I'm back from the USA and suffering from jet-lag. However, there's a million things to do after being away for 3 weeks and on top of that I am going back to work on Friday, for the first time after 10 months of sabbatical! I'm so glad that BT gave me this opportunity to take the sabbatical as I think I had the best 10 months ever despite some low points at some chess tournaments.
My Pacific Coast Open tournament ended fairly well as I got 3.5 points out of 6 (including a half-point bye) drawing last two games against stronger opponents. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to win one of those games with an extra pawn! And I ended up half a point behind a large rating prize. I don't know why in the USA they have very large rating prizes - it was larger than a second place prize! Nevertheless, I'm happy to add another 9 rating points to my FIDE rating despite a slow start to the tournament. My partner IM Simon Ansell did very well by getting a share of the second prize. You can see the final standings here: http://www.chesstour.com/pco10r.htm I didn't have any exciting games to show although I haven't had a chance to analyse them in detail and may yet find something worth showing at a deeper level. I bought a new laptop in the USA so I hope my Rybka will now run even better and faster! J
New FIDE ratings have come out at the beginning of July and I'm back to over 2000 mark at 2062. ECF ratings have come out as well and I am now rated 178 - a bit higher than a year ago but lower than I believe my current strength is. Unfortunately, ECF ratings are published only once a year and can be a bit misleading for an improving player. British Championship has started on Monday and will keep me entertained for the next 2 weeks. The top seed GM Mickey Adams is the favourite to win the title. Unfortunately, there are only 3 women participating (I decided against playing because of going back to work) so I hope ECF would do something to encourage more women to play in the British.
I haven't got any firm plans for my next chess tournament but I am considering playing my next tournament at the Berks & Bucks congress during the August Bank Holiday weekend. It's a 6-round FIDE-rated tournament. I'll just have to see how tired I'll get being back at work and if I need my weekends to recover rather than play chess! I am also hoping to play in the 9-round FIDE open at Cap D'Agde in the South of France in October.
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6 comments:
Welcome to Europe! :)
Thanks Alberto! I love Europe and glad to be home! :)
Using the standard ECF conversion formula a rating of FIDE 2062 equates to ECF 176.5 so your current ECF rating of 178 seems right. And welcome back to England and don't let the day job get in the way of the great progress you have made! :-))
Thanks Anonymous! I'm never sure which formula they use for rating conversion as it seems to vary. It doesn't matter anyway - I just have to show good results and the rest will come :) I'll do my best to make sure my job doesn't affect my future chess results.
Sorry Maria, I forgot to sign off prevously. The two ratings are calculated (I assume) on different sets of results anyway, so as you say you just play your best and do not worry :) I was wondering if we may see you at Berks & Bucks, but looks like we are off to Leyland now. All the best and do let us all know on the blog how things are settling in back at work! Best wishes, Colin
Thanks Colin. Good luck at Leyland! Ok, I'll mention about my work once it becomes a bit clearer.
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