Geoff Chandler wrote:
Maybe I'll see a publisher and get them to take a full page ad out
in Chess and BCM asking for under 2000 player's tricks and traps.
Go for it. Appeal to the mass of the Chess book buying public by creating a book containing combos that were found by players of their own level
Geoff Chandler wrote:Hi. Guys
...you must have one or two in your locker. I have the space to show it.
Ok, if you insist.

I don't know how to put up diagrams on this site, so I'll post the scores.
My first one did see the light of day in a couple of magazines, including Chess. However neither magazine can tell you the whole story. I had not played Chess for 5 Years. My return into the Chess World was at the 14th Isle of Man Congress in 2005. Who do I get fed up to in my first game? David Howell

. Then they fed me to Parimarjan Negi. Ouch. OK, avoiding a drubbing in this tournament was going to need special measures. Now on the Isle of Man coach trip, they tell you about the Fairy Bridge
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_Bridge. I had indeed greeted the faeries, but obviously I needed to take things further and make a little pact with them. So they gave me the positon after Anthony Fox's 35. ...Qxb2 with the digital clock ticking to well below a minute. Anthony has just eaten the poisoned Bishop

So I stick another Bishop on him 36. Bd5+!!
[Event "Monarch Assurance 14th"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2005.09.28"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Hickman, John"]
[Black "Fox, Anthony"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A06"]
[WhiteElo "2115 - after 5 years not playing, yeah, right

"]
[BlackElo "2118"]
[PlyCount "73"]
1. Nf3 d5 2. d3 Nf6 3. Nbd2 Nc6 4. g3 e5 5. Bg2 Bc5 6. O-O O-O 7. a3 a5 8. e3
Ba7 9. b3 Re8 10. Bb2 h6 11. h3 Bf5 12. b4 axb4 13. axb4 Nxb4 14. Nxe5 c6 15.
Ndf3 Qc7 16. g4 Bh7 17. h4 Nd7 18. Qd2 Na6 19. Qc3 Nxe5 20. Nxe5 Bb8 21. Nf3 f6
22. Ra4 b5 23. Rf4 b4 24. Qd2 Qd7 25. g5 fxg5 26. hxg5 Bxf4 27. exf4 hxg5 28.
Ne5 Qd6 29. c4 dxc4 30. Nxc4 Qxd3 31. Qc1 Rad8 32. Bxc6 Re2 33. Ne5 Qc2 34. Qa1
Nb8 35. Qa7 Qxb2 36. Bd5+ Rxd5 37. Qxb8+ 1-0
This swindle was my only win of the tournament, and it made my week
However, be warned of pacts with Faeries! On the next day, less than five minutes into the game, I lost a Bishop to a tactic on move 8

I should have resigned against my IM opponent, but was too embarressed to be handing in my result before some of the players had even finished filling in the names on their score sheets.
The second (well you did ask for one from the locker) was from the last round of a Congress where I have nothing to play for at that point except for fun. I humbly present my 34. Nxe5!! which leaves a Rook hanging that can be taken with check, but wins!
[Event "Metropolitan Major"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2006.10.08"]
[Round "5.8"]
[White "Hickman, John"]
[Black "Abedian, Mohsan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C87"]
[WhiteElo "2058 - grade at this point still plunging like a roller coaster to sub-2000"]
[BlackElo "1930"]
[PlyCount "81"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O d6 6. Re1 Bg4 7. c3 Be7 8. h3
Bh5 9. d3 O-O 10. Nbd2 Nd7 11. Nf1 Nc5 12. Bxc6 bxc6 13. Ng3 Bg6 14. d4 Nd7 15.
dxe5 dxe5 16. Be3 Bd6 17. Qa4 c5 18. Rad1 Nb6 19. Qc2 Qe7 20. c4 a5 21. a4 Nd7
22. Bd2 Nb8 23. Nf5 Bxf5 24. exf5 Re8 25. Qe4 Nd7 26. Bg5 f6 27. Bd2 Reb8 28.
Re3 Nb6 29. b3 Qe8 30. g4 Be7 31. h4 Nc8 32. g5 Qh5 33. gxf6 gxf6 34. Nxe5
Qxd1+ 35. Kg2 Nb6 36. Rg3+ Kf8 37. Bh6+ Ke8 38. Rg8+ Bf8 39. Rxf8+ Ke7 40. Nc6+
Kd7 41. Qe6# 1-0