Blast from the Past: Mansson – Fallowfield, BPCF Open Championship Preliminary Round

Posted on May 2, 2017 by James Mansson

While the first game I examined was a little dull, the one I am about to look at was anything but. It has to be said that my encounter against N.Fallowfield was not correspondence chess at its finest; it was more like an entertaining “over the board” game where both sides made mistakes and the encounter was decided by blunders in time trouble. Admittedly, the positions that arose were rather complex and difficult to analyse; also, in those days, there was not the possibility of consulting a computer, so both players analytical skills were definitely stretched! Continue reading →

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Blast from the Past: Mansson – Copley, BPCF Open Championship Preliminary Round

Posted on May 1, 2017 by James Mansson

The first game I want to look at is my game with J.Copley. My opinion of it at the time was that it was a dull draw, with the most memorable aspect being that we used one of those elaborate correspondence chess score cards to send the game backwards and forwards. However, having looked at it again with a computer, I discovered that there was an interesting tactical possibility that would have allowed my opponent to gain a slight advantage in the endgame. I am not sure that it would have ultimately changed the result, but it would certainly have justified playing on. Continue reading →

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Blast from the Past: First BPCF Open Preliminary Round Section

Posted on May 1, 2017 by James Mansson

Each section of the BPCF Open had its own code, consisting of a letter indicating the round (P = Preliminary, S = Semi-Final, F = Final) and an ordinal to indicate which edition of that round was being played. I don’t know the exact code for the first section I played in; there had I think by that point been at least 300 preliminary round sections, so it would have been something like P300. Continue reading →

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Blast from the Past: Correspondence Chess

Posted on May 1, 2017 by James Mansson

As I am unlikely to have many more games to annotate this season, I thought it would be interesting to do some more “Blast from the Past” posts, where I go over some of my old games. For this series I thought that I would revisit the correspondence chess games I have played over the years. Continue reading →

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Horsham Club Championship 2016-17: Kington – Mansson

Posted on April 13, 2017 by James Mansson

After a run of wins in this year’s club championship, I finally drew a game. I was Black against Paul Kington, and the game developed into a fairly normal Hedgehog position. I took the chance to open the position up; when White missed a tactic that would have forced some equalising simplification, I gained the initiative. However, I overlooked a move by my opponent which turned the position in his favour. Fortunately for me, he  overlooked the strongest line and also offered a draw. Although the position was now playable for me, I decided in light of my tournament position not to risk it and accepted. Continue reading →

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Mid-Sussex League Division 1 2016-17: Horsham 1 – Worthing 2

Posted on April 12, 2017 by James Mansson

Horsham 1 finished the season with a win over Worthing 2. Although Gavin lost on board 1, we won on boards 2, 4, and 5 to secure the match; my game on board 3 against Nicholas Skinner ended up as a draw. This was a frustrating results, as I had been winning, but I slipped up a few move before the time control, and the opposition were able to find a draw in the final position. Continue reading →

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Horsham Club Championship 2016-17: Mansson – Comley

Posted on March 16, 2017 by James Mansson

My latest win in the club championship was pretty straightforward. My opponent made a couple of significant mistakes early on; I did not exploit the first fully, but took advantage of the second to achieve a winning advantage. Just as he was about to go two pawns down, facing a powerful attack, he decided to resign. Continue reading →

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Mid-Sussex League Division 1 2016-17: Horsham 1 – Haywards Heath 1

Posted on March 9, 2017 by James Mansson

Going into last Tuesday’s match, Horsham 1 needed to win to keep up their push for the Mid-Sussex League title. Unfortunately, the wheels came off and the team crashed to a hugely disappointing defeat. Continue reading →

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Horsham Club Championship 2016-17: Stimpson – Mansson

Posted on March 8, 2017 by James Mansson

Last week I played my club championship game against Phil Stimpson. Like Peter Harbott, Phil is someone I have played quite a few times. This time I was Black. The game started with a line of the the Grand Prix Attack against the Sicilian, which was complex but roughly equal for a while, before a White slip allowed me to gain the upper hand. However, I failed to find the best continuation as both sides started to run short of time. In the scramble to reach the time control, White was even better at one point, but then blundered and soon resigned. Continue reading →

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County Match (Open) 2016-17: Sussex – Kent

Posted on March 6, 2017 by James Mansson

In a recent county match, Sussex lost 3-13 to a very strong Kent side. I was up on board three against Andrew Mayhew. I ran into trouble early on, but managed to mix things up. However, when both players were short of time, I finally blundered and lost. Continue reading →

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