Nigel Short lectures in Edinburgh

[Mike Truran]

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[Alan Tate]

Fascinating. Now trot back off to the Guardian comments section.

[Mike Truran]

Ignorance is bliss I suppose.

[andyburnett]

Now, now, that's enough squabbling over semantics - it's almost always a bad idea

A lot of these 'mistakes' have become common usage in English, and I don't really mind people using them. It's often difficult to find alternative phrases which convey the same meaning, although Alan's 'somewhat unique opportunity' could be replaced with 'rare opportunity'

However, even the links Mike gave don't always inspire confidence. This, for example, 'While it’s common to hear or read, “Practically nobody went to the concert,” consider an alternative like “Only a few people went to the concert.” The first, although grammatically incorrect, might convey the speaker's message much better - only the band's family members turned up perhaps? Which phrase would convey that in a better way?

[Mike Truran]

Indeed. "Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis" no doubt works just as well for language as for people - language, of course, being "merely" a reflection of people.

Alan - respect due to a linguistic stormtrooper!

[Mike Truran]

PS Our club charges £10 a head to attend three hour long lectures by GM Peter Wells. Clearly Nigel is a more eminent GM than Peter, but £150 for four lectures does seem a bit "toppy". It will be interesting to see what the take-up is.

[Alan Tate]

I'm happy with somewhat unique. My words, my rules.

[Alan Tate]

It's not cheap and honestly it's on the pricey side. BUT it's a lot cheaper than a one-to-one session with any trainer. £150 would get you 3 hours max with an ordinary GM.

Yusupov was £100 a few years back. Grant was £25 a couple of months ago. Are we really complaining about having a choice?

If Peter Wells wants to come up here then I expect he'd be more than welcome. You might want to factor in flights, accommodation, and meals before getting a quote though.

[andyburnett]

The main selling point of course is Nigel Short's name, and I have no doubt the lectures will be excellent. Short in his heyday was a fantastic attacking player - in 1993, against Kasparov for the world title, his play against the Najdorf was brutal and I still don't know how Kasparov survived many of those games.

The price-tag is rather hefty, and from a purely 'group chess tuition' perspective it is too high, but if Short mixes in his knowledge, experience, anecdotes, etc then it's not a ridiculous price to pay for 4 days. Hopefully he will stay away from the more political subjects though - he hasn't exactly endeared himself to Scotland's chess community over the past few years in that respect!

[Jim Webster]

I don't know much about GM group tuition fees, but is 15 hours worth of lectures at £10/hour that expensive?