At the first weekend of the British Championships at Warwick University the Rapidplay competitions were held. There were several sections and I had entered the U-150 tournament. The format was over two days, with 11 rounds and 20 minutes on each player’s clock, plus an additional 10 seconds added after each move. Hopefully this would help me practice playing faster after many time-troubled games last season!
The first day was quite tough, with three losses in a row after long, close finishes which left me on 1.5/5. However, I started better on Sunday morning, and ended with 6.5/11 including a quick draw in the last round with most players suffering mental exhaustion by then!
An enjoyable couple of days at an excellent venue and good luck to Alex, Jack and Jon in the rest of the Championships at a more leisurely pace!
I’ve included an interesting game from Saturday where I reached a winning position only to see this disappear over the horizon as the moves got faster and faster…
[pgn]
[Event “British Chess Championships 2015”]
[Site “Warwick University”]
[Date “2015.07.25”]
[White “”]
[Black “Alan Page”]
[Result “1-0”]
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3.
Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Ng3 e5 6. Nf3 exd4 7. Bc4 Qe7+ 8. Ne2 b5 9. Bb3 c5 10.
a4 c4 11. Ba2 Qb4+ 12. c3 dxc3 13. Nxc3 Qe7+ 14. Be3 b4 15. Nb5 a6 16. Nbd4 b3
17. Bb1 g6 18. O-O Bg7 19. Re1 O-O 20. Nd2 Qc7 21. Qc1 Ng4 22. N2f3 Bb7 23. h3
Nxe3 24. fxe3 Nd7 25. Nd2 Qg3 26. N4f3 Bxf3 27. Nxf3 Rac8 28. Be4 Nc5 29. Qxc4
Nxe4 30. Qxe4 Bxb2 31. Rab1 Rc2 32. Nd4 Qf2+ 33. Kh1 Bxd4 34. exd4 { [pgndiagram]}Rfc8? {34… b2 is better} 35. Rxb3
Rc1 36. Rb1 {and although the position is still ok finally lost after a time scramble many moves later}1-0
[/pgn]
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