Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

 Only two days after the previous post, and I'm back with the notes to a complicated, 64-move battle. Weren't expecting that, were you? (I certainly wasn't.) This was round 5 of the CCF Summer Cup, played on the 30th June - the last day of the grading list. I had white against the top seed in the section, Paul Jackson (164/1858), and I hoped it would be a chance to finish on a high after losing my momentum in such a disappointing fashion over the previous 3 months.

 This was the first time in a while that I'd had white against him, and the first time ever in a serious game. We've had a couple of battles in the King's Indian recently with honours even, but this promised to be a very different sort of game, since he prefers the rather drawish Fort Knox line in the French. Perhaps this was a meeting between the two best con-artists in the section, and if so it lived up to its billing: at the rapidplay two days earlier he waxed lyrical about the opening only to play something different, I'd prepared for that and left my repertoire immediately, blundered out of theory but still landed in a much better endgame. And then the fun really started:

 It's funny, but I went through almost the exact routine as in my previous evening game against Jackson - a bus was cut out and so I only arrrived at the venue just as the round started (believe it or not, this happens very rarely.) Then I erred in the opening, got to a much worse position only to see him blunder away the full point in a very long game, and got home after midnight.

 It almost spoils things that I don't think black was ever conclusively winning in the endgame despite his extra pawn; it's funny how his mistaken 12th move haunts him for the entire game. Perhaps his best chance was to play 31... Re8+ and avoid a trade of Rooks, but there's no guarantee he is winning there either. Of course another difference is that I did have a much better position earlier on; the variations on moves 18 and 19 gave me excellent winning chances. As much as I squirm to avoid it with hyper-aggressive opening systems, at the end of the day you can't go far with sub-standard technique. Nor without an emergency brake, which let my opponent down here. Maybe he was provoked by my draw offer - such is the importance of knowing your opponent's play! My decision to switch opening line may have helped too, if only to unsettle him - though with the benefit of a more detailed investigation, I don't think 4. e5 is the way to go if white seeks an opening advantage.

 After this there were two rounds to go, and I was only a half-point off the lead: a real opportunity. I will annotate those games in time, but first I will stick with a strict chronological order and offer some thoughts on the second half of the 2013-14 season.


PS: My 250th post - what a way to celebrate!