Halting the peasants' revolt

Pawns were responsible for my worst ever loss. I was on 3/3 on board 1 in a Richmond Rapidplay one-day tournament, and after steadily outplaying a higher-graded opponent in an obscure sideline - in which he specialised - I had played a neat combination to win a whole piece. All looked set for a 100% score with just two rounds to go, but then fate intervened. Somehow, his Queenside passed pawns built up a fatal momentum, and I wound up losing the game. A draw would have been enough to share 1st place. I think it understandable that, ever since that day, I have held a morbid fear of passed pawns. Hopefully then you can imagine my nerves in this game...

 Unlike the rapidplay disaster, this time I was successful, and chalked up a much-needed win. It is curious that this victory came after a poor opening on my part, unlike the defeats from good openings in the first two rounds. I think it is necessary to credit my opponent for his tenacious resistance here; I was presented with enough opportunities to go wrong. But it would be complacent not to highlight that my own conduct of the game left a lot to be desired: I saw that he could win the Bishop pair in the opening, but casually ignored the possibility, assuming he would pass up the chance for a second consecutive move. Then I passed up the chance to play the decisive 23... Nxb4 simply due to an abstract fear of pins, not backed up by any calculation. In short, I was lazy here, and that's how I lost the earlier game. There are many points of psychology to be noted here.

 Tomorrow I will move onto the next games: a rare dull game against a junior, a lucky escape after another bad Sicilian, and a fascinating draw with a 160.