At their peak they were slickly run and would reliably get bumper entries. Unfortunately, the organisers passed them on around the time I left school, and it only took a few months for them to tumble downhill and then collapse altogether. Now, with new organisers and a new venue, they're back. I had to miss the first one for that ignominious County Championship match against Lancashire, but it seemed to be a success so I decided to give the second one a go. They aren't fully up to speed yet (the date was known, but with no recent publicity until several days beforehand it was hard to be sure it was on; also I really think that tournaments should be publishing entry lists in this day and age) but overall the day went well. The Open was small, but very strong: the 11 players (plus sporadic fillers) included John Nunn, two IMs and an FM. So I could be sure of some strong opponents.
As usual, I'm annotating these rapidplay games more tersely, which isn't to say that they were uninteresting - it's just that mistakes are inevitable! That said, I don't think I played too poorly in the first round, against the young FM William Claridge-Hansen (211) - I simply got crushed by a better player, which I hoped wasn't a preview of the day to come:
After round 2, I was definitely getting worried. This time, against 184-graded Peter Ackley, I dropped a pawn straight out of the opening, battled back, but still found a way to undo my hard work:
Back in the day, I haunted the lower sections at Richmond (except for a one-off trip to the Open, which didn't go well despite some glorious opportunities) and found it hard going when my grade bumped me into the Major. Five years on and I was forced into the Open, but I would have entered it anyway. My third-round opponent Leo Zupan was unlucky to get an F-category grade of 161 after scoring 6/6 in the U-120 section last time, and his first try in the Open was similar to mine: if he'd seen my attack coming I would have been in trouble, but I got away with taking some liberties.
My punishment was swift though, as I was upfloated to play IM Graeme Buckley (223). This was a game I very much looked forward to - since his step-son was the SGS top board, I've known him as long as I've played chess, and he's virtually the only strong player I know who still likes chess purely as a game. When on form Graeme is simply unplayable, but sometimes he suffers for being unable to compromise his all-out attacking style, and I had real chances for a scalp here:
In round 5 I played David Shepherd (158), who along with his daughter used to be one of the strongest players at Castles. Truly this was a retro tournament! Our tame draw eventually allowed the three of us to share the grading prize, but I probably should have made more of it:
With so few players, final-round pairings promised to be strange. I was hoping that I could fluke a rematch with Nunn (who won easily with 5½/6), but I ended up going the other way - I got a bye! So I finished up with 2½/6 and a 163 performance, whilst sharing the all-Castles U-180 prize gave me £15. It wasn't a bad day in the end, even if my chess wasn't very impressive (the frantic conclusion of the ending against Ackley was horrific, having played it so well for so long, and I was far too tentative against Buckley). Hopefully the series will soon be back to its former glory.
That's it then - up to speed, with a clear horizon. I'm not sure what comes next, but I'll probably be back at the keyboard soon enough. Perhaps it is time to return to the rapidplay games from last season that I glossed over in my haste to catch up...
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