In posting this game, I diverge ever further from the Lalic-ian formula which inspired me. There is no way he would let such a disaster reach the public domain! Of course, he tends not to lose with white in 20 moves, but I am not in good form.
Castles have a team in the Coulsdon Chess Fellowship's "Longplay Superleague," playing one match a month in the lower division. Despite the handicap of having me on board 1, it seems we are one of the strongest teams and after two rounds are top of the table. Here I was playing my Wallington team-mate Geoff Marchant, whose grade of 174 is much too low, as he has recently found a new gear and must be troubling the big 200 right now. Quite a leap from my first game in the competition, where I played and beat a 111 (unfortunately, just before I started publishing my games, as it was a nice demolition in a King's Indian.) I decided to try and create a sharp game with a sharp opening, and to get out of theory. This certainly produced an interesting game, but it was too sharp - one slip and the perpetrator gets ruthlessly killed, and unsurprisingly given grade, that was me.
Having had some time to reflect on my annotations, which I wrote on the night of the match when I got home, perhaps I am a bit harsh on the King's Gambit. After all, it was the opening I used to score my one and only handicap-free victory to date against Lalic. In blitz, it ensnares countless victims, and I don't think it is unsound - just risky, and it was a dangerous choice against such a strong player, that backfired. Marchant is playing out of his skin at the moment, and there is little shame to be had in this defeat (though missing 11... Qc5+ is, to put it mildly, disappointing.) Nonetheless, 2. Nf3 is a good move as well!
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