Game against a Grandmaster
My record against master level players (without sounding crude) is REALLY BAD! Prior to my first ever game against a Grandmaster, albeit in a simul, I had gone +0=0-4 against masters who had chastised me with their superior skill
When I was around 16 I competed in my first simultaneous display. At the time my grade was roughly 77 ECF and I had limited experience of OTB play (in fact I had only played 4 games OTB). The following miniature was a game I played against a player whom I pressume was a master (I can't remember his name):
Fast-forward to present-day and I had the honour of playing Keith Arkell (GM) who is currently the 12th best player in the country. He was a player who had competed with some of the best players in the world! He had even beaten players like Bent Larsen, Magnus Carlsen and Michael Adams, whom many chess players would dream of playing, let alone beating them!
On a Tuesday afternoon, I eagerly jumped on the train for a 45 minute journey (sad I know) to the Rhyl and Prestatyn club, where the action was taking place. Although I was nearly an hour early to the event, some club members there there setting-up while none other than Keith Arkell was playing friendly blitz games against the local club members (winning every single friendly of course despite only giving himself only a minute to win!).In the end around 16 players turned up, many from the Rhyl and Prestatyn club and some from other local clubs.
Unlike my past self I had improved immensely from my 4 move loss. My grade now currently stands at 123 ECF and my Welsh grade had gone up to 1659 (from 1381) in under 3 years! This time, prior to the match, I felt more comfortable despite the odds being stacked firmly against me:
| Me | Keith | |
| Rating (ECF) | 123 | 241 |
| Tournament wins | 1* (The Rhyl Minor section...) | 320 (standard play tournaments as of 2012) |
| Age when we started to play chess | 5 | 13 |
| Fullhead of hair? | Yes | No |
Nonetheless, as this table shows, I was not at a complete disadvantage and I hoped that my full head of hair would yeild me some slight advantage over Keith...
At 7pm the simul. begun. Tables from the club were arranged in such a way to surround the Grandmaster, reminding almost of that famous scene in "Kill Bill Vol. 1":
Keith represented by Uma Thurman of course...
And without further ado, here is my game:
