Beyond 2000

I did not play too much chess in 1999 - 2000, but never lost any of many love for the game.

In September 2001, I moved to London in the UK.

I was in an internet cafe in South Africa, sending some final emails and checking out some last minute things before my flight to Heathrow Airport the next morning. I went home at about 5pm and watched in horror as September the 11th unfolded in the USA. When I went to bed that night and even when I flew to Johannesburg the next day, Heathrow was closed to all air traffic. I think it only reoponed during my 8 hour stopover in Johannesburg. People often say I was crazy to fly that day, but it was probably the safest day ion the world to have flown. Johannesburg Airport had all, but 2 security scanners closed, and it took about 2-3 hours to get through security!

I joined a chess club in the UK in 2001 or 2002 - Surbiton Chess Club - I lived in Wimbledon, but worked in Kingston-Upon-Thames, a stone's throw from Surbiton. They were a fantastic, welcoming bunch. Due to local league rules, I had to play well down the board order in any league matches that first season. I remember playing last or 2nd last board for the B side and scoring +11 = 2 - 0 for the season. My first ECF grade was 163 - which was about 2060 ELO at that stage.

The following season the club moved premises I think and I switched to Wimbledon Chess Club, again, a lovely bunch of people. As I had a grade I played higher up the boards than the previous year and think I ended my 2nd season with a grade of 156 - maybe 1900, somewhere thereabouts.

I loved the league chess scene in the UK, especially around London. I played in the Surrey League, the Thames Valley League and the London league - 3 nights of league chess a week! The London League was particularly strong in Division 1 where I played 1 season. For someone who loved chess books, it was heaven, the lineup of some teams was like looking at the authors in my chess library!!

London also had 2 amazing chess shops, for books, sets, etc, which was awesome.

I worked retail for most of my early years in the UK (at Border Books and Music Ltd, a huge chain bookstore, and at Ottakar's, a smaller chain bookstore), so weekends were tough to get off and as a result I only played one rapidplay tournament, scoring a miserly 1.5/6, albeit in an open section and playing 2 titled players.

Then along came love, I met and married my wife and we had 2 gorgeous kids. My chess life moved online for the next 5 - 7 years. I played a fair bit on Chesscube, a South African based server in the mid 2000's, where I was handy at bullet and was also a moderator in their 8 (then 100's) of chat rooms! Apart from Chesscube, I mostly played on RedHotPawn, a correspondence chess site. Chesscube is no more, RedHotPawn exists still, but with far fewer players and with cheaters looming large as always.

Finally, in 2012, the family and I relocated to Christchurch, New Zealand. I'll pick up that story a bit later on.