For the first time in over ten years, I entered a chess tournament this weekend. I used to play a variety of competitions, quickplays and club matches. As the tournament was taking place locally, I thought it was worth a go.
- Round One: White against player graded 140 (broadly equivalent to what I used to be graded, I assume I’m rated lower now). This was a very long game and in the end, we were both down to the last few minutes of our allocated 1 hour 45 minutes. I had a slight edge all the way through but not enough to convert it into a win. So, a draw. Score 0.5 out of 1;
- Round Two: A pre-arranged bye so that I could spend some time with the family over the weekend, worth the same as a draw. Score 1 out of 2;
- Round Three: Black against a higher-graded player (161). This went pear-shaped very quickly: I walked into a pre-prepared opening variation that he told me afterwards he knew very well. I managed to deny him a quick win and played a knight down for a while, but it was always going to be Lost. Score 1 out of 3;
- Round Four: White against a lower-graded player (128). A fairly mundane game turned bad when I made an outright error after an hour or so: a more experienced opponent would have made light work of beating me quickly after that. However, I fought back quite well and I ended up, as in Round One, with another time scramble. Computer analysis later shows that I might have failed to notice a mistake by my opponent and thus missed a win while playing with just a few minutes left on the clock, but it ended with another Draw. Score 1.5 out of 4;
- Round Five: Black against player graded 145. In an effort to make something happen in the game I played a move which was technically unsound, but my opponent spent about 40 minutes over his reply. He was then winning, but in terrible time trouble. In the end, he was unable to capitalise on his advantage due to shortage of time and we ended up with a Draw. Final score 2 out of 5.
On balance I’m reasonably happy with the result. The only game I lost was to someone who went on to come 3rd overall in the competition scoring 4 out of 5, so I can perhaps be forgiven that. I had chances to win all of my drawn games, but equally I could have lost at least two of them. It would have been nice to win at least one, but at least I didn’t make a complete fool of myself.
I met up with a few old acquaintances from my chess past, chaps who were at clubs I played at. The three of them all scored less than me (0.5 out of 4 – went home early fed up(!), and two with 1.5 out of 5), so I was happy with that 🙂
Edit: Just calculated that my grading for the tournament, based on these four games, is 131. My last posted grade was 142 in 1997/8.
Very good performance after a break from chess! I chickened out of the weekend, not fancying the drive from London in the snow – but it was probably ok? How many players did they get in the end? Adam
PermalinkAdam: There were, according to the organisers, a record number of withdrawals this year. This is likely due to the weather, as you say. However, there were also, apparently, a record number of entries on the day, which made up for it slightly. Very approximately, I think there were about 20 or so in the U-225 section, about 60 in each of the U-170 and U-125 sections.
PermalinkI’m glad to hear they had lots of late entries – it’s always a very well organised and friendly event. There are several thriving chess clubs in Oxford – if you need some contact names just let me know and I will put you in touch! Adam
PermalinkAdam: Yes, I know about local clubs: in fact, I played for Cowley between 1994 and 1998 and still know a handful of people there…
PermalinkAdam: Just had a note from Tom Williams (Treasurer for this event): he says the numbers were 24, 47 and 69 for the U225/170/125 sections respectively. Twenty-seven withdrawals in the last 24 hours, but thirty-four entries on the day.
Permalinkvery respectable figures! I remember that several times they had to turn away late entries due to having no more space left in the hall!
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