Time for another tournament - at least its local this time, in Bradford so that I can commute from home. Ive not played this one before but Russell Goodfellow tells me its in a very rough neighbourhood and I will be lucky not to get beaten up on the way to the event.
I can't say I'm looking forward to it very much - I've been feeling tired and out of sorts lately and not really up to a hard tournament. I might just take it easily enough and see what happens.
I've been doing tactics problems lately but no other practice really. And today Ive been getting all the tactics problems wrong, so that doesn't augur well.
Might as well get it over with. Reports will follow here as usual.
Friday, 18 September 2009
Thursday, 3 September 2009
In the money at Hereford
Game 5 - The Goodfellow Opening
I felt a bit tired on Monday morning when I woke up at Hereford after all the exertions and subsequent celebrations on Sunday. Still, I was lying 2nd in a chess tournament and an appointment on Board 1 awaited, so there was stern work ahead.
After checking out of the hotel, Colin and I went to Wetherspoons for breakfast where I wrote the last entry. I managed to avoid the full fatboy fried breakfast and had a sausage morning roll and some toast instead. Then we headed off to the venue.
Sure enough, I was on board 1 playing Black against the one person on 4/4. It is nice being involved in the "business end" of a tournament on the top boards - there's always more interest in your games, and there's all the fun of calculating what results you want on the other boards to maximise your earnings.
The chap I was playing was relatively low-rated - though still a lot higher than me - at 108, and I'd overheard him yesterday telling the bloke he'd just beaten how he (the first bloke) wasn't a good player! Obviously he was having a good tournament though.
He opened with 1. b4, an offbeat opening which I've only ever played against once, in a correspondence game. Russell Goodfellow had given me some tips on how to meet it, since he used to play it himself and I remembered the first few moves
1 b4 c6
2 Bb2 Qb6
3 a3 a5
and there are quite a few tricks and traps for the unwary. Unfortunately I couldn't remember much more of Russell's sage advice and the opponent didn't fall into any of the traps, with the result that I was soon a pawn down with no compensation. The only comfort was that it was a relatively unimportant a-pawn, and so I didn't feel too dispondent as yet. I also felt that his pieces were slightly misplaced - there was a Knight on b5 or somehwere and a Bishop on b2 hemmed in by pawns and I gradually manoeuvred my pieces onto better squares.
Then he made a bad mistake and left a pawn where I could just take it for nothing, and not only that I got a rook fork into the bargain, so soon I was an exchange up. He was furious with himself; covered his scoresheet with question marks and tutted a lot.
It wasn't actually all that bad for him though, as so often is the case when you take material you damage your own position and soon it was me on the b ack foot defending a weak pawn on c6 which , if he took it, also allowed him to fork two rooks. It was all extremely complicated. As I was trying to figure it all out, he chose a good moment to offer a draw. Being somewhat lazy in such matters, and being well aware of the value of a half point at this position, I accepted.
Martial arts and a 50 year wait
We went to analyse the game but he spent the next 20 minutes telling me his life story. Apparently he is 68 years old and has spent the last 50 years unsuccessfully trying to win a chess tournament, so this was a big moment for him! His passions are chess, motorcycles and martial arts. He said chess and motorbikes have cost him two marriages! He even demonstrated some martial arts moves, showing me - as martial arts types always do - how easy it is to disarm someone with a knife etc.
Colin came along to the analysis room. He was happy because he had won his game, his first win of this his return to tournament chess. He told my opponent that he used to do karate, whereupon the chap punched him in the stomach as a demonstration of another move!
We had a look at the game eventually and concluded that I did probably stand somewhat better at the end. Nevertheless he was clearly on a roll so I was still content with the half point.
Bitter recriminations in the tournament hall
We went back to the main hall where a most entertaining blazing row was in progress in the middle of the hall. What it seemed to boil down to was that in the Open section a bloke from Bridgend was playing a Dutch woman (clearly plenty of scope for communcations problems there). He said he had asked her about the time control but that she had misinterpreted that as a draw offer, shaken his hand and started walking off. When he protested that he had not offered a draw an argument broke out, involving also her husband who was standing watching the game.
For some reason no-one called in the arbiter to make a rational explanation of what was clearly a misunderstanding, and it soon descended into a full-blown row with the husband calling the Welsh bloke a bastard and pushing and shoving. By the time the arbiter did come the Welsh bloke was in a towering rage and said the arbiter was incompetant and withdrew from the touranment before he could be disqualified. It did seem rather to be a storm in a teacup.
Colin and I went out for a little walk and ate sandwiches provided by the Girl Guides.
Final Round
So in the afternoon I was on board 2 on 4/5 , half a point behind my morning opponent. I needed to win and then I would share first place if he lost or drew, but would be only second if he won.
My opponent for this game was on 3.5 and there was no-one else above 3, so even if I drew I was likely to win something but I couldn't afford to lose. My opponent, being half a point behind, had to win. Overall, I was quite nicely placed.
I was playing a chap called Sage who had beaten Colin earlier in the tournament. During that game he had apparently got through two plates of sandwiches, two cakes and two teas and biscuits. In my game he didn't eat much but he did keep dozing off which I've not before. I was hoping he'd stay asleep and lose on time but he kept waking up when I pressed the clock!
It was actually quite a dull, cagey game. Colin had told me he was solid and so it proved. The game was a Queens Gambit Declined (I was White) with him playing a Kingside fianchetto which is a bit odd. It was a typical drawish QGD - all the heavy pieces got exchanged on the c-file and we went into an ending with 2 minor pieces each (he had BB against my NB) and lots of pawns. Really it was evident from quite early on that with decent play it would be a draw. I offered a draw but he turned it down - reasonably enough, because he needed to win.
He did have a Bishop pair but with so many pawns it was limited use and he had to tie a Bishop up defending pawns. The games on board 1 and 3 were drawn. The Karate bloke's draw meant he was guaranteed to win the tournament - shared with me if I won my game. It was becoming increasingly evident that our game was drawn. One of his Bishop's couldn't even move - it was stuck on h8 with my Knight and a pawn covering all its squares. All I was doing was shuffling a Bishop back and forth on a diagonal which prevented his other one from penetrating the position.
We went past the time control and I started contemplating calling the arbiter to get the game declared a draw, when eventually Sage accepted the inevitable and offered a draw.
So the Karate guy won, and his opponent, an amiable South African, and I shared second place. Won £65 which was nice, and I was very pleased with the result. I have now come joint 2nd in two of my last three tournaments, Grange over Sands and this one - though Grange was a much easier section (under 80, whereas this was under 120 (in effect - though its now described as under 135 as grades have been changed).
We collected our prizes and the Karate guy gave a short speech explaining how his school motto had been about how persistence is always rewarded. Colin had disappointgly lost his last game after being ahead, and ended with 1 win and 1 draw, but that's not bad considering he'd not played a game for two years. We said our goodbyes and I set off for my tedious 3 hour drive home.
I felt a bit tired on Monday morning when I woke up at Hereford after all the exertions and subsequent celebrations on Sunday. Still, I was lying 2nd in a chess tournament and an appointment on Board 1 awaited, so there was stern work ahead.
After checking out of the hotel, Colin and I went to Wetherspoons for breakfast where I wrote the last entry. I managed to avoid the full fatboy fried breakfast and had a sausage morning roll and some toast instead. Then we headed off to the venue.
Sure enough, I was on board 1 playing Black against the one person on 4/4. It is nice being involved in the "business end" of a tournament on the top boards - there's always more interest in your games, and there's all the fun of calculating what results you want on the other boards to maximise your earnings.
The chap I was playing was relatively low-rated - though still a lot higher than me - at 108, and I'd overheard him yesterday telling the bloke he'd just beaten how he (the first bloke) wasn't a good player! Obviously he was having a good tournament though.
He opened with 1. b4, an offbeat opening which I've only ever played against once, in a correspondence game. Russell Goodfellow had given me some tips on how to meet it, since he used to play it himself and I remembered the first few moves
1 b4 c6
2 Bb2 Qb6
3 a3 a5
and there are quite a few tricks and traps for the unwary. Unfortunately I couldn't remember much more of Russell's sage advice and the opponent didn't fall into any of the traps, with the result that I was soon a pawn down with no compensation. The only comfort was that it was a relatively unimportant a-pawn, and so I didn't feel too dispondent as yet. I also felt that his pieces were slightly misplaced - there was a Knight on b5 or somehwere and a Bishop on b2 hemmed in by pawns and I gradually manoeuvred my pieces onto better squares.
Then he made a bad mistake and left a pawn where I could just take it for nothing, and not only that I got a rook fork into the bargain, so soon I was an exchange up. He was furious with himself; covered his scoresheet with question marks and tutted a lot.
It wasn't actually all that bad for him though, as so often is the case when you take material you damage your own position and soon it was me on the b ack foot defending a weak pawn on c6 which , if he took it, also allowed him to fork two rooks. It was all extremely complicated. As I was trying to figure it all out, he chose a good moment to offer a draw. Being somewhat lazy in such matters, and being well aware of the value of a half point at this position, I accepted.
Martial arts and a 50 year wait
We went to analyse the game but he spent the next 20 minutes telling me his life story. Apparently he is 68 years old and has spent the last 50 years unsuccessfully trying to win a chess tournament, so this was a big moment for him! His passions are chess, motorcycles and martial arts. He said chess and motorbikes have cost him two marriages! He even demonstrated some martial arts moves, showing me - as martial arts types always do - how easy it is to disarm someone with a knife etc.
Colin came along to the analysis room. He was happy because he had won his game, his first win of this his return to tournament chess. He told my opponent that he used to do karate, whereupon the chap punched him in the stomach as a demonstration of another move!
We had a look at the game eventually and concluded that I did probably stand somewhat better at the end. Nevertheless he was clearly on a roll so I was still content with the half point.
Bitter recriminations in the tournament hall
We went back to the main hall where a most entertaining blazing row was in progress in the middle of the hall. What it seemed to boil down to was that in the Open section a bloke from Bridgend was playing a Dutch woman (clearly plenty of scope for communcations problems there). He said he had asked her about the time control but that she had misinterpreted that as a draw offer, shaken his hand and started walking off. When he protested that he had not offered a draw an argument broke out, involving also her husband who was standing watching the game.
For some reason no-one called in the arbiter to make a rational explanation of what was clearly a misunderstanding, and it soon descended into a full-blown row with the husband calling the Welsh bloke a bastard and pushing and shoving. By the time the arbiter did come the Welsh bloke was in a towering rage and said the arbiter was incompetant and withdrew from the touranment before he could be disqualified. It did seem rather to be a storm in a teacup.
Colin and I went out for a little walk and ate sandwiches provided by the Girl Guides.
Final Round
So in the afternoon I was on board 2 on 4/5 , half a point behind my morning opponent. I needed to win and then I would share first place if he lost or drew, but would be only second if he won.
My opponent for this game was on 3.5 and there was no-one else above 3, so even if I drew I was likely to win something but I couldn't afford to lose. My opponent, being half a point behind, had to win. Overall, I was quite nicely placed.
I was playing a chap called Sage who had beaten Colin earlier in the tournament. During that game he had apparently got through two plates of sandwiches, two cakes and two teas and biscuits. In my game he didn't eat much but he did keep dozing off which I've not before. I was hoping he'd stay asleep and lose on time but he kept waking up when I pressed the clock!
It was actually quite a dull, cagey game. Colin had told me he was solid and so it proved. The game was a Queens Gambit Declined (I was White) with him playing a Kingside fianchetto which is a bit odd. It was a typical drawish QGD - all the heavy pieces got exchanged on the c-file and we went into an ending with 2 minor pieces each (he had BB against my NB) and lots of pawns. Really it was evident from quite early on that with decent play it would be a draw. I offered a draw but he turned it down - reasonably enough, because he needed to win.
He did have a Bishop pair but with so many pawns it was limited use and he had to tie a Bishop up defending pawns. The games on board 1 and 3 were drawn. The Karate bloke's draw meant he was guaranteed to win the tournament - shared with me if I won my game. It was becoming increasingly evident that our game was drawn. One of his Bishop's couldn't even move - it was stuck on h8 with my Knight and a pawn covering all its squares. All I was doing was shuffling a Bishop back and forth on a diagonal which prevented his other one from penetrating the position.
We went past the time control and I started contemplating calling the arbiter to get the game declared a draw, when eventually Sage accepted the inevitable and offered a draw.
So the Karate guy won, and his opponent, an amiable South African, and I shared second place. Won £65 which was nice, and I was very pleased with the result. I have now come joint 2nd in two of my last three tournaments, Grange over Sands and this one - though Grange was a much easier section (under 80, whereas this was under 120 (in effect - though its now described as under 135 as grades have been changed).
We collected our prizes and the Karate guy gave a short speech explaining how his school motto had been about how persistence is always rewarded. Colin had disappointgly lost his last game after being ahead, and ended with 1 win and 1 draw, but that's not bad considering he'd not played a game for two years. We said our goodbyes and I set off for my tedious 3 hour drive home.
Tuesday, 1 September 2009
Day 2 at Hereford - 2 wins
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.
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.
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.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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 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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