Resources
This page contains:
• annotated links to other sites;
• Frequently Asked Questions; and
• other resources,
in alphabetical order.
Grading
If you play enough games of chess in events that are eligible for grading, you will be given an English Chess Federation grade. This numerical rating takes into account your opponents' grades and your performance against them. In July 2010, the highest-graded English players were Michael Adams (267) and Nigel Short (262). The highest-graded active player in the Civil Service League is currently Mark Josse (199).
The authoritative source of information on ECF grades is the ECF Online Grading Database website. From this page you can check the grade of any particular player, or the grades of players at any particular club. The database includes both active and inactive players. Clicking on the ECF reference number for any player will give that player's full grading history going back to 1994.
There is an explanation of how the grading system works at the Help page on their website. This includes:
• how ECF grades are calculated
• different categories of grades, and how many games you have to play to get a published grade
• how to convert ECF grades to FIDE ratings and National ELO ratings, and vice versa.
See also:
List of the top English players
List of the most active English players
Internet chess
Chess, like everything else, has embraced the internet. Once you have downloaded the software and logged on to the relevant server, you can play chess against people from all over the world at any time of night or day. Most of the action is at blitz level (5 minutes per game, or quicker), so it's possible to play an awful lot of games without really noticing. A warning: this can be addictive. The internet also makes it possible to follow major tournaments (Corus, Linares, Dortmund etc) in real time.
There are many chess servers out there. Some of the largest are:
• Internet Chess Club (ICC) – claims to be the longest running and most popular place to play chess on the internet, with over 100,000 games played each day. It has been suggested that this is where the top players congregate. An annual subscription costs $69.95.
• Free Internet Chess Server (FICS) – as the name suggests, it costs nothing to play chess here. Claims to have 300,000 registered users.
• PlayChess.com – around 5,000 people online every night. An annual subscription costs €29.90.
League chess
It is possible to play league chess in most parts of England. Some leagues operate at a county level, where teams may have to travel large distances to play matches. Others operate in towns or cities where the venues are closer together.
Most leagues operate on weekday evenings. This limits the length of matches. A 3-hour session is standard. Typically this will be long enough to play 30–40 moves at a reasonable rate. How to conclude games that are still live at the time control is a live issue for many leagues. Options include a quickplay finish on the night, adjourning to resume the game at a later date, or sending the final position off for adjudication.
One big exception is the Four Nations Chess League. This is the UK's only national chess league. Rounds take place over a weekend with one game a day, which is played to a finish over a much longer period (the session lasts 7 hours).
The strongest local league in the country is the London League. London is home to very many strong amateur players, and some professional players also take part in return for a fee from their clubs.
In large urban areas in particular, there is no shortage of league chess, and active players can get as many games as they want. As the Civil Service Chess League is based in London, here are links to other chess leagues in the London area:
Many chess clubs have their own websites. There is a long list of club websites on the ECF website.
The Post-Match Drink
Since the dawn of time, chess players have gone from the playing venue to the pub to discuss the match over a pint (or two), play through the evening's games on a chess set, and analyse positions from unfinished games. As this shows, the overall chess experience is both a social and an intellectual activity.
What are the favoured drinking-holes of the teams who play in the Civil Service League? Ideally the pub should be close to the playing venue. It should be spacious enough to accommodate possibly 6 to 12 players in one area, with enough table space for chess boards and drinks. It should not be too busy or too noisy. And – an important consideration for many chess players – it should serve decent beer.
Home Office and Justice
At present the club does not have a permanent venue. It has been operating from government buildings in the Westminster area. The club favours the following pubs:
• The Cask, 6 Charlwood Street, Pimlico, London SW1V 6EE
An excellent new pub in an unfashionable area. At least eight real ales on tap from lesser-known breweries (Thornbridge, Hophead, Brew Dog), and a similar number of German and Belgian draught beers. Behind the counter is a large selection of bottled beers, again mainly German or Belgian. There is a comprehensive beer list but you have to ask for it. There is a decent food menu ranging from sandwiches and burgers to some quite exciting dishes. The pub is reasonably spacious and so far there's always been room to sit down around a table. This must be one of the best pubs in London.
• The Sanctuary, 33 Tothill Street, London SW1H 9EA
A large Fuller's pub with most of the Fuller's range on tap including the flagship ESB. Golden Pride (8.5%) is available in bottles. There's a good chance of meeting other chess players here as it's a popular venue and quite a few clubs are based in this area. The pub can get busy, particularly if there are parties, but it's so big that there's almost always somewhere to sit down.
[Contributions from other clubs are welcome.]
Puzzles, problems and studies
These are all chess positions with a defined solution. Typically you are asked to find a continuation resulting in a win or draw (or in some cases a loss) for the player to move.
Puzzles
Chess puzzles are positions taken from an actual game. The continuation is usually tactical, either involving a sacrifice or material or making use of one or more combinational motifs such as a pin, fork, decoy, discovered check and so on. Solving chess puzzles (in your head, or on the board without moving the pieces) is a good way to improve tactical awareness and the ability to calculate.
Here is a modern example which will surely become a classic.
This is from the game S.Gordon–M.Adams in round 7 of the British Championship 2010. Gordon has just played 29.Rd1 offering an exchange of rooks. Adams replied with the tremendously powerful move 29…Qc5! forcing instant resignation. He is threatening both …Qxc2 and …Rxd1 mate. 30.Qxc5 loses a rook to 30…Rxd1+ and 31…Nxc5. And 30.Rxd4 loses to 30…Qxc2.
There are plenty of chess puzzle books on the market. These are available either from Amazon or from the London Chess Centre (sometimes both). Recent examples include:
• The Quality Chess Puzzle Book (John Shaw, Quality Chess, 2010)
• John Nunn's Chess Puzzle Book (John Nunn, Gambit, 2010, 2nd edition)
• The Giant Chess Puzzle Book (Zenon Franco, Gambit, 2010).
Can't get enough? The following sites offer a daily chess puzzle fix:
Problems
Chess problems (and studies) differ from chess puzzles in that the position is composed rather than taken from an actual game.
Problems tend to be artificial positions with a significant imbalance of material, or an unrealistic arrangement of the pieces (such as would be most unlikely to arise in an actual game). The challenge is usually to deliver mate in a specified number of moves. By convention, problems are almost always White to move, and the first move (the key) is never a check. There are many variants, such as Helpmates, where both sides co-operate to reach a mating position, and Self-Stalemates, where White makes a series of consecutive moves and Black then makes a single move to deliver stalemate.
Problems offer an interesting intellectual challenge but are quite far removed from over-the-board play. However, they can help to develop the skill of making non-forcing moves (which improve your position but do not win material or make threats). A recurring theme in problems is that White does not have a mating move, but would have if Black was forced to move, so the challenge is to find a waiting move that essentially resets the position with Black to move.
This position, composed by John Rice, is White to play and mate in 2. It was the starter position for the 2010/11 British Chess Solving Championship.
The key move is 1.Rf5! (threatening 2.Qb5 mate). If 1…Qxf5, 2.Qxf5 mate. If 1…Qxf7, 2.Rf3 mate. There are many tempting alternatives which only just fail, e.g. 1.Re5? Qf3! 2.Qb5+ Kxd4.
For some reason, chess problemists tend to use the letter S instead of N for knight (short for Springer, the German word for knight).
To explore the world of chess problems online, go to the British Chess Problem Society. Founded in 1918, this is the oldest chess problem society in the world.
Solving in Style by John Nunn is an excellent book of chess problems. It is available from both Amazon and the London Chess Centre (see links above).
Studies
Chess studies differ from chess problems in that the position usually looks as if it could have arisen in an actual game. Generally this will be an endgame position in which the player to move can obtain a win or draw by a particular series of moves. The solution often exploits the geometry of the chess board in a beautiful way. Solving chess studies is said to be a very good way to improve your overall chess strength.
This one is by H.Rinck from 1906. White to move and win.
1.a7 Bg2 2.d7 Rd2 3.Bd5! and White queens a pawn next move (capturing on d5 with the rook unguards a8, and capturing on d5 with the bishop unguards d8). This interference theme is known as a Nowotny.
There is a large collection of studies, downloadable as individual PDFs, at the ChessCafe Archive.
Tournament chess
Tournament chess is increasingly popular. There is more time available for each game, and all games are (necessarily) finished within the round. Entrants tend to come from a wide area, so are more likely to be playing opponents they have not played before. The standard of play tends to be higher than in league chess also. Against this, most tournaments take place at a weekend, and take up the whole weekend, so there is a significant time commitment.
A typical weekend tournament will provide five or six games of chess from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon, i.e. between one and three games a day. Pairings tend to be arranged on the Swiss system (as far as possible, players alternate colours from one round to another and play opponents on the same score).
One-day rapidplay tournaments are a popular alternative, typically providing five or six games in one day with each player having 30 minutes for the whole game.
Some of the strongest tournaments in England operate over a longer period with only one round a day. For example the annual British Championship is an 11-round event and takes place over 12 days (there is one rest day halfway through).
The ECF website has a comprehensive tournament calendar. As this shows, it is possible to play in a chess tournament most weekends of the year.
Variants
Chess has one, and only one, official set of rules, and these haven't changed much in centuries. But this hasn't stopped people inventing their own rules and creating countless numbers of chess variants:
• some of these use the same board and pieces with different rules (such as Revelation Chess: the winner is the first person to get four knights (the Four Horsemen) on the board at the same time);
• others introduce new pieces (such as the Grasshopper, the Angel, and the Long Leaper);
• others change the shape of the board and the number of the squares (such as Hexagonal Chess).
Here are some popular variants.
• Losing Chess – if you can make a capture, you must. Kings are non-royal (i.e. they can be captured like other pieces). The winner is the first person to lose all his pieces. Opinions differ on whether stalemate is a win, draw or loss for the stalemated player. Endgames are both weird and beautiful (e.g. lone knight v lone bishop).
• Italian Progressive Chess – White makes one move, Black makes two moves, White makes three moves, Black makes four moves, and so on. Check can only be given on the last move of a sequence and must be escaped on the first move of the next sequence. Games tend to be very short and highly tactical. For example: 1.e4; 2…d5, …dxe4; 3.Bc4, Qf3, Qxf7 mate. Not for those of a nervous disposition.
• Three-Check Chess – normal rules apply but you can also win the game by giving check three times.
• Exchange Chess – a game for four players, in two teams of two, each pair sitting side by side, one player with White and one with Black. Every time player A makes a capture, he gives the piece to player B, who can then place it on the board instead of making a normal move. This can give rise to crazy positions and huge material imbalances. It is essential to play this game with a clock, to avoid players sitting on a lost position indefinitely. A result on one board ends both games automatically.
The Chess Variant Pages is a comprehensive source of information.