify.