The once was a chess coach from Coventry...

This week's pair of games are by Paul Lam who writes:

I am a chess coach from Coventry. I started playing chess in secondary school and made good progress, being selected to play for the England Junior Squad on several occasions, before school and then university studies kicked in.

I started playing chess again when I returned home to work at the University of Warwick and set up a children’s chess club, the Coventry Chess Academy, which boasts a large number of very talented junior players. Last year I decided to take the plunge, leaving the University to teach chess full-time and haven’t looked back since.

My opening taste is offbeat, my time management is appalling and an extremely busy schedule makes finding the time to work on my own game very difficult. It’s not all bad though as I find coaching to be far more enjoyable than playing these days!

Both of my games come from the 4NCL. My agony game was a loss in which I was winning but blundered horrifically in a moment of madness, costing my team the match and consigning us to relegation from division 1. The ecstasy game was a snappy win played in our return to division 1 two seasons later.

Paul then very generously went on to say that were his games selected, he wanted to use the free three-month Chessbase Premium Account not for himself but as a prize at one of the tournaments he runs and we're of course delighted to comply.

He wrote just a couple of notes for each game which I've marked as PL while all the rest is mine.

Click or tap the second game in the game list below the board to switch

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Did you enjoy the column and instructive analysis by GM Jonathan Speelman? Do you wish you could have a world-renowned grandmaster analyzing your play? You can!

To submit your games just upload a PGN or ChessBase file, along with your name and e-mail address. Send one success story (Ecstasy) and one loss (Agony).

Tell why you chose them, where or when they were played. Please also include your email address, so Jon can reply, and preferably a photo of yourself for our article.

If your game is selected Jon will contact you personally, and not only will you get free detailed commentary of your games by one of chess’s great authors and instructors, and former world no. 4 player, but you also win a free three-month ChessBase Premium Account!

A three-month Premium subscription to ChessBase Account means you get:

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See also:

• Previous column: Speelman's Agony #81
• All Speelman's Agony columns