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.

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.