Chess: Rachel Reeves Announces £1.5m Fund As London Chessfest Attracts 20,000 Visitors

ChessFest successful Trafalgar Square attracted much than 20,000 visitors past Sunday, somewhat beneath past year’s grounds 23,000 but still indicating beardown nationalist interest. England’s grandmasters gave simuls and met amateurs astatine blitz, surviving chess was played pinch master actors and location was a blindfold accumulation positive a transatlantic prodigy match.

Additional ChessFests took spot successful ­Portishead and Hull, pinch a ­further 1 scheduled for Liverpool connected Sunday. ChessFest was again sponsored by XTX Markets.

The juncture was marked by nan chancellor, Rachel Reeves, announcing nan renewal of authorities support for chess which was concisely axed arsenic portion of departmental cuts earlier successful nan year. The erstwhile backing of £500,000, launched by Rishi Sunak and nan Conservatives successful 2023, was for elite chess generally, and supported nan English men’s and women’s teams astatine nan 2024 Budapest Olympiad. However, location has been wide and justified disapproval of an further £250,000 allocated for chromatic chess tables successful nationalist parks, which person been small utilized and often vandalised.

3981: GM Vincent Keymer v GM Benjamin Bok, Titled Tuesday 2024. White to move and win.

The caller support, announced on pinch a £500m assistance for younker work projects, is much precisely targeted to nan champion talents, and will enactment arsenic a spur to players for illustration England’s youngest grandmaster, Shreyas Royal, 16, and England’s youngest Olympiad player, Bodhana Sivanandan, 10, some of whom met nan chancellor a fewer weeks agone astatine 11 Downing Street. Currently nan champion imaginable comparative to property is Supratit Banerjee, 11, who played connected apical committee for nan Surrey squad which retained nan inter-counties title earlier this period and made a creditable tie pinch England’s No 2, David Howell, successful a timepiece simultaneous lucifer past week. The Scot, Frederick Gordon, 15, has besides impressed.

There are respective successful precedents for targeting elite talents. In nan erstwhile Soviet Union, nan Mikhail ­Botvinnik schoolhouse identified nan early world champions Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov very early, and nan USSR dominated chess for half a century.

In England, Jim Slater’s grandmaster awards successful 1972 and Lloyds Bank sponsorship for astir 20 years from 1977 created nan conditions for ­England’s emergence successful a fewer years from also-rans to Olympiad metallic ­medallists successful 1986 and 1988.

In nan US, nan Sanford Fellowships person helped support nan Americans among nan apical chess nations for respective decades. They are unfastened to each US players aged nether 25 and supply $70,000 for grandmaster coaching and tourney play. There are mostly 2 awards a year. The database of erstwhile Samford winners sounds for illustration a who’s who of American chess, arsenic nan grant managers continually azygous retired nan champion talents.

Meanwhile, nan English Championship is taking spot this play astatine Kenilworth, Warwickshire, pinch nan first of 7 rounds connected Friday and nan last information connected Monday.

There is an introduction of 85 players, though nan apical 3 seeds are nan clear favourites: Gawain Jones, 37, is nan defending champion, Michael Adams, 53, is nan world elder champion, while Nikita Vitiugov, 38, is simply a erstwhile Russian champion who changed federations to England successful consequence to nan penetration of Ukraine.

One week later, nan British Championship starts successful Liverpool and continues for a week. The section will beryllium stronger, and nan prizes larger, but nan aforesaid grandmaster trio will again beryllium nan favourites.

The title is being played astatine St George’s Hall, a premier location successful cardinal Liverpool, wherever nan congress, including inferior and elder championships, has attracted a grounds introduction of astir 1,400 players and still counting.

English chess, though, is becoming importantly much insular. Long agone successful nan 1920s and 30s Sir George Thomas and Fred Yates were regulars astatine awesome world events, arsenic were Harry Golombek and Bob Wade successful nan 40s and 50s. During nan aureate era of nan 70s, 80s and 90s, location were countless world successes for England, highlighted by 2 Olympiad metallic medals, positive Nigel Short and Jon Speelman becoming world title finalists and semi-finalists.

Then location was a 20-year retrenchment, and though England dominates over-65 and over-50 elder chess, Vitiugov is nan only English introduction for nan important Fide Grand Swiss successful September which acts arsenic a qualifier for nan 2026 world title Candidates. Adams, Howell, Jones and Luke McShane were besides entitled to play owed to their 2615+ Fide ratings, but apparently each of them declined.

The aforesaid shape is evident, connected a larger scale, successful Chess.com’s prestigious Titled Tuesday (TT), an 11-round free introduction play world online tourney unfastened to each players pinch Fide titles, correct down to Candidate Master (Fide 2000). Even immoderate players pinch conscionable nationalist titles are included and it is easy to miss immoderate rounds and commencement precocious aliases decorativeness early if necessary.

The apical 20 of TT are world class, often including Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and different world heavyweights. Jones and Howell person appeared there, but successful wide location is simply a dearth of immoderate English-titled entrants from CM upwards.

For this week’s TT 3 days ago, a count of nan entrants pinch UK aliases English flags revealed conscionable 12 successful nan early TT retired of a full introduction of 541, and only three, positive 1 from Wales, successful nan precocious TT retired of a full introduction of 368.

This intends that astir apt less than 5% of nan eligible English aliases UK players took portion from their homes successful this free-to-enter title graced by astir of nan world elite.

It is arguable that nan English Chess Federation could and should do overmuch much to beforehand TT. Even £50 arsenic a prize for nan highest-placed English subordinate successful nan apical 100 finishers would beryllium adjuvant to promote entries, and should beryllium an eligible usage of nan caller Reeves fund.

The adjacent arena wherever we tin expect to spot England’s apical GMs successful action together overseas is apt to beryllium nan European Team Championship, scheduled for Batumi, Georgia, from 4-15 October.

Carlsen has been knocked retired of nan title connected nan first time of nan ongoing Las Vegas Freestyle Grand Slam, which will beryllium covered successful adjacent week’s column.

3981: 1 Ba6! Rxa6 2 Rg8+! Kxg8 3 b8=Q+ Kg7 4 Qb2+ and 5 Qxf2 wins.