London Classic Day 3 and 4

Day 3

Was playing against a 2300 FM, Terry Chapman. Was an equal position, I made a few moves and beat myself up about it. Ended up losing. It was annoying - But I saw Hikaru Nakamura (One of my heroes, the chess equivalent of Zinedine Zidane!) so it wasn't all that bad. 

Had tea at a Persian restaurant with Clements and Neil. Was very tasty!

Day 4

Played against a 1935. Won the game, though the opening was a bit rough. This post is a bit rubbish - I'm really tired and cant be bothered to think up any funny stuff. Top bunk has a new lodger, though he came in when I was still at chess and he's asleep now. I'm hoping its a really attractive female who just happens to have hairy legs and a deep snore. Stranger things have happened.

Tomorrow the main event starts. (The top chess players play a rapid tournament.) Me and Clements are going to head down early to watch them play and shout abuse. My own game is against a 2250 German, So I'm going to prep a bit then sleep.

Oh yea, I saw Alex Zane today too! Sooo cool!

London Classic Day 2

It was looking Drorish, But I won :D

Played against an 1835 player today called Levi Dror. The game was drawish for too long - my opening was passive and lame, anyway we got to move 20, I created complications which made it hard for him, and he slipped up and lost.

Went to the pub after to meet Clements, Grassie and Neil. We talked about the differences between 9.99999999999999999 and 10, and how many qwabillions Grassie earns in an hour. Had a nice dinner in Pizza express, another pint then headed home.

Finnish Jason and Irish Naill left us this morning, to be replaced by German Monica and Frieda. Their bubbly germans, their English isn't great but that makes for funnier conversations. 

In the playing hall today I saw Garry Kasparov! Was quite an amazing moment - I always imagined him as ten feet tall, consuming his enemies with fireballs from his eyes and bolts of lightening from his arse - But actually he's just a normal guy!

For the rest of the week the rounds start at half four. Got a 2300 FM, so going to get some sleep, prep tomorrow morning, then win!

London Classic Day 1

It was all goin' fine, till ma bishop got Hembden.

Didn't feel so good this morning - mixture of nerves, lack of sleep, insert another excuse here. Was playing against GM Mark Hebden. I think I played ok - no ridiculously stupid errors, he just ground me down slowly and pressured each mistake more and more. 

The venue is totally awesome - All participants get an ID badge which entitles you to three free beers and a trip backstage to meet the bands. (That's made up - there's no alcohol or music, but you feel like a total legend walking about with an ID badge around your neck.)

Headed back to the hostel immediately after the game, had some food, and am now just lounging about trying to wind up Malaysian Jvnyi. ("That's a really cool name, but could I just call you Craig? Or Scott?" "Hmmm... No.")

Finnish Jason was talking in his sleep last night in Finnish. Or it could have been Irish Niall. Either way I thought it was kinda cool.

Tomorrow I've got an 1850 Isreali, hopefully ill play better and write a funny / more upbeat post tomorrow.

London Classic - Pre-tourney day 1

Underground No No.

A hostel for 10 days in London - what could possibly go wrong? Yesterday I flew from Prague, to Edinburgh, to London. That's fine, flying's fun right? Oh yay a bus ride into central London - easy and relaxing. Boom. Metro Time.

The names of the different tube stops are carved in Elvish into massive moss-engrossed pillars, Which would make it really tough to find out where you were, but since everyone is constantly moving, you just kind of get swept up and dragged like Mufasa did when he was trying to save Simba in the stampede.

Then you've got to decipher if your going north bound, west bound, north north bound west, up down left right A B and start bound, its a total bloody nightmare.

After atleast 30 minutes in the station, and constant, panicking phone calls to Scarlett the Harlett, I found the hammersmith train, spoke friend, and entered.

Abercorn Hostel. 

So I arrive at the hostel, tired, get signed in and that, and come up to my room. Room 110. Crackin' wee room, started on my lonesome, just lay down and kinda dozed. Irish Niall joined about two hours later - he seems really sound, he's here doing some sort of muscle therapy course. His accent is really thick, so i don't understand like 95% of what he says.

An hour later Finnish Jason joined us. Turns out hes doing the same course as Niall - so they sat and spoke about it for a while, or atleast I think they did.

Not sure if I had a shower today or not - You need to hold a button in to keep the water running, which makes washing your hair near impossible. I tried to jam the button in, that didn't work, then I tried standing at a weird angle and holding it in with my side, and almost slipped and died. The water's hot enough though, and its clean.

The first game starts tomorrow - Cant wait to see everyone and play some chess!