A wasted weapon

 When I first looked at the University's A-team fixtures for the first half of the season, it struck me that we had the relatively easy teams first, and then a very tough run later - it would be important to pick up points early. Losing to Horfield B was worrying then, and our next match against Bath would be difficult at the best of times.

 These were not the best of times. Even allowing for our diminished squad and limited pool of drivers, we were under strength and didn't even get 6 players together until late in the day. The prospect of a long trip to Bath in order to be crushed wasn't an appealing one, and there's no question that Bath outgraded us: 195-207, 180-186, 155f-181, 164-175, *129-169, 123-158. I was slightly surprised to find myself as low as board 4, where I was playing the 175-graded Barry Morris with black.

 I played him last season in a Closed Sicilian and had the better of things, but after adventures in time trouble I could only draw. This time though, I'd had time to prepare thoroughly. I've already mentioned that I plan to vary my openings a bit, but this struck me as an excellent opportunity to do so: I could smell the opportunity to drop a real 'prep-bomb'. I got my wish, but it wasn't enough for any improvement on the previous game:

 I have been fortunate enough to almost never be on the receiving end of a whitewash in a team event: restricting us to 'only' a 1-5 loss (DLLDLL) was about the biggest success of the night. After this, our captain and I had scored 2.5/3 of the team's game points between us, which looked ominous.

 Drawing this game was OK, but I should certainly have had at least one win from my games with Morris by now. I mentioned a few posts back that preparation is for psychological reassurance more than bringing something substantial to fight with - however this isn't always so if the opponent plays lines that are both sharp and dubious. I didn't even have to any of my own work this time: there are more useful talents than a good memory for the mundane, but if you have it you might as well use it, and so I could revisit some analysis from an online book sample that I just happened to read a couple of years ago! I hadn't realised quite how scathing the view of 2. Ne2 actually is though: it just doesn't quite look right and in the end seems impossible to recommend. A triumph of opportunism!

 Technique is ever my Achilles' Heel though, and so it proved yet again. It struck me even during the game that I just wasn't calculating anything: staring at the position, never looking more than one or two moves ahead and endlessly checking those two moves over. My time management seems to have deteriorated quite badly in recent months, but without any corresponding improvement in what I see. Having said all that, I was largely playing decent moves (albeit not always the best) - the one really strange move was 22... Bb7?!, after forgetting that I had intended to play another move! Had I not been so blinded by the plight of my Bishop, I think I would have retained good winning chances.

 But, a draw it was. At least when you are in Bristol, the next game is never far away. It offered the unusual sight of a C-team in the top division, and the far more common spectacle of me being ludicrously over-prepared.