This is always a strong event, for which I just managed to be in the top half of the draw. The top 5 seeds were 206s, 205, 201, 191 and 188! So for once I wasn't expecting too much from myself. In a more relaxed atmosphere (a last hurrah for many of my opponents too, don't forget) I had a decent tournament, although most of my points were from the much weaker U-17 section with which we were merged.
As at the Gigafinal, my placement in the seeding order meant I started low down, against the ungraded Christopher Hawes. However to qualify from any Megafinal is no mean feat (as the inimitable tournament organiser, IM Michael Basman, was so keen to tell everyone in his lengthy monologues at the start of rounds), and there are no pushover games to be expected. There were some nervy moments, but in the end white's gung-ho play proved to be just too rash.
There is a certain justice in Swiss tournaments that people getting the less difficult pairings in the first round are unceremoniously thrown in the deep end for the second. Nonetheless, with some hiccups from higher seeds, I 'only' had to play on board 4 against the 188 Ilya Iyengar. I tried the Smith-Morra Gambit for the first time in a while and got a good position, though with some missed tactics things fell apart in the end. I didn't realise at the time just how close the game was, but I can have no complaints in any case.
Then again, that justice can go missing at times. I was not impressed to be paired with Duncan Bell for round 3, a 168 from nearby Kent who I believe was the only U-18 participant to score 6/6 in his Megafinal. Although I misplayed the opening completely, the handy old trait of sheer bloody-mindedness enabled me to cling on, and I took a chance when it was offered to rob him of the whole point and make it two defeats for him by Sutton Grammar students in two rounds.
Still, my reward for that victory was being spared many of the big guns who lay on 2/3. I played a 138, Apurva Deshpande, and despite being outgraded was disappointed not to win after a good opening. In the end I think my play was a little too simplistic (and indeed, the quick resolution of the centre is why the Scotch Game is unpopular at the elite level) and I was lucky not to even lose. As it was things came down to a stale Rook endgame.
Sadly for the reader, that was the last sustained effort I managed to produce in the tournament - my sole focus being the 3.5/6 qualifying score for the Plate, which is rather ironic as shall be explained below. Despite him confidently assuring me that it was completely impossible, I found myself in the not especially comfortable position of having to play Alex Hardwick, with whom I had travelled to the tournament. Taking the opportunity to strike a heavy blow in a long-running theoretical dispute, I crafted a winning position in a mere 15 moves only to inexplicably let him escape with a draw, though whether through faulty nerves or ill-timed mercy I'm still not sure.
For the final round, I thus needed only a draw, against a 126, William Graham, and I had white. That result seems to have been mutually convenient, as he was able to win the U-17 title with the same 3.5/6 that I managed. I didn't even need to think for myself much here, as he obligingly followed a prepared line (the second in two rounds!) and allowed me to reach a position that is much easier for white to play - sure enough, even by move 15, he had an unenviable position.
Firstly, I suppose it must be said that my appearance at the Richmond Rapidplay a fortnight earlier did its job, as I feel that I played somewhat better here than in that tournament of identical format. Only in one game do I feel I was convincingly outplayed, and I won that game! In fact, 4.5/6 from this display was quite possible, which would have got me into the Challengers tournament (although of course my round 6 pairing would have been different.)
To me, the most interesting game was that in round 5 - an interesting choice perhaps, given that it was concluded so abruptly. I would do well to take on board yet more psychological lessons from this game, and a chance to actually make use of some computer preparation for once was welcome.
In my prattle about the penultimate game, I mentioned that my unhealthy fixation with Plate qualification was rather ironic. The reason for that is that upon being given the entry form, which I was encouraged to aim for just as much as participants in other age groups were, I discovered that the top section is only U-17! I believe this is both to save money on grading junior-only games, and also because the top prize is the chance to represent the England junior team. A commendable initiative, but not much use if your secondary education is finished. There is some kind of poetic justice here, I'm sure! The UKCC often is perceived to have a dark side, and this left a sour taste in the mouth at the end of an event I have always enjoyed playing in nonetheless, as for all his melodrama and corporatism, Basman is quite right that nothing approaches it in scope. The consequence of this is that the Plate (to be held in late August) will seemingly not be my final final final junior tournament - though I await clarification of this.
And so that's it for junior chess. Even in the short space of time in which I have been playing (2 seasons at tournament level now) I have gained much from it, and I often find myself wondering what might have been if I'd only started sooner - with the gap to the top juniors in the area being relentlessly narrowed, I feel the sense of running out of time. Then again, the legendary servant to junior chess that is Richard James suggests that players taking chess up in their late teenage years are often the most dedicated, a theory my own experience at Sutton Grammar supports, so perhaps I wouldn't be any closer. Whatever the case, it is time to move on now. I've long been partial to a well-timed Churchill quotation, and this one doesn't seem out of place:
"Now this is not the end. This is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."
After the Second Battle of El Alamein, November 1942
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