Things go awry at St Albans

Saturday April 10th

Last weekend was the St Albans tournament. This is the first time I've played in this particular event - 2 years I went along but didn't play and last year for some reason I was unavailable. The venue had changed from the boys' school next to the Cathedral to another boys' school on the other side of the Cathedral, a Catholic school I was pleased to note.

I drove down on the Saturday morning to save one night's bed and breakfast cost. This particular event is quite civilised in starting at 10am instead of the more usual 9.30 and I left home at about 6.00 and was there in good time. I managed to drive at a sedate pace and got about 70 miles per gallon which is good, in keeping with the money-saving tenor of our times.

I turned up early at the venue. It was a large hall in the school and quite airy. There was a terrace with a nice view over the Roman ruins of Verulamium to the Cathedral.

Russell Goodfellow was playing in this event too and he turned up just before play started.

Game 1 - good result against an old opponent

My first round opponent was Mark Silman whom I'd drawn with in round 1 at Bury St Edmunds. I probably should have won that game but I messed up several winning chances and he managed to force a draw. He was a good opponent though, and here at St Albans was one of the top seeds in my section. At Bury he had reminded me a bit of Lovejoy, the TV antiques dealer played by Ian McShane, with long curly hair and a leather jacket, but now his hair was cut shorter.

This turned out to be one of the best games of my career to date - I hardly put a foot wrong. I saw a nice tactic in the opening phase to win a Knight for a pawn, and then managed to force the Queens off and closed out the ending efficiently by opening lines at the right time. Overall I was very pleased with the result especially as it was against a good player. And a nice turnaround from my usual game 1 hoodoo.

Afterwards we had a chat and a cup of tea and then I went to the pub with Russell who had also won his round 1 game. The pub was just round the corner and proved to have nice real ales on offer.

Game 2 - in which I almost muck up another game against John Eddershaw

In game 2, battle was resumed against John Eddershaw. Attentive readers will recall that he is the man against whom I managed to lose a totally won game at Huddersfield two weeks ago. He is another person I played at Bury St Edmunds, where I'd beaten him fairly easily. So it was honours even between the two of us though I would say I'd outplayed him overall - I managed to miss a MATE IN ONE at Huddersfield!

This game started off as a very cagey, dreary opening - he was White and if White wants to keep things very tight ("stodgy" as Dave Stephenson would say) then it is usually possible. Things went on for about 25 moves with hardly any pieces off the board, until we both had our Rooks and Queens lined up on two different files. I managed to get a pawn up, then two pawns up, but his heavy pieces were menacing my King and suddenly it started to look as though I was getting into difficulties. I always seem to miscalculate when my King is under threat, and it was so here - I suddenly made a bad mistake and got completely tangled up. The next thing I knew, I'd lost a Queen for a Rook.

Things started to move rather fast. I think he was suffering from the problem that I often have, where you get into a winning position and then somehow lose focus. The very move after I lost my Queen, I saw that if he made a weak move I had a chance to hit his undefended King and at least win the Queen back again. In something of a daze, he made the exact move I wanted, and two moves later I had checkmated him. It was all very odd indeed.

He must have felt awful but he was pretty decent about it. Turned out he's ex-military. He said it was a fair result because he didn't really deserve to win the game at Huddersfield - which was nice of him, even though it was true!

Game 3 - evening bye

So I was on 2/2, it's been a long time since I managed that. I had decided, after the disaster at Coulsdon, when I lost in 9 moves on the Saturday evening, to take a Saturday night bye, so I watched the start of the games and then went to check into my B&B, which turned out to be about 2 miles from the venue , right across the town. I chatted to the landlady for a bit - nice lady and an impeccable house - I'd even got an upgrade to an en-suite as the other guests had cancelled.

I walked back to the chess via a pub where I stopped for a pint and dinner, an Tyrolean dish of potatoes , bacon and mushrooms. I got back to the venue and watched the end of the games. Russell got into his usual time-trouble, but his opponent got into even worse time-trouble and dropped material in the time scramble. Russell had won all his games and was sitting on top of the leader board on 3/3, so it was a good day for both of us. We celebrated with a couple of beers in the real ale place, before I got a cab back to the b&b - I believe he managed a few more pints though!

Sunday April 11th

Game 4 - disaster strikes

I had checked the draw the night before and seen that I'd been drawn against one of the lowest-rated players in the section. Obviously he was on 2/2 as well, so clearly playing well, but he was only rated 59 (I am 99 and decent players are 130+) so I thought it had to be , on paper, an easy game. I thought maybe that it would be a junior, since they are usual the only ones with such low grades.

I had a good breakfast at the B&B and set out in optimistic mood - always fatal! I got to the venue early and had a walk before the chess started. I walked across the Verulamium park, past the ruins of the Roman camp and round the lake. The sun was out, blossom on the trees, birds twittering, all very nice.

I got back to the venue to discover that I was playing an older man, so I thought that this should not be too hard a task and was already relishing being on board 1 playing for the title in the afternoon.

Fatal of course.

The game started with another dull, manoeuvring position - he was White and played a lineof the Colle. Then it seemed that he had dropped a pawn. He thought he'd dropped a pawn too (this is just like my 9-move defeat at Coulsdon). Since he thought he'd lost a pawn, he just decided to launch an attack and, just like at Coulsdon, it transpired that losing the pawn had helped him because it opened lines and freed his pieces. An unintentional gambit.

Whatever, within about 3 moves I was being checkmated and had to resign. It felt dreadful - a bad loss to a low-ranked player in a game I really thought I could win, with chances of prize money or even winning the tournament gone up in smoke. I was disgusted and appalled with myself - this really ranks with one of my worst, most humiliating defeats.

I felt so bad that I straight away withdrew from the event, not playing the last game. I know that goes against one of the 'blog Precepts, but i was in such a rubbish mood that I'd only have loused up the last game had I played it.

Goodfellow won his game and was on 4/4, guaranteed first place if he drew the last game, so he was very happy - a long-awaited return to form for him.

We had lunch in the pub.

Game 5 - walk in the park

During round 5 I took myself round the park again and also had a look at the Cathedral, which was well worth a visit. It felt a lot better being out on a nice afternoon than playing chess!

Goodfellow got a quick draw and won £250 which made his day, and then things got even better for him as Manchester Citr FC won 5-1.

I said goodbye to him and headed off to stay overnight in Berkhampsted with my colleague Ian Imms who laid on a superb dinner of roast lamb. We went to the pub for a beer afterwards and then got an early night because we both had to leave at 6am to drive back North.

Conclusions

I've played three congresses in three weeks and it's not gone as well as I had hoped. Given that two of them (Huddersfield and St Albans) had easy grading limits, my showing of won 6 drawn 3 lost 4 is nothing special.

Of my six wins -
Huddersfield round 1 was against a very weak player and I still dropped a piece
Huddersfield rounds 3 and 4 were quite good wins
Coulsdon round 2 was against a very weak player
St Albans round 1 was good, round 2 was a total fluke from a lost position

so I can only be pleased with 3 of them.

Of the 4 defeats, three were truly abysmal
Huddersfield round 2 I missed a win by a mate in 1
Coulsdon round 2 I lost in 9 moves
St Albans round 4 was against someone rated 59.

So, overall, despite playing quite well in some games, it was a disappointing performance. On the plus side, I have managed to adhere to the Precepts with which I started this 'blog a year ago, which were mostly to do with the psychological side - not giving up early etc. I think I need to review the Precepts and maybe come up with some new ones to do with not overlooking totally obvious things over the board, which has been the main reason for my recent failures. I will write an entry on this topic shortly.

A volcano intervenes in my plans

On Wednesday, I played the final club game of the year for Netherton v Holmfirth, and I was paired against Normal Battye, against whom I had another of my more memorable defeats a year ago when I managed to lose despite being a Bishop and Rook ahead and with a pawn on the 7th rank poised to promote to a Queen.

I was determined to get my own back for that and atone for the disaster at St Albans and I managed to crush him fairly comprehensively with a display which never gave him a chance. It was nice to get a crushing win for a change!

I had been looking forward to a weekend off chess since I was going to Berlin to see Michelle - much needed rest and recuperation. Sadly the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano and the subsequent grounding of all UK flights has put paid to that plan, so, scouting around for something else to do instead I came up with the brilliant plan -

"I know, I'll play in a chess tournament!".

Makes a change.

So I will be heading to Nottingham tomorrow morning to start again at the chequered board. This was the event last year where I wrote my first 'blog entry, so my original intention of writing for a year has been achieved - time to take stock, which I will be doing in my next entry.