Mini-rant aside, I am glad to wrap up this strange tournament and try to take stock. The final round gave us Manchester, yet another daunting task - this time it was 164-221, 147-194, 128f-182, 130-176. As mentioned previously, rotation put me on board 1 - a fitting way to bow out of BUCA. White against Sixten Thestrup (221) meant a field averaging 209, however, I don't seem to get nervous before games any more, and just hoped for a good game. As to what actually happened...
Once the smoke cleared, we had lost 1.5-2.5 (DWLL), finishing near the bottom of the table with 4 points from 10. But given our pairings, we performed superbly: we were always competitive in defiance of our grades. Besides, we won gold on board 1 and bronze on board 3 - this game should have made it 3 medals! But - it did not.
I make no apology for repeating my view that such appalling play is completely predictable with so little time, and unbecoming of a national championship. If this was played in the 4NCL we would be laughed out of the building! Black's opening was unsuccessful, especially with 9. Ne1?! going unpunished. Once I was allowed 15. a5 and 16. d5, I had a huge advantage. It then unravelled even more quickly: I had no idea what to do, and was spectating as black soon improved his position beyond recognition. Then he too threw it away, I walked into a tactical knockout, he also missed it, and the fun really started! It is moves 15-25 that really grab my attention - the total loss of direction, transfixed by e5, reminds me of this game. I have reservations about the old platitude that it's better to have a bad plan than no plan at all, but this is a striking example of the dangers of drifting.
Still, my failed conversion hangs over the game. I seem determined to make myself a tragic figure, and failing to win with an extra Queen is a new low. At such moments I can't help asking myself: what do I have to do? I am not scared of stronger opponents - but I am scared of the trivially won positions I am getting against them. The doubt is horrible - if you can't win positions like this, how can you expect to bring home any game? At least there is also hope to be taken from it - as someone said later, I was winning in a way that no 164 has any right to be against such an opponent! Given that I outplayed Sreeves, hoodwinked Chandna and gave Weaving a real fight, I left Birmingham absolutely convinced that I can and do play well above 164. Hopefully then, when I do finally sort the technical problems out, the gains should be spectacular.
With BUCA over, our focus returned to the Bristol League relegation dogfight. We played a crucial match against Horfield B two days after getting back.
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