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Return to Iceland
The first half of the Icelandic League was played a couple of weeks ago and Sue and I made the trip over to play for our team GM Hellir. When I started playing the team was Matar which then merged with Godinn. Just before the start of this season we made another merger and we’re…
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British Championships and FIDE World Cup
I’ve been home for a few days now and so I decided it’s time to look back at my previous two tournaments. The British started somewhat disappointingly when I got bogged down with too many draws. After winning round one, I had a repeat of my final round pairing from the previous year’s tournament with…
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Citizen of the World
I think I wrote previously about my change in federation from representing New Zealand to England. Why did I do it? Well, for several reasons. Last year I had some goals about my chess, I wanted to play more, get better and learn! I have played more and I think I’m now a better player…
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World Cup Exit and another Zero Tolerance Controversy.
After drawing the Rapid playoff Gawain succumbed to his Russian opponent in the Blitz playoff. Gawain played against Alexander Shimanov a young Russian GM who I’ve never heard of but then again I don’t follow chess that often. His opponent to me seemed well prepared and I think that helped him get through the first…
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World Cup 2013
Gawain is now in Tromsø,Norway competing in the World Cup. Now what kind of tournament is it? A 128 player knock out with a schedule of 2 long play games then a rapid tie break. before commencing to Round 2 e.t.c – Why play in such a tournament? Well it qualifies you for the Candidates…
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Torquay
It’s been 4 years since I’ve last been in Torquay and a lot has changed. I guess when I first came over it was my taster of what the UK was like and I don’t have particularly fond memories of Torquay. Last time the weather wasn’t particularly nice and our flat was small strange and…
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100th British Chess Championship
Gawain left on Saturday to go and defend his title in Torquay. This year’s line up include 12 Grandmasters including just 2 former champions – Can you guess which ones? Also this year we see 9 other countries represented in the Championship! I’m not including the 4 nations (England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland) or Guernsey.…
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A Scottish Break… Glasgow, Edinburgh and Helensburgh.
Wow. It’s been forever since we’ve written an update. Life gets busy doesn’t it? Well I for one haven’t forgotten about our readers there’s been lots of ideas but no real sit down time to write something but since Gawain’s played in the Scottish Championship and we had a holiday in Scotland I feel it’s…
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Scottish Championships
I know it’s been a long time since the website was last updated and for that I apologise. It’s been a very busy couple of months; Sue started a full time job that has given her very little time to write anything while we moved out of our flat share and into a little 2…
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4ncl season 2012-2013
As usual normal day-to-day living has got in the way of this update but I’ll try and write a few words on the 4ncl season and see if I can get some photos from Sue. This year I joined the Guildford team and we were looking to challenge Wood Green’s hegemony. The 4ncl (Four Nations…
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Italian Team Championships 2013 – Bratto
I recently played in the Italian Team Championships for the second year. Last time I got a disappointing 3/7 and so was hoping to improve on that. Then there were only 2 spots for the European Club Cup with only 19GMs competing but this year there were over 20 and so 3 qualifying spots. Last…
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4NCL Final Round Today!
Today is a bank holiday and it’s also the final round of the Four Nation Chess League. Guildford play Wood Green Hilsmark in what is the match we have all been waiting for! Here’s the lineup for today. In the demotion pool we have another Guildford vs Wood Green Hilsmark line up! You can watch…
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I’m a bit of a loser.. and more so after not learning from my (same) mistakes!
I started my new job last week and I’m loving it! I’m having so much fun but I’m now working a 50 hour week which means that my updates will be even more sporadic. I’ve paused my Mandarin studies for now as I don’t have enough time to study which I think I need to…
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Bundesliga Season 2012-2013
The German Bundesliga was played over 7 weekends from October to April. Unfortunately last year my team, Remagen, got relegated and so I was obliged to find a new team. Luckily Solingen were happy to take me on board. Solingen is a city on the West side of Germany famous for its steel, a bit…
Got any book recommendations?