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Status Reports

Status: Chess (2014 - September)

(Text as at 07/10/2014 17:39:50)

(For other versions of this Note, see the tables at the end)

Rationale for this Project

• I occasionally think of returning to chess after a very long lay-off. I’ve 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 championship, but things never really took off. 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 while at school and my grade meandered up to 158, if I remember correctly. While at school, I played on a low board for Gloucestershire seniors and captained the Gloucestershire juniors, though not from top board. I played in a number of congresses at school and immediately after university, with mixed results.
• Anyway, I effectively gave the game up and switched to bridge at Cambridge, playing chess on only three occasions for the King’s team.
• 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 Centre (follow Chess & Bridge), I purchased some software, as below. Unfortunately, the plan to make use of it hasn’t come to much.
• The incentive to return to the game is that my brother-in-law runs a team in the Middlesex and London Leagues. The chess scene in Billericay seems somewhat dismal.