HULL - Day 1, Friday 8 October
The Hull tournament took place two weeks ago, but it was such a disappointing weekend that I've only now just got round to writing about it, and I'm only doing it now because today the Scarborough tournament begins so I have to get this written up.
After have [almost] very successful tournaments at the British in Canterbury, and then in Leicester, in both of which I was in contention for the title until near the end when things went awry, I knew I was overdue a bad tournament. Hull was also the site of one of my worst-ever results back in 2008, so all in all the omens weren't good.
At least they moved the tournament from the deeply dreary and freezing cold Students' Union building to a much nicer venue near the city centre. It was a convent/retreat centre - an old and characterful Victorian brick building full of chapels and halls and corridors all quite higgledy-piggledy and with a very nice atmosphere. There were also nice gardens all around, with tinkling fountains and the like, and nuns flitting around genially. It would be a very good venue for a retreat.
I got there quite early, but feeling very out-of-sorts, only to find to my delight that I had requested a bye on the Friday night - I'd quite forgotten. That was because I wasn't sure at the time whether I would be working in Dublin that day. I was very happy to get a night off from the chess! The tournament was quite small, maybe about 100 players all told, and was being held in a side hall near the main building.
Colin Fell and Dave Stephenson (who lives in Hull) were both playing the event as well, so I watched the start of their games and then headed off for a curry. There was a very nice, inexpensive curry house over the road, no doubt a favourite venue for the nuns' nights out, and I had a very nice curry, spiced up with lime pickle in the sauce, which was a novel idea, which only cost me a fiver. And they didn't have a drinks licence, so I got some tins of Kronie from Sainsburys. All very satisfactory.
I went back to the chess hall. Colin's game wasn't going very well to say the least - he was a Queen down - so I headed back off to a nice bar I had found earlier round the corner. It was quite a trendy-looking place, quite empty but for the barman, who was a young chap with a John Travolta (as he is now) hairstyle. He was very knowledgable about spirits and we had a good discussion about fine whiskies, brandies and tequilas. I sampled an unusual tequila which was very nice indeed.
We got onto the subject of cocktails, and he told me that their official menu was all just for students, full of fruit juice and generally not for the discerning punter such as myself. He mixed me a negroni (gin, sweet vermouth and campari - quite similar to the Cardinale I make myself, which has dry vermouth in it), which was absolutely delicious - and I think he gave me a good discount as well.
I got back to the chess hall, feeling distinctly warmed, to find that, amazingly, Colin was fighting his way back from a Queen down and, in fact, he went on to win the game! An amazing escape from being so far down. Dave Stephenson was beside himself with excitement about it and kept saying how inspirational it was , how much better than my own inclination to resign when I lose a pawn.
Colin was staying at my place for the weekend, which is about an hour's drive from Hull. I couldnt drive with that cocktail sloshing round inside me, so he drove us back to my house.
HULL - Day 2, Saturday 9 October
Turned out to be one of my worst chess days for a long time. I was feeling fairly tired and out-of-sorts when I got up. In the first game, I had a dreary draw which never really got going. I've just now got around to putting it in the computer, and have discovered that I missed at least two good chances to win material which would have given me a clear advantage. That shows how out of sorts I was: these were things that I'd usually have seen.
We had lunch in a pub round the corner which had a "two meals for £6" deal on.
The afternoon went even worse - I was playing a chap I lost to the last time I played at Huddersfield, friendly bloke with a big white beard, and I managed to repeat the performance and the result from 2008. I got into a sharp tactical position, calculated a line which was losing a pawn - but played it anyway! The game was pretty much lost after that - even though I was only a pawn down I had no counterplay. Colin said he'd have resigned it even earlier than I did.
Colin did slightly better. He lost in the morning and won in the afternoon, so he was on 2/3 and I was on a demoralising 1/3 overnight.
We went back to my place and went out for a curry with Michelle before doing a little chess analysis and getting an early night.
Day 3 - Sunday, 10 October
Neither of us was in contention for the title any more, but at least I didn't pull out of the tournament which I would have done in former times. I reminded myself that I am regarding all these games merely as practice for the real prize, next year's British Under 120 Championship.
And Sunday was a somewhat better day. In the morning, I managed to win, albeit against one of the lower-ranked players in the section. It was quite a good, tactical game and I managed to control the tactics and emerge on top. Colin had to play the white-bearded bloke I had lost to the previous day, and he managed to blunder his way to defeat as well, despite having been ahead. The chap joined an exclusive club of people who have beaten both me and Colin!
We had lunch in the pub again and a few games of pool. Dave came along as well.
My afternoon game was a typical low-key final round game where neither player has anything to play for, and ended up in another quiet and uninteresting draw, despite some very odd play from him in the opening, so I ended on an uninspiring 2.5/5 overall. Colin at least won his last game and finished on 3/5 with 3 wins.
An uninspiring tournament and an uninspiring blog entry to match, not helped by writing it 2 weeks after the event! Let's hope for better things at Scarborough.
Friday, 22 October 2010
Friday, 8 October 2010
Leicester part II
The Hull Congress is now in full swing - well, round 1 was last night and Colin is here staying, but needless to say, my journal is still out of date and I have to finish off the story of the Leicester Congress.
Game 4 - Pyschological tricks
I didn't sleep too well. It was still raining when I awoke on Sunday morning. Daniels and I stumbled to the venue. As I had predicted, I was playing the other bloke on 3/3. He looked like a boxer and was very aggressive in approach. He clicked the bones in his neck before we started and he gave me a very firm handshake. I was surprised, however, that his chess didn't seem as incisive. The game was a fairly incipid Queens Gambit Declined, and before long he gave me a tactical opportunity to exchange Queens and then win a Rook for a Bishop. My King was in the middle of the board, but I had a significant material advantage. He used his minor pieces to harrass me, but then he missed another simple tactical motif and I won his other Rook for my other Bishop. So now I was two exchanges up, which is quite unusual. All I needed now was to consolidate the position and exchange off the remaining pieces to win the game.
At this point, he started doing some very strange things. He laughed out loud to himself a few times and started talking to himself. He got me a bit rattled and I did let him get to me a bit. He managed to pin one of my Rooks against my King, but he didn't take it immediately and kept checking. I was able to get my King out of the way. At this point, I was completely winning. He said "I'm going down swinging". He sat staring at the board for ages and then he said "Ah, there is always a way" and then played a move, which turned out, on later inspection with the computer to be rubbish, but it still forced an error from me. When he'd seen that, he shouted "Yes!!!" and banged his piece down on the board really loudly.
Peter Brace, who was sitting on the next board, looked up irritatedly and asked him to be quiet. I showed no reaction. I played on for a bit but was clearly lost and the game was soon over. I had lost a game I had been totally winning, mostly because of his psychological tricks. Something to watch out for in the future. I can't pretend to have been happy about it, since my chances of winning the tournament had gone up in smoke.
Daniels and I went for a walk and bought vegetable samosas for lunch. I went to a bargain shoeshop and got a half-price pair of Grensons.
Game 5 - anti-climactic draw
After all that excitement, the last game was always going to be hard work and so it proved. It was a c3 Sicilian and he played the opening a little loosely and offered me some chances but I got a bit carried away and moved my Queen rather too spiritedly into the middle of the board and was forced to back-pedal for a bit. I used up half my time on the first 11 moves. The Queens came off and things quieted down.
I was still discombobulated after the morning's fiasco, and at one point, wanting to take his Knight with my Bishop, I actually managed to pick up the wrong Bishop, which couldn't take his Knight. As he pointed out, I was now forced by the rules to move the piece I'd touched. This could have been a serious problem if it put me in a bad position, but fortunately I was able to get away with it all right. Shortly after that, he offered me a draw which I accepted. In the end I got 3.5/5 and won a £30 grading prize, but that was somewhat disappointing after being almost on 4/4 and heading for a possible tournament victory.
Daniels' last game went on and on until he and his opponent were the last board playing. There were a couple of arbiters hanging round the board and some spectaters. The clocks were running down and down. Daniels eventually had 1 minute, his opponent had 2. Daniels was looking stressed as usual, with his hands in his hair, but his opponent appeared totally insouciant and calm as his clock went down and down. He calmly moved and wrote his move down. Daniels moved. His opponent just sat there, and his time ran out. Daniels pointed perplexedly at the clock and the arbiter said that he'd won on time. The opponent couldn't believe it. He thought he still had 20 minutes to be added on but the arbiter pointed out that the game was over. It was 6.30 and the game and tournament were over.
Daniels said "I feel awful about this" and asked if he could retrospectively offer a draw, which was very gentlemanly - he could have just taken the win on time. The arbiter said he could - it didn't affect the tournament, and so that was what happened. The opponent was not very gracious about it, which annoyed Daniels somewhat.
That was that - another tournament over. Daniels and I went for a quick pint with Peter Brace before going home. He had a long wait for his train back to London. Peter lives in Nottingham and so I followed him back to the M1.
Game 4 - Pyschological tricks
I didn't sleep too well. It was still raining when I awoke on Sunday morning. Daniels and I stumbled to the venue. As I had predicted, I was playing the other bloke on 3/3. He looked like a boxer and was very aggressive in approach. He clicked the bones in his neck before we started and he gave me a very firm handshake. I was surprised, however, that his chess didn't seem as incisive. The game was a fairly incipid Queens Gambit Declined, and before long he gave me a tactical opportunity to exchange Queens and then win a Rook for a Bishop. My King was in the middle of the board, but I had a significant material advantage. He used his minor pieces to harrass me, but then he missed another simple tactical motif and I won his other Rook for my other Bishop. So now I was two exchanges up, which is quite unusual. All I needed now was to consolidate the position and exchange off the remaining pieces to win the game.
At this point, he started doing some very strange things. He laughed out loud to himself a few times and started talking to himself. He got me a bit rattled and I did let him get to me a bit. He managed to pin one of my Rooks against my King, but he didn't take it immediately and kept checking. I was able to get my King out of the way. At this point, I was completely winning. He said "I'm going down swinging". He sat staring at the board for ages and then he said "Ah, there is always a way" and then played a move, which turned out, on later inspection with the computer to be rubbish, but it still forced an error from me. When he'd seen that, he shouted "Yes!!!" and banged his piece down on the board really loudly.
Peter Brace, who was sitting on the next board, looked up irritatedly and asked him to be quiet. I showed no reaction. I played on for a bit but was clearly lost and the game was soon over. I had lost a game I had been totally winning, mostly because of his psychological tricks. Something to watch out for in the future. I can't pretend to have been happy about it, since my chances of winning the tournament had gone up in smoke.
Daniels and I went for a walk and bought vegetable samosas for lunch. I went to a bargain shoeshop and got a half-price pair of Grensons.
Game 5 - anti-climactic draw
After all that excitement, the last game was always going to be hard work and so it proved. It was a c3 Sicilian and he played the opening a little loosely and offered me some chances but I got a bit carried away and moved my Queen rather too spiritedly into the middle of the board and was forced to back-pedal for a bit. I used up half my time on the first 11 moves. The Queens came off and things quieted down.
I was still discombobulated after the morning's fiasco, and at one point, wanting to take his Knight with my Bishop, I actually managed to pick up the wrong Bishop, which couldn't take his Knight. As he pointed out, I was now forced by the rules to move the piece I'd touched. This could have been a serious problem if it put me in a bad position, but fortunately I was able to get away with it all right. Shortly after that, he offered me a draw which I accepted. In the end I got 3.5/5 and won a £30 grading prize, but that was somewhat disappointing after being almost on 4/4 and heading for a possible tournament victory.
Daniels' last game went on and on until he and his opponent were the last board playing. There were a couple of arbiters hanging round the board and some spectaters. The clocks were running down and down. Daniels eventually had 1 minute, his opponent had 2. Daniels was looking stressed as usual, with his hands in his hair, but his opponent appeared totally insouciant and calm as his clock went down and down. He calmly moved and wrote his move down. Daniels moved. His opponent just sat there, and his time ran out. Daniels pointed perplexedly at the clock and the arbiter said that he'd won on time. The opponent couldn't believe it. He thought he still had 20 minutes to be added on but the arbiter pointed out that the game was over. It was 6.30 and the game and tournament were over.
Daniels said "I feel awful about this" and asked if he could retrospectively offer a draw, which was very gentlemanly - he could have just taken the win on time. The arbiter said he could - it didn't affect the tournament, and so that was what happened. The opponent was not very gracious about it, which annoyed Daniels somewhat.
That was that - another tournament over. Daniels and I went for a quick pint with Peter Brace before going home. He had a long wait for his train back to London. Peter lives in Nottingham and so I followed him back to the M1.
Thursday, 7 October 2010
Leicester - incidents and accidents
Game 1 - a quiet start & a brush with the law
The tournament was being held in a typical venue, a school hall. The school itself was a big sixth form college on the edge of Leicester city centre - quite a dramatic building put up in the 1930s I'd say. The actual venue was fairly dreary - a basketball court-cum-drama studio in the bowels of the building. In quiet moments during the games, I had a wander round the school. There was quite an attractive courtyard in the middle.
The tournament was being held in a typical venue, a school hall. The school itself was a big sixth form college on the edge of Leicester city centre - quite a dramatic building put up in the 1930s I'd say. The actual venue was fairly dreary - a basketball court-cum-drama studio in the bowels of the building. In quiet moments during the games, I had a wander round the school. There was quite an attractive courtyard in the middle.
Dave Stephenson had said that attendence was low, but the turnout was reasonable for the Friday night despite a large number of travelling byes being taken for round 1.
In the minor section, I had an (on paper) relatively easy draw against someone rated 90. I managed to open the c-file, then win a pawn, and eventually came through to win the game after a lengthy passage towards the end when his Queen was chasing my King around the board. I was able to knock off a few pawns during this scenic tour and eventually was able to finish things off.
I had a drink after the game with a chess friend, who asked that I did not mention his name. We had a pint (well I had two and he had one) and since it was raining he kindly offered to drive me back to my hotel, which was a good bargain but in a fairly grotty part of town just off the ringroad. On the way, we were stopped by the Police - because he had a break light not working - and as a matter of routine he was breathalised. He was safely within the limit and we were allowed to proceed on our way. I got back to the hotel and went to bed.
Game 2 - a tough challenge ends up not being so very tough
I had a Subway breakfast with Michelle and then hurried to meet Morgan Daniels at the station. He had just got the train up from London. Unusually, he wasn't in his nightwear or an old lady's hat and blouse, but fairly conventional attired. We walked to the venue, talking of this and that. He made disparaging remarks about Leicester, a theme he was to return to over the weekend.
I saw to my distress that I'd been drawn against a player rated 128 in round 2, the second seed for our section. When I realised that he was an East European gentleman, I thought that it was going to be a tough test for me. But it turned out not to be difficult for me at all. He (White) played a fairly inferior opening (The Bc4 Sicilian) and soon made a serious mistake which allowed me to open up his King's position. Soon my Queen and Knight were hovering round his King; I won a piece, and thereafter the game was fairly easy to win. Towards the end, he didn't resign despite being totally lost (I think I was a Rook up and had a pawn on the 7th rank). The Stephenson Test for Resignation ("Could you beat Kasparov if the board were reversed") was easily passed. Morgan, who had completed his game, was hovering around looking perplexed. Anyway in the end, he did the decent thing and we went off for lunch. He must have just had a bad game, because he proved his ability by winning every other game in the weekend and finishing up in second place.
Morgan and I went to Wetherspoons for lunch. Then he wandered off to an art gallery to get some postcards - I seem to have infected him with the urge to send postcards to his nearest and dearest - and I went to get my wallet (which had fallen behind the hotel TV) and room key from Michelle, who was heading back home. I helped her with some important purchase decisions as well, then we said goodbye and I headed back to the venue.
Game 3 - Three out of three
For most of its length, game 3 looked like a dreary draw. The game was a fairly dreary Queen's Gambit Declined and I was playing a solid 124-rated player. Most of the pieces had come off the board and we had an end game position with locked pawns in the centre. It all looked pretty draw-ish until he inexplicably started moving up his King-side pawns where I could take them and hit his King. I suppose he didn't want a draw and was trying to drum up some activity. Sometimes you have to accept the half point. I got a pawn up and swapped off the pieces and then the win was fairly easy, since I ended up three pawns up in a same-coloured Bishops ending.
Once again Morgan had finished before me. We went off for a curry. We had a couple of beers and then went to one of the curry houses I had known in the time I worked in Leicester. Morgan summed it up by saying that the curry was all right but the curry house experience was lacking.
As we walked back to the hotel, it was pouring with rain. The walk was some 15 minutes and by the time we got back to the hotel my suit was a damp rag. I forgot to mention, I repeated my approach at Hereford and had been playing in a suit, although, this time, sans neck-tie. I seem to go well in a suit - 3/3 at Hereford and now 3/3 here.
We drank some wine and did some analysis back in the room before passing out at some time around midnight I think. I woke up at 3.30 and couldn't get back to sleep for a bit. I suppose I was stimulated by the thought of being on 3/3 overnight, which isn't a situation which often comes along for me.
I suspected I'd be playing the other bloke on 3; I'd been watching his games throughout the weekend so far and he seemed to be a well-organised and aggressive player so I knew it was going to be a tough struggle.
Friday, 1 October 2010
New chess season
Leicester
Hello from Leicester where I am now in a hotel room getting ready for the first tournament of the new season. I've not played this one before but I'm told that numbers are down. Michelle is here with me tonight, though tomorrow she will go home and I will be sharing this room with Morgan Daniels who is coming up for the event. Something of a contrast in bunkmates!
This weekend, the Galway tournament is also going on - and I've played that every year since 2005 (normally with signal lack of success but plenty of Guinness!), so I'm sorry to miss it because it's a good event, but the rocky state of my finances forces my hand this year.
We went down South yesterday and accompanied my sound work colleague Ian Imms to the St Albans Beer Festival, another of the best events of the year - superb range of beers, even though it was a bit busy and we were rather tired. We stayed at Ian's house in Berkhampsted. Yesterday he cooked us a splendid macaroni cheese and today he got up at 6am to make us porridge! It's been raining hard all day, so the drive up here was a bit painful. But at least it makes for a good weekend to spend hunched over the chess table.
British Championship disappointment
I never finished the story of the British Championship, for which I apologise; probably never got around to it owing to the trauma of the last round. In brief, I went along to the final round in joint first place on 3.5/4. I was on board 2 playing an ungraded player, which is always a dodgy thing to find yourself up against in the bottom section. Turned out, of course, that he was very good - we got into a complex position. I got a pawn up, but then blundered , retaking a piece with the wrong piece and going material down. The players on board 1, the other joint leaders, inspected my position and agreed a draw. I ended up losing, though gallingly I also missed a chance to retake the material back shortly afterwards. It's funny how often that happens when one makes a mistake - I need to keep looking harder for opportunities after I've made a mistake.
And so, I didn't win the British Under 120 championship. Four people tied for first on 4/5 and I ended in joint 5th on 3.5/5. I went to a farmers' market/deli for lunch and laid my plans for next year - I swore to myself there and then to work all season towards one simple goal - to win next year's British. I have decided to treat all games and tournaments until then as merely practice for the Big One. It's a good chance for me too, because next year it's being held in Sheffield which is commutable from where I live - just 25 minutes down the motorway, so I won't have to shell out for accommodation and will have a sort of home advantage I hope.
I went to the closing ceremony and listened to "egghead" CJ De Mooi give the closing speech. It sounds like next year's tournament will be good one, with all the UK top 4 Grandmasters playing, (Adams, Short, McShane and Howell), so it will be a good one to be at. I will write some more about chess goals for the year in a later post.
Good start to the new season
The new chess season started for me last Wednesday with a league game. The organiser of the West Bretton club sadly died and so the West Bretton club has merged with Netherton, whom I play for - we now have 3 teams out of the 7 in the Huddersfield League! Wednesday saw our 'C' team whom I turn out for, take on the 'B' team in the village hall. We were pretty outgraded on every board. I was playing a young girl who had a Yorkshire grade of 127, considerably higher than my 114; but it was even worse than it sounds - I checked the English Chess website on there and discovered that on that site, she's graded 139 based on 51 games. So it was a tough game for me.
I haven't got time to write about it now because I have to get off to my first round game, but the good news is that, having struggled most of the game, and being in moderate time trouble (I had to make 9 moves in 5 minutes, which is nothing by Russell Goodfellow's standards but it felt pressured to me), I managed to find a tactic which won me a Rook and pawn for a Knight, and got the Queens off - which meant I went into an ending completely winning. I managed to win the ensuing King and Pawn end-game and was the only one from our team who won a game. As a 139, she was my highest-rated victim ever, so it was a good confidence-boost.
Right, better get off to round 1. I'm sorry this is rushed, but I wanted to get it written before tonight's game. I will try and update the journal quicker than I managed last season!
Hello from Leicester where I am now in a hotel room getting ready for the first tournament of the new season. I've not played this one before but I'm told that numbers are down. Michelle is here with me tonight, though tomorrow she will go home and I will be sharing this room with Morgan Daniels who is coming up for the event. Something of a contrast in bunkmates!
This weekend, the Galway tournament is also going on - and I've played that every year since 2005 (normally with signal lack of success but plenty of Guinness!), so I'm sorry to miss it because it's a good event, but the rocky state of my finances forces my hand this year.
We went down South yesterday and accompanied my sound work colleague Ian Imms to the St Albans Beer Festival, another of the best events of the year - superb range of beers, even though it was a bit busy and we were rather tired. We stayed at Ian's house in Berkhampsted. Yesterday he cooked us a splendid macaroni cheese and today he got up at 6am to make us porridge! It's been raining hard all day, so the drive up here was a bit painful. But at least it makes for a good weekend to spend hunched over the chess table.
British Championship disappointment
I never finished the story of the British Championship, for which I apologise; probably never got around to it owing to the trauma of the last round. In brief, I went along to the final round in joint first place on 3.5/4. I was on board 2 playing an ungraded player, which is always a dodgy thing to find yourself up against in the bottom section. Turned out, of course, that he was very good - we got into a complex position. I got a pawn up, but then blundered , retaking a piece with the wrong piece and going material down. The players on board 1, the other joint leaders, inspected my position and agreed a draw. I ended up losing, though gallingly I also missed a chance to retake the material back shortly afterwards. It's funny how often that happens when one makes a mistake - I need to keep looking harder for opportunities after I've made a mistake.
And so, I didn't win the British Under 120 championship. Four people tied for first on 4/5 and I ended in joint 5th on 3.5/5. I went to a farmers' market/deli for lunch and laid my plans for next year - I swore to myself there and then to work all season towards one simple goal - to win next year's British. I have decided to treat all games and tournaments until then as merely practice for the Big One. It's a good chance for me too, because next year it's being held in Sheffield which is commutable from where I live - just 25 minutes down the motorway, so I won't have to shell out for accommodation and will have a sort of home advantage I hope.
I went to the closing ceremony and listened to "egghead" CJ De Mooi give the closing speech. It sounds like next year's tournament will be good one, with all the UK top 4 Grandmasters playing, (Adams, Short, McShane and Howell), so it will be a good one to be at. I will write some more about chess goals for the year in a later post.
Good start to the new season
The new chess season started for me last Wednesday with a league game. The organiser of the West Bretton club sadly died and so the West Bretton club has merged with Netherton, whom I play for - we now have 3 teams out of the 7 in the Huddersfield League! Wednesday saw our 'C' team whom I turn out for, take on the 'B' team in the village hall. We were pretty outgraded on every board. I was playing a young girl who had a Yorkshire grade of 127, considerably higher than my 114; but it was even worse than it sounds - I checked the English Chess website on there and discovered that on that site, she's graded 139 based on 51 games. So it was a tough game for me.
I haven't got time to write about it now because I have to get off to my first round game, but the good news is that, having struggled most of the game, and being in moderate time trouble (I had to make 9 moves in 5 minutes, which is nothing by Russell Goodfellow's standards but it felt pressured to me), I managed to find a tactic which won me a Rook and pawn for a Knight, and got the Queens off - which meant I went into an ending completely winning. I managed to win the ensuing King and Pawn end-game and was the only one from our team who won a game. As a 139, she was my highest-rated victim ever, so it was a good confidence-boost.
Right, better get off to round 1. I'm sorry this is rushed, but I wanted to get it written before tonight's game. I will try and update the journal quicker than I managed last season!
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