When I started attending Durham University in 1992, I joined the Chess Club straight away, and played for the First Team for all of my three years there. The university entered a couple of teams in the local league, where the opposition I faced was of a much higher standard to that in school chess. Overall I played 39 games and scored +21=8-10 (64%).
As well as playing for the team, I became involved in organising for the first time. Our biggest challenge was always getting out a team for away matches, where we were frequently unable to get a full complement of players. This was combined with difficulties over transport. The train and bus services did not always offer a route back after the “close of play” at around 11 pm. We also had a limited number of people who were qualified to drive or who had a car. Somehow we just about managed to keep things going.
In retrospect, it might have been better for us to have joined and played for the local Durham City Chess Club. It was not a satisfactory state of affairs that we defaulted at least one board in most away matches.
Below I give a selection of some of the more interesting games I played for Durham University.