I got back from Herne Bay in time for the start of the afternoon games. I watched the Grandmaster games for a while until Morgan arrived. There were quite a few well-known names there, but by far the best-known was the British No. 1, Michael Adams. The very best GMs rarely play in the British Championship, so for him to come and play was a real rarety. And he was winning almost all of his games with some ease - brushing aside other Grandmasters whilst playing apparently simple chess. The ease of his wins was causing puzzlement in the commentary room; one theory for it was that his opponents were in such awe that they were self-destructing against him. For instance, Stuart Conquest, who was British Champion two years ago, and is well known for his combative chess, played a strangely subdued opening system against Adams, most unlike his usual style.
When Morgan turned up, I was in the commentary room, watching Andrew Martin's game commentaries. We had a bit of a catch-up and then Morgan took some photos for the chess 'blog he writes. (Which made me think, maybe I should embellish this 'blog with some photos). After watching a few more games, we walked down the hill into town where I had arranged to meet Clive Gross, an old friend of mine - in fact I've known him since primary school. Because he lives in Kent, we don't get to meet too often, so it was a good chance to meet up.
Clive and Morgan are both independent-thinking types, and so I thought they'd probably get on all right, and so it proved. We had a beer in the pub - the same sound old pub I'd met the backgammon players in the previous evening - and then went for a vegetarian curry round the corner. We went back to the pub and then Clive headed off to drive back home. Morgan and I had another beer, and then parted ways - he walked back to the railway station to get a train back to London and I went back to my b&b.
I must have fallen asleep straight away, being tired from the chess and the night out. Rather unfortunately, my phone was still on silent, which is how I had set it in the chess hall, so I missed all the calls and texts from Morgan. When I woke up at 6 or so the next morning, I discovered that he'd missed his last train to London, and had been trying to contact me until about 1.30am. I had visions of him having to sleep on a park bench or hitch home, so I hurried to the station to see if there was any sign of him, but the station master said that he'd not seen anyone there when he'd opened up at 5am.
The mystery remained unsolved as I sat down to play game 3.
GAME 3 - Wednesday August 4th
With the Daniels mystery still hanging over me, I wasn't really in the mood for a game of chess. I was paired against an older chap. Someone else had told me that "he comes at you" and so it proved. Without bothering to get his King safe, he launched his Kingside pawns up the board towards my King. It is not normally sound chess to do that before properly developing your pieces and ensuring your own King is safe, but it can be frightening to face a pawn storm like that, and in the past I have panicked and played badly against unsound attacks, so I needed to proceed with caution. This kind of game was the last thing I needed when already a bit discombobulated about the Daniels Mystery.
Fortunately, I knew how to respond to these kind of wing attacks, which is to open up lines and counter-attack in the centre, and I managed to do that. His attack petered out after a while, and his King was exposed in the centre of the board, giving me plenty of chances to counter-attack. Eventually, I managed to wrap the game up. I was pleased with how the game had gone, for a couple of reasons - particularly because in the past I have struggled against attacks like that, so it was pleasing to have been so solid and seen it off.
Now I was on 2.5/3, so would be among the front-runners the next day. I went back to the b&b and checked my 'phone which I'd left there, and found a message from Morgan to the effect that in the end he had got a taxi home - apparently he managed to negotiate the driver down to £100 for the fare, which could have been worse I suppose. Probably better than sleeping the night on a park bench anyway!
I had some scampi in a pub for lunch and spent the afternoon, as ever, watching the Grandmaster games and listening to Andrew Martin's commentary. In the evening, I met another old friend I've not seen for a good few years, Richard Carter. He was a close friend at University, but we'd not seen much of one another for a good few years - Kent is a bit out of the way after all - so it was good to catch up again. We met in the Parrot, the same pub I'd been to the two other nights, and had a drink, and then went for a Mexican meal in a restaurant in the town centre. It was a nice evening, and I think Richard managed to get home all right at the end of it!
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