Best of British (part 2)
Submitted by
CM streetfighter on Thu, 01/22/2009 at 5:32am.
The second instalment of my 4NCL report will be a more personal view of the weekend's play.
It was to be my debut in this team competition, and I had never met any of my team-mates before! The explanation for this is quite simple - as there are no Scottish teams playing in the event, mercenaries such as myself from north of the border offer their services to the highest bidder.
Other Scottish players, such as GM Jonathan Rowson, GM John Shaw and newly-made GM Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant will doubtless receive an appearance fee, travel expenses and perhaps extras such as free hotel accommodation and meals. In my case, I bartered my chess skills for a couple of beers and some good friendly chat in the bar after the games.
It took a plane, 2 trains and an automobile to get me to the venue -the Sunningdale Park Hotel, which is set amid acres of woodland and surrounded by $million homes and private golf clubs- but once there I felt instantly at home as the first face to greet me in the reception area was WFM Carey Wilman, a fellow member of Wandering Dragons Chess Club back in Edinburgh!
Onto the chess itself, and playing your 1st match for a new team can be a daunting affair. Having met my new team (Pandora's Box Grantham) scarcely an hour before the round, I was determined to do well and justify their faith in me - particularly as promotion to the top division was a serious prospect.
Playing black against a fellow 2200-rated player I decided solidity was the order of the day, and although I got a slight edge from the opening, it was never quite enough to push for the win. Still, a half-point and an overall drawn match set us up well for the Sunday, while a hearty meal with the aforementioned couple of beers aided a good night's rest.
The pairings for each round go up 1 hour before the start of play, so the following morning I called home and got my girlfriend to check MegaBase to see which openings my opponent favoured. Not a great deal of help to be had there though, as it transpired most of his games were as white, which I was due to have.
All I could ascertain was that he played the very solid Caro-Kann as black, and since I had decided to win quickly and convincingly to ensure my services would be sought again for the next round in March, a way around this problem would have to be sought...
| 1633 reads | 17 comments |
7 votes: