Captain's lag

 Last week the University A-team played its third match of the season, away to Bath. I rotated myself out of our second match (a frustrating 3-3 draw at home against Clifton B) to try and ensure everyone got some games, but I was back for this trip, one of our longest.

 Bath are a team that always flatter to deceive; strong on paper, they rarely manage to field all their top players at once, and even when they do something goes wrong. Thus despite having a (now-retired) IM and two players graded over 200 last season, they were in serious danger of relegation for some time last season. As it happens, they managed to marginally outgrade us - 209-221, 196-184, e181-192, 186-178, *161-166, 159-173 - but our team too can perform erratically at times! I was more worried by half of our team becoming ensnared by the search for a parking space in Bath's side-roads and arriving 15 minutes late, but eventually they came and by then my own game was well under way.

 I had black on bottom board against Rob Hearne - meeting a 173 there was disconcerting given that we have supposedly gained unprecedented depth, but I recalled from pre-match research that his start to the season hadn't been inspiring. Bit by bit I gained the upper hand despite, perhaps, not entirely equalising from the opening - but then the game ended peculiarly:

 DDLWWD, all told - 3.5-2.5, continuing our slow catch-up with the business end of the league table. So good enough in spite of my altruism, however it would have been a less trying experience to watch the end of the match if I'd won this game as I should.

 The opening was satisfactory if not perfect; I was able to figure enough out at the board to cover the details I had forgotten. Strategically I had a clear thread, I didn't get impatient and force matters prematurely, tactical blindness didn't strike and nor did a loss of concentration. So what went wrong? I have noticed often in the past that I am very slow to appreciate a big change in the evaluation of a position; this leads to a dangerous lag period in which I'm grimly defending a safe and large advantage (as here) or else pushing for the win when I really should be manning the barricades. Obviously this only goes so far - if you just give me a piece, I am liable to notice! - but it is yet another reminder to be vigilant at the board. Unfortunately it's not easy to zone in on your own game when you're the team captain, the match situation hangs in the balance, and your opponent is moving ridiculously slowly (though I had some experience of this in my SGS days!) so with my propensity for tunnel vision, this sort of thing was bound to happen sooner or later.

 Nevertheless, I do finally seem to be on an upward trend, having finally recovered my grading performance to match my grade - during the Jessie Gilbert tournament it fell to the low 140s. Hopefully I can carry that form into later today, when I play another away match, at Downend B. With more than a few University defectors in their ranks, it promises to be an interesting encounter.