My way

 I am currently part-way through the London Junior Championship U-18/21 Christmas FIDE Open (try saying that with a mouth full of mushrooms!) and satisfied so far. But I can't resist posting my first-round game ahead of time, as I managed a sparkling win against the seeding. All of my games so far have been interesting, so plenty to look forward to.

 For this opening round, my first ever game in a slowplay Open tournament, I played the young junior, Peter Andreev. His grade is 179, and FIDE 2017 (my own is 1782 right now.) But recent results suggest those are rather low. I knew this, but it was even worse for me to recall our only previous encounter, last summer in the Open section of a Richmond Rapidplay (the only other time I've 'played up' in the highest section of a tournament.) That was before this blog's time, but I included the game in a flashback post. I played passively, and allowed him to sacrifice hugely for a mating attack. But I was a lot weaker then, it was rapidplay, traditionally not good for me, and he hasn't played very much since. I determined to play a fighting game this time, starting from move 1, and it certainly paid off:

 It was worth entering the tournament just for this one game! However, I should stress that I don't value it just because I beat a 179 with a Queen sacrifice (although that certainly helps...) Rather, because it was one of those occasions where I actually managed to play in the way I set out to - directly, aggressively, and above all actively. Happily taking on doubled isolated pawns in return for piece play is an obvious example, and they proved their worth. Clearly white is an aggressive player, but your author has his moments too in spite of all the recent endgame practice! White just happened to walk into my sort of position, I played with an unusual degree of accuracy (I trust the computer in the sort of sharp, tactical position it too likes), and he paid the price for some overly speculative play. I retain an enjoyment for tactical shots, but despite stressing their importance I've been missing rather too many lately, so the final move of the game was particularly sweet.

 As an overall creation, rather than just a game illuminated by one or two flashy tactics, I struggle to think of a game I have played that obviously stands above this one. I am pleased with it, and you may have noticed that I very rarely say that about my play. Not perfect, admittedly, but one to remember. As I said, it is my best ever victory in graded play, and the results on the ECF grading list for this season so far say he is performing at 188, so it could look even better in a few weeks' time.

 The tournament continued with an even more demanding pairing, that I will set to work annotating once the event is over.