Theo Todman's Chess Background
(Text as at 06/01/2019 23:57:07)
- Until October 2018, I’d hardly played since I left school, where I showed some aptitude – especially in my first season when, in the 3rd year at Grammar school, I won the North Gloucestershire Under-15s Championship1, also winning the brilliancy prize2, but things never really took off, though I was runner-up in the Under-18 section of the inaugural Cotswold Congress3 the following summer. For instance, I performed very badly in the West of England under-15s and only ever came runner-up in the North Gloucestershire under-18s.
- I played in the local adult league (North Gloucestershire Chess League (Defunct)) while at school and my grade meandered up to 158, if I remember correctly. The school (Crypt GS, Gloucester) then had a strong team and we got to the latter stages of the Sunday Times competition most years, losing to big hitters such as Winchester College, King Edwards Birmingham4 and a long telephone match against Methodist College Belfast.
- While at school, I played on a low board for Gloucestershire seniors5 and captained the Gloucestershire juniors, though not from top board6. I played in a number of congresses at school and immediately after university7, with mixed results.
- I mention all this – not because it is the least bit impressive – but because it was important for the development of my confidence and self-esteem, as it all happened so quickly and without effort. Which, of course, was the problem. To succeed in any popular endeavour you need not just a bit of talent, but the will and focus to let that talent reach its full potential.
- Anyway, I effectively gave the game up and switched to Bridge8 at Cambridge, playing chess on only three occasions for the King’s9 team.
- Since then I’ve played in the occasional rapid play10 at the behest of my brother-in-law11, who used to organise them. I also played against Ray Keene in a simul organised by HSBC12.
- My trouble with chess was, I think, that I had a natural ability to calculate variations which stood me in good stead against players who knew next to no theory – but against stronger players I never got into positions where calculation did more than tell me I was losing. I only ever used to play matches, never practice games, and have never actually read a chess book beyond the first few pages.
- So, I don't want a repetition of any of that. If I return to the game, I'd like to learn to play properly. The question is how? I have a collection of (mostly old) books, but I've never been a keen reader of chess books – I can't easily envisage what's going on without either a lot of effort or setting the position up on the board.
- I suspected some chess software might be the best way forward – what I need is something that's fairly interactive and which will get me to learn both the principles of positional play and some opening theory, as well as play some practise games, in as painless a manner as possible. After advice from The London Chess Centre13, I purchased some software, as below. Unfortunately, the plan to make use of it didn’t come to much, and the CDs are now either dud or incompatible with Windows 10.
- A recent idea was to learn to play blindfold chess, and I started reading a book14, but that hasn’t come to much either.
Summary of Progress (2007 - September 201815)
- Catalogued and categorised my Chess Book Collection.
- Started reading sundry of the above, and investigated various on-line material (Fritz, Rybka, Chess Mentor, etc) before contacting The London Chess Centre.
- Completed two runs through of "Martin (Andrew) - The Basics of Winning Chess".
- Installed "Aagaard (Jacob) - Basic Positional Ideas". Study commenced.
- Installed Chessmaster – Grandmaster Edition, but haven’t really got to grips with it yet.
- Occasional practice on my ancient Mephisto Monte Carlo16.
- Subscribed to "Chess - Chess Magazine", and skimmed most editions from March 2009 onwards. I’ve tended to focus more on the news than on the chess!
- Took out Diamond Membership of Chess.com.
- Joined Billericay Chess Club.
In-Page Footnotes:
Footnote 1:
- And drew with the former British Champion – C.H. O’D Alexander (see Wikipedia: Hugh Alexander) – in the 4-board simul at the prize-giving.
- He sacrificed the exchange to force a draw – or at least it turned into a draw when I correctly returned the exchange a few moves later. His sacrifice seemed unnecessary, though he said his position was uncomfortable – maybe he was trying to be encouraging, or simply wanted to go home!
- The other “champions” lost miserably.
Footnote 2:
- The game appeared in the local paper, but they both got my name wrong, and messed up the moves.
Footnote 3:
- Now entering its 50th year: Cotswold Chess Congress (Defunct).
- The following year, I entered the Open and was leading after 3 rounds, having won my first 3 games. Unfortunately, I then lost the last 3 against increasingly strong opposition.
Footnote 4: Footnote 5:
- Ie. Adult, rather than 65+!
Footnote 6:
- I once captained a combined Gloucestershire & Somerset side against the Essex juniors at the Athaneum club. So, I didn’t get to play Jon Speelman (Wikipedia: Jon Speelman).
Footnote 7:
- Including one – maybe Chelmsford – where I got drawn against a Grandmaster and former World Junior Champion (Bojan Kurajica: Wikipedia: Bojan Kurajica); my Sicilian was rapidly dismantled.
Footnote 9: Footnote 10: Footnote 11: Footnote 12:
- But blundered away the exchange in a completely drawn position, when most of the others had already lost and I had to move quickly, then made quite a fight of it. While my attack was ultimately unsuccessful, he was quite impressed.
Footnote 13: Footnote 14: Footnote 15:
- When I took up chess seriously again.
- See my Status Report for further progess.
Footnote 16:
- I can’t remember when I bought this, other than that it cost a lot of money (£400+) and that I had to collect it from some Grandmaster’s house up in London. I see from the Mephisto Wikipedia page (Wikipedia: Mephisto (chess computer)) that the price crashed in 1990, so it might have been before then.
- This is confirmed by Monte-Carlo Chess Computer, which has it coming out in 1987. I bought it when it was state of the art. The manual is at Monte-Carlo Manual, though maybe Monte-Carlo Manual (in German) is the exact one.
- It was rated about 185, so it beats me when I play it on a top setting.
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1277 (Theo Todman's Chess Background) |
Status: Chess (2025 - March) |
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