I agree. Perhaps "Mark Chapman (AUS)" and "Mark Chapman (SCO)"?

I agree. Perhaps "Mark Chapman (AUS)" and "Mark Chapman (SCO)"?>

My concern with using the players' countries was the awkwardness that would result if either of them were to change federations. I took Player ID to be under CG's control and therefore reliably stable.

<Or maybe someone can dig a little deeper to see if either gentleman has a middle name?>

I've long thought that adding the birthyear was a good method for distinguishing behind duplicate names.

Of course, the original entry is best kept as is.

This poses a dilemma in the event the later players become more famous (chessically of course).

In such a case I would consider renaming the original - but it would have to be compelling.

Thank goodness no subsequent <Tigran Petrosian> version has become world champion.

I've long thought that adding the birthyear was a good method for distinguishing behind duplicate names.>

As a user, I like that birthyear and/or country would often help the user discern which player was of interest. But I suggested Player ID in the belief that once a player name had been augmented with this information, CG editors would never need to revisit it (if for example, a third namesake needed to be entered into the CG database).

FWIW - did you know that you can enter a <CG> player id in either of the player name search fields?

It's a handy feature if you have a game you know involves the player of interest, then you can easily find the <CG> pid.

(E.g. Mouse over the player's name on the game page heading, and the url should display down in the corner on your browser. That url has the pid in plain view.)

So, in this case <Mark(2-ugh!) Chapman> has pid = <199759>.

(The pid is also in the url displayed in your browser's location bar when you're here, i.e. on the player page).

Here's a search for all games by 199759:

Mark2 Chapman

And here's a search for all 199759's games against Thomas (be it first or last name).

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/che...

Normally though people put either country or honorifics in parens. And yes, that stuff should get stripped out in general.

But the other stuff in parentheses gets kept in <Z-base> as it has a useful function.

(Full Discloser - guess who manages Z-base?)

Still, I think filling the name out, usually via middle name, is a good alternative - preferred even. For married women the maiden name is also serviceable.

But even then name degeneracies can occur - and using the player's dob is a good solution. It has the virtue of adding useful info while making the name unique.

Note - with a database, the player's get a unique PID. But other than FIDE id, it's not universal. And, unfortunately, one should be aware that FIDE recycles its id's.

I'm going to run with that as his middle initial and then work on updating the data on both players.

I was thinking of Nigel Chapman, no relation to Mark, who I do know quite well and Nigel told me his middle name is James.

We do not appear to have any games by Nigel James Chapman which should be and will be rectified quite soon because he plays proper chess. Every game is a gambit.