From Elvis to Llandudno
The first (and last) time I played in the British Chess Championships was August 1977 in Brighton. I don't remember a lot about it, other that it was the week Elvis Presley died and the papers were full of stories about deep fried mars bars. On the chess front, recall scoring around 50% from my games in the Under 18 Championship, which was OK for someone who had had no professional coaching. Fast forward to 2017. Read that the 2017 championship would be in Llandudno on the North Wales coast, and thought why not? 40 years wandering in the chess wilderness would come to an end. The tournament for my grading group was 5 morning rounds, Monday to Friday, which is was ideal. Booked a Guest House and train tickets, and readied my bucket and spade. On the way there changed trains at Crewe - thumbs up to Arriva trains for providing free Wifi unlike the meanies at Virgin. Did a bit of tourism in the afternoon (when not in the chess commentary room). The tram ride up The Great Orme was e