We have to decide as a league whether to join the English Chess Federation (ECF) so we can have our league games graded nationally or whether to break away and operate as a separate body and use our own NECL grade instead.
This decision needs to be taken before anything else can be decided for next season and might just have an impact on which clubs remain part of the NECL. We will hold a special LCM on Thursday 23rd August 2012 at Chelmsford’s venue (7.45 start). Every club and league official is entitled to one vote and a straight majority will decide.
updated Dec 2012, FEN Reader replaced by ChessOnline; Dec 2013, use of copgn; Nov 2018, added further choice to use Chess Tempo Viewer Jan 2023, ‘removed references to ‘ChessOnline’, which was disabled after being identified by UKC to be the cause of admin and user WordPress logins failing, and other issues, in November 2022 (though not replicated on backup server, the plugin was not maintained nor checked against WordPress updates for over a decade, so is now deprecated). Authors should use the ‘Chess Tempo Viewer’ instead.
‘Plugins’ such as ‘Chess Tempo Viewer‘, ‘RPB Chessboard‘, ‘Embed Chessboard‘, etc. provide chess-graphics for your posts, to show single game positions, or a whole game animated on one board. Depending on the plugin you wish to use, you can either a) insert your FEN text within special tags (must be exactly right to be picked up and show the board in your post – if you only see a text string instead of a diagram when you preview your post, double check that you have entered a valid string) b) select the ‘Chess Diagram’ or ‘Chess Game’ icons from the post/page block editor. c) paste FEN text into the field provided from options the tool provides within the block editor. All as described in the above links to these tools.
Display a single game position
This diagram was set up using ‘RPB Chessboard‘ by selecting ‘Chess Diagram’ from edit options and arranging pieces in the displayed graphic.
This diagram was set with the Chess Tempo Viewer by using ctpgn tags as described here and shown below for the same position using the following tagged FEN text.
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Display an animated game
The following animated graphic of a full game was set up for the Chess Tempo Viewer by inserting pgn text string for the game between ctpgn tags within a ‘shortcode block’.
Using similar examples your readers can single-step forward or backwards through your games using the > and < buttons, or click on the auto-play and stop buttons.
A further example shows this viewer used to give a start position/study with follow-on moves and comments as prepared in the ‘shortcode block’ below.
This submission is to test creation of posts in author role.
You can save texts as draft until ready to publish.
You can also edit or delete your published posts.
Start by selecting ‘Posts’-> ‘Add New’ from your dashboard.
Be sure to select the most appropriate category before publishing!
On the 1st September 2012, changes will occur in the ECF Membership Scheme and Game Fee, These changes were touched upon at the AGM. They will affect us all and are described here.
What impact will possible league policies have on this matter?
Will increased costs reduce club memberships? Will clubs reduce league participation?
Will membership be a requirement of the league, or will clubs administer game fees?
What value do your club members place on having an ECF authenticated grade?
Is a break-away league viable? Would ECF members play in ‘locally-graded’ matches?
Would a 2-tier league with membership required only for div 1 players be a viable compromise? Many questions have been raised with no obvious answers.
What are your views? Has your club decided which policies to support?
What league policies would you and your club like to see?
Posting your comments here may influence the options being considered..
It may also assist Robin to prepare an options document for presenting to the LCM.
The Grand Chess Tour Super Chess Classic Romania takes place Thu 14th May to Sat 23rd May 2026. Players: Caruana, Sindarov, Giri, Firouzja, Keymer, Wesley So, Jorden Van Foreest, Praggnanandhaa, MVL and Deac.
Argentinian chess player Faustino Oro finally has become a Grandmaster after a six points from nine games performance at the Sardinia World Chess Festival. Oro had previous norms at the Legends and Prodigies tournament in September 2025 and the Magistral Szmetan-Giardelli in December 2025. Oro had been chasing the third and final mark since then […]
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The second event of the 2026 Grand Chess Tour is the Super Chess Classic Romania, which is taking place on 14-23 May in Bucharest. Nine regular tour players, all elite GMs with 2700+ ratings, are joined by wildcard Bogdan-Daniel Deac. Fabiano Caruana, Javokhir Sindarov and Anish Giri are the top seeds. | Follow the action […]
Wadim Rosenstein came into prominence when he organised the first edition of WR Chess in 2023. He then came up with the idea of the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Teams - an event that has become a mainstay in the chess calendar. In recent times, if you follow Rosenstein on his X account, the […]
Kicking off the 2026 Grand Chess Tour is the Super Rapid & Blitz Poland, the first of three speed chess events, which is taking place on 5-9 May in Warsaw. Ahead of the final day of action, Hans Niemann is the sole leader, with Wesley So standing close behind, at a mere half-point distance. | […]
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Were you able to handle the four rook endgame studies we showed you recently? They were a little bit harder to solve than they looked. We now bring you all the intricacies and subtleties in short videos by IM Gauri Shankar, who works as a chess trainer in Chicago. And of course we give you […]
