Neville Gill 2002

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Neville Gill 2002

Last revised: 23 February, 2003.

Isle of Man Chess Association

Douglas Chess Club

Southern Chess Club

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Neville Gill British Senior Championships 2002 Neville Gill 5 day tournament 2002

Neville Gill British Senior Championships 2001 Neville Gill 5 day tournament 2001

Douglas player, Neville Gill, the British Senior Champion in 2001, finished equal second in the 2002 championships with 5 points from 7 games, half a point behind the winner George Ellison. http://www.bcf.org.uk/events/bcf2002/index.html

The Smith & Williamson British Senior Championship 2002

Neville Gill's final report on the Championships!
Undoubtedly George Ellison deserved to win. It is the finish that counts in a Swiss tournament and George won his last 3 games. David Anderton and I, the top two seeds, had to be content with equal second place. John Toothill, another leading contender, was fourth equal. Entries were down on Scarborough but the field was stronger with nearly half the players graded 170 plus.
Near the end of the BCF Congress there was a presentation on Edinburgh 2003. It was by my fellow veteran Hugh Flockhart. We will be playing in a Victorian school. Why we are going to Scotland is a mystery to me because Scotland has her own chess federation and grading list. There is no problem for me but it is a long way from the South of England, especially if you travel by car. John Dodgson, who lives in Hastings, is giving it a miss.
I did not attend the prize-giving at 9.30am on the Saturday. There is a new rail timetable every 6 months and when I booked accommodation I did not know there was no train from Torquay between 10.23am and 12.17pm and that there was engineering works between Birmingham and Stafford on August 10th. I explained all this to the congress director. He was not too happy but he said it would be OK. Of course if I had won the trophy I would simply have had to attend! In that event I had formed a Plan B whereby I would take a taxi to Newton Abbot and (with luck) catch a train at 11.25am. I received my prize of £60 through the post on Tuesday 13th.
I left Torquay at 10.11am. The train was packed but it ran on time all the way. Within 10 minutes of arriving in Birmingham I was on the coach to Stafford. Getting out of Birmingham city centre seemed to take ages but the final 12 miles were on the M6 motorway. The journey took 70 minutes and I was at the Steam-Packet terminal in Liverpool before 5.00pm. The Sea-Cat was due to leave at 7.00pm but it was more than 35 minutes late departing, exactly the same as last year. Convenient is superfluous!
Now that I have played in two BCF congresses the time has come to review the situation. I have absolutely no difficulty playing 12 games in 12 days but I am losing grading points. The core of the problem is that the 5 Day is much weaker. The grading system works in such a way that a score of 90% against opponents 40 or more points below just to maintain the status quo, in other words to keep one's grade at the same level. My performance rating speaks for itself.
	2001	2002
5 Day	177	176
Championship	202	196
Of course I could play a lot better in the 5 Day in future but even with 5/5 I would not gain very much. Accordingly I have provisionally decided to travel to Edinburgh on Thursday and stay for nine nights. I can have a good look round on Friday before starting play on Saturday. Oliver Penrose, a distinguished mathematician, has recently made a comeback at chess. I believe that he lives in Edinburgh and his participation might make things interesting!
One final thought on Torquay. If I had drawn the 2 games I lost I would have finished 1st= in both tournaments.

Final crosstable < - - - R O U N D S - - - >

Pos	Player	Grade	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	A	D
1	George Ellison	177	b14+	w16+	w3-	b6=	b7+	w2+	w9+	5½	198

2	David Anderton	194	w8=	b13+	w9+	b3+	w4=	b1-	w11+	5	194
3	Neville Gill	189	b18+	w22+	b1+	w2-	b11=	w5+	b4=	5	196

4	Michael Ross	183	b23=	w17+	b10=	w22+	b2=	w11=	w3=	4½	182
5	John Toothill	181	w19+	b6=	w11=	b15=	w10+	b3-	b12+	4½	178

6	James Boyce	170	b21+	w5=	b7=	w1=	b15+	b9-	w8=	4	172
7	Michael Cook	186	w13=	b8+	w6=	b10=	w1-	b20=	w15+	4	166
8	Arthur Pinkerton	146	b2=	w7-	b17=	w21+	b22+	w12=	b6=	4	164
9	Stewart Reuben	175	w12=	b20+	b2-	w17=	b18+	w6+	b1-	4	164
10	Ivor Smith	172	w20=	b12+	w4=	w7=	b5-	w15=	b13+	4	166
11	Roelof Westra	175	b17=	w23+	b5=	w18+	w3=	b4=	b2-	4	174

12	Roy Woodcock	133	b9=	w10-	b14=	b20+	w16+	b8=	w5-	3½	149

13	Richard Donaghay	139	b7=	w2-	b18-	w24+	b19=	w22+	w10-	3	150
14	Jeffrey Heath	136	w1-	b15-	w12=	b19=	w21=	b24+	w16=	3	131
15	David Levens	156	b16-	w14+	b21+	w5=	w6-	b10=	b7-	3	149
16	James Macrae	115	w15+	b1-	b22-	w23+	b12-	w18=	b14=	3	139
17	James Nicolson	132	w11=	b4-	w8=	b9=	w20=	b21=	w19=	3	144
18	Michael Reddie	150	w3-	b24+	w13+	b11-	w9-	b16=	w20=	3	142
19	David Smith	138	b5-	w21-	b24=	w14=	w13=	b23+	b17=	3	132
20	David Tidmarsh	131	b10=	w9-	b23+	w12-	b17=	w7=	b18=	3	145

21	Peter Byre	129	w6-	b19+	w15-	b8-	b14=	w17=	w24=	2½	129
22	Alan Downham	160	w24+	b3-	w16+	b4-	w8-	b13-	w23=	2½	134

23	Hugh Flockhart	138	w4=	b11-	w20-	b16-	w24+	w19-	b22=	2	124

24	Norman Thomas	123	b22-	w18-	w19=	b13-	b23-	w14-	b21=	1	106

Grade = BCF Grade A = Player Score D = Grading Performance

Friday 9 August 2002 Round 7 (final) Michael Ross ½-½ Neville Gill - (Slav)
IT WAS NOT TO BE! I chose the wrong opening, not for the first time in this tournament, and never had any winning chances. The title was decided around 1.00pm when Stewart Reuben, playing George Ellison, blundered away a Bishop. I wish George well. You will probably be seeing him in the Monarch Assurance this year.
I t made absolutely no difference to the result but my opponent complained throughout about this and that (noise, a draw offer I made, and adjournment procedures). If I play him again I will know exactly what to expect.
I think I have gone down slightly in the grading list, from 189 to 188 or possibly 187. As usual it was the 5 day that did the damage. Final result; Ellison 5½; Anderton, Gill 5
Neville Gill
	1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 Bf5 4.c4 c6 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Qb3 Qc8 7.Nc3 e6 8.Bd2 Nc6 9.Bb5 Be7 10.Rc1 0-0 11.Ne5 Nd7 12.Nxd7 Qxd7 13.Na4 Rfc8 14.0-0 Qd8 15.Nc5 Bxc5 16.Rxc5 Ne7 17.Rfc1 b6 18.R5c3 Rxc3 19.Rxc3 Rc8 20.Ba6 Rc6 21.Rxc6 Nxc6 22.Qc3 Nb8 23.Bb5 f6 24.Qc1 Bg6 25.Bb4 a6 26.Be2 Be8 27.b3 Bc6 28.a4 Bb7 29.Ba3 Qd7 30.Qc3 Nc6 31.b4 Na7 32.b5 axb5 33.Qb4 Qd8 34.axb5 Nc8 35.h3 Kf7 36.Bh5+ g6 37.Bg4 Qe7 SEE DIAGRAM 38.Qc3 Qd7 39.Qb4 Qe7 40.Qc3 Qd7 41.Be2 Qd8 42.Qb4 ½-½
Michael Ross

Thursday 8 August 2002 Round 6 Neville Gill 1-0 John Toothill - (Slav)
Bring in the last chance saloon certainly concentrates the mind! In fact, when play began, all the players at the top boards looked very determined. I was more than happy with the opening because I have had the position after 7.0-0 many times, Steve Maggs often played it. John Toothill never got into the game and was always struggling.
John Toothill
	1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 g6 5.Nf3 Bg7 6.Be2 0-0 7.0-0 b6 8.b4 Bf5 (Bf5 does not fit in with b6 and e6.) 9.Qb3 e6 10.Ne5 g5 11.g4 Bg6 12.Ba3 Re8 13.b5 c5 14.Nxg6 hxg6 15.Bf3 Nbd7 16.cxd5 exd5 17.Nxd5 Rc8 18.Rac1 Ne4 19.Rfd1 cxd4 20.Rxc8 Qxc8 21.exd4 Qd8 22.Qc2 Nef6 23.Nc7 (wins the exchange) SEE DIAGRAM Qc8 24.Rc1 Ne5 (lost quickly, rather than slowly; I did the same thing against Anderton. Blunders are frequent when good moves are hard to find.) 25.dxe5 Rxe5 26.Bd6 1-0
Neville Gill
The Ellison-Anderton game began 1.c4 f5 2.b3 d6 3.f4; an original position if ever there was one! The game was in full flow when I left. Later it transpired that George Ellison won on time. It must have been exciting. Scores after 6 rounds: Ellison, Gill 4½; Westra, Anderton, Reuben, Ross 4.

Wednesday 7 August 2002 Round 5 Roelof Westra ½-½ Neville Gill - (Veresov)
It gets worse by the day! I managed to lose a piece in the opening.
Neville Gill
	1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Bg5 Bf5 4.e3 e6 5.Bd3 Bg6 6.h4 c5? (As soon as I played, I realised he had 7.Bb5+. Should I resign? Rather than look an idiot I decided to try and open the game out until move 25 or so.) SEE DIAGRAM The game continued; 7.Bb5+ Nc6 8.h5 Bf5 9.Bxf6 (White should have played g4! at once) Qxf6 10.g4 cxd4 11.exd4 Bxc2 12.Qxc2 Qxd4 (and Black has lost a Knight for 2 pawns) 13.Nge2 Qb6 14.Bxc6+ bxc6 15.Kf1 Rc8 16.Rc1 Bd6 17.h6 g6 18.Na4 Qb4 19.Qc3 Qxc3 20.Rxc3 Kd2 21.Nc5+ Bxc5 22.Rxc5 e5 23.Kg2 f5 24.Rhc1 Rhf8 25.b4 a6 26.a4 fxg4
Roelof Westra
27.b5 (Ra5! is a clear win. White has moves like Nc3-a4-c5 and/or Rc3-a3. It is quite wrong to exchange all the power on one side. Afterwards, Mr Westra told me that when he played 27.b5 he thought that 34.()Rg7 would win, but it does not. (work it out!)) 27........axb5 28.axb5 cxb5 29.Rxd5+ Ke6 30.Rxc8 Rxc8 31.Rxb5 Rc7 32.Rb8 Kf5 33.Rg8 Kg5 34.()Re8 ½-½
What made it all the more gelling was that Anderton could only draw. In spite of everything I am still only half a point behind.

Tuesday 6 August 2002 Round 4 Neville Gill 0-1 David Anderton - (Dutch)
Total disaster! Looking back I felt uncomfortable even as early as move 8!
David Anderton
	1.Nf3 f5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 4.0-0 Bg7 5.d3 (I made a bad decision right at the start by playing d3, a move I have never played before, rather than d4. I allowed him a strong centre, hoping to gradually nibble away at it, but it was not to be.) 5......d6 6.Nc3 0-0 7.e4 Nc6 8.exf5 Bxf5 9.d4 Qd7 10.d5 Nd8 11.Be3 c5 12.dxc6(e.p.) bxc6 13.Nd4 Bh3 14.f3 Bxg2 15.Kxg2 e5 16.Nb3 Ne6 17.Qd2 d5 18.Na4 d4 19.Bg1 (A Knight is poorly placed on a4 and a Bishop on g1.) 19.....Qd6 20.c3 c5 21.cxd4 cxd4 22.Rac1 Rfc8 23. Nc3? (lost quickly but the situation was beyond redemption by then.) SEE DIAGRAM
Neville Gill
	23......Qa6 24.Ne4 Qxa2 25.Rxc8+ Rxc8 26.Rc1 Rb8 0-1
It is not over yet by a long way, David Anderton is only ½ a point ahead of me, and people like John Toothill and Michael Cook are lying in wait for him. It goes without saying that I need 3 / 3 to stand a realistic chance.

Monday 5 August 2002 Round 3 George Ellison 0-1 Neville Gill - (Semi-Tarrasch)
George Ellison surprised me with an early d4 on move 2. I was expecting an English or even an Evans Gambit! Instead we got a Semi-Tarrasch which I had played dozens of times.
1.c4 Nf6 2.d4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c5 5.e3 Nc6 6.a3 cxd4 7.exd4 Be7 8.Bf4 0-0 9.h3 b6 10.Rc1 Bb7 11.cxd5 Nxd5 12.Nxd5 Qxd5 13.Bd3 (White should have played Bd3 much earlier.) 13.....Rfd8 14.Be3 Bf6 15.Bc4 Qd6 16.0-0 Nxd4 (He was unable to defend his isolated "d" pawn. It duly fell on move 16 but as compensation White had possibilities of Rc7 or Rd7.) 17.Nxd4 Bxd4 18.Qxd4 Qxd4 19.Bxd4 Rxd4 20.f3 Rc8 21.Bb3 Rdd8 22.Rxc8 Rxc8 23.Rd1 Bc6 24.Bc4 Kf8 25.Ba6 Rc7 26.Rc1 Ke7 27.Bb5 Kd6 28.Bxc6 Rxc6 (It was not until the exchange of bishops that Black had a winning position. The next, as they say, was a matter of technique.)
Neville Gill	29.Rd1+ Ke7 30.Rd2 e5 31.Kf2 f5 32.Ke3 Rc4
	33.Ke2 h5 34.Ke3 g5 35.Kf2 h4 36.Ke3 Rc1 37.Kf2 Ke6 38.Ke3 b5 39.Ke2 a5 40.Kd3 Rc4 41.Ke2 b4 42.axb4 Rxb4 43.Ke3 Rb3+ (The end was nigh when Black got his Rook on the 6th rank on move 43.) 44.Ke2 e4 45.fxe4 fxe4 46.Rc2 a4 (At the adjournment I sealed 46.....a4 but I hardly bothered to analyse the position during the adjournment. Clearly Black was going to invade with his King.) 47.Kf1 Kf5 48.Rc4 Rxb2 49.Rxa4 Kf4 50.Ra8 Kg3 51.Ra5 Rf2+ SEE DIAGRAM 52.Ke1 Rxg2 53.Rxg5+ Kxh3 54.Re5 Rg4 55.Ra5 Kg2 56.Rf5 h3 57.Rf2+ Kg3 0-1
George Ellison
This tournament will be decided the same way as it was last year, in rounds 4-6 when the really serious contenders go head to head.

Sunday 4 August 2002 Round 2 Neville Gill 1-0 Alan Downham - (English)
At 9.00am there is a power cut all over Torquay. I had just finished breakfast, which is at 8.30am for me. Most of the guests , who come down at 9.00am, would have had a cold breakfast. When we arrived at the Riviera Centre we were not allowed in. Play in all tournaments eventually started half an hour late.
My opponent is a big friend of Richard Donaghay who I won against last year. About five minutes before the game the thought struck me that they had something special prepared for me. Therefore I played 1.Nf3 and 2.c4 which cuts out the Nimzo Indian. Later it was revealed that Alan Downham had spent over an hour preparing the Nimzo!
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 c5 6.0-0 d6 (d6 is incorrect, better Be7 at once) 7.d4 Be7 8.d5 exd5 9.Nh4! (Nh4 is excellent. There is no hurry to capture on d5 because the Black pawn is not going anywhere) 9.....Nbd7 10.Nf5 0-0 11.Bf4 Ne5 12.Nxd5 Nxd5 13.Bxd5 Bxd5 14.Qxd5 Re8 (Black ended up with a weak pawn on d6 and a poor Bishop. The Knight on e5 took away so many squares from the Black Queen and Rooks) 15.Rad1 Bf8 16.B3 Re6
Alan Downham	17.Rd2 g5 18.Bxe5 Rxe5 19.Qf3 Rc8 20.Ne3 Re6
	21.Nd5 Bg7 22.Qf5? (was a waste of time, correct was e3 immediately) 22.....Re5 23.Qf3 Re6 (usually there is no harm in repeating moves in a good position, but Black could have tried 23.....f5 which gives more chance of survival) 24.e3 Qf8 25.Qf5 h6 26.f4 (after f4 the simple plan is to open the "f" file, play Rdf2 and then capture on f7. Black has some tactical tricks based on Rxe3 and Bd4 but they are inadequate) 26.....gxf4 27.Rxf4 Rce8 28.Rdf2 Re5 SEE DIAGRAM 29.Qd7 1-0 When Black resigned he only had a couple of minutes left on his clock whereas I had nearly an hour.
Neville Gill	All the games were finished in good time. As usual there are hardly any adjournments. You have to wonder why there is so much fuss about them.
George Ellison is the only other player on 2/2. This year we will be battling for the outright lead rather than the championship itself. I am sure that he too will be well prepared tomorrow.

Saturday 3 August 2002 Round 1 Michael Reddie 0-1 Neville Gill - Trompwski
Away we go! This really is a friendly tournament. We are like children at the start of a new school term. I shook hands with David Anderton, George Ellison and John Toothill among others. We all wished each other well. Arthur Pinkerton, who now lives along the promenade in Paignton, introduced himself to me. He said he once knew Keith Allen. With a miserable 1½ / 3 against players rated below 160 I faced Michael Reddie (150) with a certain amount of trepidation.
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 c6 (c6 was played instantly; it was part of my preparation for Torquay) 3.Nc3 Qb6 4.Rb1 d5 (After d5 the opening was really a Veresov System) 5.f3 Bf5 6.e3 Nbd7 7.Bd3 Bxd3 8.cxd3 e5 9.dxe5 Nxe5 10.d4 (Bxf6? allows Qxe3+) Ned7 11.Nge2 Bb4 12.a3 Bxc3+ 13.Nxc3 0-0 14.0-0 Rfe8 15.Re1 Re6 16.b4 Rae8 (White wanted to play e4 and Black did all he could to stop him, which explains moves like 15.....Re6 and 16.....Rae8.) 17.Qd3 h6 18.Bh4 Qc7 (Qc7 frees B6 for the Black Night.) 19.Bg3 Qd8 20.Rbc1 Qe7 21.Bf2 Nb6 22.Ne2 g5 23.Ng3 Nc8 24.Nf5 (Nf5 looks better than it was; the Knight cannot stay there after Black plays Nd6.)
Neville Gill	24.....Qf8 25.Qc3 Nd6 26.Nxd6 Qxd6 27.Qc5 a6
	28.Qxd6 Rxd6 (Later White said that he should have kept the Queens on because after their exchange the Knight is far better than the Bishop) 29.Rc3 Rde6 30.Bg3 Nd7 31.Bc7 (Draw?) f5 (No!) 32.g3? SEE DIAGRAM 32......Rc8 33.Be5 Nxe5 34.dxe5 Rxe5 35.Kf2 Rce8 36.Rc5 Kf7 37.Rcc1 f4 (f4 led to a winning pawn ending) 38.exf4 Rxe1 39.Rxe1 Rxe1 40.Kxe1 gxf4 41.g4 (g4 would draw if White could get in h4 and h5 but 41.....h5! prevented that.) 41.....h5! 42.h3 hxg4 43.hxg4 b6 44.Kd2 c5 45.bxc5 bxc5 46.Kd3 a5 (sealed move) 47.Kc3 Ke6 48.Kd2 d4 49.Kc2 c4 50.Kd2 d3 0-1
Michael Reddie	White resigned shortly after the resumption of play. A plausible finish is 51.Kc3 Kd5 52.Kd2 Kd4 53.Kc1 c3 54.Kd1 Ke3

5 Day Week 1 Tournament - July/August 2002

Neville Gill finishes in equal 3rd position

(See Neville's comments and game analysis following rounds 1-5 below)

Report by Neville Gill. On Saturday I arrived safely at 4.25pm, right on schedule. The journey from Bristol to Exeter was my fastest ever by train! We had been stuck at Bristol Temple Meads for 15 minutes and the driver managed to make up most of the lost time. When I changed at Newton Abbott the Torquay train was on the other platform. I had expected to miss it.

Torquay is not quite what I expected it to be. I thought there would be exotic trees, shrubs etc.... but it was not like that at all. Maybe I got carried away by the "English Riviera" tag. At Scarborough last year there were more people on the beach than there are here.

On Sunday night I met my old adversary John Dodgson at the social event that precedes the congress, also Richard Furness. There was another chap who played in the Monarch Assurance Major last year. No matter where you go in chess you tend to meet the same people!

The Riviera Centre is a modern entertainment complex and play takes place in that part known as the Arena. It is a huge open area with a balcony above. The 5 day is up on the balcony, but even there we have ample room. We have proper toilets as well, unlike the flimsy ones last time which were quite unsatisfactory. The slightest movement would cause them to shake and you would keep knocking your legs! Unfortunately we have plastic boards which do not unfold properly flat. There are humps and bumps in them around the a4 and h1 squares.

I am still a player with an estimated grade of 168. Normally the controllers at the BCF Congress have access to the new but as yet unpublished list. John Dodgson was surprised that they are still using the old grades.

Wednesday 31 July, the new BCF grades finally surfaced. I am 189E. The difference between this and 168 is that on Saturday I will have a more difficult game in round 1 of the championship.

5 Day Week 1 Tournament Final crosstable

Pos	Player	Grade	1	2	3	4	5	A	B	C	D
1	Paul Botham	151	b24+	w11=	b5+	b4+	w3+	4½	5	1005	201

2	Jonathan Beedle	190	w20+	b3-	w9+	b7+	w11+	4	5	941	188

3	Paul Bielby	156	b22+	w2+	w4=	b8+	b1-	3½	5	909	182
4	Neville Gill	189	b15+	w14+	b3=	w1-	b12+	3½	5	879	176
5	Alec Toll	175	w21+	b16=	w1-	b17+	w13+	3½	5	834	167

6	John Dodgson	177	b10+	w12=	b16=	w14+	b8	3	4	719	180
7	Paul Habershon	165	w19+	b8-	w21+	w2-	b14+	3	5	819	164
8	Andrew Legge	159	b9+	w7+	b12+	w3-	w6	3	4	734	184
9	John Lewin	152	w8-	b19+	b2-	w21+	w17+	3	5	783	157
10	Kenshin Matsumoto	130	w6-	b23+	b14-	w18+	b16+	3	5	730	146
11	Terence Turner	168	w17=	b1=	w20+	w16+	b2-	3	5	815	163

12	Christopher Doran	161	w18+	b6=	w8-	b15+	w4-	2½	5	768	154
13	Andrew Price	154	w16-	b18+	w17=	b20+	b5-	2½	5	713	143

14	John Rennie	162	w23+	b4-	w10+	b6-	w7-	2	5	733	147
15	Marcel Taylor	122	w4-	b17=	w19+	w12-	b21=	2	5	657	131
16	Joseph Watson	159	b13+	w5=	w6=	b11-	w10-	2	5	754	151

17	Munroe Morrison	130	b11=	w15=	b13=	w5-	b9-	1½	5	666	133
18	Pankan Panarkar	99	b12-	w13-	b22+	b10-	w23=	1½	5	487	97
19	Colin Payne	121	b7-	w9-	b15-	w24+	w20=	1½	5	587	117
20	Reinhard Schmerwitz	135	b2-	w24+	b11-	w13-	b19=	1½	5	635	127
21	Anthony Sharp	133	b5-	w22+	b7-	b9-	w15=	1½	5	632	126
22	Heather Walker	120	w3-	b21-	w18-	b23+	w24=	1½	5	485	97

23	James Douglas	56	b14-	w10-	b24=	w22-	b18=	1	5	330	66
24	Lowri Johnston	117	w1-	b20-	w23=	b19-	b22=	1	5	454	91

 Index A = Player Score                                 B = Number of Graded Games Played

C = Total Grading Points D = Grading Performance

Friday 2 August 2002 Round 5 Doran, Christopher 0 - 1 Gill, Neville - (Spanish)
Today's game took all of 20 minutes! By 10.00am I was outside the building. I have always wanted to give 1.......Nc6 a try and in a game of little or no significance this was a good opportunity. But after 2.Nf3 Black has nothing better than to transpose back to a Spanish Game.
My final score of 3½ / 5 with a grading performance of 176 is the same as last year, but at Scarborough I met better players. It could and should have been far better; I was clearly on top in every game at some stage!
We had a couple of hours of thundery rain on Wednesday but otherwise it has been dry and sunny every day. It is not like this everywhere according to the TV weather map. Tomorrow is a whole new ball game. I feel fine and we will see how it goes!
Neville Gill
	1.e4 Nc6 2.Nf3 e5 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.d4 (5.d4 is hardly ever seen nowadays. White must follow it up with the gambit 8.c3.) b5 6.Bb3 Nxd4 7.Nxd4 exd4 SEE DIAGRAM 8.Qxd4? (loses a piece for 2 pawns. It's called the Noah's Ark trap; one of Capablanca's opponents fell into it in 1928.) c5 9.Qd5 Be6 10.Qc6+ Bd7 11.Qd5 c4 12.Bxc4 bxc4 13.Qxc4 Nf6 14.Nc3 Be7 15.0-0 0-0 16.a4 Be6 17.Qe2 Qc7 18.Bf4? Bc4 0-1
Christopher Doran

Thursday 1 August 2002 Round 4 Gill, Neville 0 - 1 Botham, C Paul - (Grunfeld)
My worst day so far! I will have to do a lot better than this next week.
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bg5 Ne4 6.cxd5 Nxg5 7.Nxg5 e6 8.Nf3 exd5 9.e3 0-0 10.Be2 c6 11.0-0 Nd7 12.b4 Nf6 13.Qb3 b6 14.Rac1 Bb7 15.Rfd1 Qe7 16.Ne5 Rfc8 17.Nd3 Rc7 18.a4 Ne8 19.b5 (Black should not have allowed me to get in b5 in such favourable circumstances.) Rd7 20.bxc6 Bxc6 21.Nb4 Bb7 22.Nbxd5 Qg5
Paul Botham	SEE DIAGRAM
	23.e4 (As soon as I played it I realised he had 23........Bxd4!) Bxd4 24.Bb5 Rd6 25.Bxe8 Rxe8 26.Nb5 Bxd5 27.exd5 Rxd5 28.Nc7 (I pinned his Bishop against his Rook and even forked both Rooks, but all I was doing was losing 2 pawns) Bxf2+ (This was not a surprise; I had seen it coming.) 29.Kf1 Rxd1+ 30.Rxd1 Re1+ 31.Rxe1 Bxe1 32.Kxe1 Qe5+ 33.Kf2 Qxc7 34.h3 Qc5+ 35.Kf3 a6 36.Kg3 b5 37.axb5 axb5 38.Kh2 b4 39.Qd3 Qc3 (The Q+P ending was a trivial win; White has no hope of perpetual check) 40.Qd8+ Kg7 41.h4 h5 42.g3 b3 43.Kh3 b2 0-1
Neville Gill

Wednesday 31 July 2002 Round 3 Bielby, Paul ½ - ½ Gill, Neville - (Bishops Gambit)
I played Paul Bielby nearly 43 years ago! It was at Hastings 1959/60 in a tournament called Premier Reserves B, an all-play-all of 10 players. I began with 0/2 but then scored 5/7 to finish 4th. One of the early losses was against Bielby. Nowadays he is very active as an organiser in the Sunderland area. He became a teacher and one of his pupils was John Dodgson! Small world. He will still be here next week, in the 5 Day Week 2.
In our game he played his speciality 6.Qf3(a) which I had never seen before. He said that a previous opponent had replied 6........Nb6 (Be6 is correct) when 7.Bb3 gave white a good game.
Neville Gill
	1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.Qf3(a) Be6 7.Ne2 Nc6 8.Bxf4 Nxf4 9.Qxf4 Bxc4 10.Qxc4 Bd6 11.Nbc3 0-0 12.0-0-0 Qd7 13.Qh4 Rae8 14.Ng3 f5 (after 14 moves Black had some advantage, but I did not make anything of it) 15.Rde1 Be5 16.Rhf1 g6 17.Nge2 Nd4 (perhaps I should have tried 17 .... Kg7) 18.Nxd4 Bxd4 19.Rxe8 Rxe8 20.Re1 Rxe1+ 21.Qxe1 Bxc3 22.Qxc3 Qe6 23.b3 c6 24.Qd4 a6 25.Qd8+ ½-½ SEE DIAGRAM In the queen ending Black had control of the only open file but white had perpetual check (i.e. 25 .... Kg7 26.Qc7+ Qf7 27.Qe5+) so we shook hands.
Paul Bielby	He plays rather well for someone graded 156.

Tuesday 30 July 2002 Round 2 Gill, Neville 1 - 0 Rennie, John C - (Slav)
A much shorter game today, I was finished at 12.00 noon which was pleasant. I played John Rennie graded 162, a youngish chap in a T-shirt. He never recovered from a bad opening. I played something very similar against the late Douglas Tinkler's Computer several years ago (4....Bf5(a) is a typical Computer opening error). Black has no satisfactory reply to 6.Qb3(b).
John Rennie
	1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5(a) 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Qb3(b) Qd7 7.Nf3 e6 8.Ne5 Qc7 9.Bd2 Nc6 10.Rc1 a6 11.Na4 Bd6 SEE DIAGRAM 12.Qb6! was the winning move. White got Q + 2P's for Rook plus minor piece. Black's game was hopeless as soon as I got my Rook into play (25.Rc1(c)). 12.......Rc8 13.Bxa6 bxa6 14.Rxc6 Bxe5 15.Rxc7 Bxc7 16.Qxa6 0-0 17.0-0 Ne4 18.Qe2 Ra8 19.b3 Nxd2 20.Qxd2 Ba5 21.b4 Bc7 22.Nc5 Ra3 23.b5 Ba5 24.Qb2 Rc3 25.Rc1(c) Rc4 26.Rxc4 dxc4 27.e4 Bg6 28.b6 h6 29.Qb5 1-0
Neville Gill
Tomorrow it will be one of the top players! My impression is that the standard of play in the 5 Day event is lower than that in the Veterans Championship. It was the same last year.

Monday 29 July 2002 Round 1 Taylor, Marcel 0 - 1 Gill, Neville - (Colle System)
My first opponent was Marcel Taylor, grade 122. The Colle System (3.e3) is popular at club level. I used the same line (Bd6 and Qe7) that Capablanca played at New York in 1924. Black is at least equal. Here White kept finding moves (possibly I had a better 24th move) and he reached a 4 Rook ending he should have been able to hold. When we adjourned on move 43 ((a) I sealed 43......Rd5 with the threat of Rdd2) I could not see a win. It was a case of trying to maximise my chances in the second session.
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 e6 4.Bd3 c5 5.b3 Nc6 6.0-0 Bd6 7.Bb2 0-0 8.Nbd2 Qe7 9.Ne5 cxd4 10.exd4 Ba3 11.Bxa3 Qxa3 12.Nxc6 bxc6 13.Re1 c5 14.dxc5 Qxc5 15.Qe2 Bb7 16.Qe3 Qxe3 17.Rxe3 a5 18.c4 Rfc8 19.cxd5 Nxd5 20.Be4 Rc7 21.Bxd5 Bxd5 22.Nf3 Rc2 23.Nd4 Rd2 24.Ne2 a4 25.bxa4 Rxa4 26.Nc3 Ra5 27.Nxd5 Ra5xd5 28.Kf1"Draw?" Ra5"No!" 29.a4 Rd4 30.Rea3 g5 31.R1a2 Kg7 32.Ke2 Kg6 33.Ke3 e5 34.g3 h5 35.h3 f5 36.f3 f4+ 37.Kf2 fxg+ 38.Kxg3 Kf5 39.Ra1 Rd2 40.h4 gxh4+ 41.Kxh4 Kf4 42.Kh3 Rf2 43.Rb1 ... adjourned ...sealed move Rd5(a) 44.Rb3 Rxf3+ 45.Rxf3+ Kxf3 46.Rb5 Rd1 47.Rb3+ Kf4 48.Ra3 Rd6 49.a5 Ra6 50.Kg2 Ke4 51.Kf2 Kd4 52.Ra4+ Kc5 53.Re4 Kd5 54.Rh4 Rxa5 55.Rxh5 Kd4 56.Ke2 Ra2+ 57.Ke1 e4
Neville Gill (Black)	SEE DIAGRAM
	We eventually reached a totally drawn R+P v R ending given in every Rook endgame book. The drawing method has been known for about 500 years! On move 58 the draw is 58.Rh3 e3 59.Rh8 Kd3 60.Rd8+, called Philidor's Method. The game continued ........ 58.Rh8 Kd3 59.Rd8+ Ke3 60.Rd1 Rh2 0-1 At the end my opponent cleared off almost without saying a word. If he was disgusted with himself then I do not blame him!
Marcel Taylor (White)