Ben Says

And so I arrived at the Leicester Congress in a non-playing capacity, having been roped into assisting with the running of the congress. After circulating around the college for half an hour trying to find the entrance, it was probably better for my rating that I wasn't playing, but over the whole weekend, I couldn't help but feel that I had missed out.

I was given the badge that read controller - a slight surprise, I can't even control a football properly (which is why I no longer play football). Having toyed with the idea of immediately defacing it by scrawling 'Fat' in front of the word controller, I carried on with my duties. My Fiancee was present too on the Friday night, no badge for her, although her prefix would have been 'fit', judging by the gazes of various people. I think that certain members now look at me as if to say 'How the hell did you pull that?'

So wandering around various games was very interesting, with the odd nod of the head to Haka Dave, watching Ray, Colin and Rob proved to be very entertaining. I think I spent most of the time in the Minor room seeing who had messed up a position first. (Usually Ray). Wandering round the Major and Open room was more a case of looking at the boards pretending to be in authority than actually knowing what they were doing. That's probably why they are better than me at chess.
I think that Colin can be very pleased with his Congress, I felt that he may have been in for a prize, given his first 3 sessions, it was a shame to see him lose his momentum. I felt that Rob was a dark horse for the congress, one to watch, an emerger from the light (you get the picture), and I am not sure that he took any money home either. And that leads to Ray, good old Ray, giving pieces away and losing on time to Paul Martin in the closest bullet type finish that I have ever seen. He did the Gentlemenly thing and resigned. A disappointing congress for Ray.

Having said all of that, fair play to everyone that entered, braver souls than me and I hope that the entrants gained more out of the tournament than I did (I gained sore legs from so much standing and walking and a new chess scorepad).

Suffice to say that I will look forward to trips to Heathcote Arms later in the League season, Web Guru Colin, Haka Dave and Raymondov are always good for a laugh off of the chess board and I look forward to seeing you all again.

Ben Vaughan

Wigston Chess Club