Surviving and thriving in alien territory

 I return to the keyboard with the happy news that my A-Level exams are now done, and I have two months of idleness whilst I wait for results and to see whether I met my university offers. Until then, I can play chess. And maybe do some other things as well.

 However this post, along with the next one, is to detail a pair of games I played during the exam period, or rather at the start of a week-long break in the middle of it for half-term. They were at the e2e4 Diamond Jubilee tournament in Gatwick, and I went along for one day to see how some club team-mates were getting on, and to buy a couple of titles from the book-stall. Happily, I got to be a filler for both rounds!

 In the morning, I faced the extremely young Aditya Verma, who has a grade of 117. Needless to say, he is probably somewhat stronger. Since there was not much riding on the game from my point of view, I decided to try and experiment with the opening a little. Yet my opponent's decision to avoid my intentions resulted in a line I play quite often; I quickly got into trouble and had to play resourcefully, and have some luck, to hold on. Eventually, his small inaccuracies built up and I gradually turned the tables.

 I like to think of myself as a pretty aggressive player, more at home in tactical fireworks than strategic chicanery. However, it is often said that we should just play the position, and that is what I did here, after landing in an opening line that was less than exhilarating. My opening play landed me in difficulties which I just about extricated myself from. I think he had a better grasp of the strategic demands of the position in this phase of the game than me - I played too ambitiously to try and force an advantage with black quickly, which can only be realistically attempted in sharp, unbalanced lines like the Sicilian and King's Indian.

 However, the game after 22... Bxa6 I am rather more satisfied with. From hereon, I think it was your author who had a better understanding of the strategy required in this quiet position (most unusually for me!) That's not to say I played it perfectly, as I missed the chance to head into a clearly better N vs. B ending, and needlessly extended the K+P ending that actually came about, but overall I followed through with a strategy based on his pawn structure (admittedly helped with a few tactical points, but even as a player who emphasises the primacy of tactics, I believe that they are little more than the servants of superior positions) and came through to win an interesting endgame. I learned much from studying it without the engine.

 So, perhaps I have the capacity to be a more rounded player than it usually appears? Well, I was back to normal in the afternoon game, and faced an all-too-common scenario.