And this we definitely need to do, as it will probably surprise you to learn that we now have 5 - soon to be 6 - over the board titled players at KCC, (holding 7 titles between them) which is pretty amazing for a club/town of our size. It may also surprise you when I reveal that its quite probable that you, dear reader, could join this illustrious band, albeit that for most of us this would have to be at the lower end of the title spectrum! Because, in its infinite wisdom, the ECF sometime ago introduced a whole raft of titles that cover almost all levels of over the board playing standards. (And anyone suggesting that this was a money generating exercise by the ECF should be ashamed of themselves for being so cynical.)
Starting at the bottom, we have the title of English Chess Maestro, which requires holding a rating of 1400+ as an average for a 12 months' period (minimum 30 games). And the payment of £5. There are currently 42 of these by my count (from the ECF website), and before you say that this is a pretty meaningless title I should point out that it was awarded in February 2016 to Shreyas Royal - now a Grand Master! But KCC doesn't have any ECMs, as our illustrious members have higher aspirations.
The next rung on the ladder is the English Team Maestro, which requires holding a rating of 1600+ as an average for a 12 months period (minimum 30 games). And the payment of £5, of course. I count 53 ETMs, but once again KCC comes up blank in this category. Though future GM Shreyas Royal (Feb 2017) makes another appearance in this list!
Continuing up the ladder we reach English Club Master, which requires holding a rating of 1800+ as an average for a 12 months period (minimum 30 games). And the payment of £5, of course. There are 86 ECMs, and finally we find a KCC name on the list - Paul B (and his daughter Jo, who came along to a recent club night), though I fear he acquired his title well before he joined us. Surprisingly this title eluded Shreyas Royal, but there is an even more impressive name on the roll of honour, three times British Champion, GM Gawain Jones! (Who, as I type this article, Keatan is just about to play in Round 1 of the British Rapidplay Championship. I am sure he will acquit himself with more credit than I did when I played Gawain in Round 1 of the King's Place Rapidplay Tournament many years ago and lost in under 20 moves with White!) Other interesting names on the ECM list include 3 times British Women's Champion Dinah Norman and former Egghead (and ECF President, I think) C.J. de Mooi.
Rather confusingly, the next ECF category is also ECM, though in this case it stands for English County Master, which requires holding a rating of 2000+ as an average for a 12 months period (minimum 30 games). And the payment this time of £10, reflecting the fact that we ae now moving into the higher reaches of the grading list. There are 61 of these ECMs, and while there are no KCC members amongst them, I have spotted two former team mates of mine at Mitcham Chess Club and 2 current team mates of Bruce B at Central Birmingham.
And still we ascend the ladder, now reaching the title of English Regional Master (ERM, but not to be confused with the Exchange Rate Mechanism, that economists of a certain age will recall), which requires holding a rating of 2100+ as an average for a 12 months period (minimum 30 games). And the payment of £10. There are 58 members of this club, including Andy B and Mike as KCC representatives, though the strongest player of the ERM group is future IM Tom Rendle. I could claim this title, but modesty - and my desire to hang onto a tenner - forbids me from applying.
I expect that a little bit of research and the payment of a further tenner might well see that Andy could claim the next, and highest, ECF awarded title - and one that is really worth having, as it enables you to play in the chess.com Titled Tuesday tournaments with the world's strongest players - that of National Master (NM). As I'm sure that he must have reached the qualification standard in his prime. Which was obviously long before he played for us! The NM requirement is for a rating of 2200+ as an average for a 12 months period (minimum 30 games). And the payment of £10. Which demands a really impressive level of play. And I speak as someone who has never achieved an ECF rating of 2200 for even 1 day, let alone 12 months!
But never mind, as KCC has no less than 2 National Masters anyway! Both Paul L and Jude got awarded the title on June 17, 2024 - in Paul's case the achievement relating to performances several (where several is quite a large number!) years earlier. I guess I was too occupied with other things to celebrate this achievement at the time, so apologies to our two NMs for the late acknowledgement of their richly deserved titles.
But it doesn't end there, as we also have the much grander stage of the world arena to consider, in the form of titles awarded by FIDE. The first step on the road to becoming a GM is to attain an ELO rating of 2200, which is the qualification level for becoming a Candidate Master. Jude reached this milestone in December 2024, when he posted his - to date - peak rating of 2249. Talk about clearing the required height with ease! But what reminded me that this subject needed to be reported on the blog is that he will soon be joined in this elite company by a second KCC member - and its another highly talented graduate of Paul's Coventry Chess Academy - who has reached the 2200+ rating requirement. These kids! Honestly!! So step forward Billy, after a brilliant performance at last month's Isle of Wight Open, where he gained over 100 ELO points and now finds himself in possession of a FIDE rating of 2203. And an ECF rating, by the way, of 2268, which is just one point below Jude!!
Sorry Javi, but at 2265 you are now only the third highest rated player in the club! Its quite unbelievable that we have 3 players rated over 2260. (That's never happened before in KCC history.) Though they have never all played in the same Kenilworth team!
Something upbeat is required to celebrate the latest addition to the KCC title holders club. This will do nicely, I think.
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