Jude had to take a bit of a sabbatical from chess in the first part of the year, due to the looming spectre of GCSE exams, but he has returned to the competitive arena with a series of tremendous results in recent weeks. First there was a 2nd= finish at the South Wales International, where he had an excellent win over GM Peter Wells, and then he actually managed to gain some more rating points as the lowest ranked player in the monstrously strong (Mickey Adams could only manage 50%!) Wood Green Invitational, all play all. But it seems as though he was just warming up in these two events, as he then racked up a superb 4th= placing at the Sussex University Masters which finished yesterday. This included draws against GMs Williams and Kovchan (and a very near miss of a whole point against GM Kjartansson) and wins over an IM and two FMs for a rating performance of 2424, just missing an IM norm! He's definitely redicovered his mojo - just in time for the British Championships.
There were some very impressive games I could have selected from these recent efforts, but instead I've gone back to last year for two splendid, but very contrasting, victories with the Black pieces. The first is ultra impressive, as he sacs a piece for a big kingside attack and then keeps the pressure right through to the end of the game when Brandon sportingly allowed Jude to finish with mate on the board. The second was very significant, as it was the game that got Jude over 2300 ELO and so secured his FM title. Brandon looked set to get his revenge for the earlier game, but Jude defended like a demon, rode his luck and then jumped out to deliver a crushing counter attack (boom!!), which culminated with him twice sacrificing his rook to force either checkmate or the win of the White queen.
This is chess from a much higher plane than most of us can even dream of. Hope you enjoy playing through the games as much as I have.
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