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.
===============================
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 6th Cairns Cup takes place in Saint Louis August 10th - 21st, 2026. For the first time this women's event is alongside the Sinquefield Cup. Players: Bibisara Assaubayeva, Anna Muzychuk, Humpy Koneru, Zhongyi Tan, Alexandra Kosteniuk, Divya Deshmukh, Rameshbabu Vaishali, Carissa Yip, Stavroula Tsolakidou and Alice Lee.
The 13th Sinquefield Cup takes place 10th to 20th August 2026. Players: Fabiano Caruana, Javokhir Sindarov, Vincent Keymer, Wesley So, Anish Giri, Praggnanandhaa R, Jorden Van Foreest, Maxime Vachier-lagrave, Levon Aronian and Samuel Sevian.
The 112th British Chess Championships took place at the University of Warwick 1st to 9th August 2026. Luke McShane, Michael Adams, Shreyas Royal, Harry Grieve etc. Most interesting is the number of young players with Bodhana Sivanandan being one of those. The event delivered on its promise with 17-year-old Shreyas Royal earning his first title […]
The WR Chess Rapid & Blitz Miami was a two day rapid and then blitz match between the USA and Uzbekistan ahead of the Olympiad. Team: Ukbekistan: Javokhir Sindarov, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Nodirbek Yakubboev, Shamsiddin Vokhidov, Mukhiddin Madaminov, USA: Hikaru Nakamura, Levon Aronian, Wesley So, Fabiano Caruana, Leinier Dominguez Perez. Each round was a team match […]
The Quantbox Chennai Grand Masters took place Thu 16th Jul to Wed 22nd Jul 2026. Alireza Firouzja took clear first place with 4½/7 half a point clear of Dmitry Andreikin and Arjun Erigaisi, The poor form of World Champion Gukesh continues as he finished dead last on 2/7 and is in danger of falling below […]
Sergei Tiviakov was the surprise winner of the 2026 Netherlands Chess Championships held at the Renaissance Amsterdam Schiphol Airport Hotel. Whilst the event was missing the strongest two players, Anish Giri and Jordan van Foreest, it was a pretty respectable field and Tiviakov was the eighth seed. Tiviakov beat IM Eelke De Boer in the […]
Bewdley’s Mayor, Sharon Harvey, arranged for Robert to drop into the Worcestershire Junior Chess Congress – see BBC Hereford & Worcester for picture and more – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly914w625xo
The ECF is appointing the England Coach for the European Youth Chess Championships (EYCC) in Crete from 2-13 November 2026. The England Coach will: Deliver daily on-the-spot coaching with England...
Please see below the list of appointments — HLVPs, VPs, CVPs, Honorary Life Members – Gerry Walsh, John Wickham Platinum Members – Adrian Elwin, David Eustace Gold Members – Barbara...
Mick Riding, Grassroots Initiative Chairman, will celebrate his 70th birthday on Saturday 18 July by taking part in the Northumberland leg of an Alzheimer’s Society nationwide fundraising initiative. Mick...
The 2026 UK Open Blitz is now open for entries. There are 16 qualifiers across the UK in September and early October, with the final held in Leamington Spa on...
The 105th Counties Championship Finals took place on Saturday 4 July, with live streaming of the Open Final by Luc Zimmer with commentary from FM Jonathan Blackburn on the ECF...
Fabiano Caruana was the only winner in the opening round of the Sinquefield Cup, defeating Jorden van Foreest to take the early sole lead in Saint Louis. The remaining four games were drawn, though Javokhir Sindarov missed chances to convert a favourable endgame against Levon Aronian. | Photo: Austin Fuller / Grand Chess Tour
The inaugural Apogee Chess Festival will take place in Caissargues, near Nîmes, from 22 to 30 August 2026, combining competitive chess with the cultural heritage of southern France. Organised by IM Silvia Alexieva, the event will feature two FIDE-rated open sections, a €26,000 prize fund and a special appearance by former FIDE world champion Veselin […]
Magnus Carlsen will return to defend his Esports World Cup title as chess makes its second appearance at the event, this time in Paris. The competition runs from 11 to 15 August and features a rapid 10-minute time control without increment. Fourteen players have already qualified directly for the group stage, while eight others will […]
We're planning the next chapters of ChessBase and we want input from the people who actually use it, before we decide what to build first. Help us by taking part in a survey that asks how you work day to day: your setup and hardware, how you use engines and databases, and which parts of […]
A year ago problem composer Werner Keym issued a challenge: compose a study in which White is winning – but one that can be shifted and mirrored vertically and horizontally, with all vertically shifted and mirrored positions drawing, and all horizontally shifted and mirrored positions losing. Here is the elegant solution, which reminds us of […]
In the early 1980s, as a fledgling TV journalist, I did a report on the fastest computer in the world. The Cray-1 cost eight million dollars and could do 130 million floating point operations per second. That was enough to calculate the weather, but also to win two consecutive world computer chess championships. How much […]
