Founded 1890
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GILLIAN THE CONQUEROR Gillian Moore |
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The
historic town of I
returned to the fray for the Weekend Minor tournament, from Friday 3 to Great Uncle’s Monocle My
journey from
Arrived at my destination on time around
After greeting each other, we retreated to the railway station and
entrained for
Next, Raymond showed me around his usual haunts in Grandeur and Growth The chess venue is ideal The Horndye Sports Centre has plenty of room and all necessary facilities, including a bar and a canteen where cooked meals were served daily. There were always veggie options, catering for folks like me. The line-up of players entered in the top Premier and Challengers tournaments was also impressive. Grandmasters (GM), International Masters (IM), Woman Grandmasters (WGM) and Woman International Masters (WIM) graced the seats. Some tables for these seats had little national flags on top. On the far side where the well-known personalities sat for up to 7 hours per game, the big demonstration chess boards enthralled spectators quietly watching progress on the high-profile games. There were chairs for this purpose on the near side of the personality big cheeses. The hall was large and accommodated the various graded tournaments going on simultaneously. On the other end of the scale were those for beginners and novices. Mine, the Weekend Minor, was somewhere between the two extremes. Raymond was in the next section up, the Weekend Major, which I also could have entered, but knew I stood a better chance of winning a prize in the other one. Alas I only drew my first game, giving me just a half point instead of the full point for a win. But this is chess, to be expected and I felt not a jot discouraged. Next round, as compensation, I would play someone who also only drew his game. This is the Swiss system of pairing, in which winners play winners, losers play losers, and opponents are matched throughout the rounds according to their on-going score. So, I would have one second chance to catch up the next day. I did! On Saturday, with hard work, I managed to win all 3 games, making me jointly in the lead with 3 ½ out of 4. I was particularly pleased with winning game number 4, not just because this enabled me to have a chance of winning a prize, which I had hoped for all along, but because I won by cheer determination and perseverance. My opponent, perhaps because he was tired after hours of play in the morning and afternoon, offered me a draw and seemed fidgety and fed up that I was playing on in a position with admittedly very even chances and not too many pieces left to manoeuvre with. Whereas he had apparently mentally given up the idea of winning, I kept on looking for chances to gain an advantage. I found it, forced it and pressed home my slight advantage of just one pawn up in the end game. It was enough to eventually gain a new queen and hence win the game. He knew this and shook hands with me in resignation, after his game turned clearly hopeless. This 4th round game was actually my toughest game of the tournament, but one of my most instructive. I always gain a sense of joy when I learn, relearn or increase my learning about any aspect of the game and how to improve it. In this case I had executed dynamic will on the basis of the maxim, “Never give up hope”!” My Whole Self I went on to win my 5th round game on Sunday morning, to a man I knew by sight, as we were both from Hampshire. He was much more gracious in losing than the previous player. We went up to the analysis room after for “post mortems”, the what-ifs and might-have-beens that players love to pore over. We played through our game. But before that we talked. We agreed that chess is a whole person pursuit, not just an intellectual one. The physical brain is used and must be in peek condition to perform well. For this, sleeping, eating and exercising are important, we both knew. And the emotions need to be calm, else the player is distracted from the total concentration that this greatest game of skill deserves. Naturally, the mental ability has to be there, otherwise no amount of physical and emotional health and control will be to any avail. What about spiritual development we asked? We agreed that this too was most desirable for a chess player, though certainly not all of them do have. In fact, one could be a world champion, yet an egotistic wretch. I could name one, actually, but had better not! Essential to my wellbeing, alongside chess and any other mental work, is to allow the change of body and brain rhythm made possible by some relatively thought-free enjoyable activity. Back in my hotel, agreeably holed up in my room for the evenings, I chilled out and mellowed out with music on my personal stereo with headphones. I followed this by a spot of yoga meditation, which I have done daily for decades. Tuning my heart strings to my beloved spiritual teacher and dearly loved friends, here and in the hereafter, I was enwrapped in a shawl of divine love. As usual, I was reluctant to go to bed, since I am always happy in this state of consciousness. But I need sleep too. A Woman and a Kid My last round was to be the deciding factor in whether I won first, second or third prize. I was the only woman in the section and there was one junior, Master Anandajeyarajah (“happy king”). He was brilliant. We were equal in our scoring after round 5 and therefore had to play each other in the 6th and last round. If I beat him, I would be the clear winner; if I drew with him we would share the prize money and the Herbert Dobell Trophy. I was content that with the Black pieces I got into a Cambridge Springs variation of the Queen’s Gambit Declined, which I knew well but he appeared to know less well. I won a pawn in the opening, with no compensating positional advantage for him. If I kept this up and he did not win it back, I should win the game in due course. And it was a passed pawn too, meaning to say it had a clear passageway with which to march ahead to the last rank and turn into a powerful queen. But the boy fought back hard, twice offered me draws which I refused, because at those stages I did have the edge. But then I lost the impetus I had and realised that to be safe I should now accept the draw. I offered it this time and it was done, both relieved not to have lost that last pivotal game. We had both won first prize, probably receiving £250 each. This is the most I have ever won in monetary terms. I briefly chatted to the boy’s father afterwards and told him that his son has a great future. He is just 13 years old! The woman and the kid had won! The
woman Congress Controller congratulated me on my result and I arranged
with her for my prize to be sent on to me at home.
I had a long journey ahead and couldn’t stay to the prize-giving
ceremony. It actually took
over 6 hours to get home, due to engineering works on the railways,
necessitating a bus journey from Hastings to Polegate, a train from
Polegate to Clapham Junction, London, then finally a train to Southampton,
followed by a taxi to my door. The
journey from My Friend How did Raymond fare, my reader might ask? Well, if he is ever going to be champion of anything now, it could be “Draw Champion”. Even before he started the first round, he was hoping for a quick draw, so that he could go home and have a rest. That is exactly what happened. I humorously chided him beforehand, saying that this was not the spirit and that if spectators had paid to view his game on the demonstration boards (that was not actually the case), they would be disgruntled and want their money back for such a poor show! Same age as me (58), poor Raymond has suffered a stroke a few years back, and he has now been discovered as having a slight degree of diabetes. He doesn’t have the stamina of a young man any more. Unlike me, he’s retired and feels slowed down a bit. Raymond drew all his games except for one win. His final score was 3 ½ out of 6 points. Final Thoughts Journeys may be so long, and so can games of chess, but the learning and the delight involved in my life’s journey and in my game of life is without any end. In chess, I am always analysing where I’m at. In life I’m always introspecting. I enjoy the insights that I am forever gaining about myself and others and about the whole scenario of existence. I also enjoy watching my life unfold, with its inner plans and outer projects, and peering into the future concerning how my circumstances and consciousness are about to unfold. I am able to make certain predictions about what’s coming next or in due course in my life. The reason for this is because I’m aware of features in the scheme for my soul. I cannot foretell precise acts of grace, though, any more than I know all that shall transpire in a game. This is so despite my plans according to perceived possibilities combined with my creative wishes. Strategies and their realisations, imagination and its fulfillment: my life is full of this and my life is full because of this. No two games are identical and no two days are entirely the same for me. Themes are recurring but details differ. Life, as in chess, is ever full of joyous surprises! As in chess, so in life, which to me are at once both games and more than games. Both require enormous skill in order to be successful. In both cases, we have to take the rough with the smooth. No one achieves everything they wish for without struggle and disappointments before victory. Some reverses are inevitable. But win or lose, the important thing is to enjoy The Game for its own sake: caring and giving, loving, losing and gaining. It’s a great game; it’s a great life! Gillian Moore |