Three of My Own Games! Me Having Fun in Correspondence Chess.

Afternoon everyone.

I have very rarely posted any of my own chess, or personal stuff,  but I had the chance to look back at a couple of my old c.c games this week, and decided to share them. If nothing else, they will show that before I had to retire from playing - and then started looking seriously at chess history and old games - I could actually play!

Here's the story. My wife is rather ill, and is due - at some point - major surgery. Serious stuff. So over recent weeks we have been having work done in the house - new bathroom, decorating and so on - in anticipation of her convalescence.

This week that involved moving my chess library - no small job!!!

( on the positive side, it made room for a lovely picture of one of our favourite  places in the world, where we have spent may happy hour watching the world go by over 'deux cafe au lait avec croissants' - my wife's entire French vocabulary!

So, moving all the books I found a print out of a couple of games which I had dug out to include in a blog, but which never made it that far. It was nice to rediscover them!

(Long story short, my personal chess archives were destroyed when a storm took part of our roof off, and virtually all of my own games and pictures were turned into a soggy pulp.)

Virtually none of you will have seen them, so the links to those old blogs :-

https://www.chess.com/blog/simaginfan/c-c-how-we-did-things-in-the-old-days  

https://www.chess.com/blog/simaginfan/more-c-c-stories-characters-and-two-games  

This game was included in those blogs - that's why it was on the printouts!- but I thought I would add it to the other two here while I went over it.

The teenaged Simaginfan with a couple of trophies. The picture is not dated, but it must have been back in 1979 when I was 18 - I was a late starter in chess, not playing until i was 14 in 1975.

Onto the two newly rediscovered games. Although it was a tournament game, apart from team matches I played all my c.c games purely for the enjoyment of it - as mentioned in the two blogs linked to. Well, when you have seen the idea in this game - with credit to Ragozin and Tal - they were decent players!! - how could you not go for it??

That's me at 17 or 18 playing an exhibition game on an outdoor giant board. Don't laugh - that hair was fashionable back in those days, and it saved me a fortune at the barbers!!
And finally to a game which I have a special place in my heart for. My opponent was a really wonderful man and a seriously strong c.c player. At the time he was perhaps the world's leading expert on the Schliemann Defence to the Ruy Lopez. We chatted about his family circumstances, etc, and he was just a joy. His letter of resignation at the end of the games was really wonderful, and I always made sure to emulate it when I lost a game. Fond memories of a time when you could be both rivals - fighting tooth and nail to win - and genuine friends who respected each other.

Me around that time giving a simultaneous exhibition. I still had hair then!