East Devon Congres, Exeter, Part 3

After a good night's sleep, I felt much more awake on Sunday. I also had all to play for as I knew that I would be disappointed with anything less than 3 out of 5 points. My morning opponent, a lady who I had played a lot in the past, although not since the mid 1990s, had never lost to me. However, times change and I went into the game feeling reasonably confident. We went into a complicated middlegame exchange where I thought that I would come out a pawn up, but it was so complicated that I just couldn't work the whole thing out. All I could do was to try to ensure that everytime she took one of my pieces or pawns, I took one of hers back. We came out of the exchange and I counted the pawns left on the board, 6 each. Now I would have my work cut out as the game was much simplified and it wouldn't be difficult to swap off into an equal ending. I did not want a draw - what to do? A couple of moves later I noticed that I could only see one of her bishops, looking more closely, I realised that whilst I was able to count to 6, 2 seemed more of a problem! I had come out of the exchange a minor piece up and was now more than happy to swap off into an ending, which I went on the win.

In the afternoon a faced a Devon player who I had no experience of. His grade was higher than mine, and, for the second time that day, I was black. Again we went into a complicated exchange, though less complex than the morning. Again it appeared that the exchange would be equal, until careful thought revealed that I could move the final attacked knight to attack his queen which could not defend his also attacked bishop. Again we swapped off into an ending with me a minor piece up. This time though I had to be much more careful. He had threats on and I had to give a lot of thought to the king moves that eventually gave me passed pawns and his resignation.

So, finally I achieved the minimum score that I would be happy with and came away feeling much more confident about my chess. However, the day wasn't over and we still had the bookstall and equipment to pack away - thank you to the organisers for their help in this. Then it was a dash to Chard, where we traditionally stop at the Wetherspoon's for something to eat and a break in the journey. Only they had run out of food! (It was Mother's Day). Fortunately we found an Indian Restaurant still open (although about to close, their faces fell as we walked in). Fortunately for them we only wanted a quick meal and were soon back on our way again.