Streaking

I’m writing this from Denmark. Yes, Denmark!! I finally made it to ‘real’ Scandinavia (sorry Finland, but any country where I have to use Euro rather than Kroners – despite the extra convenience – just doesn’t cut it). And perhaps even more surprisingly, I’m playing chess here.

“But what about the thesis?” I hear you ask. Or more likely, I just heard my conscience. Well, I’ve been pulling 12 hour days for the last fortnight trying to pump out a full draft for my supervisors, which has been wreaking havoc on my brain and body, so I was already looking to take a week off. Then, as fate (surely not karma) would have it, I got a last minute call from the organisers of the Politiken Cup in Denmark – they’d had an unexpected GM cancellation and were looking for a replacement. Of course, most grandmasters have their chess schedule worked out six months in advance – but I’m not ‘most grandmasters’, having not played a tournament since last August.

And I have to report that it was a good choice for such an ‘amateur grandmaster’. I’m in Helsingor, a gorgeous seaside town an hour north of Copenhagen, and the chess is set at the amazing Konventum, some sort of cross between a corporate retreat and a ‘goodness and well being’ centre. We’re surrounded by amazing woods, a medieval castle, fairytale-esque forests and the beach just a short stroll away. At the centre, we can play billards, wii, check out the sauna or play almost any sport under the sun – and yes, there is actually sun! In fact I snuck in some rare European sunbathing as I decided to do my opening preparation this morning out on the lawns, overlooking the golf course. Did I mention there is a golf course? Our own course!

Of course (ha!)  that doesn’t mean much to the other grandmasters. As Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (or ‘MVL’, as he prefers) recently quipped when interviewed, “Why should I care about the cities I play in? Wherever we play, chessplayers just go from the hotel to the tournament hall and back again.” Okay, I’m embellishing somewhat, but he said something like this. But of course, I don’t care that much about the results – I’m here to relax, and as such I’ll probably be the only grandmaster taking part in the other, less serious events in the festival. Besides blitz, there’s also a pairs blitz event and even a problem solving competition, in which I think I’m going to make my solving debut. And I’m sure I’ll be the only participant hitting the links in between rounds.

Despite my loud vows about my lighthearted approach to the tournament, so far it’s going pretty well. I’ve won my first three, which makes a nice change to the end of the Olympiad, my last tournament, where I lost the last three. Readers might remember that my collapse at the tail end of the tournament cost Australia what would have been its best evern Olympiad performance, which may explain why I’ve taken something of a Sabbatical from chess tournaments since then. It’s not the first time I’ve had a streak of losses – I would have gained the grandmaster title three years earlier than I did, back in 2006, if it wasn’t for a streak of four losses in a row when my live rating was 2496…

At least on the weight of current evidence, it seems I am a bit of a streaker. No, not THAT sort of streaker (the most famous recent example being this joker) – but I am very hot and cold in my performances on the board. My Dad always used to tell me that was my big weakness ; “You’ve got to stop the big swings”, he used to say, “None of these highs and lows – you’ve got to keep yourself level headed.”  A decade and a half on, I’ve still got the same record. Still, my hot streak in the British league has managed to kick on a little, and currently it seems I’ve won my last 9 games. That’s probably my best ever run, which is why I’m writing this now before I mess it up. Still, there’s a silver lining when I come crashing back down to earth, because I can stop my morning preparations entirely and work on my (lack of a) golf swing.

I’ll try and get some pics posted on the next update so you can get an idea of the tournament without having to rely on my verbose descriptions. There’s word that there might be a soccer game tonight, which I’ll also try and snap – because rumour has it that if they’re chosing teams on rating order, I may not even make the cut….

POSTSCRIPT: Indeed, my prophecy turned out to be self-fulfilling – literally. I thought the round started an hour later than it did (I was going off yesterday’s time) and came to the board half an hour late. After I made up time and actually got ahead on the clock at one stage, the game exploded into tactical fireworks and finished in a draw. Thus, no more streaking.