I had black against Rod Wigbout (156/1839), and from my preparation I saw that it would be a King's Indian. Good news, but he has had many draws lately, and the most recent games (admittedly 2011) had been of the early Queen trade variety. Just looking up the theory was enough to defuse his line easily, but was it worth going overboard trying to win? I seem incapable of playing for a half-point, but it's quite possible to go overboard in technical positions. In the end, this turned out to be the least of my worries. Instead, he reached straight for the kill switch, and blew me off the board. In the process I learnt a lot about this most theoretical line, and came up with a new analogy for my eternal problem.
I mentioned at the end of the Crouch game that I managed to avoid boiling over in rage despite the sudden conclusion, and also I took the previous game quite well; everyone blunders sometimes (some more than others!) and everyone gets outplayed sometimes too. This one is a little harder to deal with, because I went into the sort of position I play badly - on purpose! Amazingly, after almost a whole year of playing the KID, this is the first time I've been taken on in the Classical Variation. It's hard for anyone to navigate it without preparation, and it certainly wasn't what I expected. I did have a refresh on the Bayonet lines since he had a game there, but nothing on 10. Be3 - a strong argument for a broad opening repertoire. It's very rare that I am completely out-prepared, and even more so by someone that has no idea who he's playing until he arrives on the day! With suitable work beforehand, I don't mind going into such a messy position provided I can play actively and aggressively; I recognise that something a little clearer might suit me better, but this is the price you have to pay to win as black.* But it's too much of a handicap to go for a very suspicious line (previously I thought that Vigorito's disdain for the ...Rf6 plan was somewhat over-the-top, but now I am coming round to his point of view) that isn't really in your style and then hope to calculate your way to something that isn't even there.
I could come on to calculation problems yet again, but I wrote recently of trying to get away from the 'grumpy diary' style of blogging; my travails are explained sufficiently by the long think at move 20. All I will say here is that the problem seems to be primarily the organisation of thoughts, not the thoughts themselves. When I look for things, I can see them more often than in the past (it's a loose measurement, but my tactics rating on ChessTempo now is 175 points higher than it was last summer) but I over-prune, and go around in circles too much - simultaneously being lazy and wasting time! Like I said, chess is like your kitchen...
Overall the afternoon event was not a success for me - 1/3 against an average opponent of 135; a decent win as white but two disasters as black. I tried not to think about the damage it would do to grade/rating, and consoled myself with the thought that the evening tournament could go some way to repairing things. I had a kinder pairing there for my final game of the week.
* Perhaps there is an argument that black doesn't have to be so ambitious, but to me there hardly seems any point in doing otherwise - after all, I'm only an amateur player! Sometimes I do consider toning things down, if only because I am a lot more reliable with white, but I still recall how badly my attempts to play the Nimzo-Indian went. What I am seriously considering is trying to broaden my repertoire, especially as black - the possibilities this opens up are clearly demonstrated here. Besides, it is good to be familiar with many different types of position, to have knowledge you can transfer. So don't expect every single game to be a Sicilian or King's Indian this season...
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