A dish best served cold...

 Earlier this week, I played once more as a filler, this time at CCF, in the FIDE-rated Open section of the Summer Cup. I have fond memories of this tournament, having won £50 in what was then the U-1800 section last year, to get my first part-rating. I was playing my thirteenth (!) junior opponent in a row following the two e2e4 games, the UKCC Megafinal and the Castles rapidplay, and there are two more coming up on Saturday...

 That junior was Girinath Haridas, who I played in the final round of the 99th Richmond Rapidplay, winning a pawn for no compensation on the black side of a Benko Gambit. However, he was playing very quickly (witnessed again, although to a lesser degree, in this game) and I managed to lose in time trouble. However, he is much higher-graded for rapid chess, whereas I am somewhat weaker at that form of the game, so I was quietly optimistic heading into the game:

 So in the end my optimism was justified, but evidently my opponent was not keen to let me enjoy the satisfaction. Anyway, I ought to dwell on the game itself. Of course, when someone plays the Smith-Morra Gambit they are usually aiming for a more violent game than this one, but I've never feared 3... d3!?, and this game certainly won't change that! Again, I ended up playing quite a strategic game out of the opening, but as ever some tactical ideas were needed to drive home the positional advantage. Haridas did not seem very comfortable in the position that arose, and it seems quite obvious to me that his clumsy attempt to get a Dragon formation wasn't in harmony with the game's tune. Converting the endgame took me longer than it ought to have done (of course...) but in the end the victory was most emphatic.