This was a very interesting congress for me. My son had improved quite alot and I could relax a bit more. Held in the De Veres Hotel Denham it was not to bad a trek from Southampton.

It was good to see some GM*s and IM*s in action. It was a really good turn out with over 50 players in the Open.

On round one I took a draw as white against a 1867, my opponent only had 3mins left on clock I had 28 but we were playing 1.5hr games with 30 second increments which means its very hard to grind people down on clock.

Round 2 against a 1840 as black was looking drawish but did not make sure of my defence in end game and lost to my opponents nice rook sacrifice. The game lasted 4hrs and I was mentally drained.

Round 3 starting only 45mins after my last 4hr game against a 2087. I felt like a zombie I could barely look at the board and felt I had a shocking position as white and promptly binned it after about 23 moves, which anaylsis showed was a bit over the top and I should have just carried on.

Round 4 against a 1860 was a good game, was drawish but blew it in end game flapping.

Round 5 against a 2144 as white was a very difficult game I lasted about 35 moves but y opponent was s quick on clock and his postion was much better and he ground me down beatifully.

So 0.5 from 5 is not goign to do my FIDE rating much good.. :(