Last month I had the usual email from a guy call Tim Paulden who organises chess events in Devon. I am still in his address book as I used to play in Devon for Tiverton – just over the border from Somerset.

I usually ignore the emails, but this one was about an individual blitz tournament followed by a team rapid tournament.

I remember the team rapid tournaments well – they are once a year and usually in Newton Abbott. Had some good memories and therefore send an email back and explained I am happy to play the blitz and the rapid but would need a team to play in. And, I am rusty therefore any board other than board 1 would be great.

Email came back requesting some blitz and rapid data and I send him my lichess numbers after which he sends an email back to me: “Yeah right, rusty!!! Board 1 it is.”

I wasn’t sure when I sat across an actual opponent over the board last. So I checked and it was 2018 – just after our son was born. Since then, it’s just online stuff or correspondence chess. In all fairness during Covid-19 everything went online anyway so technically for those 2 years everybody else was in the same boat.

Our son has the usual busy Saturday schedule, and I am handing the baton over this weekend to my wife to look after our son as she is on annual leave next week.

So, leaving for Exeter around 8.30am and I made good time and was at the venue around 9.45am.

I did recognise a few people and I then saw the seeding: 5th!!! Far to high if you ask me but at least in the first two rounds I would therefore get some “lighter” opponents.

7 rounds 5mins + 3 sec inc – not my ideal time control but it had to do.

1. Round – A junior (who was actually in my afternoon team on board 4) who I outplayed in the middle game after a QGD opening. However, I was rusty and spend a lot of time thinking on position I usually just play more or less instantly. 1-0
2. Round – a guy from Barnstable (nice chap as we talked about stuff afterwards) and I played the Philidor with black. Luckily, he didn’t know the theory well and I found a nice tactic and won a piece and the game after he blundered his queen. 2-0
3. Round – a youngster on board 1 who fair and square out played me with black just to blunder his queen (for a Rook and a Bishop). However, his position was so strong I lost on time (by then I actually saw the forced mate). 2-1
4. Round I was paired against Peter Chaplin who I know from my “good old Somerset” days as he used to play for Weston-Super-Mare. He played 1.b3 and I played 1…e5 followed by f6 and then the position went downhill from there. I managed to hold the position but that did cost me a lot of time and in an inferior position I lost on time. 2-2
5. Round White and the KID with the 4-pawn attack – quick and easy win win. 3-2
6. Round I had black and played the Philidor again. My opponent played Bc4, Ng5 and sacc’ed the Bxf7. I defended well and after a few dubious moves by white I won easily. 4-2 and at least I won’t get a negative score.
7. Round on board 3 against Hampton (I think) with white. Dutch with 2.e4 and a move order I haven’t seen before: 1.d4 f5 2. e4 fxe4 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 c6 5. f6 Qa5 6.Bxf6 exf6 7.fxe4 – so far I knew the theory but 7…Ba3 I couldn’t comprehend for about 3 minutes. In the brief analysis my opponent said 8.Qc1 is the best move – I will need to look at this. The time I spend after 7…Ba3 cost me dearly in the end and I lost not only on time but also my position was bad. 4-3

The winner of the blitz was Meek (I guy from Bristol) with 6.5/7. I have played him some years agon in the 4NCL and won in a long game. Doesn’t mean anything these days.

On to the team rapid. Teams of 4 players. 6 rounds with 10 minutes + 3 sec inc per move. Again, not a rapid I choose to play normally.

1. Round against Barnstable with IM Jack Rudd on their board 1 with black. *gulp* I played Jack a few times and it’s never a pleasure. The same this time – a positional disaster from my end and I resigned within 25 moves I think. 0-1
2. Round against Downend B (Bristol league). I played the KID 4 pawn attack and I thought I’ve actually had a good position and I just blundered and lost. I also was in a bad mood by then and didn’t even acknowledge my opponent after I stopped the clock. 0-2
3. Round against Exeter juniors. My opponent was probably about 10-12 years old. “Go to an endgame, go to an endgame!!” – that’s all I remembered. Chigorin with black and he played the opening well and luckily for me he struggled with the nuances of the opening. With both of us short on time I just had more tactical resources which gave me the win. 1-2
4. Round against Exeter honey monsters (our B team, we were the C-team called the honeybees). Played a shocking opening with white, sacc’ed a piece (unsound) and lost. Plain and simple just not good enough. 1-3
5. Round against Seaton B and playing my 5th round opponent from the morning blitz (KID 4 pawn attack). He then returned the favour by playing 1.e4 e5 2.f4 to which I though “Well, then we go ALL IN!!!” and played 2…exf4 3.Nf3 g5. Following a complicated game in a time scramble I won although the position was most likely drawn at some point, but I wanted the win and with 28 seconds left on the clock I played a combination which hopefully worked. It did and 2-3
6. Round and we played Newton Abbott B. With white I half accepted the Benko Gambit (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5.3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. b6) and again I did understand the nuances of the position slightly better. The game was then very tactical, and I sacrificed the exchange for a very advanced pawn which in the end gave me the win. With more time the position was probably holdable but not for seconds left on the clock. 3-3

A long day of playing chess. I was actually tired and I was hungry as I hadn’t really eaten all day (plenty of cooffee though) but I enjoyed the competition again. That’s probably something I would need to change next I am going to play – need to eat something during the day.

Will there be a next time?