Here are some of my recent games (unannotated, though). It's been a while since I played, so while I'm still able to play thematically, I'm missing lots of candidate moves (How To Think Like A Grandmaster, etc), taking too long on the clock, not analysing deep enough, and not really having the courage of my intuitions. I'll get there, though...

These are PGNs, so don't download them unless you've got something to view them with (ChessBase Lite, etc). I'm considering writing some kind of Java/JavaScript PGN viewer - that would be a fairly nice project, if someone hasn't done that already (usually the case)...

Anyway, on with the games...!

Nick Pelling vs B.Owen. My first game back, and was offered me a draw on move 10. I declined, played a few loose moves, and when he played Bb7! realised I was in dead trouble down the long diagonal: so spent the rest of the game trying to swindle him. Chess For Tigers, anyone?

Farrukh Khan vs Nick Pelling. White was an ex British Under 21 Champion (I only ever came 2nd in the British Under 18, bah!), who had, like me, recently returned from a long absence from chess. 1. e4 c5 2. f4 Qc7!? was deliberately provocative on my part - all credit to him for 3. Bc4?! for making it fun. And as for sacrificing his queen for two pieces (and initiative) rather than go simply two pawns down for nothing - he was definitely up for a fight, I'll give him that! The end position is up for adjudication... we'll see what happens...

Nick Pelling vs A.J.Blackburn. Good thematic control, yet after winning a pawn I lost a bit of traction, and didn't quite hold it together: losing the pawn back. I'll need to do better than this...

Nick Pelling vs Jerry Pol. This was a bit more like it - still, I took far too long on the clock and shied away from obviously good moves because I wasn't 100% sure of my calculation. All the same, as Niccolo Macchiavelli said, you should not commit to a plan that you haven't thought through right to the end. :-)

Nick Pelling vs Nick Edwards. Another good tussle.