For round 4, I was up on the heady heights of board 2. (In fact, my school's board 1 player was the next board up, so Sutton Grammar were doing very well at this stage!) Unfortunately, having hitherto faced a 73, e0 and 49, now I had to play a 193 - who, depressingly for someone in their last year at school, is only 12 years old.
Anyway, I was certainly not disappointed to face a French McCutcheon, for I have disproportionate experience on the white side, which gets a clockwork attack that I score well with - in all French Defence games, I have scored very well overall. However, I went for a thematic sacrifice too early, couldn't break through, watched hopelessly as my centre collapsed, then to cap it all off got mated by his minor pieces in only 25 moves.
I'm tempted to say that one can learn little from this game, so comprehensively was I outclassed. 13. Bxg6!? is a rapid-play kind of move, but white is probably lost after that. But then again, it was played because I didn't pay serious attention to 13... Rg8!, ie: I didn't hold my own tactically. The fate of my monarch shows that both sides have serious attacking chances, which white must be wary of.
Most of all though, this game shows just how much stronger some players are! Round 5 was a very quick draw that doesn't merit a post of it's own; in brief, I was black against a 139, and it went 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Bg5 Bb4+ 4. Nd2 O-O 5. Nf3 Be7 6. e3 d6 7. Be2 1/2-1/2. To sum up, white's quirky opening choice leads to no opening advantage, not that he sought one. So I was on 3.5/5, and paired against a 150 with white for the final round. Time to continue an opening experiment...
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