So What Went Wrong?

ON the face of it my performance in the British 65+ championship was far from a disaster.

Six of my seven opponents had Fide ratings, their average being 1999, which is well above my Fide of 1800.

My performance against them was 1932, which is also well above my Fide rating. So far so good.

Six of my opponents also had ECF ratings, their average being 2008, which is a fair bit above my ECF of 1941.

My performance rating against them was 1808, which is well below my ECF rating.

Averaging the results of the two rating systems, I slightly outperformed my expected score.

But after three rounds the picture was very different as I had won two games with black and drawn the other with white.

Then came four losses on the trot - and what losses they were.

In round four I reached the following position with white against Sheila Jackson (2118 ECF/2039 Fide), who went on to share first place.

I thought I was doing quite well here thanks to pressure down the f file, and with Black having a bad bishop

My positional judgment was probably wrong - the game is equal, according to Stockfish16 and Komodo14.1.

But it certainly was not equal after the horrendous 22.Kb1??, which naturally was met by 22...Qxd1+.

In round five I reached the following position with black against Paul Hutchinson (2043 ECF/1996 Fide).

Black has a crushing advantage -  about +7.3 according to Stockfish16;  about +12.4 according to Komodo14.1

I continued 37...Rc5??, only to lose my knight to 38.Qh7+ and 39.Qxd3.

In round six I reached the following position with white against Andrew Morley (2114 ECF/2089 Fide).

After 17.a4 White has a slight edge, or at least the better side of equality, according to the engines

Instead I lost my head and played 17.Bxb5?? axb5 18.Qxb5.

After the further moves 18...Qc7 19.Nd5 Bxd5 20.exd5 Rb8 21.Qc4 Qc5 (even stronger is 21...Nxd5!? 22.Qxd5 Bxb2, according to the engines) I realised my sacrifice had been easily refuted.

In round seven I reached the following position with black against Ray Burgess (1924 ECF).

Black has at least the better side of equality after 21...Ne6, according to the engines, although the position is far from clear

There was nothing unclear about the game continuation of 21...Qe5?? 22.Rb1, after which Black must lose a knight for inadequate compensation.

I considered the correct move, 21...Ne6, but rejected it because of 22.e4?, but then 22...Qe5 wins, eg 23.Nb3 Rac8 24.Rd1 Nef4, after which the engines reckon Black's advantage is worth more than a rook.

What these four losses have in common is a move by me that earns two question marks - something I do not give out lightly.

So what causes such blunders?

The consensus in improvement books I have read is oversights like 22.Kb1?? and 37...Rc5?? are usually a result of tiredness.

Was I tired?

Well I certainly was not overdoing the nightlife - the last time I had an alcoholic drink was June 5, long before arriving in Leicester.

True, most days I was getting up at about 05:30, and going down to breakfast at the Holiday Inn as soon as the restaurant opened at 06:30.

After breakfast I would walk into Leicester's old town and have a couple of coffees while going through my emails and generally surfing the internet on my smartphone.

Come about 09:00 and I was feeling hungry again, so I would pop into Tesco or Marks & Spencer, buy some groceries and head back to my room for an early - very early - lunch between 09:30 and 10:00.

The rest of the morning I would spend on my computer, before having 20-30 minutes shuteye, and then heading to the tournament room for the 14:30 start.

The final round began at 10:00, so there was no time for an early lunch, and yet I did not feel as famished as, bearing in mind the routine I had adopted, I feared I would.

I think the answer to what was going on is that I was not getting hungry at around 09:00 - rather I was getting tired, and was mistaking tiredness for hunger.

And I was making my tiredness worse - much worse - by spending most of the day before each round staring at the screen on my phone or at the screen on my laptop, activities which are known to make people mentally tired.

If I am right about what caused the disappointing way I lost four games in a row, the answer is, thankfully, obvious.

Rather than making myself mentally tired before I sit down to play a game that requires mental concentration, I should rest my brain.

That does not mean doing nothing all morning. Instead I intend taking a leaf out of Mikhail Botvinnik's book and go for invigorating walks.

My next tournament, again a 65+ event, is later this month in the CzechTour's annual Olomouc festival.

I will test my new regimen there ...