Tying the knot

The fifth Staunton Memorial got underway last night, with the opening ceremony and drawing of lots. This was hosted by Dutch sponsor Jan Mol at his stunning apartment in Covent Garden, a short walk from Simpsons-in-the-Strand, where the tournament is taking place. One of the main people behind the Staunton Memorial, artist Barry Martin, has for a number of years enjoyed inventing ingenious new methods of conducting the drawing of lots. This year, the players were first lulled into a false sense of security, by simply being asked to draw a number when they arrived. Unbeknown to the players, rather than the numbers running from 1-12, they ran only from 1-6, in two sets. Thus, each number was drawn twice.

Barry Martin explains the rules 

Then the real fun began. It transpired that the drawing of numbers only determined who one's first-round opponent was - the two number 1's would play each other, the two number 2's, etc. But as to who would have White, and who Black, that was to be decided in more sporting fashion. The pairs would compete in a race, using mini radio-controlled racing cars, the winner being the first player to get his car across a ten-yard strip of floor, and onto the wooden chessboard placed at the other end of the room! First up were Jovanka Houska and Jan Werle. Any hopes I may have entertained about being able to dip into my repertoire of jokes about women drivers were firmly dashed, when Jovanka duly propelled her car across to the winning line in seconds, whilst poor Jan had barely got off the starting line. "Ayrton" L'Ami then secured the white pieces by out-racing Juan Pablo Wells, as did Gawain "Schumacher" Jones against Jan Smeets.

Wells and L'Ami in earnest battle

The most amusement came from the encounter between Michael Adams and Loek van Wely. Not to put too fine a point on it, Loek does have something of a reputation when it comes to driving cars. A few years ago, he walked miraculously away without a scratch on him, after writing off his sports car at high speed on a German autobahn, and rumour has it that it was not the first car he had written off. When it came to last night's race, he and Adams decided to vary the starting position, by beginning with their cars pointing sideways, facing one another, rather than pointing down the track - a sort of Fischerrandom approach to toy car racing. Loek was the first to manoeuvre his car into pointing in the right direction, but then he drove it at speed straight into a chair-leg, and it was Mickey's more measured approach that won the day. Loek later commented that "if I can't win such a race, I deserve the black pieces"!

Ivan Sokolov finished second to flying Scotsman, Colin McNab

Once the fun was over, the players settled down to the more serious business of eating and drinking, and a thoroughly enjoyable evening was had by all. In the course of it, your correspondent, in a piece of investigative journalism that would have done credit to Woodward and Bernstein, uncovered the social story of the chess year. Mickey Adams' python-like positional style on the chessboard tends to leave his opponents tied up in knots. However, on Saturday 4 August, he tied the knot himself, by marrying his long-term girlfriend, Tara. The ceremony took place in Taunton, in Somerset, not far from their home. I had entertained hopes of laying my hands on the wedding photos, but unfortunately, I have been outbid by one of these magazines, that pay vast fortunes for exclusive access to celebrity weddings. I am sure you know the sort of tawdry, downmarket publications I am referring to - British Chess Magazine, Chess Monthly, etc. Anyway, I am sure you will all join with me in congratulating Mickey and Tara, and wishing them all the best for the future.

The new Mr and Mrs Adams

And now to battle. Round one starts at 14.00 today.