2011/12 Season Hitherto

After a couple of years off of serious chess I played in the Open section of the Spectrum Fareham Congress, which on paper was a disaster for me (+0 =0 -5) but I was happy with how I played for much of the games. Had more solid results in the first few leagues games for Portsmouth/Southampton leagues, and had a much better result in my next tournament the Hampshire Open, (+1 =2 -2), against equally strong opposition as the Fareham tournament.

24th September 2011 loss vs Oliver Gill 184
24th September 2011 loss vs Ricky Vaja 128

24th September 2011 loss vs Mark Broom 196
25th September 2011 loss vs David Deacon 169
25th September 2011 loss vs Richard Bryant 178

12th October 2011 draw vs Steve Smith 149

24th October 2011 win vs Lawrence Pearman 122

29th October 2011 loss vs Mark Wallace 152

3rd November 2011 loss vs Peter Dallas 141

5th November 2011 loss vs Andy McDougall 193

5th November 2011 loss vs David Dawson U

5th November 2011 draw vs Joe Coburn 156

6th November 2011 win vs Doug Butcher 160

6th November 2011 draw vs Richard Edney 158

Despite the large number of losses, I was encouraged by my play, knowing I was dominating the games in all games against players graded in the 140s or lower, and putting up good resistance against some high graded players between 170s and 190s with good opportunities, (e.g. for drawing a difficult position or having got a promising position out of the opening). There have been some stinking losses - e.g. my games against David Deacon, Oliver Gill, and especially David Dawson, but most of the losses were good struggles, and in a couple of cases I was clearly winning but bodged the game in time trouble. Time management is an important practical skill in a human vs human game, and it is one of those things that can be rusty after a break from playing but starts to improve after a few games into the season. (Some players seem to like to be up on the clock and don't take much care over choosing their opening moves, but I have always considered this a weak approach).