Update Monday 7th December from Benidorm:
Well that is the tournament over. Unfortunately lost the last game to finish on 4.5/10. I carefully analysed a combination thinking I had seen one move further than my opponent forgetting two cardinal rules of chess, firstly check if the combination can be played in an alternative move order with a different result and secondly, recheck your analysis during the combination in case you have missed anything - oops!
Still I can take a lot of positives on acheiving at least three goals from the 10 days:
Firstly between Bruce & I we have raised a lot of money for a very good cause. Many thanks to everyone that has donated - with all the offline pledges I have had I know I have already exceeded my target of one thousand pounds and that is down to you, not me. Also many thanks to the staff and patrons of the Hawthorn Bar, Glentanar Bar & O´Donoghues Irish Bar for running a collection whilst I am away. I will hopefully see you all later in the week.
Secondly I have finally acheived a FIDE chess grade and am now a recognised international chess player - something I have always wanted to do - now I need to improve it!
Thirdly, I have over the last fortnight rediscovered my appetite for the game of chess, something that has been sadly lacking over the past year when there always seemed to be other priorities. Many thanks here go to Robin Moore and the members of the Greenwood Chess Club for twisting my arm to get me along on this trip. I made the right decision to come and have thoroughly enjoyed myself with some excellent company. Cheers guys.
Well thats about it - I have a day of sightseeing/sunning myself (yes the weather is that good!) tomorrow and a flight back on Wednesday. I´ll maybe come back next year.
Ciao for now and once again thanks for all your help - if you haven´t yet donated it is not too late!!
John
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Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.
A group of mad Scots chess players - with one token Englishman, me - are heading off to sunny Spain on 27th November to play in the 8th Benidorm International chess festival. This runs for ten days with one four hour game per day. One of the group - Bruce Wallace is Services Manager for Children 1st (Formally RSSPCC) in Aberdeen and decided to raise money for their Kilts for Kids day which coincidentally is the 27th November by pledging £10 for every draw or win he achieves plus £20 for each checkmate. I emailed him to pledge £10 for any draw, £20 for any win & £30 for any checkmate that I achieved. It was then rapidly pointed out that in my current form that would net a total of about 30 quid over the ten games and couldn't I do a bit better than that. This page is the result.
In all honesty I have felt that I needed to do something like this ever since my good mate Ken Lannen got his hair shaved off for charity in July and dark murmerings were heard from behind a pint of Guinness about the future of my moustache, so I am also killing two birds with one stone and hoping to save the silvery sluglike appendage on my top lip!
You can read more about Children 1st's Kilts for kids day here: http://www.children1st.org.uk/index.php?page=136
It would be great if you could encourage me to try and win the odd game by pledging to sponsor me per point scored. As a guide I would reckon that 4/10 would be an expected score for me - if I make 50% I will be happy. I think you can do this by just pledging say an amount for one point and adding the rest (if any) when all the results are in. You can follow my progress by using this link: http://www.ajedrezbali.com/ and going to the results page. If doing this please mention in the narrative that you are pledging per point - It will be nice to how much I am raising if I get an unlucky opponent.
Alternatively you can just pledge a lump sum - Children 1st will be just as happy
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
So please dig deep and donate now.
