Sicilian Kan: Railways

The second game of the season was against Railways for the BBC. We played at home so there's no excuse of intimidating venues. I lost on the black side of an ...e6 Sicilian, the opening I've decided to play against e4, to a stronger player than me although the initial Shredder analysis suggests I had chances while under the cosh and missed some obvious tactical plays.

[Date "2010.10.12"]
[White "Kocan, Barry A"]
[Black "Paul, bbc"]
[ECO "B41"]
[Opening "Sicilian/Kan Variation"]
[Result "1-0"]
London Commercial Chess League

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Be3 Qc7 6. a3 Bc5 7. Nc3 b5 8. Be2
Bb7 9. O-O Nf6 10. Bd3 d6 11. Qe2 Nbd7 12. f4 O-O 13. Rf3 Bb6 14. Rg3 Nc5 15. Rf1
Ncxe4 16. Nxe4 Nxe4 17. Rh3 g6 18. Qg4 Nf6 19. Qg5 Qd8 20. g4 Re8 21. Qh6 Nxg4
22. Qxh7 Kf8 23. Bxg6 Qd7 24. Qh8 Ke7 25. Qh4 Nf6 26. Qg5 Rg8 27. Rh7 Rxg6 28. Qxg6
Rf8 29. Qg5 Be4 30. Rg7 Bc5 31. f5 Bxd4 32. Bxd4 e5 33. Bc3 Qa7 34. Rf2 Qc7
35. Re2 d5 36. Bb4

The new season starts: BBC v. Shell

As well as the usual dives, I've played chess in various flash company HQs and the important thing is not to let the fact that the foyer is the size of a large department store intimidate you. Experience tells you you're just as likely to lose to an ungraded player in the damp basement of a church as you are to a guy in a sharp suit in an all glass building. This one has the huge building with the company flag on the roof and a foyer that takes five minutes to cross. So far so standard. What makes this one special is in the basement.

Lift doors open on the basement where we're playing. 
Me: There's a strange smell of chlorine.
The other guy: That'd be the swimming pool.
Me: You've got a swimming pool?
The other guy doesn't say anything but gives me a "doesn't-everyone-look".

The other team were pretty nice but you could tell they wanted to win. I guess you get to work for Shell that way. Anyway the team won and I won so it was a good start to the season.

[Event "LCCL, 2010-11 season"]
[Date "2010.10.05"]
[White "Paul Murphy, BBC"]
[Black "Joel Morales, Shell"]
[ECO "C24"]
[Opening "Bishop's Opening"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. Nc3 d6 4. d3 Nc6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 Be7 7. a3 a6 8. Nge2 Na5 9. Ba2 Bg4 10. f3 Be6 11. Qd2 Nc6 12. O-O-O Nd4 13. Bxe6 Nxe6 14. Bf2 c6 15. Kb1 b5 16. f4 Ng4 17. Bg3 O-O 18. h3 exf4 19. Nxf4 Ne5 20. Nxe6 fxe6 21. Qe2 Bf6 22. Rhf1 c5 23. Rf2 Nc6 24. Rdf1 b4 25. Na2 bxa3 26. b3 Qa5 27. Qg4 Bd4 28. Qxe6 Kh7 29. Rxf8 Rxf8 30. Rxf8 Ne5 31. Qf5 Ng6 32. h4 Qd2 33. Bf4 Qe1 34. Bc1 Qxh4 35. Ra8 Qh1 36. Rxa6 Bb2 37. Rxd6 Qxg2 38. Bxb2 axb2 39. Kxb2 Qg1 40. e5
Qh2 41. Qxg6 *
1-0

So what have I learnt so far?

One of the ideas behind this blog was to provide a structure for improving my chess. One of the problems I'd encountered before was the lack of structure in any of the time I could devote to chess. Over the summer I haven't fared a great deal better.

What is focussing my mind at the moment is the arrival of not one, but both ficture lists for the two clubs I play for and a request to let them know my availability.

Now is not the time for learning I suspect. I'd probably be much better off immersing myself in some "find the mate/combination/fork/trap" puzzle book.

Appendix 1: BBC Chess Club fixtures

Tuesday October 5 -- Shell v BBC
Tuesday October 12 -- BBC v Railways
Tuesday October 19 -- BBC v GLCC (friendly)
Monday October 25 -- Met Police v BBC
Thursday November 11 -- Home Office v BBC
Tuesday November 30 -- BBC v HMC

Tuesday January 11 -- BBC v Railways (John Lewis Cup)
Thursday February 3 -- Railways v BBC
Tuesday March 1 -- BBC v Shell
Tuesday March 15 -- BBC v Met Police
Tuesday March 22 -- BBC v Home Office
Tuesday May 3 -- BBC v HMC

Appendix 2: Hackney Chess Club, Division 4 fixtures

Wed 13 Oct ATHENAUM 4 v HACKNEY 3
Thu 21 Oct METROPOLITAN 3 v HACKNEY 3
Mon 8 Nov WILLESDEN & BRENT v HACKNEY 3
Mon 22 Nov WANSTEAD 2 v HACKNEY 3
Fri 14 Jan MORLEY COLLEGE 2 v HACKNEY 3
Wed 26 Jan KINGS HEAD 4 v HACKNEY 3
Mon 7 Feb ALBANY v HACKNEY 3
Mon 21 Feb HACKNEY 3 v DHSS
Mon 14 Mar HACKNEY 3 v METROPOLITAN 4
Mon 11 Apr HACKNEY 3 v STREATHAM 3
Tue 3 May GLCC 2 v HACKNEY 3

So what's it about?

I started playing chess again two and a half years ago after a thirty year hiatus and six months later joined Hackney Chess Club. Last year I started playing for the team at work in the London Commercial Chess League.

I've played in whatever the bottom team for Hackney has been for the last two years. After my first season my ECF grading was 115. This year, in the gradings released yesterday, I have slumped to 107 which I is probably a fairer reflection of my abilities. The first year was boosted by a couple decent wins against much higher rated players while this year's has suffered by some tremendous losses to ungraded players. Just because a player is ungraded doesn't mean they're crap. All it means is that they haven't currently got a grade. Playing against the police (really) I got roughed up by an ungraded player. Like me he's just started playing again. Unlike me he said that when he was a youth player he was in tournaments with Nigel Short "and other people like that." He was very good and used around five minutes on his clock against my 90 minutes.

The aim is to try and get better at chess and to use this space to do it. Here are some pictures of places I've played chess in the last 12 months.

Yesterday I went to Hackney's AGM at The Prince in Stoke Newington. I ended up as captain of a four board team in a cup competition. I think it's because I have a car.