Over the last few months, I have been playing quite a bit of chess, beginning with the Irish Championships in July, and following this I've had great opportunities to compete in tournaments like the Dun Laoghaire Grandmaster Invitational, and the Chess Olympiad. So, while still carrying the 'chess bug', I decided to play another tournament or two, with the hope of gaining my final International Master norm, and with it the title.

Of course, the London Classic seemed like the obvious choice. This year was the 2nd edition, and although in that sense the tournament may be said to be in its infancy, last year's edition had already shown that the organisers of this tournament hold themselves to the highest standards. Everyone I knew that had attended the 1st edition had said nothing but good things, and of course the tournament carried extra appeal with the Masters Invitational as the central event, hosting the likes of Anand, Carlsen, and Kramnik, among others. Indeed, when I got there everything was as good as I had hoped for. A fine venue, a live GM commentary room, TV screens showing the top games, and an auditorium where you could sit down to watch the games of the invitational.

As for the chess itself, I got off to a 2/2 start, defeating Jonathan Grant in the second round as black in a tense game. So far so good, but then disaster struck in the 3rd round when I blundered horribly and lost to a 2218 as White. I managed to recover, and won the next two games, against a 2180 and then a 2300. The latter opponent was IM Piotr Dukaczewski, a Polish player who is blind, and who has been World Champion several times in the Championships for the visually impaired. Certainly not an opponent to be underestimated, but fortunately I was able to make the most of the White pieces.

Then it came to the 6th round, where I was playing the talented S. R. Chowdhury from India, a player who seems to maintain 2450 in rating despite playing nothing other than offbeat and second-rate opening lines. This game, my most convincing showing as Black against strong opposition, is the game I have chosen to annotate.

Unfortunately, in the 7th round I was forced to repeat with the Black pieces, against none other than the top seed, Israeli GM Boris Avrukh, rated 2625. Avrukh is a specialist with 1.d4, so I knew I was in for a tough time. Fortunately, GM Alex Baburin has me well-used to suffering on the Black side of these positions at weekenders, so I wasn't too fazed! Actually, the game was a disappointing blow, because after obtaining a near-lost position from the opening, I turned things around completely, and in fact towards the end I had a move at my disposal that would have given me a decent advantage, with Avrukh in severe time trouble. Instead, I blundered a piece and had to resign almost immediately.

I tried to compose myself for the penultimate game, but once again I was somewhat unfortunate in the pairings. I played a 19-year old kid from Norway who was rated 2320, but had gone up no less than 80 (!) points in the last two rating lists. Not the kind of guy you want to face in a must-win situation! Indeed, I achieved nothing out of the opening, and although with good play I should have been able to neutralise his threats and draw, I once again blundered horribly. This left me with a lost position, but as that would have ruled out any chances of a norm, I fought on as well as I could. My opponent got over-confident, and after missing a couple of clear-cut ways towards victory, we finally entered a holdable queen and pawn ending, where I was only one pawn down. Draw.

This result left me needing to win in the final round. Amazingly, in a near-200 man tournament, and with an unimpressive 5.5/8, I was paired against a Spanish IM whose name will be familiar to some readers, Rafa Rodriguez. This is because he has played a couple of Irish tournaments. My friendship with him goes back about 10 years when I received some formal coaching from a Spanish IM who is good friends with him. Rafa has given me plenty of informal chess advice over the years, so it was definitely not a pairing I was happy with!

The game itself entered a Grunfeld, where Rafa went for the Russian variation. I was pretty happy with this, and indeed arrived at a position where I was able to sacrifice a pawn for a lot of pressure. Rafa did not have his best game, and my biggest scare was that at one point he could have played a move that would have led to a more or less dead draw. Fortunately, he did not see this path, and after that his position was close to indefensible.

And with that, I had earned the title of International Master! Thanks to everyone who offered me their congratulations, and especially I liked Philip Short's comments that I had "finally broken the Dublin monopoly!". Here's to hoping that many more titled players emerge in Ireland over the coming years.