Scarborough Chess Congress (Intermediate)

Greetings players and fellow patzers 🙂

This past weekend, I returned to the coast hoping to repeat the result of last year:
Thread 179112

The problem is, last year I played in the lowest section... with an ECF cap of 115.
This year, I played in the Intermediate (150 cap) which is two sections higher.

Let's see if I could make lightning strike twice at the seaside.

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Game 1 - John Woollard (140) vs Zak Tomlinson (149)

Strange events, initially I was paired to play a different opponent,
but our entire section had to be re-paired for some reason.

The game also started around 20 minutes later than scheduled, which is not ideal for a Friday night.

I was originally paired to have White, but now I have the Black pieces.
At my level though, this doesn't mean particularly much.

Game 2 - Zak Tomlinson (149) vs Dave Colledge (141)

I met a fellow Yorkshireman who was part of the winning county team in the finals earlier this year.

The game itself was not the best, just like last year in round 2, I was dropping pawns.
Did I survive this time?

Game 3 - Zak Tomlinson (149) vs Gary White (141)

I had a roller coaster of emotions in this game, feeling a lot of self-inflicted pressure.
My opponent had played a piece sacrifice during the opening, which I found the refutation for.

The remainder of the game should have been easy, if I had played pragmatically.
Instead... well, let me just show you how NOT to play when a piece up.

Game 4 - Owen Robson (136) vs Zak Tomlinson (149)

I felt severe pain Sunday morning, not from the chess, but from a sprained right foot.
Someone commented to say it was a good job I wasn't playing football... I was limping badly.

My chess was limp too, and my opponent played something I've had a tough history with...

Game 5 - Zak Tomlinson (149) vs Nathaniel Holroyd-Doveton (141)

I won't bother share game 5, as it was a quick "Grandmaster draw" which barely got out of the opening.
We were actually joking that we would do this if we were paired, so it came as no surprise.

Sometimes, after a long, bruising tournament, a quick draw and an early visit to the bar is ideal.

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So, that's basically it.

Here's the final tournament crosstable... not as fun seeing my name further down the list!
http://chess-results.com/tnr461551.aspx?lan=1&art=4

A 2/5 finish this year, in a section where I was one of the top seeds, is disappointing.
Game 3 will haunt me for a bit... but that's a good thing, it will motivate me.

But let's not forget the main reason for why I write these comments and share the games... Learning!

I'm playing a Major in two weeks, in Preston, which is an Under170 section.
Here's the website for those who might consider joining:
http://chess.popmalc.org.uk/congress

As always, I hope y'all took something away from this.
Maybe see ya at the next one!

Cheers,
Zak

Interesting stuff mate.
Ten innacuracies(or was it mistakes).Whatever itsounds like one of my regular games

Is it possible to have the move buttons right under the board?
Scrolling up and down on my phone for each move makes it harder to focus on the games.