British Championship 2016 - Day 11 & final thoughts

It seems a lifetime ago now that I boarded a train at Carshalton Beeches that began my journey to Bournemouth. Nothing lasts forever though; I'm back at base, work begins again the day after tomorrow, and the British Championships are over for another year. I think it went very well - marred only by an overblown dispute in the blitz - and I enjoyed the change of pace, even if I am more tired at the end of my 'holiday' than the start! A seaside town was a nice place to spend two weeks in the summer, and the playing room had a lovely view out to sea. My own chess threatened to derail things, and I experienced some frustrations, but I recovered to 5½/11 in the Major Open, for a 166 performance and +11 Elo. It was useful to have a slightly monastic two weeks, which has been a spur to knuckle down again after doing very little chess for the last few months. But my thoughts on that can wait.

Obviously, the first congratulations must go to Michael Adams for powering through the field to score 10/11. That's a shared record, but beating Howell and Jones with Black is no mean feat. It's true that McShane, Sadler and Short were all absent, but it's painfully obvious that everyone else is playing catch-up at the moment. Similarly, Jovanka Houska quietly went about winning the Womens' Championship with 7/11, two points clear of her closest rival.

Next year the circus will congregate at Llandudno in North Wales. I hope to be there again (with luck, I'll have stepped up from the Major Open!) although, like Aberystwyth in 2014, it's not the most accessible from London. There is also the interesting change to a 9-day format. I worry that it might all be a little frantic, but I can see the appeal of only needing one week off work. Whether it works or not, we shall know in a year's time...

Returning to more humdrum matters, I promised a short and sweet puzzle for round 10 - and here it is:

I'm not going to offer a puzzle for the final round (though Walker-Wall, Hill-Fallowfield, Lyell-Wager and Hackner-Moreby all had their moments) but I will give a final Game of the Day. There were several nice efforts in amongst the carnage, however it seems only fitting to conclude my coverage with the coronation game on board 1:

And with that, my travel writing is over for another year. But there's plenty of chess to discuss - my blogging queue has sprung up again like so many weeds, and I have 11 games to look at. First however, some reflections on the second half of 2015-16.