Better late than never

 On Thursday, Bristol University's B-team travelled to face the one team fielded in the local league by Bath University. They're one of the furthest trips, and a 20-minute delay to our setting off was the cause of much confusion for me. That's by the by however. I mentioned in my previous post that Bath had some very powerful players in their roster (see here) but most of their top players seemed to have disappeared. I was on board 1, so enjoyed a rare (seemingly) game with white. My opponent was Alex Abboud, who neither of us knew at the time to have a 117 rapid grade. The overall grade line-up was 149-117, 156-108, 111-*116, 109-U, U-*86, U-U. It looks at first glance as though things favour us, but it really didn't go according to plan...

 At least, not anywhere else. At the exalted heights of the first board, I marked the occasion of this varsity match by wheeling out the King's Gambit. After crafting a winning position from the opening, I squandered my advantage, then regained it in a sharp position where I was a pawn up but needing precise moves. Eventually I was able to steer to a clarified pawn-up position and grind my weaker opponent down:

 Elsewhere, Bath University's board 2 made a totally unsound piece sacrifice in the opening and emerged with no compensation, but fortune smiled on him when our player blundered back the piece; eventually white's extra pawns told. Boards 3, 4 and 6 were rather clear-cut in the end, although at times we looked to have chances on the middle of those. On board 5 our player reached a Rook ending down four pawns, when we were already 4-1 down, but came amazingly close to holding it as their player exacerbated his time trouble by perfectionist hesitation. Scoring the solitary point in WLLLLL is rather aimless, but every grading point helps. It's as much about getting closer to the 30-game mark at which games from June and earlier are ignored as anything else.

 I could have won in rather more sparkling fashion with some of the variations around move 20 or so; black's opening play was not very good and perhaps even deserved to be miniatured. For all its embattled reputation, when the King's Gambit works, it works brilliantly. But 20. O-O-O, 21. Qa4 and particularly 26. Nc5+ were bad moves that forced me to partake in a battle of attrition after winning a pawn. Though the position remained delicate I was always on to win after that, according to the computer (although I wasn't so sure at the time.) Despite the opening choice, not a glamourous win, and certainly not a useful one for my team, but they all count.

 In fact, although I've played it with some regularity, I believe this is the first time I've won a graded game with the King's Gambit... ever. (Edit; 10/11 - No, it isn't; there is the final round of this tournament - thanks AH. But it is my first slowplay win with the gambit.)