After 4 draws and 1 loss, I knew it was only a matter of time before I scored a full point in one of my games. Last Tuesday was the night, but it could so easily have been another big fat zero for me.

Playing as white, by move 2 I was out of my opening book facing the Dutch Defence which I’d never played against (if any Bristol league players are reading this, I’ve now done some preparation against 1. d4 f5 so don’t expect to catch me out if I meet you over the board!).

I probably had the slight initiative going into the middlegame, but I allowed my opponent to get some sustained pressure on the kingside. I defended well for several moves and conceding nothing. Black then tried to force his way through when there was no way forward, but I played a bad move that would have lost the exchange (and probably the game) – however, neither of us saw this and he blundered back leaving me a healthy pawn up and with an untouchable knight on the 6th rank! It was my turn to put the pressure on and after a blunder on move 33 he never recovered.

It was also my first win against an opponent rated over 100 ECF, so another milestone can be ticked off. I played solidly pretty much the whole way through only to have a good go at throwing it away on move 27.

Our D team won promotion to the 4th division last season and it’s been a big step up. Going from being one of the strongest board 1 players in the division, I’m now probably one of the weakest.

The matches have been fairly sparse so far this season, having only played 3 games in the last 6 weeks. It’s tough going though! All three opponents were graded over 100 ECF, and averaged 137 ECF between them, way stronger than I’m used to.

Taking the white pieces in the first game last month I was up against an opponent rated 8 ECF points (~40 Elo) higher. The game wasn’t pretty, but there was never a dull moment and the 3 hour slugfest ended in a drawn rook-pawn ending. Probably my most exhausting match to date and both of us were struggling to see even the simple moves with not much more than a couple of minutes left on each clock – so much for a gentle start to the season!

A couple of weeks later the A team captain phoned, desperately looking for a 6th player (remember I play for the D team normally!). Happy to step in, I faced my strongest player yet in competition at 158 ECF (~2040 Elo) on Board 6. With the Black pieces I made a good effort of the opening holding an even position until I miscalculated and blundered, giving my opponent a stronger attack than I had foreseen. Grimly, I held on for a while longer as my position rapidly deteriorated, and after 28 moves I saw nothing better than extending my arm and resigning.

This week, my 3rd game of the season, I knew that I was likely to be up against strong opposition. I wasn’t let down – graded 151 ECF (~2005 Elo) to my 94 ECF (~1720 Elo), on paper it looked like another easy walkover for my opponent having already won his first 3 matches. They always say it’s best to play against stronger players to improve so knowing I’d at least take some valuable experience from the game I settled into my seat, and prepared myself for another harsh lesson…

A draw! I’m still without a win this season, but this is probably my best result to date. Having played 9 matches against opponents rated over 100 ECF over the last five seasons, I’ve lost 7 and drawn 2 (both draws coming this season). My highest rated win currently is against a 96 ECF (two seasons ago when I was rated 79).

I was very pleased with how the game went. I didn’t at any point have any winning chances admittedly, but neither did I give my opponent much to get excited about, probably making it my first error free game, tactically anyway, strategy was decidedly dodgy at times!

After 1. e4 I responded with my typical Pirc defence which I’ve come to enjoy over the last couple of years. White went down the route of the Austrian attack which is probably white’s strongest attack against the Pirc and I played 5…c5, a very sharp line with many, many variations. Black can get cramped very easily if he’s not careful in this line and indeed I suffered this problem to some extent by castling instead of taking the opportunity to develop my Bishop on move 8. It was another 12 moves before I could move the Bishop off the back rank and think about mobilising my a8 Rook. Meanwhile white was enjoying superior development but no weaknesses to attack seemed to leave him shuffling around looking for an opening.

On move 15 I exchanged my strong bishop for white’s knight on c3, which gave him the bishop pair but also double isolated pawns. I always torment myself in positions like these trying to evaluate whether giving up the g7 Bishop to create the weak c-pawns is favourable or not. It seems that each situation is different and sometimes it’s good, other times it’s not. Can anyone offer any nuggets of wisdom?

Continuing on, things got a bit strained in the middle of the board before opening up to give white the initiative in an otherwise equal position, but with solid defence black cemented the position. White’s doubled pawns couldn’t support each other and advance (one benefit of the Bishop exchange earlier) and black’s isolated d-pawn couldn’t be attacked easily. White, starting to get short on time, offered the draw. I had no counterplay so accepted.

“When you see a good move, look for a better one” (Emanuel Lasker)

I failed to listen to this great piece of advice in my match on Tuesday evening. Having seen a line which was favourable (winning the exchange) I played through the line not considering that something much better might be lurking elsewhere on the board.

Had my mind been more open to other possibilites I’d probably have seen the better move. Had the possibility to win the exchange not been there I’d probably have seen the better move.

My previous move had intentionally threatened to win the exchange and when my opponent’s reply didn’t address this threat I seized the material on offer. What I didn’t notice was his move now allowed me to force his King to a square where I could subsequently fork his Queen and King – winning the Q for a piece.

Unless you are under time pressure, after finding a good move it often pays to spend a few extra moments to look for something even better.

On 13th September 2004 I played in my first league match. I remember it well, playing for Downend E Team away to Yate D Team. It was played in the corner of a traditional English pub, slightly smoky, not much light, oak beams, wooden tables. I was playing on board 6, the lowest board, but still felt very nervous. I had a whole load of new things to remember: the clock, the scoresheet, time controls. Fortunately I was given an easy ride in my first game, but even so the nerves didn’t leave me, not until I’d finally checkmated my opponent. I never knew 2 hours of chess could be so exhausting!

The game is published here purely as a landmark in my chess life and is admittedly of low quality, but I was pleased to get the win and not make too many mistakes along the way – perhaps I oversimplified, but winning safely was my only concern.

I look back over this game and realise that I see much more now than I did back then – at least it shows that I’ve improved over the last 3 and 1/2 years.