hammond,g - regis,d [C50]

 FIRST: fenland guards jnr chp, 1974

 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. Bb5 Bd7 7. b3 a6 8. Bc4 b5 9. Bd5 Nxd5 10. exd5 Bb4 11. Bd2 Nd4 12. a3 Bxc3 13. Bxc3 c5 14. a4 b4 15. Bd2 Bg4

 16. h3 Bxf3 17. gxf3 Qf6 18. c3 Nxf3+ 19. Ke2 O-O 20. cxb4 Rae8 21. bxc5 dxc5 22. h4 e4 23. Rc1 exd3+ 24. Kxd3 Qd4+ 25. Kc2 Nxh4 26. Re1 [26. Qh5] 26... Qxf2 27. Qg4 Nf3 28. Rf1 Qxd2+ 29. Kb1 Nh2 30. Qf4 Nxf1 31. Qxf1 Qxd5 32. Qc4 Qxc4 33. bxc4 f5 34. Rd1 Re4 35. Rc1 f4 36. Kb2 f3 37. Kb3 f2 38. Rf1 Re1 39. Rxe1 fxe1=Q 40. a5 Rf3+ 41. Kc2 Rc3+ 42. Kb2 Qc1+ 43. Ka2 Ra3# Not much of a game, but the first (and only) title I ever won. 0-1

 FIRST: march v ely, 1975

regis,d - hooper,ht [D30]

 1. d4 My first move for March! 1... d5 2. c4 e6 3. e3 2. c4 was as much as I knew! 3... Nf6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Bd3 Nbd7 7. cxd5 exd5 8. O-O c6 9. Re1 Re8 10. Qc2 h6 11. e4 Clearly still influenced by patterns seen in Chernev's LOGICAL CHESS ... 11... dxe4 12. Nxe4 Nxe4 13. Bxe4 Nf6 14. Bf4 14... Nxe4 15. Rxe4 ??

 15... Bf5 16. Rae1 Bxe4 17. Rxe4 Bf6 18. Be5 Bxe5 19. dxe5 Qc7 20. Qe2 Rad8 21. Qe3 b6 22. g4 Rd5 23. h4 Red8 24. g5 Rd3 25. Qe2 h5 26. e6 fxe6 27. Rxe6 Kf8 28. Ne5

 I'm still (1992) taken with the determined attitude of White here! 28... R3d6 29. Ng6+ Kg8 30. Ne7+ Kf7 [30... Kf8 31. Qf3+ Ke8 32. Nd5+ Kd7 33. Re7+ still] 31. g6+ Ke8 32. Nd5+ Kd7 33. Re7+ Kc8 34. Rxc7+ Kb8 35. Qa6 Rxg6+ 36. Kf1

 It is an omen that my first ever competitive game featured both a cheapo AND a swindle. 1-0

regis,d - richard dixon (CORR_92/93) [B36]

 FIRST: devon vs glos. (ward-higgs I), 1993

 My first and only correspondence game, during which I made comments to myself throughout. I can only add here NEVER AGAIN: I found the experience appalling - months of paranoia, hesitancy and self-recrimination. At least OTB you can let it go at the end of the day (usually...), although I know there are folk who feel OTB slow chess is too heavy.

 1. c4 g6 ( I knew a game of Portisch's which I had in mind throughout) 2. g3 Bg7 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. Nc3 O-O 5. e4 ( new for me this season: I played the e3/Nge2/d4 plan for years but recently fancied this, which looked more enterprising ) 5... d6 6. Nge2 c5 ( black had a lot of choice at this point: ...e5/...c6/etc. ) 7. O-O Nc6 8. d3 Ne8 9. Be3 Nc7 ( ?! in the books ) [9... Nd4] 10. d4 ! ( in the books ) 10... cxd4 11. Nxd4 Ne6 12. Nde2 Ne5 ! TN - threatens c4 and e3 via g4 [12... Nc5 13. Rc1 Be6 14. b3 Qa5 15. Qd2 Rac8 16. Nf4 +- and black is in trouble: barcza-szilagyi 1967] 13. b3 b6 ( transposing to a hedgehog formation looks better than szilagyi's setup ) 14. h3 ( stopping the ...Ng4 lines seemed sensible, especially since last move they were possible. The knights now need to get out of the way of the pawn roller ) 14... Bb7 15. Rc1 ( looks slow and a bit aimless with hindsight ) 15... Nc5

 16. f4 ( now I thought I was on the right lines: turn that space into attack, as in the portisch game ) 16... Ned7 17. g4 a5 ( I would have preferred ...a6 ) 18. Ng3 ( I don't know where this is going yet, unless black can be obliged or tempted to take on f5 eventually - if not the Ng3 and Bg2 are very passive ) 18... Bc6 ( ! I now wanted the wN back on e2 ) 19. a4 ( this isn't really necessary [19...a4; 20 b4 looked good ] but I thought was justified psychologically - what is black's plan now ? the real challenge of course is to find white's plan! The wQ is badly tied to b3 and d3 ) [19. Bd4 ( this was better I thought afterwards ) 19... e5 20. Be3 exf4 21. Bxf4 Ne5 22. Rc2 Ned3] 19... Rb8 20. Rf2 ( Nicely ambiguous [ ideas of Qd2 or Rd2 ] but d3 is now more tender ) 20... Qc8 21. Nd5 ( I'm obviously entertaining pushing f4-f5-f6 ) 21... Re8 22. g5 ( not f5 yet ) 22... Qb7 ( adds to pressure but locks in Bc6 ) 23. f5 ( It's starting to get hard for me to find a plan which doesn't involve f5 but Black can play ...e6 and build up nicely now. I had some fun with 23 f5 and 24 Nh5 in analysis which was all bluff but looked worth starting ) 23... Bf8 ( I looked at ...Bxd5 and ...Be5 in analysis but this looked most solid. If ...e6 white can afford ...exd5 because exd5 wins the Bc6 ) 24. Bd4 ( 24 f6 simply takes a good square away from the knight. Now I have more realistic-looking threats but I must say by this stage I thought it was all starting to slip away ) 24... Ne5 25. Rc3 Bg7 ( I now entered a short sequence of moves which I thought were most solid and maintained a space advantage despite exchanges ) 26. f6 Bf8 27. fxe7 Bxe7 28. h4 Bxd5 ( the two bishops are no real advantage here as the Bg2 is inactive ) 29. exd5 Bf8 30. Rf4 ( else Qf1,Bg7 will threaten ...Nf3+ and ...Bxd4 ) 30... Bg7 31. Qf1 ( both sides have consolidated after some white initiative and I thought we're now in for a phase of manoeuvring ) 31... Re7 32. Bxc5 [32. Rf6] 32... bxc5 ( obviously not 32...dxc5; 33 d6 ) 33. Ne4 ( This move cheered me up a little; I felt I had some chances for the initiative ) 33... Rd8 34. Nf6+ [34. Nxc5 ( idea d6 again ) 34... Qb6] 34... Bxf6 35. gxf6 Ree8 36. Re4 h5 ( I admit I analysed this only after sending off my last move - I concluded I had some chances of a combinative breakthrough on the K-side but this couldn't be forced, and I became slightly less alarmed about possible endgames ) 37. Rce3 Kh7 38. Qf4 ( I couldn't see a way of winning after what I thought was the best line, ...Qb4, but I didn't have to lose either. White can try to contrive a lever with Bh3, Qg5 and now Bf5, but ...Qb4 & ...Rg8 (forces Kh1) slows or stops it) 38... Qc8 ( I thought at the time, not as strong as ...Qb4, but realised it's trickier ) 39. Bh3 Qb8 ( if the knight moves don't work this is probably best ) 40. Kh1 Qc7 41. Bf5

 41...Qb8( I immediately thought this was too resigned ) 42. Qg5 ( mates in six ) 1-0

Briggs, Tom - regis,d [C02]

 FIRST: march cc friendly, 1975

 Tom founded March Chess Club and worked hard for the club until his death. I played many games with Tom as a young player and was always impressed by his consistent good humour and generosity. Like Andersson, he met defeat only with laughter and praise for his opponent. Chess is full of people like Tom, although we tend to notice only the Kasparovs.

 1. e4 This game is probably fairly typical for the time, and features my first and long-time favourite French Defence to 1.e4.

 1... e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Nc6 4. Nf3 f6 5. Bf4 g5 6. Bg3 fxe5 7. dxe5 Bg7 8. Bb5 Nge7 9. O-O a6 10. Ba4 Bd7 11. c3 Ng6 12. Bxc6 Bxc6 13. Re1 Bb5 14. Nd4 Qd7 15. a4 Bc6 16. b4 b5 17. a5 O-O-O 18. Qg4 h6 19. Qxe6 Qxe6 20. Nxe6 Rd7 21. Nc5 Re7 22. Nd3 Rhe8

 23. f4 Nxf4 24. Nxf4 gxf4 25. Bxf4 Bxe5 26. Bxe5 Rxe5 27. Nd2 Re2 ??? 28. Nf3 d4 29. Rxe2 Rxe2 30. Nxd4 Rxg2+ 31. Kf1 Bb7 32. Re1 Rxh2 33. Re2 Rh3 34. Rc2 Be4 35. Re2 Bd3 36. Kg2 Rh5 37. Re8+ Kb7 38. Re3 Bc4 39. Kg3 Rg5+ 40. Kh4 Rg8 41. Nf5 Rh8 42. Kh5 Bf7+ 43. Kh4 h5 44. Re7 Rf8 45. Nh6 Bg6 46. Kg5

 46...Be8 47. Re3 Kc8 48. Nf5 Rg8+ 49. Kf6 Rg4 50. Rxe8+ Kb7 51. Re3 Kc8 52. Rh3 Rc4 53. Kg5 c5 54. Nd6+1-0

regis,d - rivett,dv [D16]

 FIRST: lowestoft friendly, 1977

 1. d4 Another 'dues' game - my uncle Don was a very important benchmark for me, and was endlessly patient with my early efforts. This was a game I remember being proud of at the time, having finally taken half a point from him. I also remember not really understanding how, though! 1... d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bd7 6. e4 b5 7. axb5 cxb5 8. Be2 e6 9. O-O Be7 10. d5 a6 11. Ne5 Qc7 12. Nxd7 Qxd7 13. Bf4

 13... exd5 14. exd5 O-O 15. d6 Bd8 16. Bf3 Nc6 17. Nxb5 Rb8 18. Nd4 Nb4 19. Rc1 Rc8 20. Bg5 Rc5 21. Nb3 Rc8 22. Bxf6 Bxf6 23. Bg4 Qc6 24. Bxc8 Rxc8 25. Re1 Qd7 26. Qe2 Nd3 27. Rxc4 Nxe1 28. Rxc8+ Qxc8 29. Nc5 Kf8 30. d7 Qd8 31. Qxe1 Be7 32. Qe3 Qa5 33. h3 g6 34. Nb7 Qd51/2-1/2

 35. Qc3! should have been promising.