The 1st of 7 consecutive wins

Report 2 from the British Championship in Leicester, as of 16:51 on Monday 24^th July. Does what it says on the tin really – a victory today, though many more needed for the tournament not to still end up as a disaster. I thought, to see how original (and no doubt sound) my play was, I would put the game into the opening database on Lichess, to say how long it took before we were out of known theory. The answer: after 4 of my moves (1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Qf3 Nf6 4.Bd3) we were out of the Lichess “Masters database” and after 8 moves it appears to be a game that has never been played before.

Second, we will have a quick look at the critical position below. Which move in this slightly strange structure wins for white basically at once?

 If you answered Nxd5, you are a better chess player than me. I played f5 gxf5 and only then Nxd5, which is a good deal fancier but sadly not as good a move. Still, one of the advantages of being at the bottom of the table is playing against people who are also out of form, so my opponent duly managed to misplay the position quite soon afterwards, and I was able to win. Not very impressive, but why waste your best chess at the start of a 7 game winning streak.

Since I finished early, I don’t have that much other news to report. Ben was in far too chipper a mood for someone who has played this many games of chess recently, Nigel gave what looked like a very convincing checkmate down the h file, and Solomon’s return to the area was marked by his opponent not bothering to turn up, meaning he had an even earlier finish than I did.

Leicester fact of the day – it has the largest Shopmobility and mobility aid shop in the UK. First review on Google for the establishment: “"The best day I have had in LEICESTER for 5 or more years now." I really hope that person hasn’t visited Leicester all that many times in the last 5 years, or it does not bode well for what I’m going to be able to find on the rest of my days there.