As we approach the end of 2005 I am, like a mirror, in reflective mode. I have spent most of the year in front of my computer exploiting not very creative ways to make money (chiefly stock market and cricket betting). There is a sense of time slipping away and limited achievement, though the work I do has gone well enough and is engaging enough to keep me fully busy.
http://www.howardstaunton.com/hsmt2005/index.shtmll
On the personal front I am divorced from Tinni, who now lives in Norwich with our delightful 3 year old son and her new partner. Spassky once wrote ‘me and my ex wife get on like opposite coloured bishops’. Funny…but not so funny when you have to live through it. Anyway life moves on and I am very happy with my new partner as I believe Tinni is with hers.
On the chess front I have played little this year. Just one tournament and a few 4ncl weekends. The weekends went normally enough but the tournament - the Staunton Memorial organised by Ray Keene in his favourite restaurant - followed a bizarre path. My dreadful start was neutralised by a rather surprising 4/4 finish and I ended up finishing first equal with Speelman. More details:
My health has been stable. Probably a little better than a year ago and a lot better than when I first got my scleroderma condition three years ago. Still I would find it utterly exhausting to have a normal job and have to commute into town and face the winter weather. Just as well I have found alternatives and do not have to do such horrible things…
I no longer work on the chesschamps website:
http://www.chesschamps.com The site was my concept and I approached Garry Kasparov with the idea. It was a lot of fun setting it up and Garry’s enthusiasm for the project was contagious. Now the great chess genius has moved on and seems consumed within Russian politics. The site lives on but is fairly dormant and in need of some tlc. It is part of the London Chess Center empire now.
Anyway seasonal greetings and all the best for 2006 to readers of my website.
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