Now on 1/4, I was sure that someone was conspiring against me when I got paired with a 178 - such are the byzantine workings of junior FIDE ratings. But a withdrawal meant a late re-pairing, and I was now playing Aurele Lenoir, a Belgian player rated 1828 who has played the odd league game down the years. He was on 0/4, and with this unexpected ray of light I was determined to seize the opportunity.
The story of this game actually starts near the end of last term in Bristol, when I happened to see Neil McDonald's Starting Out: 1. e4! going for a pittance in a charity bookshop. I vascillated - my white repertoire already serves me very well - but I was impressed by the verbal analysis and could see some interesting ideas. One of the sections I had looked over, not long before this game, was his explanation of the Philidor Defence. It turned out that this was the best preparation I could possibly have done:
Where on earth did that come from? Having done nothing for the first two days, suddenly I actually show up and play my best game in ages. I was mystified, for I hadn't done anything differently from the first two days, but I couldn't complain. To a third party I suppose it looks pretty dull, but personally I was captivated! As someone who has always set a lot of store by logic in chess, I like games with a coherent thread running through them, and here it is all crystal clear.
An IM said to me recently that his definition of a well-played game is when his opponent can't think on the way home 'well, if I'd played that move it might have been different...' and here, uncharacteristically, I didn't leave some obscure (or not so obscure!) chance hidden away. OK, it wasn't perfect - black could have avoided the worst by playing ...exd4 whilst he had the chance, and my usual approach of getting middlegame advantages too big for my technique to dent is still there - but I was always in control. As I said before, a positional game where I have control and the initiative is right up my street. Solidity can work in the right context! For it was not necessary to calculate very much (this is a particularly stark example of how the tactics always just seem to work when you have the better position) and only once did I make a real oversight, on move 23.
My method of preparation for this game was a bit unusual, but it worked like a charm. This is what happens when you understand the position: I just had to implement Adams' plan, black walked right into it and after that white's position plays itself. For that I must be glad that I decided to pick up the McDonald book (in fact, it does not have the best reputation - but I decided to trust my own judgement) and amazingly I got to make use of it again in the afternoon round! I had a double white, and quite unexpectedly I had picked up some momentum as well as some form.
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