Although my first tournaments back were fairly successful (first place in the Rhyl and South Lakes Open sections) I was back as a spectator for the Heywood Congress. I’m going through a busy patch with non chess commitments that started just after the South Lakes event. It’s good to sense if you are taking too much on and this was one of those moments.

It’s also good to look for flaws in your play, even if you have been doing well. The weaknesses are certainly there as I had not had time to do any serious preparation, relying instead on improvisation. This can be OK up to a certain level but there’s a point at which it becomes a serious problem. Against well prepared professional players you will certainly get outgunned in the early stages, struggling to get a decent game as Black and having them equalize easily when you are White. And this is compounded if your games end up on databases so that people can study them with the help of modern technology.

I’ll be out of action in July as well but should soon get time to start working on my game. A break isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s better to plan than to charge ahead out of compulsion.

Nigel Davies