A patient attack

 For the penultimate round, I was paired against Hans Reutimann, of ECF grade 137 and FIDE rating 1797. I take the latter more seriously. This was to be my final game of the tournament with white, and my opponent made the perfect choice for me, to play the French Defence. Whilst I cannot quite just quote "2. d4 d5 3. Nc3, etc.," I felt honour-bound to win after that move. Black's questionable choice on move 5 allowed me to claim an advantage which I only briefly relinquished, but proving it took a long time:

 So I prevailed in the end, but things were not always so clear. I was conscious of being better by move 10, but I didn't perceive my position to be winning until move 28, some 3 hours later. Often I would charge in and play to win in 20 moves flat on the Queenside, but I calmly nurtured the game to its conclusion. Finding the right plans took a lot of time off the clock, but of course finding the defences to them also was difficult, and eventually he cracked under the strain. After 30. Nxd5, the outcome had an air of inevitability to it, and it didn't take many more moves for things to come to their conclusion - even though that was another hour-and-a-half away. For once, I am satisfied with my play in this game.

 After a mixed tournament, I at last managed to string two good games together just in time.