Trouble in Telford

Although I do enjoy the social side of 4NCL weekends, I nevertheless go to them first and foremost as a chess player. Last season Downend were unenthusiastic about the promotion pool, which made the concluding three-day weekend a dispiriting ride for me, but this time we were even ambivalent about the relegation pool and I couldn't stand for that. Fired up or not, survival wasn't going to be easy: our form was non-existent, having won only six games across five matches since January (and two of those were me) and we needed 2/3 against teams which seemed sure to strengthen for the final weekend, whereas we had weakened. Hence I was playing at least two games, and on probation for the third.

First up KJCA Kings, the team of the Kent Junior Chess Association which for the most part does exactly what it says on the tin, but they really wanted to stay up - I guessed that they would have Chris Ward, but they'd also dialled Emms for murder! Two GMs spelt double trouble: 214-241, 206-239, 184-202, 185-192, 175-179, 175-195, 179-175, 165-178. On board six I had black against Richard Selway (195/2056), their only lower-board player I've never met before. Away from the top boards, this match held a lot of promise but slipped away on the run up to the time control - unfortunately I was one of the victims, in rather farcical circumstances:

On any other weekend of the season this would have been a close match, but 1½-6½ (LLDDDLLL) was painful given that the match was actually competitive for a long time. Now we had to win on Sunday, which looked quite plausible, and on May Day, which didn't. Was the sun setting?

I'm glad that my game didn't affect anything, since I can laugh at the episode after 29. Nge3. Chess is hard enough without thinking that the enemy king is a basilisk! These strange oversights can happen at any time, although I've said before that 4NCL Saturdays have their problems. The fact that it occurred immediately after I tried to wake myself up with some chocolate is interesting, although I find the psychological explanation in the notes quite compelling. Before that, it was an interesting game. But I think that White's play had reached an impasse; trying to reshuffle his minor pieces only allowed me to strike back in the centre, which left his king with things to ponder. The Nh3 experiment, I have to say, wasn't a very successful one.

On Sunday we had no choice but to break our winless run, taking on the Bradford DCA Knights. Although they were able to fill every board against us, unlike the day before, this was the only 4NCL game of the season in which I had a (commanding) grade advantage - but it was also one of the toughest!