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Glacier Walk,Lobster Soup and (Errant) Northern Lights
Our tour started at 11.30am and would finish roughly 12 hours later. It was a long day, but an amazing adventure. Our guide was Jon, who was very friendly and extremely knowledgeable about all things especially geology. He is also one of Iceland’s rescue guides (Good to know!). I had a lot of questions especially…
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Bundesliga
Gawain is playing for SC Remagen who today are playing SC Solingen. There are 3 games over this weekend, one starts today at 4pm (local time UTC + 2) a game on Saturday and the last game on Sunday. Check out the live games here.
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Mátar
We arrived back in England earlier today and, after a slight delay at the airport picking up an errant scarf, I travelled home and Sue off to work. We were both rather exhausted as we managed less than five hours sleep last night (in search of the errant Northern Lights but Sue will expand on…
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Iceland from a tourist’s point of view
Expect the chess update from Gawain in a few days but I’ll just say he finished on a score of 3.5/4! Our team ended up on 11 points, 7th on the table but with all to play for in the next weekend which is just before the Reykjavik Open. Now that the chess is over,…
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Icelandic Adventures
We arrived Midnight Thursday night after a delayed departure from Heathrow Airport. We were kind enough to be picked up by one of our team mates (Arnar). We didn’t make any firm plans after hearing we play 4 rounds over Friday (evening), Saturday (double rounds) and Sunday (morning). Yesterday, the weather was lovely with clear…
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(Very) Drunken Knights!
Last night I made my début for the Drunken Knights in the Surrey Border League. I actually played a couple of rapid games for them last year while I was filming the Killer Grand Prix DVD. Be sure to check out Simon’s website; his recent releases are here while to purchase the one I did for gingergm then…
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Galway Congress – A repeat success!
I’ve just returned home from Galway. I believe the last time I played was in 2007 according to the trophy – I managed a win that time too 🙂 I arrived in Galway on Thursday and played an 18 board simultaneous display at the Galway Bridge club. As is customary in simuls, I had White…
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Galway Chess Congress
Gawain is currently on 3/3 with one more round to play today starting at 7pm local time. You can check out the live games here, though they are down at the moment. I can’t seem to find a results page but will try and keep you updated with what I know. It’s a tough schedule of 6 rounds…
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Game of the Month: October 2011
WHO: Kamsky, Gata (2756) Vs. Svidler, Peter (2740) This knockout tournament was played in Khanty-Mansiysk in Siberia. Gata Kamsky is currently the highest rated player in the USA but originally came from Novokuznetsk in the USSR and so arguably had some home advantage. He was a very strong chess prodigy with an overbearing and irascible…
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Enniskillen to Galway – Distance:137miles Time: 6hours
Hi everyone. Just a very quick update to let you know I’m still kicking! Just in Northern Ireland at my parents’ place now but about to head down to Galway where I’m doing a simul this evening and then playing the weekender which starts on the Friday. Check previous updates for the links. I managed…
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A sporadic update
Hey again people. Sorry for another delay in posting. Since getting back from Rome I’ve been recharging my batteries ready for my extremely hectic next seven weeks. I’m off to Northern Ireland to see my parents and brothers, and of course old Robbie the dog, early tomorrow morning before heading down to Galway for a…
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European Team Championship
I’m pleased to announce that Gawain will be participating in the European Team Championship. Open: GM Michael Adams GM Nigel Short GM David Howell GM Gawain Jones GM Nick Pert Captain: To be confirmed. Women: IM Jovanka Houska IM Dagne Ciuksyte WFM Maria Yurenok WFM Kanwal Bhatia WFM Sarah Hegarty Captain: Glenn Flear Dates: 3rd-11th…
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Barclays International – Last Round and Round Up
I arrived back at home in London at 1am this morning so this is the first time I’ve had to write an update. The last round was a 10am start, and after a few hours sleep, breakfast, a quick bit of preparation and packing I managed to arrive at the board just 15 minutes late.…
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Barclays International Round 8
Today I was up against Alexandr Fier, a GM from Brazil. He used to be over 2650 and I knew this would be a tough game. I decided to return to my beloved Dragon for this one and the opening worked out pretty well. He offered me a draw after 17 moves but I decided…
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Barclays International, Rounds 6 and 7
A familiar pattern seems to be emerging. Round 6 I was paired with Black against the Hungarian GM Lazlo Gonda. He’s a rather solid player, often happy with 1.Nf3, 2.c4 positions so I knew it’d be tough to get the whole point. I tried a new opening but he came up with a clever move…
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Barclays International Rounds 3,4 and 5.
The answer to my previous trivia question was 300 🙂 I left you after round two when I had had rather a slow start. I’m afraid the chess I played in round three wasn’t of the highest quality – after trying out the Big Clamp (1.e4 c5 2.d3) again I managed a pleasant edge but…
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