The graded tournaments played at Castles are always good fun, and perhaps because of the light atmosphere I don't pressure myself so much as usual, and score well. In fact, I managed to finish =1st in the last one, with 4.5/6 and a grading performance of almost 160. Sadly, other commitments prevent me from playing all of the match nights this time, but I got in this game, against a team-mate who is at the other extreme of secondary school.
One might be tempted to dismiss this off-hand as a nothing game - winning a piece on move 7 followed by mate 10 moves later. As I mention briefly in the notes, all of our previous games, though un-graded, were extremely difficult, and I have lost to him before. Anyway, after the King's Gambit disaster 48 hours earlier, I tried another opening I had been exploring, with somewhat better results.
Since 4... Nxd4?! is the response to the Scotch I see most often in blitz chess, perhaps I need to play the Scotch more often! Whilst the game is of almost no theoretical value, it does powerfully drive home the lesson of using the extra material. After grabbing the piece on move 9, I could have casually sat on the piece with Nc3, Bd2, O-O-O - but I didn't, and was richly rewarded.
Unfortunately, I was soon returned to the real world when the latest school match came around...
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