When the trip is longer than the game

A bottom-division Surrey League game away to Redhill in my first full season remains the only game I've ever defaulted - the car I was in got lost, and we didn't arrive until just after the half-hour default time.* This match was my first return to the site of that ignominy, and from Wallington's perspective it could hardly be more important: we badly needed a win to give ourselves some air to the bottom of the table. Thankfully, availability was up to the challenge, with even our GM making a rare appearance away from home. With Redhill under strength, we definitely had a chance: 231-173, 169-173, 167-169, 142-147, 142-138, 128-137, 107-111. I was playing white for the eighth game in a row, against Geoff Stearn (169). But only just...

I always schedule journeys to away matches to arrive ludicrously early, just in case. But I was convinced that history was repeating itself as my travel plans went into meltdown. First, one of the two main southward Underground lines from Baker Street was suspended, so the other was over-congested. But that was minor - now the fun really started. My train to Redhill was advertised for the wrong platform, and since the imposter train was actually merging with another, I was locked on board whilst the real one left. Then when I finally got a train in vaguely the right direction, all of the computer systems at the interchange station had failed, so I had to hunt down a member of staff to find a connecting train. Then when I got on that, a parallel train on another platform broke down, so they held us for 10 minutes to allow the other passengers to board! Somehow I was only about 15 minutes late, but I was convinced that fate was against me that night. But I needn't have worried...

It didn't become clear until very near the end that we were going to win, but we pulled off a near-perfect 'win with white, draw with black' strategy, playing some sparkling games in the process, to win 5-2 (WLWDWDW). It was a nice bonus to get home and realise that we merely needed to fulfil our last two fixtures to survive... I suppose it made up for the disappointment of finishing inside 45 minutes and having to hang around as captain!

There's only so much to be said about an 11-move game decided by a tactical disaster, but there were some interesting lines in the notes. It's worth noting, I think, that even when the centre is simplified, or even liquidated altogether, White often enjoys a big advantage on account of just a modest lead in development. I remain unconvinced by 6... d5, even if it is the most popular move.

Anyway, that was that for almost another fortnight (thanks to winning by default two days later for Castles, as I mentioned earlier) and brings my coverage of March to an end in only six days. However, I am still 14 games in arrears. At the start of April I took a week off work to play in the main section of the Colin Crouch Celebration Congress in Harrow. With the middle of the field rated around 2200, I was under no illusions that it would be a rough ride. But I liked the idea of one game a day with time to prepare (and don't forget I work in a chess book shop!) and I was sure I would learn a lot. The first-round game was certainly an interesting one.


* And I stress, "just after". Our captain remembered that, and the following season we made sure to break our usual rotation pattern and field our strongest possible team. Never forget...