2023 LCCC Speed Chess Champ Crown - And a Once In a Lifetime Visit to London England

The Livingston County Chess Club meets every Monday night between 4pm and 10pm at the Buffalo Wild Wings in the Green Oak Mall in Brighton, MI. 

Stop on by for some friendly chess, good food and 'refreshments'. Everyone of all ages and playing strength are welcome to attend. And free lessons to all beginners!

We held our Club Speed Chess (5 Minute games) Championship and the Winner was:

1st - Thomas Valenzuela

2nd-3rd - Pete B, Ken T

4th - 5th - Paul M, Jeff S

6th - 8th - Desmond W, Lucas G, Mike N

9th - 11th - Aaron W, Charlie S and Vince V

Thank you to all who participated and congratulations again to Tom V!

Now a little story and a little background before the story. As a young-middle aged married man just really starting his work career in earnest, three things pushed chess more into the background. Kids, a second job, and a new, and more profitable hobby of playing poker took most of the old chess time. Now for the story.

While on a flight to London on one of my first foreign business trips 3 and a half decades ago, I happen to sit next to a Canadian also heading to the same January business/sales conference I was. Found this out as I made small talk with the man, I was going to have to crawl past to go to the bathroom from the window seat. If you are going to have to make a guy stand up a few times to get out of your way, you might as well say hello. As it turned out we were also staying at the same hotel the conference was in.

As I settled in for the 8-hour flight, I pulled out my Chess Life magazine to read and possibly try to solve some puzzles to pass the time. Might as well use this time for chess time since my other time spenders were not available.

The Canadian guy, about my age, looked over and said, “Wish I had brought my little travel set on board. I would challenge you to a game. It’s hard to find new opponents where I come from.”

The man was from the small town of Smokey Lake, Alberta and his company used the equipment this conference was promoting.

I reached into my brief case and retrieved my travel set, and his face lit up like a Christmas tree! As we set up the pieces he said, “You can have White the first game.” First hint that this man was a real chess player, and he planned on playing more than one game against me win or lose. And he knows White has a small advantage with the first move.

I opened with 1. d4  d5 2. c4 and he immediately said, “Queen’s Gambit, eh?” Another hint that he was a serious student of the game. Our first game went over an hour, with me taking most of the time before I finally had to resign.

We set up again and he played 1. e4 and a fine Ruy Lopez variation. I played a sloppy version of the Berlin Defense and soon was losing badly. Now I had the dread that I was going to get trounced all the way to London. So I started moving slower and slower, trying to find counter attacks, and also decrease the number of losses I would suffer on this flight.

I thought I should acknowledge the fact that I was taking much more time moving and said, “Wish I had my chess clock with me but it is in my suitcase with my tournament set.” I didn’t think it was possible, but his face lit up even brighter than the first time and asked if we could play some “real chess” after dinner at the hotel in the evening?

Well, I brought my sets to catch up on my chess reading and go over Grandmaster games to pass the time. I like peeking at who won the game, cover up the last 6 or so moves, whatever is convenient to hide, and try to guess the moves the GM made to win. I figured to go over a couple games a night until I was ready for sleep.

But it was also my first time in London, and I did want to go out and hit a real London pub or two, see some sites even though it would be cold and dark most of the time.

I said, “Of course,” not mentioning my plans to site see a little also.

Well, he bested me as I lost 8 games, won 2 and drew 2. He was a much better player than me, at sitting uncomfortably sideways, looking at a miniature board at a 60 degree angle, with the set half on both trey tables, under two in-flight magazines to fill in the space.

I was an even 2-2-2 for the last six games of our in-flight match. So I was curious to see if sitting across from him, using a standard tournament set with a chess clock would make any difference in the results. I wondered internally if he was setting me up with those last 6 games, so I would not quit playing him. I did not think so, but it did enter my mind. Either way, I wanted to site see some sites in London, and not just play chess every evening with this fine Canadian chess friend I had found. But I also wanted to see if a regular chess board and setting would help me at all against him.

This was also my first time (and as it turned out only time) in London, and I was going to see as much of it as I could, time allowed. Yes, that is the plan. Visit a real pub and have authentic fish and chips. Maybe visit a castle with night tours. Go to a London discotheque as that was the rage at the time. Get my picture taken in front of Big Ben. Looking forward to it! Maybe one evening near the end of the week, my new Canadian chess foe and I can play again. Yes, that is the plan!

Five evenings later I am in the airport gift shop frantically looking for a London souvenir to take home for my lovely bride.

Our final score was 46 wins for him, 42 wins for me and countless draws. We played all four nights in the hotel bar stopping only when our dinners arrived. London, I saw none of. We would play a few games with an hour time control limit for both of us. Then speed chess until the bar closed.

Alas, we had different flights and times going home. I had his address and he had mine for postal chess, which neither of us ever sent a first move.

In conversation over the chess board, I learned he was also married, was his high school chess champion, played mostly by mail and would drive to Calgary for tournaments every so often. He liked to play double fianchetto openings in speed chess. He knew the White side of the Ruy Lopez much better than I knew the Black side. He loved to play the Sicilian against e4, but only two variations and nothing past the first 4 moves of either from what I could tell. He was a chess guy whose enthusiasm for the game equaled my own, as did our talent for the game.

In London for 5 days and nights and I never left the hotel. Some would call that……………(fill in the blank).