Kidlington

Saturday Feb 6th

In the end I didn't do too badly at Kidlington. The bottom section was a very tough one, Under 145, and as it turned out, every one of my games was against much stronger players than myself. I lost 1 and drew 3, which under the circumstances was not too bad, considering the strength of the opposition - aguably I was winning two of the drawn games when I offered my opponents draws too.

I managed to get to the venue, quite a pleasant civic centre in the nondescript Oxfordshire suburb, just about on time, after dropping Michelle at East Midlands airport. I wasn't too tired despite the 6am start and 160-mile drive. Colin and Russell were already there when I got there. I had to tell my opponent I'd be delayed owing to having to shift my car to a parking space where I wouldn't get a ticket, then the game got started.

Game 1 - "Criminal"

I was playing Black against a friendly older chap rated 132. He played d4 and steered clear of the Benko, so we were soon in unfamiliar territory. After a quiet start there were a few tactics, and I lost a Rook for a Bishop and two pawns. I had a marginally inferior position when he missed a simple tactic and gave back the exchange, so I was just two pawns up in an endgame. At that point, since I was clearly ahead and it would have been difficult to win, I offered him a draw, which, after some thought, he accepted. Not a bad result for me against a strong player.

Dave Stephenson has subsequently looked at the game and told me that offering a draw in that position was "criminal".

Colin and Russell had both lost their games. Colin and I went to the pub and had lunch and a few games of pool

Game 2 - "Lamentable"

One of my betes noires is playing young girls, and this was against a girl who looked about 18 but was rated a strong 129. The game didn't last very long - I opened with d4 and she played the Tarrasch defence. I made some very poor decisions, apparently abandoning long-standard principles of good chess. It was one of those situations where you look at it afterwards and think "why ever did I play like that?". I resigned on about move 14. When I got home and looked on the computer I discovered that even after thinking I'd lost a piece I had ways of saving the situation. That always seems to happen! There's a psychological factor which makes you give up internally to some extent when you think you've blundered, I think, which is very hard to combat.

Dave Stephenson described the game as "lamentable".

Colin and Russell both lost too, so between us we'd managed 0.5/6 in the first two rounds. At least it meant Colin and I could head off to his place nice and early. We were taking a bye in round 3 that evening, to allow some quality drinking time.

Colin lives in Reading. I left my car at the venue and Colin drove us both back. We had a pleasant evening - watched a documentary about Chess that had been on, dined cheaply in Weatherspoons, played some chess and had a few drinks. Beceause we'd started so early, it was even possible to get a relatively early night.

Sunday Feb 7th

Game 3 - missed opportunity

I was drawn against another strong player - a boy of student age, who was rated 130 I think. I was White and he played a line I've not seen against the Queens Gambit. It was one of those situations where you know its a rare move and wonder why its not played, because it seemed fine. It looked as though he was winning a pawn. I got a cup of tea and studied the position for fully 20 minutes but I couldn't see a way out, or work out why this wasn't a standard line. Since I was resigned to losing the pawn, I decided to try and get some compensation by messing up his pawn structure and opening lines.

This worked out really well for me, and it soon became apparent why this line is not played - he had won a pawn but his King was stuck in the middle of the board, his pieces were undeveloped and I had all the play. More than sufficient compensation for the "sacrificed" pawn. In the end I was clearly winning and had a lot of winning moves, but in the heat of the moment I missed my chances and the winning chances fizzled out, so I offered a draw which he rather gratefully accepted.

Another draw against a much higher-rated opponent, but I had missed winning chances.

Dave said "What did he do to merit a draw apart from turn up?"

Colin and I had lunch in the pub and played pool again. Russell had gone home by this point, after losing all three of his games on day 1. Colin had drawn his game as well.

Game 4 - solid draw

I'd been hoping for an easier game to finish up with, but got my toughest opponent yet, a genial older bloke rated 137. I certainly hadn't had an easy draw in this tournament.

I was black and it was a c3 Sicilian. I played the line that had got me the draw against Richard Desmedt before Christmas, which isn't necessarily that highly thought of , but has given me some good results. Its solid enough, I suppose, and so it transpired again today. The game ended up in an opposite-coloured Bishops ending, and he offered me a draw, which I was pretty happy with.

Colin was winning his game, though his opponent played on in a completely lost position for a fair while and made Colin wait. Colin and I had had a better day today with 2.5 points out of 4 between us.

Overall, I thought I had a solid-enough result in such a tough section - 1.5/4, though Dave said he thought it should have been 2.5 since I was winning two of the drawn positions.

Then I had a long, dreary drive home to negotiate.