Since no one else has yet provided me with a game to share, I will start with one of my own for this first day of our sojourn in Torquay. Until more competent or interesting players start to do so, I'm afraid that is the level we are stuck with. The relevant background is that to qualify for the main championship next year, I need to finish in the top 10 of the Major Open, a task made harder by the fact there are many more than 10 players better than me in the tournament. I've also decided for this entire tournament I shall only be playing the Bird, Dutch and Caro-Kann openings, and I'm putting this on the record now so there is no way for me to back out (such as when I get catastrophic positions out of every opening).
Fortunately, I got a nice gentle start, only playing against the second highest rated player in the competition. The game isn't exciting enough to merit full notes, but I will draw your attention to two moments where my desire to play needlessly flashy moves worked out well, and one (unfortunately the last one) where it did not. White's 23rd move is a fine one (if I do say so myself, having not checked it with an engine), ignoring the en prise piece since white can win it back with an advantageous position. Similarly, move 38 is good, relying on a fork to win back the rook and improve the position of the white knight. Sadly, on move 39 I should have just taken the rook rather than continuing to leave it, since we would have arrived at the same position but with the black knight on a worse square. It might still be a draw, but certainly harder to hold than the game, which fizzled out very quickly. I'm therefore already outside the top 10 with that result, so improvement needed for the rest of the tournament.
What about the less handsome members of the club I hear you cry. Well, I think a bit of age defined rivalry is always in order, so over the championship we will be charting people's progress in one of four categories (complaints about who people have been paired with are not welcome and will be ignored):
Team Sprog - composed of Billy, David and Jude. Currently on 83%, courtesy of Jude's fine score of 5/6 in the U9 competition (I'm sure Paul will have more to add on this point.
Team PAYE - composed of Andy, Ben and Joshua. Currently on 50%, the single draw shown above, with my two teammates yet to begin.
Team Charlemagne (in honour of the most important European ruler in power at the time they first played chess against each other) - composed of Mark, Bernard and Roy. At the time of writing on 67%, with Roy scoring 2/3 in the weekend tournament.
But that is only three teams, I hear you cry, and where is Bruce. Well, unfortunately there were 11 relevant people on Mark's previous message; a number which, after spending 8 years studying maths at university, I can confidently tell you is not divisible by 3. Thus, I needed to bring in a ringer to complete the set, and who better than England's number 1 players, David Howell. I therefore give you:
Team eclectic - composed of Bruce, Vassily and David Howell. Currently on 43%, with a creditable 2/6 in the U9s (and still the U8s to come), and a first round win in the championship for Mr Howell.
My team may not be in first place, but I can console myself with the thought that we are the only team not giving Sajid Javid nightmares, and actually making a positive contribution to the human race (though not this week obviously).
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