Birmingham Revisited!

Birmingham Rapidplay Reviewed by Ben Graff

I have played at the Birmingham Rapidplay for over thirty years. It is always held at the Quinborne Community centre (pictured above, pre-Covid), a building with much glass and wood and a welcoming communal feel. Nothing much has changed here since I was a kid. The clocks are now digital, the time limit faster, but any chess player through the ages would immediately feel at home in a place like this.

The previous event had been poignant, coming on the Sunday in March days before the first lockdown. We all knew back then that there would not be another such tournament for quite some time. People took that bit longer to chat. To watch each other’s games. To share in the joy of playing chess together. Now finally after eighteen months, the contest was back, and I was delighted to be playing.

I arrived early to help get things ready, but the pieces were already set up. Rows of black and white chess men on plastic boards, standing next to bright red clocks, all ready for action. I reflected on Martin Amis’s observation that the board at the beginning of a game is like a sheet waiting to be ripped. It seemed an apt way to think about the countless stories that would doubtless unfold on the sixty-four squares during the day.

In the first round of the U-2000 I play number three seed Paul Fletcher with black. Paul has driven down from Sheffield and proceeds to make short work of my defensive set up. My only hope is the clock. We are playing 15 minutes each and the increment is only 10 seconds. Paul is essentially won but playing on fumes. I set up a potential trap, Paul feints, but then misses my follow up falling into a back rank mate. An outrageous swindle on my part, but for all the games we play where we don’t get what we deserve, it is important to remember that occasionally luck can go our way.

In round two, I take on promising junior Joseph Morrison who is clearly way better than his grade. He finds a nice tactic and picks up a pawn. Soon we are in a heavy piece ending, but Joseph’s king side pawns are a little loose. I win one back for equality. Joseph offers a draw. I’m tempted but sense he might be losing the thread so press on and manage to squeeze out the point with better co-ordinated major pieces. I tell him not to be discouraged. It won’t take Joseph long to overtake players like me.

I load up on the cheap old-fashioned biscuits the canteen sells along with my umpteenth cup of black tea. I peel back the yellow wrapper of a breakaway bar with much satisfaction, before my next game. Sadly, this is as good as it is going to get. Next up is Birmingham University student James Lee who tells me how much he enjoys The Chess Circuit! Sadly, his generosity does not extend to the game itself. I get out manoeuvred in a tight struggle to slip down the rankings.

It is always a rule in Rapidplays that you must play at least one player you know well during the day. 4ncl colleague Dave Ireland, who is quite a bit stronger than me, is my next opponent. I sac a pawn for some play but am never convinced it is enough. Ultimately Dave gives it back and we end up in an opposite colour bishop ending where a draw is inevitable.

I chat with Leanne Shearsby (Jude’s mum) and Jude (my Kenilworth teammate) during the break. Eleven-year-old Jude is absolutely flying and preparing to play Grandmaster Mark Hebden on Board 1 in the Open in the following round. A game that Jude will ultimately lose, having potentially missed a drawing opportunity. Mark is very complimentary about his play though, and while Jude fades a little in the second half of the event, the progress he has made during lockdown is clear to see. He is clearly a name for the future.

Back in the cheap seats I take on number 1 seed Ian Emery with black. Ian is further down the field than he should be and over presses against the Fort Knox. A combination goes wrong and happily I pick up a piece and the point. Not luck exactly, but Ian on top form would have been a tougher proposition. I go for a stroll with Dave Ireland, feeling a little sorry for all the houses we pass where the residents don’t know there is a chess tournament going on.

In round six I play Richard Szwajkun, somebody I have played a lot of games against over the years. I fancy my chances with white, but this time it is me who over presses when it would have been easy enough to bail out with a draw. Yet only a win was any good to me.  Once I wouldn’t have risked it. As I get older, I see that there are so few chances that you must be willing to compete in games like this. Failing is not the end of the world. Trying is all we can do.

In the last round against Daniel Hilditch-Love we reach a completely crazy and off-balance position very quickly. One that would have been great fun to play earlier in the day. But now, out of the prizes and in our 7th game (having both lost in round 6) we are happy enough to shake on a draw and to head for home.

Driving back, I think about my day. I will probably have gained a few rating points. I’ve certainly picked up a couple of decent scalps. I had a chance of being in the prizes as late as round six. All of this matters to me. Chess only has meaning if we care about the outcome. If we are vested in our results, whatever our level, whatever our limitations. Yet it is not what matters most.

The fact that over the board chess is back after so long matters more. To be amongst friends and fellow competitors. To participate and compete. To know when falling short that soon there will be a next time.