After going from one of the strongest board 1s the previous season, the team was promoted and I became pretty much the weakest in the division. Rated 94 ECF, I was often playing against players rated 40 or 50 points higher and I played very defensive and ground out some good draws, but this defensive mentality was hard to shake off against the weaker players and I struggled to create any attacking play, getting stuck in dead positions more often than not. This is reflected in the fact I scored more draws (nearly 50%) last season than I had in the previous 3 seasons combined, even though the average opponent strength was not that much stronger than myself over the season. I had no edge to my game last season, lack of confidence being the cause. I was grinding out some good draws against 140+, but squandering wins against the 70s and 80s.

However, I can take some solace in that my play was solid. I made few tactical blunders in defence, but my positional play failed to yield many promising positions. I did chalk up my first win against a player rated over 100 ECF, so some progress is being made.

The “D Team” finished mid-table in Div 4, which is about where expected based on player gradings, however we were always far more at risk of demotion than promotion.

My grading started out at 94, though the ECF is in a transitional phase with the grades (they are trying to correct deflation issues) and my equivalent new-system grade was 127. After the calculations had been made, the grade came out at 130 (athough it was briefly 131), so a slight improvement, but it will take a season or two for the new grades to settle so not much can be determined from these numbers.

I don’t know how much I’ll be able to commit to chess this season, so I won’t be captaining the side. I have a feeling that work is going to get in the way, but we’ll see how it goes.

Seriously though, December gets a bit busy for me (still have the Christmas shopping to do of course!) so it will be all I can do to keep up with the chess study and I’ll probably not be posting much until the new year.

In the meantime, see how much you know about the true Christmas by taking this Christmas Quiz and as always feel free to leave your comments!

Have a good Christmas and New Year!

However it seems that not everyone has the same morals that I have…

Iowa City man David Christian, 29, appeared at the Johnson County District Court this morning via video feed from the Johnson County Jail after being charged Sunday with the killing of his neighbor, Michael Steward, 39, over an argument about their chess game.

Johnson County Judge Stephen Gerard set Christian’s bond at $500,000 and scheduled his preliminary hearing for Oct. 30.

Christian faces a second-degree murder charge in the killing, a Class B felony. If convicted, Christian could face up to 50 years in prison. Christian is also charged with public intoxication.

The Iowa City Police and Fire departments and the Johnson County Ambulance Service responded to 418 Brown St. Apt. 6, Iowa City — Christian’s home — at 3:08 a.m. Sunday and found Steward unresponsive. He was taken to Mercy Iowa City and declared dead shortly after.

According to the criminal complaint, Steward slapped Christian during the chess match. Christian responded by reportedly putting Steward’s head between his legs and applying pressure to Steward’s neck while holding his hands.

Christian applied pressure to Steward’s neck on and off until he “didn’t look so good,” according to the complaint. When police asked Christian what “didn’t look so good” meant, he replied, “Have you ever seen a dead person?”.

Christian attempted to perform CPR on Steward with “negative results,” according to the complaint.

Steward lived in the same building in Apt. 4.

This is the sixth reported homicide in Iowa City this year.

Becky Sharp of 414 Brown St., Apt. 7, who has been neighbors with Steward for three years, said she knew something was wrong with Steward after seeing police cars parked outside his building for two hours.

"I knew something had happened to him," she said. "I knew in my gut he was dead."

Sharp, who also lived at 418 Brown St. before moving next door, described him as a really good person who had demons like everybody else.

"He drank way too much, but he was really nice guy," she said. "He would do anything for anybody."

She said Steward was planning on applying for a job at the University of Iowa and wanted to go to graduate school to study library sciences. He received a degree from the UI years ago in literature, she said.

"I just can’t believe we’ll never see him again," she said. "I’m shocked — just shocked."

Sharp added she tried to avoid Christian because he seemed a little "freaky" to her and acted erratic.

The woman who lives in the apartment between Christian and Steward, who spoke on the condition her name not be used, said Christian and Steward were good drinking buddies who would often play chess or Scrabble while drinking.

"It’s what they did," she said. "They would drink, play games, and get in arguments."

She was not at the building at the time of the reported killing.

She also described both men as "intellectual" and great cooks who could whip up some "really fabulous things."

They both lived by themselves in their one-room apartments, she said.

"Those two were always together," she said.

Susanna Strode of 315 Brown St., who lives a block from where the killing took place, said it’s a good neighborhood that’s mostly occupied by homeowners and families, except for a few rental properties by where the killing happened.

Preliminary results of Steward’s autopsy are expected back early this week.

Christian, who was also charged with public intoxication, is being held at the Johnson County Jail.

http://gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008710199918

I can’t think of much that would get me angry, perhaps blatant cheating, but even then not enough to lose my cool. What does it take to tip you over the edge?

Since the weather has turned a bit warmer I’ve spent the last month doing some different circles – circles of the local countryside on my bike that is! It’s nice and flat around here as I live by the Severn Estuary (the strong winds compensate for the lack of hills however) and I’ve been putting in about 3 or 4 hours on the bike each week. The gain in fitness has been a great help to my chronic fatigue (at least physically – the mental side is still lacking) and I can now cycle up hills without getting out of breath, I have strength in the legs which I’ve not had since my teens. Cycling is like an anti-depressant, just it’s a bit more effort than popping a pill in your mouth!

There are some great views around here too which helps with the motivation, low traffic means I can concentrate on having fun – here is the view of the estuary at high tide from the M48 cycle path.

Now I’m back with renewed energy, a greater motivation and a hunger to make some more progress. I’ve got one month before the new season starts and I’m looking forward to it again.

If you feel it’s becoming an effort to get the chess board out, take a break!

Something of a Minor KO specialist, the narrow 3.5 – 2.5 win over Clevedon on 29th April gave Horfield their 3rd Minor KO trophy in 4 years!

> View the Minor Knockout Match Report

However, the big game was a week later when Horfield took on Clifton in the Knockout Final. Clifton had dropped only two points in the league all season and looked favourites for the cup, but Horfield held their nerve to win 4.5 – 3.5!

> View the Knockout Match Report
> Download PGN or CBV of the games

The Knockout Trophy has eluded Horfield since 2000 so it was great to get our hands on it again, but the one we really want is the Division 1 championship which we haven’t won since 2001 – maybe next season!

It’s been a good season – 13 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses. I played up in Division 2 a few times when the B and C teams were short, but I spent most of my time playing for the D team in Division 5 on top board. Having joined the league as a late entry, I was required to organise all the D team fixtures (which was easier with some clubs than with others), and it was very satisfying to win Division 5 in the first season.

Even though the season is over, I’ve got a summer of study and practice planned – tactics, lots of games, strategy, looking over some master games, etc. It looks like my rating will head up towards mid-90s (ECF) when the new grades come out in August and I’m going to need to put some effort in if I want to hit triple figures next year as I only played a couple of games against players rated in the 100s this season and I lost both of them!

Apart from the odd game during my teens, my chess life dried up. I went to Bristol Uni to study Chemistry and then started a PhD in structural chemistry in 2002. In early 2003 I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and later in the year I was forced to abandon all hope of returning to my studies.

Unable to work, concentrate or doing anything for more than a few minutes I found myself with plenty of time, but not much energy. As part of my rehabilitation I chose to take up chess again to help build up my concentration. As I was unable to focus for more than a few minutes the obvious choice was correspondence chess and I joined ChessWorld.net.

With my health slowly improving, I started work again, only part-time though. Later in the year someone on ChessWorld.net suggest that I played over-the-board (OTB) for a local club as it was a completely different experience than playing over the internet. I gave it some thought and it seemed a good idea as it would push me physically and mentally, though at first I found it extremely difficult with the CFS to concentrate for a whole game and I would often blank out somewhere in the middlegame unable to concentrate any further.

I’m now in my 4th season of playing league chess and I’m able to cope with the majority of matches, but those which go the whole distance (3 hours) are still a struggle. I still work part time, but I’ve regained a good proportion of my health and with careful management I’m able to cope with most things to a degree.

The last few years have been all about learning to live with my limitations and chess has been a very useful aid on the path to recovery. I’m now at the point where I don’t need to worry too much about my energy (still have to be careful though) and now looking to concentrate on improving my game.

There are plenty of blogs out there aimed at the good chess player and above, but not a huge number for the novices like me. I won’t be able to offer much to those who have already mastered the game, but I hope to share some of my experiences and hopefully we can encourage and help each other along the way – so please comment, register and contribute!

This is the start of a long journey, from your average club patzer to wherever the world of chess takes me – hopefully onwards and upwards!

Along the way I’ll publish my thoughts, experiences, progress, some reviews and anything else I can think of.

I’ll start by updating you with the ’story so far’ in the near future…