I sat on the plane to the Isle of Man, leafing through a copy of Nigel Short’s new book, Winning. Since I was about to play a chess tournament, you would imagine that Short’s analysis of eight memorable tournament victories contained insights for my own campaign. Strange to say, that thought hardly crossed my mind.
I was on my way to the Manx Liberty Masters, a ten-player all-play-all tournament, held in elegant surroundings in the town hall of the capital, Douglas. Dietmar Kolbus, who also captains the Manx Liberty team in the Four Nations Chess League, took on the demanding dual role of being a player and organiser. In doing so, he continues the tradition of fine events held in the Isle of Man, which began with the Monarch Assurance Tournaments in the 1990’s, all the way up to the Fide Grand Swiss in 2019.
I was thrilled to be invited, but fearful of how deconditioned I was to the hurly-burly of tournament play.
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