British Chess Championships

August 2005

Douglas, Isle of Man

Introduction

This year's venue was controversial as the location is very difficult to get to, the ferry services are cumbersome and plane fares expensive, and it is very expensive to take a car on the ferry. This was most notable in the junior sections and the Major Open, which were tiny compared to previous years. Overall entry was about 500 entrants, compared with 900 the previous year. For some stats click here.

I qualified for the championships for the first time by getting 4/6 at the recent Nottingham Congress. Despite my reservations about travelling to such a distant and difficult location many of my friends assured me that I ought to make the most of it as I may never qualify again. With any luck.

Full details of the tournament along with prize lists and games can be found at the official website.

Sunday 31 July 2005

The journey up was awful. Even before leaving there was a crisis, as Pete had arrived at the station yesterday to find his train was 1½ hours late. Knowing that he would be too late to check in for the ferry he went home in despair. So on returning from my Countdown tournament we had to put our thinking caps on to find the best way for him to get up there. The Liverpool ferry which Jack and I had booked was full. In the end he decided to take his chance with the early train to Lancaster, then taxi to Heysham and the 2.15 ferry, knowing that if it was full or the train late he would have to wait 12 hours for the next one.

We took a morning train to Liverpool and arrived about 2.30 in the afternoon. A minimal scout round lugging our bags turned up an all-you-can-eat Chinese restaurant on the edge of the shopping centre opposite the station. It was wonderful and only cost £6.45 each. So we spent an hour there and then heaved our bags back to the station to get a taxi to the ferry port, reckoning that an hour early was better than late.

Too bad. The first news at the ferry was that it was delayed 2 hours and would not leave till 8. The second news was that they were showing Eastenders on television. We waited 3 hours and got very bored and tired. On the ferry Jack pointed out a chess player named Mark who he reckoned was quite cool but he had walked past by the time I had summoned the energy to turn my head.

On reaching the terminal at Douglas we took the usual hour to disembark and reclaim our bags then decided to walk with a player I know called Alex and someone else I had never met, to find the Villa Marina, where we would be playing, before going to our respective hotels. Alex was staying at the Richmond and Jack had a place the other side of town. We chatted and walked and ended up at the far end of the Promenade. On asking two girls how to get to the Villa Marina we were told to our dismay that it was half way back to the terminal. So we turned round and still had difficulty finding it, but some guy who had just come out the pub offered a lift. Sensing that my hotel was nearby I let them get on with it. I phoned the hotel which was indeed in the next street and gratefully headed for bed. The hotel owner asked me if I knew someone called Mark who should have been on the same ferry. I said he may still be waiting for a taxi as there had been a long queue.

Monday

Woke at 3 to wait for breakfast at 8.30. Well I sort of slept till about 6. Knew I would be playing Graham Morrison but was too lazy to get up and prepare for the game. So eventually went to breakfast which was the standard sausage-and-egg type. Was joined at breakfast by the the guy who had joined us on our walk the previous evening. His name was Mark. Something finally clicked. He said he was a student of Arabic and hoped to go into diplomatic service. He had spent several years in the army, something quite unusual for chess players who are not normally accustomed to putting up with orders.

Had a quick look at the Villa Marina and checked my draw. It is a nice looking venue, smaller than the Spa at Scarborough but fulfilling the same kind of function. Like most of the buildings in the town it has the appearance of having been recently built, which made me wonder where the town gets its money from. Douglas does not have the crumbling Victorian air of so many mainland resorts, perhaps because the Victorians would not have been able to get there, but neither does it have the trappings of tourist wealth, such as bustling shops, busy streets, or extensive building works. (Except for the big building site next to my hotel.) Went into the pedestrianised shopping centre which has tourist shops and takeaways and a Marks and Spencer at one end. It seemed to be the best place in the town to get some food.

After being woken from my midday nap by a rude knock on the door from a man who seemed to think I might need clean towels I went to the playing venue which seemed subdued mainly thanks to the very small number of entrants to this year's competitions. From nine hundred the previous year I was told the total was down to about five hundred. Considering that many people have entered more than one tournament it is possible there were only two or three hundred altogether. Certainly most of the players I had met the previous year were absent.

Anyway I had a successful game - an exceedingly dull and lifeless draw against a much more highly rated opponent. Nothing much to say about it really.

Then discovered that the venue had no bar. Great.

Tuesday

Where are all the holidaymakers? It's the second day of August and the place is almost deserted. Brighton must be heaving by now. But the tram clops by from time to time with a few jolly trippers on board.

Was disgusted to find a couple of tinned tomatoes slopped on my plate at breakfast. So I ostentatiously ate all the rest and left them looking like two ripe tumours on the side. And from now on I'll be given tea with my breakfast as that is what I had yesterday, so I am told, and who am I to disagree with a man who has already shuffled back to the kitchen.

In today's tournament bulletin I notice that my game from round 1 was the only one to have a skull and crossbones, indicating "a less than scintillating game". Does that mean I'm officially the most boring player in the tournament?

Paired against Chris Ward, grandmaster. I put on my best shirt and had my photographer ready (thanks, Richard). I put up a certain amount of defence but eventually his attack overwhelmed me. Hope it doesn't become game of the day in tomorrow's bulletin.

Pete had a dreadful game after winning his opponent's queen. Both sides missed an elementary fork of his king and queen three times in succession. Then he failed to find a winning move in the second session and ended up losing after his opponent queened a pawn.

Went further into town with Liam in the evening. We were a little disappointed by the number of eating places that close their doors at 9 or even 8.30. Eventually found a reasonable Italian perched on the slope of the hill by an inlet close to the ferry terminal which did a decent pizza and drink for a tenner.

Wednesday

Bring on the August weather! Time to get out the hat and coat and go for a jolly old splash. No doubt the two Bangladeshis who appeared at breakfast this morning were somewhat bemused by our habit of going on holiday in one of the wettest months of the year.

Though they were considerably more bemused by their breakfast. Having queried the appearance of a greasy sliver of meat on their plates they eventually twigged that it had originally been a pig and asked for vegetarian instead. This confused the hotelier who couldn't quite get them to say whether they wanted beans on toast or scrambled egg. Eventually they settled on the word chicken.

Checked my draw and as expected I was due to play Charles Tippleston whom I had beaten at Coventry last Easter. Spent a lot of the morning preparing some ideas for the game.

The towel man came at 11.30 today so I delayed my lunchtime nap till after he had left unrequited. During my wait I discovered part of the reason why the island can be so prosperous without having any tourists. Pokerstars, the second biggest online poker company, announced that it would be moving to the Isle of Man prior to floating on the London stock market. Perhaps this helps to explain the large number of faceless office buildings in the town. It was a long sleep, as I had woken at 6 this morning.

The rain stopped just after I left the hotel so I felt stupid sweltering in my coat and jumper. Good job I hadn't brought a scarf. Discovered that yesterday's game had been selected as game of the day. Played Charles and unfortunately transposed two of the moves I had so carefully learnt in the morning. He splatted me. Even worse, when I gave up a piece and later came close to saving the game the computer revealed afterwards that I could indeed have done so. So nil points to Jerry, at least today.

Had a takeaway with Liam and tried out the bar in our hotel. It was convenient at least. Had to explain the finer points of chess (like whether we use clocks) to the hotelier's son, who is about 30 and a motorbiker. He looks like a thug but sounds a little better when he speaks. I recognised him as the towel man. I think he probably hates his job, which I can relate to. Overheard his father moaning that they would be wanting chicken every day now.

Thursday

A quiet day today. Went shopping in the morning and bought some t-shirts to make up for having only taken three up from Bristol. Saw a lot more of the town, exploring the back round the station and river. Found a promising looking cheap restaurant called Coasters. On the way back I was accosted by the village loony who insisted on talking to me. He did pass on one interesting nugget, that the seafront had all been boarded up until the nineties. Which presumable explains why the facades look so new. It must have been a pretty dire place before then. He asked me if I was 'a Manx' and when I said no he went off to see what was happening in Marks and Spencer's.

Had to play the bottom player, Joe Fraser. A pleasant lad about 16 years old. He duly outplayed me and reached a very promising position. So I scrapped about a bit and when the position became very messy he duly offered a draw rather than take the risk of trying to beat me. It took me about two seconds to accept.

Michael White played an excellent endgame to hold off Simon Williams who was slightly better, but then bizarrely gave up a piece for the last pawn and lost the resulting position with Rook v Rook and Bishop. But Liam did rather better by holding a horrible looking endgame against fellow Berkshire player Roger de Coverley.

Walked all the way to Coasters with Liam and Pete, who was rather the worse for wear. They appeared to have closed seconds before we arrived - apparently they do this if there are not many customers. So tramped back leaving Pete in a cheap pub along the way and tried out an Indian opposite the venue which was fine, even with chess players sitting at the next table.

Friday

The hotelier must have remembered I don't like tinned tomatoes as he only gave me one today. So now I have established that breakfast goes in a cycle of beans - tomatoes - mushrooms plus the normal rasher and tasteless sausage and fried egg. Maybe Liam has a better approach. He stays in bed till 11 and does not do breakfast. He also pointed out that the hotel's 'full Manx breakfast' looks suspiciously like the full English version you get at cheap hotels on the mainland.

Hot news at the tournament hall. Megan, our club's latest signing, is a clear point in the lead in the Under 11s, which means she is guaranteed at least at tie for first place. Meanwhile I have to face Daniel Hall, an up and coming young player from Swindon. Not greatly cheered by the news that I have a second skull and crossbones in the bulletin, which this time is captioned "take the 7 o'clock ferry to Liverpool," I proceed to get a decent position in the opening and then allow my opponent to line up against my king and make exactly the attack he has been so obviously trumpeting. I lose in 22 moves. Oh dear.

Megan drew her game and thereby won the title outright.

Liam was crushed by Pete so we had to spend the afternoon consoling each other in the analysis room.

Mike and Geoff also faced each other this afternoon, with Mike coming out on top.

And Mark had the result of his life by beating Peter Maruschenko, the only International Master in his tournament.

Saturday

Hooray it looks as if I am going to win a game. James McDonnell played patchily against me and eventually I won a pawn. Despite fierce resistance I hung on to it and managed to get my king in the centre of the board. Then a nightmare. Thinking I was sealing the victory I blundered two pawns and had to fight to save the game. Fortunately his endgame technique was not as good as his tricky tactics so he made it quite easy for me. But I really should have lost, I think.

Liam won so now I am the lowest scoring of all the people I know. In fact I am second bottom in the tournament as there is one player on 0 and a group of us on 1½. We have a rest day tomorrow so let's see what the second week brings.

In the evening we walked to Coasters again, to be told this time that they were fully booked and could not give us a seat. Went to the cheap diner where there were loads of chess players and had a huge meal.

Sunday

Every island has to have an island of its own and Man has one called Calf of Man hanging off its southern tip. (In case you are very pedantic, yes it does have a series of smaller islands of its own, ad infinitum.) For my rest day excursion I took the steam train to Port Erin, which took about an hour and a half for the twenty mile journey. I was glad I didn't think of taking the electric railway to Ramsay in the north, as one of my fellow passengers said though the journey was scenic it was slow and uncomfortable and they spent all their time in Ramsay dreading the return.

Port Erin is a small but attractive seaside village, with souvenir shops and three or four decent cafes. Unlike Douglas it also had plenty of people on the beach. It helped that Sunday was a sunny day, with a cooling sea breeze. After lunch on the seafront I headed off along the coast path to try and get to Calf Sound, for once taking the liberty of having no map and no idea of the distance involved.

The coast path stopped abruptly at the base of some cliffs where a young man in skimpy shorts and t-shirt was fetching some cans from his 4x4. I thought of asking for directions but wasn't sure where he might lead me. So I went round the back of a block of flats belonging to Liverpool University and there was a rough staircase leading to the top of the cliff. There the going was more obvious. I soon remembered it had been three years since I did any fell walking. My calves protested mightily as I forced my way up the first rise of the headland and was rewarded by a view of the sound just over a mile in the distance.

It took a hot half an hour to get to the edge, where there were a lot of tourists and very little parking, so the cars were strung out along the narrow road. Calf of Man has a few buildings and roads, though I didn't know whether it was actually inhabited until I checked out this link. Took the road back to Port St Mary, on the opposite side of the isthmus to Port Erin, and on the way was rewarded with a striking view of the sea through a gap in the hills, which due to an optical illusion seemed massively higher than the shallow bay on my side.

Port St Mary is the kind of village you could put a frame round and hang up on your dining room wall, to disappear into once a year for a day of otherworldly tranquillity. When you approach you have to make the choice whether to turn left along the beach and promenade or right for the harbour. As the bus started from the harbour I turned right, and found a few shops but the teashop I was hoping for did not appear so I sat by the harbour wall listening to the strangely inappropriate sound of a tombola which gave out local calendars as prizes.

The bus back to Douglas took only an hour and cost just £2 which puts FirstBus to shame. It took in Castletown and the airport and gave a panoramic view over Douglas as we began the descent into the town.

After another massive meal at the diner in the High Street I went back to the playing venue for the quiz night. Last year we missed out on third place by one point. It was a noisy affair, and Liam was quite drunk and kept shouting so it was difficult to keep a grip on the questions. That's my excuse for missing some obvious answers - or in one case simply forgetting to write it down. We we missed out on third place by one point. As usual the controllers' team came first by a mile. Then we played poker and I lasted just three hands before losing all my chips. Five pounds, goodbye. Does this deserve a sad face in the tournament bulletin?

Monday

Another day, another nightmare. Had a good opening against Michael Walters and found a cracking combination to win a pawn, but the position was not winning and not really all that good. But the blunder which lost the game was incredible. Liam and Pete both lost as well, and Alex was furious with his game.

But for every loser there's a winner and Andrew Greet, who is staying in my hotel, was overjoyed with his victory over Richard Pert, which puts him into joint lead with Jonathan Rowson. As they have already played Andrew will be on board 2 tomorrow, and said he is looking forward to playing in front of the audience.

Not content with being Under 11 Champion Megan is playing in the Under 10s this week which presumably she will win convincingly though in chess it is never quite so cut and dried. In fact her father said the Under 10s looks the stronger of the two.

Pete played with a bandage on his arm as he has just had a tattoo with the name of his new Internet girlfriend. He will be meeting her for the first time at the end of the month.

At least the weather has continued hot and there seem to be more visitors to the town than in the first week.

Tuesday

Both Liam and I have written the tournament off. We had shocking losses to relatively weak players and there is nowhere further down to go. We are likely to be fighting each other for last place. In fact it was a bad day all round as practically everyone I know lost. Except Megan who scored two wins in the Under 10s.

It did not help that the controllers have put up a notice banning photography except for the first five minutes (normally it is allowed without flash as long as it does not disturb the players). It is sometimes hard to know what planet chess organisers come from. Anyway here is a picture of Andrew an hour into his game against Stuart Conquest. With any luck I'll be banned from playing here again.

Wednesday

A cold is now threatening. Maybe this is why I've been feeling tired towards the end of the session in the previous two matches. Sleep is patchy and I have to face Geoff Taylor, renowned for his sharp attacking play.

It turns out to be the best game I have played so far. I get a position where his bishop is hemmed in by pawns and try to dominate with my knight. He sacrifices a pawn to free his position slightly and I later give it back and open up the kingside. In the end we both sacrifice a piece and end up with me giving perpetual check as he is threatening mate next move. A fair result.

Liam was happy to draw so we are half a point off last place, but playing each other tomorrow.

Thursday

Turned cold again this morning and looks like developing into a sultry day. Spend the morning preparing for my game against Liam. We were almost unable to talk to each other when we met in the lounge before walking up to the tournament.

Discovered that my game yesterday was not as well played as I had thought. I missed two opportunities to win, then let the game slip and Geoff missed two clear wins as well. It received a happy face in the day's bulletin but hardly deserved it.

Had a look in the bookstall room and found that it had been closed as the venue had hired it out to another function. Liam later discovered that it had been shunted off to a small room downstairs.

Dave arrived during the round - he had come up from Bristol yesterday. So I took the opportunity to get him to take a photo. Forgot to take one of him, though.

Had a good chance to gain an advantage in the middlegame but the plan I played did not work very well so Liam went slightly ahead. Towards the time control he missed a win and instead took a draw by repeatedly attacking my queen. I took particular delight in showing him the winning line in the analysis room.

Michael White won and if top board had been a draw would still have a theoretical chance of sharing first place. But Rowson won and is currently a point ahead of the chasing field so seems likely to retain his title.

Friday

My last chance for a win. Having fished out the bottom of the tournament the weakest player left for me is Peter Poobalasingam, a strong junior. So I prepare a fighting opening. No tame draws this time, I'm determined to go down fighting.

Checked out my game against Liam from yesterday and sure enough I  missed a couple of chances for a big advantage. Though one of them was quite obscure. The good news is that the line of play at the end of the game, which we thought would have been winning, was in fact defendable by a fast counterattack, so a draw was a fair result.

At the top of the event, which is about as distant as the moon, Jonathan Rowson needs a draw for clear first place and the tidy sum of £10,000.

Naughtily bought a sandwich from the newsagent and took it into the tournament hall, in overt defiance of the rule about only consuming food purchased on the premises. If the silly little cafe upstairs is all they could offer their silly little rule can go hang.

Peter played the expected line of the Grunfeld defence but chose a variation where he captured a pawn temporarily. I knew about this but have never played against it before. Unfortunately I soon went wrong and despite a determined counterattack I ended up going down fighting.

But there was some good news, as Liam won his last round game. Jack finished the tournament strongly and ended in eighth place. He won £160, ironically the same amount that it had cost him to enter the tournament.

Alex drew his game in record time and seemed reasonably happy with his performance.

Rowson drew and took the title, and gave an interesting explanation of how he had prepared an opening that would not give his opponent chances to play for a win. He also demonstrated his previous round win over the talented 18 year old Stephen Gordon, who gained an International Master norm for his success in the tournament.

In The Major, Mark faded towards the end after a great start. But 16 year old Peter Constantinou, who I played last year, put up a good performance to qualify for next year's Championship.

Later in Liam's room we were bored and gazing through the brochure for the event. Sure enough it said "refreshments will be available in the Colonnade, ... which is the main cafe for the event". Strange how it was closed the whole time except for providing a bar on Sunday evening. No explanation or apology from the organisers.

So I came last and my overall view was, it sucks.

Saturday

Woke at 3.30 today as I have done several times due to some noisy thing that comes on around then. I thought at first it might be the ferry but more likely a generator or fan in the hotel building. Stayed awake for an hour then thought there was no point going to sleep and waking up again at 5.30. At this point I must have nodded off as the next thing I knew was when the alarm went and I strictly told myself not to go back to sleep.

Woke up again and dreaded that it might be 6 already. Missing the ferry would mean having to buy new tickets for the same time tomorrow. But it was only 5.35. Checked everything five times and lugged my bags through the rain to the Sea Terminal to join a load of other disgruntled early morning passengers and a number of Liverpool supporters off to see the Middlesborough match. Passed a cafe on the way which said open till late. Strange how I always find these places on the last day. It was just round the corner from a route I have walked several times. I'll remember it in the unlikely event that I ever go to Douglas again.