France, Lille - Day 7 and Epilogue

The only good thing about no more chess is no more beggars.

My final round today - Its been such a long day it feels like I played it two weeks ago, anyway, was against a 1880 Belgium player named Phillipe Ladent. He played passively and I got an advantage from the opening, but I was careless with it and the game equalised. We got into a drawn endgame with maybe some slight chances for me, but he played quite accurately and finally found an aggressive push that secured the draw. 

So I finished on five points out of a potential nine. To put it into context the winner of the tournament got seven and a half, so not a bad shout. Its a pity it started so well, I need to work on my mental stamina. I made a new friend as well, Edward Farrington, He's originally British but he moved to French to live with his girlfriend. We stayed for the prize giving, clapping when everyone else clapped, then parted ways.

Went back to the hotel and collected my stuff, printed boarding pass, put on my blue suede shoes and, boarded a plane. The plane was a Boeing 714, instilling a small amount of fear that I was flying on a model 33 times previous to the ones Easyjet and Ryanair use. The flight was good enough - All the announcements were in French, so I amused myself with the thought that even if they were telling us we're about to crash, or a wings just gone AWOL, everyone would be freaking out but I'd be sitting chilling like a villain, reading my chess book calmly. As we were descending to land all the babies on the plane burst into tears. Their parents gave them water to try and help my ears pop, and as I was really tired and quite thirsty, I had the strange urge to burst into tears myself to try and get some attention / h20.

So now I'm in Corsica, sad that the chess is finished but looking forward to the two days rest and no more beggars. Oh, and the 23 Degree heat's a little enticing too!

France, Lille - Day 6

Sargis Sargissyan. Its a tough one.

Days are merging into one, my vision becoming ever more cloudy as I wonder aimlessly. I shall find the chess god, and subsequently receive his blessing...

Round eight, its always going to be tough having faced difficult opposition in previous rounds. I lost, and I think wear and tear had a bit part to play in it. I felt the concentration going, the line calculation being less calculation more speculation, and just generally run down. Also ran out of cigarettes, and since all the shops are closed twenty four seven here had to make do with getting a rollie from a Frenchman - Even though I cant actually roll and ended up just making a T shape filled with tobacco.

So yea I lost, it was an interesting game though and I'm sure on closer inspection they'll be a lot to learn from it (Its sitting in the bin right now). I'm playing an 1880 Icelandic player tomorrow, so hopefully finish the tournament on a high. Then its on to Corsica to meet up with Fiona, Volvo, Ozzy and Macqueen.

France, Lille - Day 5

Too tired for witty title.

Another double round today, it starts to take its toll. This morning I was playing a 2335 IM. Missed a tactic, thought I was just winning a piece! I blame being tired, but I wasn't even that tired this morning. Got my sandwich from the French sandwich shop, this time ordering a twix as well. There was a dad with a pram in front of me, and when I pointed to the twix the little child jumped out of her seat and said something to me. It was so cute in French, it must have been like "I want one!" or something because people laughed. The afternoons game turned out to be a default, as the boy heard there's a Scottish legend tearing everyone a new one so he didn't turn up.

Too tired to write any more, tomorrow I play a 2250 guy as black. Ill make up more exciting stories then.

France, Lille - Day 4

Missing an Ulvi-ous win

Today I was playing against a 2289 rated player called Ulvi Sadikhov. I prepared a really dodgy line that looked like loads of fun - Unfortunately he played a slightly different move order so we went back to makey uppy territory. Got out the opening ok, had a really interesting middle game - A lot of really sharp tactics, one of which he eventually fell for and allowed me to start pressuring. I obtained an awesome position, pissed about for ten moves making no progress, then allowed him a perpetual to draw. Immediately after he pointed out one rook move just wins. Blah.

Nothing too interesting to add from today. All the shops were shut again because its May 1st, no wonder there's so many bloody beggars - if they stopped having holidays and religious rest-days people might actually make some money! I got a bog standard sandwich on the way home from the playing venue, told some beggars to bolt, and now plan to cry myself to sleep. Its another double round day tomorrow. The morning game is against a 2335.