English Chess Forum

A video by miserablist Danny Gormally on his round 4 loss: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7n0F91igHE

Paul Cooksey wrote:A video by miserablist Danny Gormally on his round 4 loss: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7n0F91igHE

He does sound miserable at the beginning of the video but, thank goodness, he sounds as if he has cheered up by the end.

I know he copped a lot of flack in some quarters but I benefited enormously from his withdrawal and am suitably grateful. Starting the competition as the lowest rated player not to take a bye in round 1, I was always dodging the bye bullet not helped by some play which, albeit at a much lower level and without his excuse of chess fatigue, was almost as shocking as Gormally's. Had he not withdrawn my lasting memory of the tournament would have been me finding the worst move on the board in a completely won position in round 4 followed by a bye in round 5. As it was I managed to win my last game and that's the memory I take from a weekend which was a lot of fun even if 1/5 didn't do myself justice.

As for Mr Gormally, it sounds like a lack of stamina starting with the physical sort leading on to the chess sort. If he can do some aerobic exercise once or twice a week, be it a few lengths of the local swimming pool, a short, slow jog round the local park or even just a longer, brisk walk round the park, then I'm sure the chess will pick up and the bright sunlit uplands of 2500+ will beckon once more. "Mens sana in corpore sano" as they say in Alnwick.

Lowest rated player advises highest rated player how to improve

A cat can look at a king!