Jonah's Rise And Tournaments Ahead

Article by Phil Morgan

New ECF gradings show the continuing rise of Jonah Willow to 233.

The last 4 July ratings show a remarkable rate of progress from Jonah.

July 2019	233
July 2018	218
July 2017	200
July 2016	184

His new 233 grading matches that of Britain’s top female player, Jovanka Houska. He has overtaken the likes of GM, Chris Ward former British Champion, down to 220, Lawrence Trent, 228 and GM, Peter Wells, 229.

He is on the heels of David Eggleston and GM, Nigel Davies, both 235, not far behind GM, Mark Hebden, 238, the dominant, active force of Midlands chess of our generation.

Jonah is likely to face 1or 2 of these rivals in the British Chess Championship at Torquay between 26 July and 6 August.

There will be comprehensive live video coverage and commentary on the British Championship. Many chess players seem unaware of the extent of live, video chess coverage. Most top chess tournaments can be followed live on the internet. Three Grand Chess Tour events are due soon. Paris starts on July 27 followed by St. Louis events, starting on August 10 and August 17.

There are tournaments taking place every week of the year, and live coverage links to most of these can be accessed from ’The Week In Chess’ website. Add this to your Favourites.

The time we can give to playing or watching chess is for many constrained by work, family and other commitments. I’m fortunate to have the free leisure time to enjoy spectating on top of playing the game in different forms. The quality of particularly the US coverage hosted by Yasser Seirawan and colleagues gives you a ringside seat.

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