I am very happy to announce that my mate Danny has joined the list of GMs playing at the Big Slick. That brings the total number of GMs to 4!! The GM section will be a fascinating event that I am looking forward to watching!

Danny is a great attacking player as I have found out on a number of occasions. His highest rating was about 2580 and it would be good to see him get back to his best. I believe that he is one of the most talented British players around. At some point I will put the odds up for all the players. If you fancy a bet have a word with me at the event…

Anyway here is a taster of Danny’s attacking play…

1 d4 f5 2 Bg5 h6 3 Bh4 g5 4 e4 Rh7!? A very interesting idea which might actually be ok for Black!

5 Qh5+ Rf7 6 Nf3 Nf6 7 Qg6 Nc6 8 Bxg5 fxe4 9 Ne5 Nxe5 10 dxe5 hxg5 11 exf6 exf6? A horrible mistake. Black had looked at this position before and found that he would get a perfectly ok position after playing 11…e6. When the Black queen will recapture back on f6. This was a case of memory loss not being a good thing!!

12 Nc3 Bb4 13 0-0-0 Bxc3 14 Bc4! White has a big attack, the game is effectively over.

14…Bxb2+ 15 Kxb2 Qe7 16 h4 d5 17 Bxd5 Qe5+ 18 c3 Be6 19 Bxe6 1-0

So who was the patzer playing Black and what tournament was it in?

You might expect Black to be a beginner and the tournament to be some skittle chess down the local boozer. Well wrong on at least one of those accounts. It was the last round of the European Union Championship and I was on the Black side of that horrible beating! I have to say that was probably one of the most painful defeats of my life, if I had managed to win I would have come 1st equal with Short! Anyway I am still talking to Danny!