Blackpool Chess Congress - Part 2

My first game on Saturday saw my opponent opening 1.f4. A few weeks ago I had learnt a response to this in preparation to play a fellow club member - did I remember this, of course not! Instead I tried to work my way through the opening. I tried to keep things complicated, but came out of a long combination a minor for two pawns down. It wasn't enough compensation and I went on to lose. However, I enjoyed the game. I have been told since to "play for where you want to be in five years time and not where you want to be today" and that the more aggressive and attacking you are the more likely your opponent is to miss something.

In the afternoon I faced a junior from the London area. Not a good omen - he's come all the way from London and he's playing up a section. Fortunately I was white and he did seem to have to think about my opening moves. Although he spent most of the game a pawn up, I did have compensation. Towards the end I had the lovely situation of my queen being en prise to his queen. However, I ignored this and took his extra pawn (which was now past) with my rook, leaving it en prise to his rook. If he took either piece, I had a mate in two or three moves. He saw this and moved his rook to prevent this and offered me a draw. I knew that I couldn't afford a draw, either in terms of his grade or in terms of the competition, so I turned it down, taking another pawn with my queen. Yes, it was probably drawn at this point, but fortunately my opponent then blundered his other rook and resigned after my next move.

Blackpool Chess Congress

Friday saw us travelling north to the Blackpool Chess Conference - probably the largest weekend chess congress in the country. We always say that there are no easy games at Blackpool, and yet again this proved to be the case. With a grade of 101, John had to play in the intermediate section this year (under-120) whilst I stayed in the minor (under-100).

On arrival, almost the first people we met were the Isle of Man group. It was good to meet up with them again and here the progress on the Isle of Man congress.

John's first game was against a grade 112 and he managed a draw. I was drawn, again, against the same opponent as I played on Saturday morning in Exeter (and who I may be playing in an inter-club match on Thursday). This time I was white and was determined not to go pushing pawns without good reason. The result, I went the exchange up, then a bishop up, then blundered the bishop back. I turned a draw down, partly because I was cross with myself for losing the bishop, partly because I was still the exchange up, and partly because John was still playing and I didn't want to sit around waiting for him. Apparently, we went into an ending which, with best play, was drawn. I, of course, was unaware of this and eventually went on to win with under 3 minutes left on my clock. This for someone who never gets into time trouble was quite an achievement. So, as the round ended, we headed off to our hotel, rather later than we would have liked, but both pleased with our results.

Back from Blackpool

Today is our first day home after the Blackpool Chess Conference. After a successful tournament last year, this year was a disaster. One win and one draw, and three losses. Not sure quite what happened, think it's my middlegame that needs work.

It's a huge tournament, and a good chance to meet up with friends on the circuit. People travel from all over the UK to play there. It was good to meet up with the players from the Isle of Man again. We love the island and love hearing about the chess scene there.

Today is a busy day, catching up with business - we run a chess bookshop and provide equipment and bookstalls to tournaments. Lots of mail order posting to do and making sure that our main website is up to date.