Greetings, I am just back from a fun weekend in that there Cambridgeshire with Harry, Cap'n and Mr Lim. Got there Friday night to enjoy a few beers in the hotel with Harry which was pleasant. Decided to walk to the venue sat morning which was 15 mins further than I thought, uphill. Yuck. Game one - Andrew Duffell rating 118 White pieces, played traditional London but he found pawn to c4 before I got my white bishop out, cramping me. Close and well played game, I blundered a single pawn and got outplayed in the endgame but no disgrace Game two - I got the full point bye as odd numbers but played a non tournament game against dominic bartram a lad rated 131. Really good game, and I should have won, I had everything pinned, king tottering but made a critical error - went for material instead of keeping the pressure on and it cost me as my pieces were scattered and he could counter, very fiercely as it transpired. He said if I had piled on pressure and not taken his rook he'd have resigned. Damn! He paid me a very nice compliment though and said I was crushing him and played the first 20 moves like a 140 to 150 player :) Game three - Peter Housden 107, Peter is old and wise, I am old and foolish. I played the black lion philidor to e4 and pawn stormed the queen side, unfortunately I gave up a knight thinking I could recapture his good bishop a move later, but miscalculated his capture revealed a defence on the bishop. Oops. So I was getting tired and decided to sac another knight to open up his king and threw everything at him. Was always a move too short and he got to safety then turned the screw with his two piece advantage. 1 from 3 but it was a free point from the bye, Pleasant drink with the David's in the pub opposite the hotel and on to today Game four - somehow managed to luck out and draw Bodo with his 114 (running at 147) rating He played the philidor to my London which I wont do again against d6 because frankly he demolished me horrifically. Nuff said Game five - of course a game against ever present Heather! I got white pieces again which was nice. Unveiled my new secret weapon the Jobava variant of the London system. Pressure on early and I won a pawn and left her with weak isolated queenside pawns. We ended up xraying each other on d and e files and I had a very tricksy knight on a defended outpost. Pressure told and she missed an indirect pin on her knight which got me queen and rook for queen. After gobbling the 2 loose pawns she resigned so I got a win in at the end! I'll let the other guys fill you in on their adventures Dave knave I had a lovely time at Whittlesford, it was featured in a Lovejoy episode so I decided to wear a black leather jacket. I had played 10 of the players in U170, so decided to seek undiscovered antiques in the Open Section. Tinker number one was Gerald Moore who played his normal Pirc. When he got ...e5 in I had a choice of exchanging or playing d4-d5 keeping the position tense. I chose the latter as his bishop was on b7. Nevertheless he succeeded in whipping up a kingside attack, which I just managed to stave off, and the game was drawn. This was the only draw in round 1, so already having played Gerald my reward was a downfloat to Ieysaa Bin Suhayl, rated 209. This was definitely a case of being psyched out, he had about 20 games with Nf3 and g3 on the database including a previous game with me. I decided to go with a Slav set up but got confused and took his pawn on c4. With his powerful bishop on b2 he played e4 and d4-d5 and smashed me in 16 moves. Having taken a bye for round three I got David Dempster in round 3. He played an exchanged on d5 in the French, the game petered out to draw and then proceeded to torture Steve Moore with analysis of it until 10 minutes before the start of the next round. My final game was against Jaden Jermy, who also played a Pirc. I decided to swap lines and go for a Bg5 line where I exchanged the dark squared bishop. Unfortunately it seemed to take forever to bring in reinforcements whilst my queen was on h6. My opponent literally parked his queen on the middle of the board on e5 disrupting all supply lines and won convincingly. So winless for me, but not too dispirited as given the level of opposition I still outperformed by grade slightly. Mark Friday: Nice pre-tourney drinkies with Dave Knave and an early night (for once!) Saturday: 1st game white against a junior (111) and I blundered early in the game. Initially it looked like I was losing my queen to a discovered check, but I worked a way to get it down to just losing a piece, and then a way to just losing a pawn. So pawn down when the dust settled, but giving him a central passed pawn and a better position. I played well to hold the line and then to finally get some counterplay: the match ended when I threatened back rank mate and his passed pawn at the same time and he offered me a draw, with him having a perpetual check on the cards and me only having 5 mins left I took it. 2nd game black against a 104 who I proceeded to decimate out of the opening after mixing up two of my lines by accident! I was two pawns and the exchange up with his king on d7 by move 10, trouble was I was completely undeveloped as it had all happen so fast. He was pretty blocked in too, but with all the holes had faster development and somehow managed to create a fortress. He was also way down on the clock and I really should've won. However, in the end I think I choose the wrong plan in exchanging queens and he was able to get his knights to where the action was quicker than me and forced a perpetual check for a draw (he ended up joint-second in the tourney with a GPA in the 150s so I don't feel too bad). 3rd game white against a junior (95) and, after Cap'n Dave forced me into drinking a swift half at the Tickle Arms, I totally messed up in the opening and was facing mating threats, check threats and fork threats all over the shop. I parried most of the danger and luckily he didn’t advance a pawn when he should’ve, but I was still in major schtuck. Luckily, I found a lovely move sequence leading to at worst me in a better position or him losing material and at best mate. He allowed me the latter in a sexy sequence which several moves before the mate he actually offered me a draw to which I said ‘but I’m just about to win’ and even then he didn’t see the sweet discovered double check that would soon lead to his doom and a pretty mate. Then it was off to the boozer for the booze with all the Davids and one Peter. Nice. Sunday: 4th game black against John Bradley (126). I had turned him over at the Norfolk rapidplay in the four knights using a slightly dubious line, but played the proper line this time. However, I went wrong somewhere and was losing and strangled in the early middlegame. I managed to open things up – but he was still winning and then luckily he exchanged queens. We went into an endgame with rook and knight each. I had 5 pawns and he 6, but his were in perfect v shape and mine in four islands. I built a very holey board-wide fortress and blocked him for about 20 moves until he repeated a couple moves. I, even though he was miles better, offered him the draw – he refused and played a move to open things up without preparing it. I knew I would draw then but outplayed him in the endgame and only with a minute on me clock for another 15 or so moves until I mated him with discovered check queen promotion in one move. 5th game black against Andrew Duffell (118). If I won or drew this I was guaranteed being in the money so it was all to play for as we went into a variation of the benko-half accepted. He got the better of the early play, but then I had a great tactic which would either win the house or give the initiative back to me. He didn’t fall for it, but it was enough for me to turn the tables. I think he then got nervous as he was still a little better at that point and started swapping stuff off to neutralise any threats. However, he swapped a little too much and enabled me to force a four pawn and kings endgame which I knew I would win having forced his king away from then action. He finally resigned with a minute left on my clock and my final pawn about to promote. So in the end I came joint second (guy who won was Gert De Block), netted a cool £47.50, and had a fun time with all the other St Johnites in attendance. Lovely. Here is a brief report of my disappointing weekend of chess.
Rd1 Rob Sanders 165 with white - I played far too passively and lost without much of a fight. Rd2 Kian Darmaseana 141 with black - Kian is a 12 year old who I had drawn with at Bury earlier in the season. This time he offered me a draw on move 19 and I refused. I sacced a pawn to get some play but it didnt work out. I lost a 2nd pawn and then lost the ending. So with 0/ 2 I was not happy. Rd3 Patrick Ribbands 148 white. I played the Saamisch against his kings indian really went for him with a kingside attack. Unfortunately I missed a critical line which would have won a piece and he survived. After the dust had settled he offered a draw and after turning down a draw in rd2 and losing I decided to take it. Saturday evening enjoyed several alcoholic beverages with the Daves. Rd4 Garvith Darmaseana 154 black - so this time I play the stronger of the bothers 14 year old Garvith. He played an inferior line against my sicilian Kalashnikov and I had a decent position. I missed a clear win of a pawn and instead swapped queens into an ending. I could see a way of winning so I offered the draw. He accepted and then showed me a line that led to an advantage so wished I fad played on. Rd 5 James Pack 155 white In this final game i really should have won. My opponent , who had beaten me at Bury, wasted a tempo in the opening by playing d6 on move 1 and then d5 on move 4 ! I build up a colle zuckertort position and launched a strong attack. Unfortunately again I missed a critical and this time obvious line that would have mated him. The position get very complicated but eventually peace was agreed. A very disappointing congress with 2 losses and 3 draws. Hopefully I will start to pick up my game in our league and cup matches that are coming up
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