Huddersfield part 2

Saturday March 27th

I got up quite early on the Saturday morning and went out for a walk in the woods first thing, bit of fresh air and exercise. It was a sunny day and the walk was pleasant. As I went I looked at the burgeoning spring life, flowers and birds.

Soon I was back far from burgeoning life, ie in a chess hall. Chris drove us this time so I could have a drink. Dave Stephenson was playing on the Saturday too, in the Open section, having taken a bye on the Friday night so he could do his hair.

Game 2 - A serious reverse - I miss a mate in 1 and lose horribly
I was playing John Eddershaw, a circuit regular whom I had beaten fairly easily at Bury St Edmonds last year. He's a tallish older bloke who sometimes wears a long distance walking blazer. I wouldn't say that he's a particularly strong player, and has a rating of 88. I was pleased with this draw, because I thought I should have a fairly good chance. I was black as I was last time I played him, but this time instead of the offbeat "Spike" opening 1. g4 he played last time, he stuck to a conventional 1. d4.

Soon I was in a good position - I'd found a way to go a pawn up, had a Bishop pair and rooks on an open d-file. It should have been a fairly easy cruise to victory from there.

Last night, I input this game into Fritz and imagine my shock and chagrin when I discovered that I had missed a mate in 1 as early as move 15 of the game. There is no excuse for missing a mate in 1! I can't even believe it's possible - I simply didn't look for it, didn't look at all that was going on on the board. We get so bound up in one idea that we don't look further. Rowson talks about buying into an internal narrative of what we think is going on in the game and this was a good example. It was an odd position - he hadn't castled and I (as black) had a pawn right up on d3, which allowed me to mate with Qd2 but I suppose we just don't think of putting a Queen right into the enemy camp so early in the game. I need to think more broadly is all I can conclude from this.

The game continued and I got a big attack going .. the problem was that all my pieces were now well advanced into his camp, and what happened was that I found I had over-reached myself and got tangled up. It meant he could trap one of my Rooks with his Knight and win the exchange (ie win Rook for Knight) and the attack petered out. I was left with two Bishops against a Knight and a Rook. Still with chances, but definitely behind now.

At least I don't give up as easily as I used to , which is one good thing, and I battled on in the endgame right up to move 55. I did managed to pose him some problems and keep my two Bishops active.

But I committed another fatal chess crime near the end of the game. He offered to give up his Knight on the Queenside and pushed a pawn on the other side of the board. I assumed that I had to take the pawn to prevent him Queening it, which I did. In fact, I could have afforded to take the Knight and let him push the pawn, because my King could have come round to stop the pawn Queening. It might have been a bit awkward, but I would have been a piece up.

I was guilty of that classic problem of "believing ones opponent" - I should have calculated it out myself.

So anyway in the end I lost a game I should have won. I felt at the time that I should have won, and that was before I even knew about the missed mate in 1 and the missed win in endgame. So two very hard lessons in that game.

Chris lost too, after another tough game, and we went for a beer in the Grove.

The Grove is the best pub in the world - its 10 minutes' walk from the venue and serves the biggest range of beers I've ever seen in any pub - hundreds of real ales and bottled continental beers. Last year imbibing there too freely led to me scoring 0/4 in the tournament - at least this time I managed to limit myself to one beer. Well, two, but they were only halves.

Dave was still playing. He had got a bye but was playing a graded friendly which he won.

Game 3 - Karpovian end-game style sees me home

It does seem as though the Precepts with which I launced this 'blog a year or so ago are starting to pay dividends. I don't quit games so early (as evidenced in the game from this morning) and I don't let lost games affect me so badly when the next one starts.

In game 3 I was black again and faced a very dreary opening system against a 92-rated opponent. It was, it must be said, an exceptionally boring first 20 moves or so with no real engagement and lots of pedestrian manoeuvring.

My opponent made some rather ill-advised loosening pawn moves around his King which enabled me to swap off the Queens and take control of an open file. I had a positional advantage because he had weak pawns. I could have taken a pawn but it would have ceded control of the d-file, so I simply piled pressure on the weak pawn and forced him to tie up his two remaining pieces defending it. My advanced rook stopped him bringing his King into the position, so I could calmly walk my own King the full length of the board from f8 to c1 to mop up the pawn and then the win was easy. It felt quite nice to play that way. I think a stronger player than he would have given up the pawn to get his pieces more active since playing it as he did was only going to lead to defeat.

So - somewhat back on track on 2/3. Dave and Chris both lost.

Evening - knock-down tournament and enormous curry

We headed back to my place. Chris and I headed to Horbury to get a take-away curry. Dave Stephenson managed to find his way to my house despite totally failing to follow us, and he 'phoned in his order. He doesn't drink but he can certainly put the food away and ordered an enormous 3 course curry including a heaped plate of tandoori mixed grill. Chris had the same but without the other 2 courses, and I had a modest chicken balti.

We played Fell Knock-Down - a 5 minute tournament where you lose a minute on the clock after each victory. Predictably, Dave destroyed Chris and me in all the games even when he only had 1 minute v our 5. It was quite depressing - it wasn't even close, ever. The gulf between him and us is so enormous - I know I can try as hard as I like but I will never be anywhere near as good as he is. And yet if he sat down to play a Grandmaster, he would get destroyed as badly.

I'd like to see him play Morgan Daniels at Knock-down, since Daniels wiped me out just as comprehensively. That would be a battle I'd pay to watch. Maybe it will happen one day.

Chris and Dave wanted to watch Match of the Day, so I decided to get some sleep on the sofa. And thus another chess day drew to a close.