I am in Wetherspoons in Hereford having breakfast with Colin.
The weekend has been going well both in chess terms and otherwise.
Yesterday I won both my games; in some ways it was the best day of my chess "career" to date - both of my opponents were reasonably strong, given that we were in the Minor section that is - one was rated 127 and one was 117, thoughit must be borne in mind, by those of you to whom that means something, that this is the new grades, and in the"old money" they were probably about 110 and 100 respectively or around 1500 in US/Irish terms.
Still, I have only beaten a handful of players of that level, so to beat two in one day was quite an achievement. The other encouraging part was that the games weren't even close - I didn't really give them much of a chance - whenI put the games into the computer it was evident that I'd outplayed them throughout.
The tournament is good for a number of reasons, not least that, being over a Bank Holiday weekend (today is the AugstBank Holiday), it means the games are spread over three days, and only two games a day, with a very civilised10h30 start time each day. Colin and I had a Thai dinner on Saturday night and a few beers and could still sleep in and have breakfast in a pavement cafe before going to the venue.
My morning game was against a quite smartly-dressed character (by the low standards of chess events positively dressy) of about my age. It wasn't a bad game though I felt I was better throughout. He played the Queens GambitAccepted which I've not met for a while but I was able to control the centre and soon had open lines and tacticalchances. I got a pawn up via a tactic and then he made a mistake, taking a pawn with his Queen which was fatal - I either won the Queen or had a mate in 2. As it was he didn't even see the mate so it was over right there.
All the tactics exercises I've been making myself do over the past few months have certainly paid off - I wouldnthave seen that mate myself until recently I think. I have come to the conclusion from this tournament that tactics problems are the single most valuable way of improving one's results - as Jonathan Rowson said in his bookChess for Zebras, lots of people regard chess practice as almost an intellectual exercise - calling it "study"whereas he says you should see it as training, like you would do for a sport, and rather than (in his words) "reading and nodding" you should do proper training - noone practices running by reading a book! Anyway, movingaway from academic study of openings to tactics practice has certainly proved worthwhile for me.
We went out for a little walk at lunchtime across some fields, admiring good views of the Herefordshire countrysidetowards the Malvern Hills. We found a pub and had a pint - by chance, Colin's opponent from yesterday was in thereso we had a chat to him.
In the afternoon, I was playing a bloke with sideburns and a bristly moustache. The opening was a Colle, the exactsame one that the lady played against me in round 1. I played the same system against it, since it worked OK thelast time. Knights on d7 and f6, bishops on b7 and e7, small centre with pawns on e6, d6, c5, b6. It seemed quite flexible.As on Saturday's game , I soon saw a way to win a piece since he left a bishop with no retreat squares whereI could trap it. I fell foul of the exact same tactic in Gonzaga, so I knew well how annoying it is. After thathe fought on for ages trying to drum up some counterplay with queenside pawns, but it was really just a matter of beingcareful to bring home the win. In the end the tactics started flowing and his position fell apart and he hadto resign just after the time control.
Colin won his first game as well, after 2 losses. He beat a woman rated 117 and it must be remembered that he'snot played a serious chess game or done any practice for 18 months, so its avery good achievement to win any gamesat this level.
We were going to have a quiet night and take it easy but we did have to celebrate a bit. We went to a Wetherspoons-likeplace for dinner - two meals for £7 and a bottle of wine for a fiver. THen we went to another pub to analyse the games, and met up again with the bloke we met at lunchtime. He had one beer and then left, and we carried on a bit. Colin talked a lot more about the Tarot and his new fitness campaign that he's starting up in an attempt to shiftthe old middle-age weight problems we all get. He's full of enthusiasm for his "army style" training routine.
Ended up going to bed about midnight then - woke up at 3am whenthe laptop fell off the bed - I'd fallen asleep with it on. Luckily it doesn't seem to be broken. Got up this morning at about 8, checked out of the hotel and now we have just had breakfast and are heading off to the venue.
Tuesday, 1 September 2009
Saturday, 29 August 2009
Hereford part 1
Preparation for Hereford was somewhat marred by the fact that I went to Liverpool last night to see friends and it ended up being a bit of a pissup - I had intended to make sure I had an early night so I could drive down here to Hereford and play OK, but in the end we were on the beers until 2am last night. We had some very nice curry and then went to a couple of good real ale pubs and a rather dubious pick-up bar. And when we got back to my friend's house we cracked open the wine...
Consequently, I didn't get up this morning until 9.40 and I didn't leave until gone 11. Being a bank holiday weekend , the roads were a bit rammed as well, and so I was starting to think I wasn't going to make it to Hereford on time. I texted Colin, who is playing in this tournament as well, and discovered that the game didn't start until 3, so in the end I wasn't all that late.
The event is being held in a school here in Hereford, and its quite a good venue. Nice grounds and a pleasant hall. It's quite a small tournament and seems well organised.
I turned up 15 minutes late and found that I was sitting next to Colin so I could watch his game. I was playing against a woman with a very low rating. It turned out afterwards that she had several family members in the tournament and they were all camping in a camper van in the car-park. Colin was up against an old chap who played a very boring opening.
My game went pretty well - the opening was dull but I got a good enough position out of it. Then she missed a tactic. All my recent tactics work must have paid off because I saw it and managed to win a piece and from then on it was all over fairly quickly with an efficient win. Not the hardest game I've ever played but wins like that are good for the confidence. Colin got into a good position, thought he saw a winning tactic but missed a saving move for his opponent and so ended up losing unfortunately.
We had a little walk and a talk and then headed to the hotel. We got ourselves sorted out here in this hotel which is very nice and then headed to a Thai restaurant round the corner where we had a nice meal and played through the games. I had a pork stir fry curry dish. After that we hit a couple of pubs. In the first one i had a pint of cider. There was a retriever with a teddy bear in its mouth and the clientele was a bit rough and ready so we moved on. The next pub was nicer. There was a singer who sang a lot of gay anthems, so much so that Colin became convinced that it was a gay pub. The beer was nice - they brewed their own. We had 3 games of chess and piqued the interest of the girl at the next table. We were both in quite good form and the games went well.
And that was that - now we are back in the hotel room and its time for bed. At least it was quite a good start to the new season, getting an efficient win under my belt.
Consequently, I didn't get up this morning until 9.40 and I didn't leave until gone 11. Being a bank holiday weekend , the roads were a bit rammed as well, and so I was starting to think I wasn't going to make it to Hereford on time. I texted Colin, who is playing in this tournament as well, and discovered that the game didn't start until 3, so in the end I wasn't all that late.
The event is being held in a school here in Hereford, and its quite a good venue. Nice grounds and a pleasant hall. It's quite a small tournament and seems well organised.
I turned up 15 minutes late and found that I was sitting next to Colin so I could watch his game. I was playing against a woman with a very low rating. It turned out afterwards that she had several family members in the tournament and they were all camping in a camper van in the car-park. Colin was up against an old chap who played a very boring opening.
My game went pretty well - the opening was dull but I got a good enough position out of it. Then she missed a tactic. All my recent tactics work must have paid off because I saw it and managed to win a piece and from then on it was all over fairly quickly with an efficient win. Not the hardest game I've ever played but wins like that are good for the confidence. Colin got into a good position, thought he saw a winning tactic but missed a saving move for his opponent and so ended up losing unfortunately.
We had a little walk and a talk and then headed to the hotel. We got ourselves sorted out here in this hotel which is very nice and then headed to a Thai restaurant round the corner where we had a nice meal and played through the games. I had a pork stir fry curry dish. After that we hit a couple of pubs. In the first one i had a pint of cider. There was a retriever with a teddy bear in its mouth and the clientele was a bit rough and ready so we moved on. The next pub was nicer. There was a singer who sang a lot of gay anthems, so much so that Colin became convinced that it was a gay pub. The beer was nice - they brewed their own. We had 3 games of chess and piqued the interest of the girl at the next table. We were both in quite good form and the games went well.
And that was that - now we are back in the hotel room and its time for bed. At least it was quite a good start to the new season, getting an efficient win under my belt.
Thursday, 27 August 2009
Grange over Sands continued ..
June 9th
Things turned out much better at Grage over Sands after my bad start on Friday night.
Friday
Fortunately I didnt get all that drunk on Friday. Geoff and I were staying in Lancaster and I had to drive usback so I couldn't drink more than a pint at the hotel. We just had a glass of wine while I was putting my gamein the computer, and then went to bed.
Saturday
There were a few problems at the B&B. There was an electrical failure, the fire alarm was bleeping non-stop andthe shower didn't work, so we had to have the old "sink baths" in the morning like my Grandmother did in the War. I hurriedly had some breakfast and then headed off to drive back to Grange. Half-way there I realised I'd not handed back the room key!
I got to the venue about 10 minutes late and discoverd that I was drawn against a blind player.
I've never played a blind person before though I've often seen them at tournaments before. They have a special set and they sit and feel the positions with their hands. The opponents call out their moves and the blind players use a tape recorder to record their moves. This chap was very nice and friendly. As the game went on, I started to feel as though it was a collaberative effort to make sure we didn't make a mistake with the position, more than a competitivechess game!
It must be amazingly hard to appreciate all the nuances and complexities of a chess game when you have to *feel*the pieces - most of us can't manage it with the benefit of full vision! - and before long I was a piece up becausemy opponent had missed the fact that in the middle of a series of exchanges I had an intermezzo check, thus winning a rook. After that it wasn't long before he resigned. I felt a bit bad beating a blind player , but then Im sure they dont want sympathy or special treatment, just an honest game.
Anyway it was a very short game and so I had time to drive all the way back to Lancaster to hand back the room key. The woman was very grateful - Geoff said she'd been rather stressed and annoyed in the morning with all the thigns that had gone wrong. Amusingly , she thought that Geoff and I were a gay couple I think: She was talking to me about the things he'd said to her that morning and kept referring to him as "your partner". We had shared a roombut since it had had twin beds, if we were a gay couple we were a very modest one!
I had a cup of tea and read the paper, a chance to enjoy the Labour party's drubbing the local elections, and thenheaded back. Dave had finished his game by then and so we had a drink and a chat.
In the afternoon I was playing another low-rated player, an older chap, but he proved a resiliant opponant. He playedvery passively in the opening, playing both a6 and h6 within the first 5 moves, but was good in the middle game andhad an edge for a while - in fact there were times when I felt really up against it and had to dig deep to find defences to some of his threats. In the end however he dropped a pawn and then his position fell apart very quickly and I managed to win on about move 50. Dave pointed out afterwards that shortly before the end I'd missed a way towin his Queen, but it was won by then so I won't hold that against myself.
I went through my games with Dave and had a pint. It has been a very long time since I'd won 2 games in one day! Both my opponents were very low-rated (54 and 47) so really no other result should have been expected, but thats noguarantee of victory as I have learnt - the guy I lost to on the first evening was rated 38!
In the evening I was staying at Geoff's place, so I drove 70 miles north to his house just south of the SCottishborder. I had a pleasant evening with him and his 2 girls, until they went to bed and he and I watched Gladiator anddrank rather more ice-cold vodka than I should have had in the middle of a chess tournament! I slept in a sleepingbag on the floor, and woke up at 7am without too much of a hangover.
Things turned out much better at Grage over Sands after my bad start on Friday night.
Friday
Fortunately I didnt get all that drunk on Friday. Geoff and I were staying in Lancaster and I had to drive usback so I couldn't drink more than a pint at the hotel. We just had a glass of wine while I was putting my gamein the computer, and then went to bed.
Saturday
There were a few problems at the B&B. There was an electrical failure, the fire alarm was bleeping non-stop andthe shower didn't work, so we had to have the old "sink baths" in the morning like my Grandmother did in the War. I hurriedly had some breakfast and then headed off to drive back to Grange. Half-way there I realised I'd not handed back the room key!
I got to the venue about 10 minutes late and discoverd that I was drawn against a blind player.
I've never played a blind person before though I've often seen them at tournaments before. They have a special set and they sit and feel the positions with their hands. The opponents call out their moves and the blind players use a tape recorder to record their moves. This chap was very nice and friendly. As the game went on, I started to feel as though it was a collaberative effort to make sure we didn't make a mistake with the position, more than a competitivechess game!
It must be amazingly hard to appreciate all the nuances and complexities of a chess game when you have to *feel*the pieces - most of us can't manage it with the benefit of full vision! - and before long I was a piece up becausemy opponent had missed the fact that in the middle of a series of exchanges I had an intermezzo check, thus winning a rook. After that it wasn't long before he resigned. I felt a bit bad beating a blind player , but then Im sure they dont want sympathy or special treatment, just an honest game.
Anyway it was a very short game and so I had time to drive all the way back to Lancaster to hand back the room key. The woman was very grateful - Geoff said she'd been rather stressed and annoyed in the morning with all the thigns that had gone wrong. Amusingly , she thought that Geoff and I were a gay couple I think: She was talking to me about the things he'd said to her that morning and kept referring to him as "your partner". We had shared a roombut since it had had twin beds, if we were a gay couple we were a very modest one!
I had a cup of tea and read the paper, a chance to enjoy the Labour party's drubbing the local elections, and thenheaded back. Dave had finished his game by then and so we had a drink and a chat.
In the afternoon I was playing another low-rated player, an older chap, but he proved a resiliant opponant. He playedvery passively in the opening, playing both a6 and h6 within the first 5 moves, but was good in the middle game andhad an edge for a while - in fact there were times when I felt really up against it and had to dig deep to find defences to some of his threats. In the end however he dropped a pawn and then his position fell apart very quickly and I managed to win on about move 50. Dave pointed out afterwards that shortly before the end I'd missed a way towin his Queen, but it was won by then so I won't hold that against myself.
I went through my games with Dave and had a pint. It has been a very long time since I'd won 2 games in one day! Both my opponents were very low-rated (54 and 47) so really no other result should have been expected, but thats noguarantee of victory as I have learnt - the guy I lost to on the first evening was rated 38!
In the evening I was staying at Geoff's place, so I drove 70 miles north to his house just south of the SCottishborder. I had a pleasant evening with him and his 2 girls, until they went to bed and he and I watched Gladiator anddrank rather more ice-cold vodka than I should have had in the middle of a chess tournament! I slept in a sleepingbag on the floor, and woke up at 7am without too much of a hangover.
Monday, 24 August 2009
Wakefield v Netherton
Here is the report of the rest of the Grange over Sands event. Sorry its been a while coming. With it being summer, and the close season, chess hasn't been on my mind. That will all change with the first tournament of the 2009-10 season starting. I am going to be playing at Hereford, a tournament I've not taken part in before. This will be a special event as well because Colin is going to be playing in it - his first long play tournament in a couple of years I think.
I did in fact play in one chess game over the past couple of months, a one-off match between Netherton, my village and Wakefield, which is held every year. Netherton, despite being just a little village, normally wins, but we had lost last year and so we wanted to regain the trophy. It was played at Wakefield's home venue which is a sports club - the chess is played in the bowling club groundsman's sheds, which is a slightly unusual venue even by chess standards, as there are mowing machines and bags of grass fertiliser between the tables.
I managed to win my game - my opponent was one of these old chaps with a healthy disregard for opening theory, whos play seemed to move between passivity and bravado. When I tell you that the game began
1 d3 d5
2 c3 e5
3 Nd2 c5
4 e4 Nf6
5 h3 Be7
6 a3 o-o
7 g4
I think you will see what I mean. Like usual when people play bizarre stuff like that, it was frustrating because even though I knew objectively it was wrong it was hard to wear him down and the Kingside pawns were always a problem.
When I was going to the bar for a beer, one of my team members told me that if I kept it tight I would win in the end-game, this chap being notoriously bad at endings. And so it proved - I eventually won a pawn in a tactic and won easily in the endgame when he seemed to lose the will to carry on.
Nice to get a win anyway.
Now here's the next episode of the Grange-over-Sands story from June.
Lancaster, Saturday June 6th
A familiar traumatic defeat against a weak player last night. My opponent was a very shy-looking weedy youth of about 20who didn't look me in the eye or interact with me in any way throughout. His rating was 38, which I think is about 600 in ELO terms, so should in theory have been an easy win, though it never works out that way.
The game was very slow and fairly dull. I was White in a Dutch. He took no risks and I built up slowly to a small positionaladvantage, as I almost always seem to against weaker players. Dave Stephenson was there by this time, spectating, and hewas able to watch my game as it got to a denouement.
As always seems to happen, just as I was getting into a good position and about to administer the coup de gras, it all crashed horribly and I got mated.
Bit of a nightmare.
On the plus side, the venue is very nice, an old Victorian hotel overlooking the bay at Grange over sands. Faded 19thcentury grandeur and now rather down-at-heel, like so many of our seaside towns - but not grim like Blackpool; rathermore genteel and understated. I had quite a nice turkey sandwich during the game.
Precepts-wise I did ok - no beer, no early resignations or anything. Just the classic problem of messing up a won position. Im not too sure what I do to rectify that.
Time for breakfast now.
I did in fact play in one chess game over the past couple of months, a one-off match between Netherton, my village and Wakefield, which is held every year. Netherton, despite being just a little village, normally wins, but we had lost last year and so we wanted to regain the trophy. It was played at Wakefield's home venue which is a sports club - the chess is played in the bowling club groundsman's sheds, which is a slightly unusual venue even by chess standards, as there are mowing machines and bags of grass fertiliser between the tables.
I managed to win my game - my opponent was one of these old chaps with a healthy disregard for opening theory, whos play seemed to move between passivity and bravado. When I tell you that the game began
1 d3 d5
2 c3 e5
3 Nd2 c5
4 e4 Nf6
5 h3 Be7
6 a3 o-o
7 g4
I think you will see what I mean. Like usual when people play bizarre stuff like that, it was frustrating because even though I knew objectively it was wrong it was hard to wear him down and the Kingside pawns were always a problem.
When I was going to the bar for a beer, one of my team members told me that if I kept it tight I would win in the end-game, this chap being notoriously bad at endings. And so it proved - I eventually won a pawn in a tactic and won easily in the endgame when he seemed to lose the will to carry on.
Nice to get a win anyway.
Now here's the next episode of the Grange-over-Sands story from June.
Lancaster, Saturday June 6th
A familiar traumatic defeat against a weak player last night. My opponent was a very shy-looking weedy youth of about 20who didn't look me in the eye or interact with me in any way throughout. His rating was 38, which I think is about 600 in ELO terms, so should in theory have been an easy win, though it never works out that way.
The game was very slow and fairly dull. I was White in a Dutch. He took no risks and I built up slowly to a small positionaladvantage, as I almost always seem to against weaker players. Dave Stephenson was there by this time, spectating, and hewas able to watch my game as it got to a denouement.
As always seems to happen, just as I was getting into a good position and about to administer the coup de gras, it all crashed horribly and I got mated.
Bit of a nightmare.
On the plus side, the venue is very nice, an old Victorian hotel overlooking the bay at Grange over sands. Faded 19thcentury grandeur and now rather down-at-heel, like so many of our seaside towns - but not grim like Blackpool; rathermore genteel and understated. I had quite a nice turkey sandwich during the game.
Precepts-wise I did ok - no beer, no early resignations or anything. Just the classic problem of messing up a won position. Im not too sure what I do to rectify that.
Time for breakfast now.
Friday, 24 July 2009
Grange-over-Sands part 1
Here is the first part of the account of my successful tournament at Grange-over-Sands. The rest will follow over the next few days. I've added some "reaction" buttons at the bottom, so please have your say if you like and let me know what you think of it.
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Friday June 5th
I am in a bed and breakfast place in Lancaster awaiting the start of the Grange over Sands tournaments. Grange is a small seaside town on Morecambe Bay, about 26 miles from here - as ever I left it too long to get my accommodation organisedand so I couldn't find anywhere affordable to stay, so I'm a fair way from the venue. Its a nice B&B though, rightnext to the railway station.
To be honest I've hardly picked up a pawn in anger since the Nottingham tournament, which is why there have been no chess journals since then. Michelle has been here for a month-long visit. We had a nice holiday for a week, touring the country staying with friends in various locations, and doing hill-walks in places like the South Downs, Chilterns andCheshire. She then stayed at my place for another three weeks and so we filled our time with lots of nice walks, pubdinners and film nights, and so there wasn't much time for chess. It probably did me good to have a break though.
Today I dropped Michelle off at Liverpool airport and she's now back in Berlin and I'm torturing myself once again on the chess circuit.
Dave Stephenson, one of the small and select circulation of readers of this journal, is playing here too - though he is in the Open and I'm in the bottom section, which tells you all you need to know about our relative abilities! Dave manages to combine playing high-level chess with singing in a choir, hill-walking and being an IT contractor - I'm not sure how he managesto do it all!
Another friend is going to be coming along to the tournament - Geoff Renyard, a very sound man whom I worked with on an IT project all of last year. We lived in the same hotel and so spent a lot of time drinking, going for walks and playing board games with one another. He lives near Carlisle, 60 miles north of here, and so he's coming along to spectate. He will be staying in this B&B tonight and then tomorrow I will stay in his place. Nice to have a couple of friends at the tournament anyway.
Now I must re-read my precepts list from Nottingham - I must make sure I stick to them all again. Unfortunately Michelleand I were staying at John's place in Nottingham last night (coincidentally the same friend I stayed with for the last tournament) and he and I were up drinking gin until 2am and watching the election coverage on the news, so that's oneprecept broken already! I haven't had a drink today though. Must lay off the beer!
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Friday June 5th
I am in a bed and breakfast place in Lancaster awaiting the start of the Grange over Sands tournaments. Grange is a small seaside town on Morecambe Bay, about 26 miles from here - as ever I left it too long to get my accommodation organisedand so I couldn't find anywhere affordable to stay, so I'm a fair way from the venue. Its a nice B&B though, rightnext to the railway station.
To be honest I've hardly picked up a pawn in anger since the Nottingham tournament, which is why there have been no chess journals since then. Michelle has been here for a month-long visit. We had a nice holiday for a week, touring the country staying with friends in various locations, and doing hill-walks in places like the South Downs, Chilterns andCheshire. She then stayed at my place for another three weeks and so we filled our time with lots of nice walks, pubdinners and film nights, and so there wasn't much time for chess. It probably did me good to have a break though.
Today I dropped Michelle off at Liverpool airport and she's now back in Berlin and I'm torturing myself once again on the chess circuit.
Dave Stephenson, one of the small and select circulation of readers of this journal, is playing here too - though he is in the Open and I'm in the bottom section, which tells you all you need to know about our relative abilities! Dave manages to combine playing high-level chess with singing in a choir, hill-walking and being an IT contractor - I'm not sure how he managesto do it all!
Another friend is going to be coming along to the tournament - Geoff Renyard, a very sound man whom I worked with on an IT project all of last year. We lived in the same hotel and so spent a lot of time drinking, going for walks and playing board games with one another. He lives near Carlisle, 60 miles north of here, and so he's coming along to spectate. He will be staying in this B&B tonight and then tomorrow I will stay in his place. Nice to have a couple of friends at the tournament anyway.
Now I must re-read my precepts list from Nottingham - I must make sure I stick to them all again. Unfortunately Michelleand I were staying at John's place in Nottingham last night (coincidentally the same friend I stayed with for the last tournament) and he and I were up drinking gin until 2am and watching the election coverage on the news, so that's oneprecept broken already! I haven't had a drink today though. Must lay off the beer!
Friday, 17 July 2009
Rest of the Nottingham tournament story
Thanks to all of you who have troubled to sign up - and apologies for the slowness in getting this going. I keep forgetting to do it - the problem is made worse by the fact that its the off-season for chess so its not at the forefront of my mind.
My next tournament will be Twyford, which I will be attending with Colin over the August Bank Holiday weekend, then I will probably play at Bradford in September. October will be a very busy month with tournaments in Galway, Bury St Edmonds and Scarborough.
Here's the rest of the Nottingham tournament, which was overshadowed by my Sister's great achievements in the London marathon.
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Sunday April 26th
My Sister is competing in the London Marathon today - running whilst I'm hunched over the chequered board, so I will be thinking of her as I'm calculating or miscalculating my variations.
Yesterday afternoon's game was a straightforward win against someone with the eye-catching rating of 14. In essence, he was a casual player who takes his son, a much stronger player, to tournaments, and just plays to fill in the time. About all you can say of the game is that it was an efficient win. Still, nice to get a win and end a run of 6 defeatsand 10 games since my last win back at Doncaster in February.
After the chess I had a nice walk through the Forest Recreation Ground and Arboretum. THe Arboretum is a nice Victorian Park. Despite all my time in Nottingham (I went to University and lived here for 4 years afterwards), I had never been to it before. It was a sunny afternoon with fluffy clouds and the park was full of students snogging, playing frizbee and wearing shortskirts. I think I was the oldest one in the park apart from a local tramp. Rather poignant, the passing of time andthe realisation that I was old enough to be most of the students' father. There was also a Chinese bell, pinched duringthe Opium Wars and 2 cannon captured at the Battle of Sevastopol. Good old Imperialism!
Off back to the venue now for 2 more games.
Tuesday April 28th
Things didn't go too well at the chess on the Sunday. I did have a nice walk into the venue. I parked at the entrance to Wollaton Park and walked across the park and up Ilkeston Rd - about 3.5 miles altogether. My Sister was running in the LondonMarathon and I was following her progress via mobile phone and laptop. I had to keep leaving the venue to check the phone for updates which could have been a bit problematic if my opponents had noticed. I have to tell you that she did rather betterat the Marathon than I did in the chess, finishing the 26.2 miles in 4 hours 49 minutes.
My opponent in the morning was an unrated ginger-haired girl of about 10. She was unsmiling at the start and emotionless throughout. She moved pretty muchinstanteously every time and only used 15 minutes for her 40 moves. Her opening play was abysmal - if I tell you that the opening moves were
1 e4 c5 2 a3?
you will see what I mean. WIthin five moves of the start I was a piece up with the Bishop pair, though annoyingly I missed a chance to win a piece onmove 6 which could have led to a different result.
What actually happened was I soon got bogged down in a cramped position and had to manoeuvre carefully to start to make my pawn advantage count. LIke a lot of children, she was very good at rustling up activity and sharp tactics. They seem to be things that come naturally to children, maybe because they know no fear and don't waste time defending pawns and worrying about threats. Forunatelythe Queens were off. In the end I got myself sorted out and won another pawn to go 2 pawns up in a R+B ending. We got to the time control at which point I'd used 75 minutes and she'd only used 15. I was still winning though, but that soon changed with an appalling blunder - I just didnt notice that she couldpush her h-pawn through to h6 whereafter it could not be stopped from Queening! It wasn't a good feeling.
I had a sandwhich and tea for lunch and a nice walk up Mansfield Rd, around the mysterious waterwork land called Corporation Oaks (with great views of the City) and back across the recreation ground.
At least I didn't withdraw and was still there to play in Round 5. So poor had been my performance that I hadn't even qualified out of the side roomwhere all the bottom boards in the Minor were playing. In the last round I had another unrated opponent, an older chap. Of my 4 games, three were againstungraded players and the fourth was graded 14, so this tournament won't have done much for my own grade.
I was White and the game was a Gruenfeld. It was relatively even throughout. I did my Dave Stephenson impression and didn't castle, put the K on g2 and launched an attack with the h-pawn. It does seem quite effective and I gradually wrested an advantage. There was a strange moment when I had been thinking I was a pawn up only to realise I actually wasn't! I had a passed d-pawn though and gradually got better and better. I was somewhat distractedhowever, both because of Eleanor running in the Marathon (she finished during this game) and because even though I hadn't withdrawn, its hard to take the final round all that seriously if there's nothing riding on it. In the ending I won a Knight , so had a won position with N+R+3 pawns vs R+3 pawns. I only had 5 minutes left on the clock though against his 25, and didn't fancy trying to win the ending with so little time left, so I offered a draw which he accepted.
My next tournament will be Twyford, which I will be attending with Colin over the August Bank Holiday weekend, then I will probably play at Bradford in September. October will be a very busy month with tournaments in Galway, Bury St Edmonds and Scarborough.
Here's the rest of the Nottingham tournament, which was overshadowed by my Sister's great achievements in the London marathon.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sunday April 26th
My Sister is competing in the London Marathon today - running whilst I'm hunched over the chequered board, so I will be thinking of her as I'm calculating or miscalculating my variations.
Yesterday afternoon's game was a straightforward win against someone with the eye-catching rating of 14. In essence, he was a casual player who takes his son, a much stronger player, to tournaments, and just plays to fill in the time. About all you can say of the game is that it was an efficient win. Still, nice to get a win and end a run of 6 defeatsand 10 games since my last win back at Doncaster in February.
After the chess I had a nice walk through the Forest Recreation Ground and Arboretum. THe Arboretum is a nice Victorian Park. Despite all my time in Nottingham (I went to University and lived here for 4 years afterwards), I had never been to it before. It was a sunny afternoon with fluffy clouds and the park was full of students snogging, playing frizbee and wearing shortskirts. I think I was the oldest one in the park apart from a local tramp. Rather poignant, the passing of time andthe realisation that I was old enough to be most of the students' father. There was also a Chinese bell, pinched duringthe Opium Wars and 2 cannon captured at the Battle of Sevastopol. Good old Imperialism!
Off back to the venue now for 2 more games.
Tuesday April 28th
Things didn't go too well at the chess on the Sunday. I did have a nice walk into the venue. I parked at the entrance to Wollaton Park and walked across the park and up Ilkeston Rd - about 3.5 miles altogether. My Sister was running in the LondonMarathon and I was following her progress via mobile phone and laptop. I had to keep leaving the venue to check the phone for updates which could have been a bit problematic if my opponents had noticed. I have to tell you that she did rather betterat the Marathon than I did in the chess, finishing the 26.2 miles in 4 hours 49 minutes.
My opponent in the morning was an unrated ginger-haired girl of about 10. She was unsmiling at the start and emotionless throughout. She moved pretty muchinstanteously every time and only used 15 minutes for her 40 moves. Her opening play was abysmal - if I tell you that the opening moves were
1 e4 c5 2 a3?
you will see what I mean. WIthin five moves of the start I was a piece up with the Bishop pair, though annoyingly I missed a chance to win a piece onmove 6 which could have led to a different result.
What actually happened was I soon got bogged down in a cramped position and had to manoeuvre carefully to start to make my pawn advantage count. LIke a lot of children, she was very good at rustling up activity and sharp tactics. They seem to be things that come naturally to children, maybe because they know no fear and don't waste time defending pawns and worrying about threats. Forunatelythe Queens were off. In the end I got myself sorted out and won another pawn to go 2 pawns up in a R+B ending. We got to the time control at which point I'd used 75 minutes and she'd only used 15. I was still winning though, but that soon changed with an appalling blunder - I just didnt notice that she couldpush her h-pawn through to h6 whereafter it could not be stopped from Queening! It wasn't a good feeling.
I had a sandwhich and tea for lunch and a nice walk up Mansfield Rd, around the mysterious waterwork land called Corporation Oaks (with great views of the City) and back across the recreation ground.
At least I didn't withdraw and was still there to play in Round 5. So poor had been my performance that I hadn't even qualified out of the side roomwhere all the bottom boards in the Minor were playing. In the last round I had another unrated opponent, an older chap. Of my 4 games, three were againstungraded players and the fourth was graded 14, so this tournament won't have done much for my own grade.
I was White and the game was a Gruenfeld. It was relatively even throughout. I did my Dave Stephenson impression and didn't castle, put the K on g2 and launched an attack with the h-pawn. It does seem quite effective and I gradually wrested an advantage. There was a strange moment when I had been thinking I was a pawn up only to realise I actually wasn't! I had a passed d-pawn though and gradually got better and better. I was somewhat distractedhowever, both because of Eleanor running in the Marathon (she finished during this game) and because even though I hadn't withdrawn, its hard to take the final round all that seriously if there's nothing riding on it. In the ending I won a Knight , so had a won position with N+R+3 pawns vs R+3 pawns. I only had 5 minutes left on the clock though against his 25, and didn't fancy trying to win the ending with so little time left, so I offered a draw which he accepted.
Saturday, 4 July 2009
Nottingham tournament part 1
Apologies to everyone for taking ages to getting around to putting the next bit of the Nottingham report on here - I keep meaning to and I keep forgetting.
For most of you its not new material anyway, but I need to get up to date.
This one was the very first report from that tournament where I listed my new "precepts" to try and improve my tournament performance. They didn't do much good at Nottingham itself, but did pay off in an improved effort at Grange-over-Sands and to a lesser extent at Heywood.
Thanks to Jim for sending this back to me so I could post it since I'd lost my own copy.
One more note - Russell Goodfellow is this weekend doing battle in the World Open in Philadelphia, the largest and richest chess event in the world. I don't know how he's going, but good luck to him anyway.
************************************************************
Friday 24 April 2009
The launch of my one-year chess journal was rather delayed by the fact that I had to download some annoying software to be able to use Word on my laptop. Aren’t computers a pain? I am sitting in my kitchen eating porridge and listening to some Stamitz concertos, to aid concentration. The Nottingham chess tournament starts tomorrow.
The main reason for writing a chess journal is in an effort to get some better results. This chess season has been nothing short of abysmal for me – after a reasonable showing at Galway and Bury St Edmonds last autumn, I got 0.5/3 at Hull, 0/3 at Coulsdon, 0/3 at Gonzaga in Dublin. Then a minor improvement at Doncaster where after losing the first game – meaning I’d lost 10 of my last 11 games -I then managed to win two games – both incidentally after drinking 2 pints at lunchtime.
Blackpool was a tournament of mostly drawn games (and a loss) and then I sunk back down again at Huddersfield with 0/4, though the influence of a superb real ale pub I found near the venue was at least partly to blame for that. So over all those events, a pretty poor showing – I won 2, drew 4 and lost 14. At least it can’t get much worse. By writing a journal of my thoughts on each game and the preparation I do between tournaments, and sending it to a panel of expert players and ex-players, I hope to get a better idea of where things are going wrong (or right) and be able to take steps to improve.
My plan is to keep this going through all the tournaments over the next 12 months. Read on and you will hear about my adventures in all kinds of glamorous locations – Nottingham, Grange-over-Sands, the Isle of Man, Chester, Galway, Scarborough, Bury St Edmonds, Hull, Coulsdon, Halifax, Dublin, Gibraltar, Doncaster, Blackpool and Huddersfield all being tournaments I am considering playing in in that time. I will also liven things up with tales of the antics of the other players I come across and try and provide some local colour and entertainment with tales of the goings-on that go on.
**********************************************************************************
One thing I am not going to do in this journal is include full games or reams of analysis, since its something I want to make more of a readable story – something you can read in the bath or on the train and not need a chess board in front of you.I have just been going through all my recent defeats with a view to trying to find the most common reasons why I lose chess games. There are three broad categories of reasons for my defeats –
1. Pre-game psychological reasons. Most of these games are lost before they begin. If I’ve had a bad loss in the previous game I often don’t make any effort in the next one. Often I turn up to a tournament out –of-sorts or nervous and things go wrong from the start. And there’s the old problem of intra-game drinking, when I have a few pints to recover from a traumatic loss and the next game is a write-off.
2. During-game psychological reasons. There are two ways in which these problems manifest themselves. (a) If I blunder or miss something I then feel like a complete idiot and just want the game to be over as fast as possible, so that I often resign really early. I know ideally one should fight on, but after I’ve blundered I just want it all to be over. (b) The other category of problems come when I’m in a good/winning position and it all goes wrong and falls apart and I go on to lose. In one recent game I walked into a mate in one when 2 pieces up! This seems to happen a lot – I am perfectly capable of playing well against people of my level and getting into a strong position but then seemingly can’t finish things off.
3. Chess-related reasons This is the least common category – most defeats are for psychological reasons. But the main chess-related reasons for losing games are:(a) Gross blunders – just missing something completely obvious and giving away material. (b) Being too passive in the end-game – well not many of my games even get to an ending , but when they do I’m often too worried about my opponent’s threats rather than looking for counter-play. In a game from Huddersfield (before I found the pub) that I’ve just been looking at, I was a pawn up in a King, Rook & Knight ending, but I tied up the rook defending my isolated a-pawn from his King, rather than using it to attack his two backward pawns and moving the central pawn majority. It looks obvious now I see it on the practice board but obviously under the pressure of the game I panicked too much about his threats. So maybe this is psychological as well?So if these are the reasons for my defeats, how to turn things around? Since most of the reasons are psychological, finding solutions won’t be easy – sorting out one’s dysfunctional personality is much harder than learning a new line in the Caro Kann!
However, here are some things I must try and force myself to do. The only problem is I’ve tried it all before without success.
1. Not turning up drunk or drinking between games whatever the temptation!
2. Not letting one defeat affect the next game.
3. Not turning up late for games, Goodfellow-style
4. Trying to maintain a calm dispassionate air at times. I might try the Dave Stephenson approach of looking quizzically at the board at all times.
5. Not getting complacent or relaxing if the position becomes good for me.
6. Trying to force myself to carry on after a blunder – maybe going out for a little walk to calm things down?
7. Not trying to do too much or over-push when the position is good – taking a bit more time might stop me from letting opponents back.
8. Blunder checking to avoid the ridiculous blunders. I’ve been trying to do this throughout my chess career. It tends to work very well when there’s no pressure on , and I dutifully examine all checks and captures in harmless level positions in the opening and then forget when the pressure is on later on. I must force myself to keep doing this when the chips are down later on in the game.
9. Always looking for activity and counter-play in the ending and not playing passive bollocks moves that tie my pieces up.
10. Being opportunistic and remembering that most of my opponents are as crap as I am and will make mistakes and give me opportunities. Well there are ten rules I’m going to take into the Nottingham tournament. None of them look like they should be hard to put into practice – but I can guarantee you it will feel very different this time tomorrow when I will be sitting there playing my first game.
For most of you its not new material anyway, but I need to get up to date.
This one was the very first report from that tournament where I listed my new "precepts" to try and improve my tournament performance. They didn't do much good at Nottingham itself, but did pay off in an improved effort at Grange-over-Sands and to a lesser extent at Heywood.
Thanks to Jim for sending this back to me so I could post it since I'd lost my own copy.
One more note - Russell Goodfellow is this weekend doing battle in the World Open in Philadelphia, the largest and richest chess event in the world. I don't know how he's going, but good luck to him anyway.
************************************************************
Friday 24 April 2009
The launch of my one-year chess journal was rather delayed by the fact that I had to download some annoying software to be able to use Word on my laptop. Aren’t computers a pain? I am sitting in my kitchen eating porridge and listening to some Stamitz concertos, to aid concentration. The Nottingham chess tournament starts tomorrow.
The main reason for writing a chess journal is in an effort to get some better results. This chess season has been nothing short of abysmal for me – after a reasonable showing at Galway and Bury St Edmonds last autumn, I got 0.5/3 at Hull, 0/3 at Coulsdon, 0/3 at Gonzaga in Dublin. Then a minor improvement at Doncaster where after losing the first game – meaning I’d lost 10 of my last 11 games -I then managed to win two games – both incidentally after drinking 2 pints at lunchtime.
Blackpool was a tournament of mostly drawn games (and a loss) and then I sunk back down again at Huddersfield with 0/4, though the influence of a superb real ale pub I found near the venue was at least partly to blame for that. So over all those events, a pretty poor showing – I won 2, drew 4 and lost 14. At least it can’t get much worse. By writing a journal of my thoughts on each game and the preparation I do between tournaments, and sending it to a panel of expert players and ex-players, I hope to get a better idea of where things are going wrong (or right) and be able to take steps to improve.
My plan is to keep this going through all the tournaments over the next 12 months. Read on and you will hear about my adventures in all kinds of glamorous locations – Nottingham, Grange-over-Sands, the Isle of Man, Chester, Galway, Scarborough, Bury St Edmonds, Hull, Coulsdon, Halifax, Dublin, Gibraltar, Doncaster, Blackpool and Huddersfield all being tournaments I am considering playing in in that time. I will also liven things up with tales of the antics of the other players I come across and try and provide some local colour and entertainment with tales of the goings-on that go on.
**********************************************************************************
One thing I am not going to do in this journal is include full games or reams of analysis, since its something I want to make more of a readable story – something you can read in the bath or on the train and not need a chess board in front of you.I have just been going through all my recent defeats with a view to trying to find the most common reasons why I lose chess games. There are three broad categories of reasons for my defeats –
1. Pre-game psychological reasons. Most of these games are lost before they begin. If I’ve had a bad loss in the previous game I often don’t make any effort in the next one. Often I turn up to a tournament out –of-sorts or nervous and things go wrong from the start. And there’s the old problem of intra-game drinking, when I have a few pints to recover from a traumatic loss and the next game is a write-off.
2. During-game psychological reasons. There are two ways in which these problems manifest themselves. (a) If I blunder or miss something I then feel like a complete idiot and just want the game to be over as fast as possible, so that I often resign really early. I know ideally one should fight on, but after I’ve blundered I just want it all to be over. (b) The other category of problems come when I’m in a good/winning position and it all goes wrong and falls apart and I go on to lose. In one recent game I walked into a mate in one when 2 pieces up! This seems to happen a lot – I am perfectly capable of playing well against people of my level and getting into a strong position but then seemingly can’t finish things off.
3. Chess-related reasons This is the least common category – most defeats are for psychological reasons. But the main chess-related reasons for losing games are:(a) Gross blunders – just missing something completely obvious and giving away material. (b) Being too passive in the end-game – well not many of my games even get to an ending , but when they do I’m often too worried about my opponent’s threats rather than looking for counter-play. In a game from Huddersfield (before I found the pub) that I’ve just been looking at, I was a pawn up in a King, Rook & Knight ending, but I tied up the rook defending my isolated a-pawn from his King, rather than using it to attack his two backward pawns and moving the central pawn majority. It looks obvious now I see it on the practice board but obviously under the pressure of the game I panicked too much about his threats. So maybe this is psychological as well?So if these are the reasons for my defeats, how to turn things around? Since most of the reasons are psychological, finding solutions won’t be easy – sorting out one’s dysfunctional personality is much harder than learning a new line in the Caro Kann!
However, here are some things I must try and force myself to do. The only problem is I’ve tried it all before without success.
1. Not turning up drunk or drinking between games whatever the temptation!
2. Not letting one defeat affect the next game.
3. Not turning up late for games, Goodfellow-style
4. Trying to maintain a calm dispassionate air at times. I might try the Dave Stephenson approach of looking quizzically at the board at all times.
5. Not getting complacent or relaxing if the position becomes good for me.
6. Trying to force myself to carry on after a blunder – maybe going out for a little walk to calm things down?
7. Not trying to do too much or over-push when the position is good – taking a bit more time might stop me from letting opponents back.
8. Blunder checking to avoid the ridiculous blunders. I’ve been trying to do this throughout my chess career. It tends to work very well when there’s no pressure on , and I dutifully examine all checks and captures in harmless level positions in the opening and then forget when the pressure is on later on. I must force myself to keep doing this when the chips are down later on in the game.
9. Always looking for activity and counter-play in the ending and not playing passive bollocks moves that tie my pieces up.
10. Being opportunistic and remembering that most of my opponents are as crap as I am and will make mistakes and give me opportunities. Well there are ten rules I’m going to take into the Nottingham tournament. None of them look like they should be hard to put into practice – but I can guarantee you it will feel very different this time tomorrow when I will be sitting there playing my first game.
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