A roll of wins

Somehow I have managed to win my most recent 12 games, albeit none of these actually being rated games at the club. 2 wins at the pub on the mini board in the dim light (okay, so considering the conditions, opponent drinking, and lack of clocks, these 2 results are pretty meaningless). 4 wins on ICC under standard times controls (I'm very happy with these). 4 rapid chess (15 min) wins at the club social meetup. And then 2 very rapid and rather silly blitz games also at the meet. Taking into consideration the 4 standard and 4 rapid results only however it's still very nice.

At the same time, it's hard to judge your level when you're on a winning streak. And losing streaks, if one follows from this like the night follows the day, are rather painful. But hopefully this isn't just luck and my general form has actually improved. I'll have to wait for the next season and some club rated games to find out for sure.

Below are a few of the more interesting moves I played in my ICC standard games.

In the position above I played 0-0. Play continued ...cxd4 e5 ...Qd8 Bb5+ ...Nc6 Qb3 ...dxc3 Qxb4 ...cxb2 Rab1 ...Qe7 Rd6, and white has excellent development for the pawn.

Be2. Yes, I realise that this is about the least interesting move in the position. But sometimes you have to accept that, which can be difficult. White wants to play Bd3. He can't. Be2 is fine.

Seeing that White is behind in development and can't castle queenside, I was looking for a way to put him off castling kingside, leaving his king stuck in the middle ...g5. Is this a good move? According to the computer it loses a few tenths of a pawn in evaluation. But from a club level human point of view it challenges the opponent, something you should always aim for. Most mistakes result from pressure. With that said, finding play in the centre might be more sound.

Here I played ...dxc4. Play continued Bxf5 ...exf5 Rxc4 ...Nd5 Kf2 ...Re8 Rc3. Black claims that his well placed knight and pressure on the centre (and whites weak king) makes up for the weakened pawn structure on the kingside, which cannot be attacking immediately. White responds by giving up the exchange, an excellent decision. After black wins the exchange he will have lost his most active piece, increased whites control on the centre, and risk having his king come under attack from the uncontested dark square bishop. Taking the exchange led to a position with chances for both sides - in the short term things may actually be harder for black, who has to defend his king, but if he can consolidate or simplify he should have excellent winning chances in the long run.

Here I had judged that despite the apparent disadvantage of development, white is slightly better. The locked centre means black cannot take immediate advantage of this situation (indeed I later went on to play Kf2), while white can pressure the f4 pawn and provoke weakening or uncomfortable moves. Play continued Ne2 ...g5 h4 ...f6. Black can no longer play his ...f5 break and his bishop has become a pawn. I later anchored a monster knight on f5.

On a non-chess note, I've just put myself in to enter the Bristol Half-Marathon (this will be my 4th time... can I finally manage it in under 100 minutes?) and the Stert Island Swim (2.4km), and have been training accordingly. Run one day, swim the next, raise the duration/intensity a little each time with some light weights thrown in.