Isle Of Wight 2026

THERE are flyers in Liverpool's St George's Hall for next year's Isle of Wight tournament, which will run from Feb 16-22.

There is a 20% discount off the entry fee of up to £175 (+£15 for non-Gold ECF members) if you register before September

Lessons From Bad Bertrich: What's Left?

IN round nine I reached the following position after 17 moves.

Black has just played 17...Rae8 in Spanton (1946) - Andreas Kessler (2084)

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White has more space, and the black isolani is more of a liability than the white one. My main engines give White the upper hand (Dragon1) or at least a slight edge (Stockfish17).

But after 18.Ne4? their evaluations change to a slight edge for Black, their main line running 18...Bxe5 19.dxe5 Nxe4 20.Qxe4 Nb6, when White still has more space and has a tempting outpost at d6.

But White will never be able to occupy d6, at least in the foreseeable future, as Black's knight is about to take up residence on d5, from where it can only be evicted by an unsound exchange sacrifice.

Black still has an isolani (White's is gone) but it is masked, and meanwhile the white bishop is awkwardly placed, albeit doing a useful job controlling d8.

Having seen the consequences of my move, it is easier to understand why one of the moves preferred by the engines is 18.Bxf6!? (they also like 18.a3!?).

My choice is one of those continuations that looks like it is the type of move that should be played, but concrete analysis should have revealed that Black could force swops, including giving up bishop for knight, that bring about a position in which the only minor pieces on the board are a strong black knight and an awkward, technically bad, white bishop.

LESSON: what counts is not what leaves the board, but what stays on.

The British - 2026

NEXT year's British chess championships will be held at Coventry, over nine days in August - early details here.

The British - The Venue

St George's Hall, opposite Liverpool Lime Street station, looks impressive from outside

Unfortunately I cannot report on the playing conditions as I was not allowed inside the tournament room.

Addendum: I returned later, armed with an IM (Chris Baker), and snuck in

Lessons From Bad Bertrich: On Our Own

MY round eight game, in which I had Black against Horst Prüsse (2017), began 1.f4 c5 2.e4 d5!?

I suspect my opponent was already out of his book-knowledge, as I was when he continued 3.e5.

By move five we had reached this unusual position, which does not appear in ChessBase's 2025 Mega database

Position after 10 moves

The game was looking, if anything, even more peculiar after 15 moves

Position after 20 moves

LESSON: when players are thrown on their own resources at an early stage, odd things are liable to happen.

Mersey Bound

AM making final preparations for traveling to Liverpool tomorrow for the British chess championships, where I have entered the 65+, which has 80 entries.

The tournament is being held over seven days, starting on Monday, with six rounds at 14:30 and the last round at 10:00.

The time limit is 40 moves in 90 minutes, with 30 minutes to finish, and a 30-second increment throughout.

Lessons From Bad Bertrich: Dizziness Due To Success

IN round seven I faced a Fide master, gaining a winning position (Stockfish17) or at least the upper hand (Dragon1) before move 30.

White has just played 28.Qd2-h6 in Spanton (1946) - Markus Balduan (2247)

But I threw my advantage away with an ill-considered 34th move, although at the time I thought I was still winning, before blundering in the following position.

Black has just played 38...c4

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My reply 39.Rb4?? (39.Re3 was necessary) was met by 39...Qb6+, when Black's advantage is worth almost a rook, according to the engines.

The game finished: 40.Kg2 Qe3 41.Rbb1 Qxg5+ 42.Kf1 Nf6 43.Qg7 Rg8 44.h4 Qf4 0-1

In his famous book Think Like A Grandmaster, Alexander Kotov devoted a section to Dizziness Due To Success, which probably trails only The Tree Of Analysis for being well-known.
Kotov recounted a game in which he blundered horribly, partly out of annoyance that his opponent had not done the decent thing and resigned.
Shortly after that game finished, with Kotov's resignation, he read of a similar fate befalling Alexanderr Ilyin Zhenevsky.
Kotov wrote: "The main reason for the two blunders was the lowering of vigilance that can go with the recognition that the win is near."

He called such a phenomenon "dizziness due to success," paraphrasing - apparently without any intended irony - the title of a Joseph Stalin article in Pravda on agricultural collectivisation.

LESSON: just as a football team is often most vulnerable immediately after scoring, so chessplayers are most likely to let their vigilance down after gaining a decisive advantage.

Lessons From Bad Bertich: Patience Is A Virtue

IN round six I had the upper hand as early as move seven, despite playing with black, and I was winning by move 17, according to Stockfish17 and Dragon1.

The game fluctuated a little, but the following position, highly favourable for Black, was reached on move 34.

White has just played 34.Kf3-e4 in Pierre Christen (2008) - Spanton (1946)

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Black has rook and bishop against a pair of knights, with White's only compensation being a pawn, which, although passed, is unlikely to advance any time soon.

Black's advantage is worth more than a piece (Stockfish17) or even almost as much as a piece and a pawn (Dragon1).

The engines suggest a calm move such as 34...Kd7, when a possible continuation is 35.Kd5 Rh6 36.Nd6 Rh5+ 37.Kc4 Be5 38.Nf7 Bc7, after which Black has the queenside under control and is ready to reap dividends on the kingside.

Instead I tried to force matters with 34...Kb5?!, to which White naturally replied 35.Kd5.

I managed to avoid the horrendous 35...Bxa5?? 36.Nbxa5 Rxa5 37.Nxa5 Kxa5 38.c6, when White wins.

However, rather than maintain good winning chances with 35...Rg6, which leaves White without a good move, I played 35...Kb4?

This allows White to draw with an only-move, 36.Nc1!, that, admittedly, is difficult to find (and in the game was not found), but nevertheless White should not have been allowed to reach a situation in which a draw was possible.

LESSON: after being on top from early in the game, it is all too easy, when subsequent moves pile up, to lose patience and unjustifiably try to finish the game in short order.

Lessons From Bad Bertrich: Bound-less

MY round five game reached the following equal position in the late-middlegame.

White has just played 31.Rc2-b2 in Heikki Westerinen (GM 2205) - Spanton (1946)

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The position is completely equal, according to Stockfish17 and Dragon1, but as soon as I played 31...b5?, my opponent, who had sat impassively until this point, sort of half-shrugged, half-raised his eyebrows.

The point, which he saw instantly, is that trying to stabilise the queenside with one emphatic move only creates weaknesses along the c file.

After 32.Rc2 the engines reckon White had at least the upper hand.

LESSON: heroes often break free with one bound in adventure tales, but it rarely occurs on the chessboard.

Lessons From Bad Bertrich: The No1 Factor In Chess

MY round four game featured sharp play, reaching the following position after 13 moves.

Black has just played 13...b4 in Spanton (1946) - Wolfgang Polster (2128)

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Both sides have four pieces in play: White - queen, two bishops and knight; Black - queen, rook, bishop and knight.

But there are two major negative differences, or imbalances.

White's is that both bishops are en prise, while Black's is that the king is still in the centre of the board.

Only concrete analysis can reveal which imbalance is the more significant, and it might be thought the position is so sharp there can only be one correct continuation.

In fact White has at least the upper hand after both 14.Nxe5 and the game's 14.Ng5, the latter perhaps being marginally the better of the two moves.

Black replied with 14...Qxe2? (14...Qg6 is an improvement), after which came 15.Qxc6+ Bd7 16.Qd5 Be6 17.Qb5+ Bd7 (all three White moves took advantage of the position of the black king by either giving check or threatening mate), when White was a pawn up, and, more importantly, still had a strong attack.

The game finished 18.Qxb4 f6 19.Bxe5!? Qg4 20.Rfe1 1-0

LESSON: king safety tops all other considerations.

Lessons From Bad Bertrich: Learn From Your Defeats

MY round-three game reached the following position after White's 9.Qh5-f3.

Black to play in Spanton (1946) - Uwe Single (1810)

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Material is level, but there is no doubt Black is in trouble as White threatens 10.Qxb7 as well as the terminal 10.Qxf7#.
Black can prevent mate and develop a piece with 9...Nf6, when 10.Qxb7 Nbd7 11.Nc6 Qc8 12.Bxa6 wins two pawns, with the exchange likely to follow.

Alternatively Black can try 9...f6, when, rather than immediately take on b7, best seems to be 10.Bc4 e6, and now 11.Qxb7.

After the further moves 11...fxe5 12.Qxa8 exd4, Black is 'only' down the exchange, but 13.0-0 (also good is 13.Bxe6) leaves Black in a very unenviable position.

However, there is many a slip 'twixt cup and lip, and the one continuation I was not expecting was the game's 9...Resigns.

LESSON: Few of us enjoy defending rotten positions, but the one way to ensure you never become good in such situations is to give up without trying.

Lessons From Bad Bertrich: Material Is Not The Only Advantage

MY round two game reached a critical position after 18 moves.

Here Fide master Peter Dittmar (2128) came up with the strong 19.d5!, which seems to be a novelty

How should Black respond?

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I played 19...cxd5?!, but after 20.exd5 Bf7 21.Ne5 I was losing the f pawn, while lagging in development.

Stockfish17 and Dragon1 suggest giving up a pawn immediately by simply retreating the bishop with 19...Bf7.

After 20.dxc6 Qxc6 21.exf5 White has won a pawn, but Black's pieces are so much more active than in the game.

A possible continuation is 21...Qc5+ 22.Kh1 Nd7, when Black has the better queen and the only long-range minor piece - full compensation for a pawn, according to the engines.

LESSON: more activity can be just as much an advantage as more material.

Lessons From Bad Bertrich: Keep Calm And Carry On

IN round one my opponent, Cordula Hinrichs (1683), was under the cosh almost the entire game.

But in this position I failed to play the winning 29.g5, preferring 29.Qf4? under the misconception I had to do something about Black's threat to capture on e4

After my mistake, it was Black to make her 29th move

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Black has two ways to prevent 30.g5: a) 29...h6, and b) 29...Qe7.

The former gives complete equality, according to Stockfish17 and Dragon1, while the latter leaves White with at best a slight edge.

However my opponent had a rush of blood to the head, seeing an apparent chance, after many moves of grovelling, to make an attacking move, namely 29...Bh6??

The game finished: 30.Nxf6+ Kh8 31.g5 Bxg5?! 32.Qxg5 Qe7 33.Qh6 1-0

LESSON: don't let excitement at the possibility of making an aggressive move lead you to omit the basic checks necessary to avoid blunders.

Summing Up Bad Bertrich

MY score of +5=1-3 in the 31st Bad Bertrich Chess Days, for players born before 1976, gained 40.6 Fide elo, and won me the U2000 second rating prize of 160 euros.

Bad Bertrich Round Nine

Spanton (1946) - Andreas Kessler (2084)

French Exchange

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nf3 Bd6 5.c4 Qe7+!?

This has been played by grandmasters, but putting the queen on a central open file early on entails risk.

How should White respond?

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6.Be2

There is no need to worry about losing a pawn, although some strong players have preferred 6.Be3.

6...dxc4 7.0-0 Nf6

Hardly surprisingly, there are no games in ChessBase's 2025 Mega database with 7...b5? After the reply 8.Re1, Black has problems.

8.Bxc4 0-0

Now both sides have castled, how would you assess the position?

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It may look like a typical opening position with an isolated queen's pawn, but in this one White will gain time threatening the black queen.

9.Re1 Qd8

More-or-less forced as after 9...Qd7?! White will pose problems with Bg5, and development of the black queen's bishop will be obstructed.

10.Nc3 Bg4 11.Bg5 Nbd7?!

The engines much prefer 11...h6, meeting both 12.Bh4 and 12.Be3 with 12...Nc6.

12.Qd3

Even stronger, according to the engines, is 12.h3, meeting 12...Bh5 with 13.g4!? Bg6 14.Ne5.

12...c6 13.Ne5

How should Black proceed?

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13...Qc7

Not 13...Be7?? 14.Nxg4 Nxg4 15.Bxe7, and if 13...Bh5? then 14.g4! is good as 14...Bg6 runs into 15.Nxg6 hxg6 16.Qxg6!?

14.f4

Stockfish17 gives 14.Nxg4 Nxg4 15.Qf5!?, when 15...Nxh2? can be met by 16.Ne4, and 15...Bxh2+ by 16.Kh1 Ngf6 17.g3!? Bxg3 18.fxg3 Qxg3 19.Rg1, when Black has no bishops left to worry the exposed white king.

Dragon1 suggests 14.h3 Be6 15.Nxd7 Qxd7!? (15...Nxd7 16.Bxe6 fxe6 17.Rxe6) 16.Bxf6 Bxc4 17.Qxc4 gxf6 18.Ne4 with a strong attack.

14...Be6!?

The engines fluctuate between continuations, but eventually more-or-less settle on 14...a5!?, a possible continuation being 15.Rac1 Be6!? 16.Bxe6 fxe6, which is similar to the game.

15.Bxe6 fxe6 16.Rac1

With this move-order 16.Re3 my be an improvement.

16...a6 17.g3 Rae8

How should White proceed?

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18.Ne4?

The engines much prefer either 18.a3!?, eg 18...Nb6 19.Rc2 Nbd5 20.Nf3!?, or 18.Bxf6!?, when both 18...Nxf6 and 18...gxf6 can be answered by 19.Nf3!?, and 18...Rxf6?! by 19.Ne4.

18...Bb4?

The threat to e1 is easily met, after which the bishop is hanging. The engines reckon 18...Nxe4 19.Qxe4 Bxe5 20.dxe5 Nb6 gives Black a slight edge - the isolated e6 pawn is masked, and the white bishop is very restricted, albeit controlling d8.

19.Red1?!

The engines give 19.Bxf6!? gxf6 20.Nxd7 Qxd7 before moving the king's rook, although they cannot decide whether it should go to e3, e2 or d1.

19...Nxe4 20.Qxe4 Nf6

This lets White swop off the restricted bishop, so perhaps 20...Nb6 or 20...Bd6 is better.

21.Bxf6 gxf6 22.Nf3 Qd6 23.Kg2 Qd5 24.Qxd5

The engines slightly prefer 24.Qb1!?

24...exd5 25.a3 Ba5 26.b4 Bb6 27.Re1 Re4 28.Rxe4!? dxe4 29.Nd2 Bxd4

Black may have an edge after 29...f5!?, according to the engines.

30.Nxe4 Bb2 31.Rb1 Bxa3 32.Rb3

Both 32.Nd6? and 32.Nc5? fail to 32...a5.

32...Bc1 33.Kf3 Kg7 34.Rb1 Ba3 35.Rb3

It was probably worth trying 35.Nc5!?, when Black more-or-less needs to find 35...Re8 (35...Rd8?? 36.Ne6+ etc), although then the engines reckon Black should hold, eg 36.Nd3 a5!? 37.bxa5 Re7.

35...Bc1 ½–½

Taking It Easy

I FELT leggy after the previous day's exertions, so was determined to keep my afternoon hike short.

If anything, I rather overdid it, as the hoop walk turned out to be under a mile, including the distance covered to get to the start 

The route goes to Elfengrotte, which even I with my virtually non-existent German could work out means Elves' Grotto.

Approaching

Entrance

Grotto

Upstream

Bad Bertrich Round Eight

Horst Prüsse (2017) - Spanton (1946)

Bird/Sicilian 2.f4

1.f4 c5 2.e4 d5!?

This position used to arise very often in the Sicilian when White was trying to play a Grand Prix Attack via the move-order 1.e4 2.c5 2.f4. Nowadays, thanks to 2...d5!?, White usually sets about getting a GPA with 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 and 3.f4.

How should White proceed?

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3.e5

The main line in ChessBase's 2025 Mega database runs 3.exd5 Nf6 4.Bb5+ Bd7 5.Bxd7+ (5.Bc4 b5) Qxd7 6.c4 e6 7.Qe2 Bd6!? 8.d3 0-0 9.dxe6 fxe6, when Stockfish17 and Dragon1 reckon Black has more than enough for a pawn.

3...Nc6 4.Nc3 Bf5!?

How should White respond to this development of the black queen's bishop?

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5.d3

There are no games in Mega25 with 5.g4!?, which the engines reckon should be met with 5...Be6!?

5...h5 6.Be2 h4!? 7.Bg4!? Nh6 8.Bxf5 Nxf5

The square f5 is at least as good an outpost for a knight as for a bishop.

9.Nf3 e6 10.Ng5?!

The engines strongly dislike this.

10...Be7 11.Nh3

Clearly 11.Nf3 would simply represent a serious loss of time, but 11.0-0!? is possible, the point being that after 11...Bxg5 12.fxg5 the capture 12...Nxe5?! is met by 13.Qe1, when White has good compensation for a pawn.

11...f6!? 12.Qg4!? Ncd4 13.Qg6+

This looks natural, but the engines prefer 13.Qd1, or 13.exf6 gxf6 14.Qd1, albeit reckoning Black is on top.

13...Kd7 14.0-0!?

Offering a pawn to get the king to safety in a sharp position looks a reasonable practical decision, but there is a problem.

14...Nxc2 15.Rb1 Qe8! 16.Qg4!?

If queens come off, the uncastled black king no longer has difficulties.

How should Black proceed?

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16...Nce3

Winning the exchange, but Stockfish17 prefers forcing queens off with 16...Qh5!?, which has a more-human feel to it! Dragon1 agrees with its fellow engine, but to a smaller degree.

17.Bxe3 Nxe3 18.Qe2 Nxf1 19.Rxf1

Now the smoke has, as it were, cleared, how would you assess the position?

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Black is the pawn and an exchange up, and it does not appear easy to safely open files for black rooks to operate on. White has much the safer king and a lead in development. Nevertheless the engines reckon Black is winning - up the equivalent of more than a minor piece.

19...d4

The engines prefer 19...fxe5!? or 19...f5.

20.exf6 gxf6 21.Ne4 Rc8 22.Rc1 Qh5!

This is the engines' top choice. One idea is to centralise the queen, even at the expense of a pawn.

23.Qc2 Qd5 24.Qa4+ Kd8

Possibly even stronger is 24...Kc7!?, when 25.b4 c4!? 26.Rxc4+ Kb8 gets a pair of rooks off the board - nearly always a good thing for the player an exchange up. But perhaps the simplest solution is 24...Qc6!?

25.Qxa7 c4

The engines prefer 25...Kd7!? or 25...Rg8.

26.Qb6+

They give best as 26.f5!?, eg 26...Qxf5 27.Qxb7 Qe5 28.Nhf2 with complicated play, but they agree Black is still winning.

26...Ke8 27.Nhf2?!

The engines much prefer 27.f5.

27...f5 28.Ng5 Bxg5 29.fxg5 Rg8 30.Nh3 Qe5

Best, according to the engines, is 30...Kd7!?

31.Kf1 Kf7!?

Offering a pawn with check to get the king to relative safety.

How should White continue?

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32.Re1!?

The engines give 32.Qxb7+ Rc7 33.Qf3, but after 33...cxd3 34.Re1 Qb5! 35.Qh5+ Ke7 Black's attack is at least as dangerous as White's, and Black remains the exchange up.

Black to keep a winning position with an only-move

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32...Rc6!

Insisting on giving up the b pawn. After 32...Qd5 33.Nf4 White is at least equal, and may have a slight edge (Stockfish17) or even the upper hand (Dragon1) - the position is complicated, but it is very much White who is attacking.

33.Qxb7+ Qc7 34.Qxc7+

There seems nothing better, but the black king no longer faces mating threats.

34...Rxc7

How would you assess this ending?

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White has a pawn for the exchange, but g5 is weak and Black has good files for the rooks. The engines reckon Black is up the equivalent of a minor piece (Stockfish17) or almost a rook (Dragon1).

35.dxc4

35.Nf4 can be successfully met by 35...c3 or 35...dxc3.

35...Rxc4 36.Nf4 Re8 37.Nd3 Rc2 38.Ne5+ Kg7 39.Rd1 Rd8 40.Nd3 Rd6 41.a4 Rc4

Not 41...Ra6?? 42.Nb4 etc.

42.a5 Ra4 43.b4 Kg6 44.Ne5+ Kg7

Not 44...Kxg5?? Nf7+ and 45...Nxd6.

45.Nc4

If 45.Nd3, then 45...Ra3 is good.

45...Rd8!? 46.Rb1 d3 47.Ke1 Rd4 48.Ne5?

Obviously bad, but Black's advantage has anyway grown to the equivalent of a little more than a rook (Stockfish17) or even almost the equivalent of a rook and a minor piece (Dragon1).

48...Re4+ 0-1

An Adventure

Set off from Bad Bertrich at about 14:15, determining to follow the first waymarked trail I came to

I hoped it would not be too long and not get very high as, although the sun was shining, it had rained earlier, more was forecast and there was a threat of thunderstorms around 17:00

There followed a long, but steady, uphill stretch, which eventually became quite steep, and I remember thinking I did not want to come back that way as it could be slippery going downhill 

Chapel dedicated in 1949 to Judas Thaddäus, known in English as Jude the Apostle

I had early problems spotting waymarks, which caused a bit of toing and froing, but otherwise the walk was pleasant, and seemed to follow a river, albeit at times from a distance

But after more than hour it dawned on me that the route might not be a round-walk - I seemed to be leaving Bad Bertrich behind in more-or-less a straight line - so I began to look for a place to have lunch and start walking back

However that was easier said than done as everywhere was wet, so I was relieved after 90 minutes to come to a bridge, at which point the route started following the river on the other bank and in the opposite direction

Scenery became more dramatic

Soon I came to a clearing where some logged trees had dried in the sun (although when I took my shorts off later I found the logs had not been as dry as I thought)

I ate lunch (studentenfutter with sparkling water) quite quickly as the sky looked threatening

I came to the village of Niederscheidweiler, which had a picturesque rock commemorating the settlement's 1100-year history, but, more usefully from my view, also had a map

The map suggested I was not getting closer to Bad Bertrich, but I consoled myself with the thought there is always someone worse off

Colourful display of fungi

A signpost gave hope as it suggested I was only 1.5km from a town, or at least a village, with a hotel, food and buses

The stretch to Hasborn was all uphill, and steep with it, and when I got there the last bus of the day had long gone (I arrived at about 17:15), and anyway did not seem to go near Bad Bertrich.

The hotel and eating establishment turned out to be a combined enterprise, closed for refurbishment, and there were no shops.

I asked a couple for directions, but they could not understand my pronunciation of Bad Bertrich, and when they eventually cottoned on, all they could do was point in the direction I had come.

The lady added: "It is a long way," and I was too polite to point out I already knew that.

There was nothing for it but to retrace my steps, but soon I felt a spot of water on my hand, and looked up to see a rainbow - pretty, but of course where there's a rainbow, there's rain

I was a bit worried as the sky soon clouded over completely, and I knew the sun sets earlier in mountains, and all-in-all it was rather gloomy when back among the trees.

I had a pocket torch on me, and luckily I had fitted a new battery as the old one proved completely flat when I checked it on the first day at my hotel (I suspect I accidentally turned it on when I fell while running up a down-escalator at Gatwick - don't ask, it seemed the right thing to do at the time).

Walking uphill in the forest was fine, even if I did not have all my earlier energy, but I had to be careful going downhill in the gloom as there were quite a few exposed and slippery rocks, and some mud.

I cheered up considerably on passing this sign

I even allowed myself time to pause and photograph this colourful leaf

I made such good time I was sat outside Bad Bertrich's Mexican bar, enjoying an alkoholfrei weizenbier, shortly after 19:15

When I got back to my room I discovered the waymarks I had followed were posted by the Eifel Association as part of a trail called Mosel-Our-Weg.

I inadvertently walked half of the trail's second stage, which covers 22.3 kilometres, with ascent of 786 metres and descent of 592 metres.

Google Maps confirms that by reaching Hasborn I covered almost exactly half of the total stage, ie 11.2 kilometres, which it reckons should have taken 2hrs 56mins.

That is almost spot on, although my journey out included stopping for lunch and numerous photo-ops - two reasons why coming back I covered the same distance in little over two hours.

For those who struggle metrically (myself included), 22.4 kilometres is 13.9 miles, so it was just as well the rain never became heavy enough to warrant using an umbrella, and thunderstorms never materialised (I feared I heard a rumble at one point, but it may well have been an airplane).