There is an unusual problem in writing my half-season review - thanks to academic commitments I barely have enough data. But it does mean I can roll my statistical and impressionistic posts into one, which can only be good: there's so much to do! I played two rapidplay events last week, and my last slowplay game was in early May; 2014-15 feels far in the past. So we won't linger for long.
The last six months were very unusual for me. Instead of playing lots of games against a slightly weaker field and making a narrow plus score, I played only 17 games against a 180.4 field* and scored +4 =8 -5. Just 4 games were against lower-graded opponents. This was unintentional, but surely right: difficult games teach you more but can also boost your confidence. BUCA was huge, despite the time-trouble meltdowns - with white, I can hold my own with almost anyone. Later, I played a pair of 170s and easily won both games. I can be happy that I'm heading in the right direction - of course, the next step is to start putting away my more illustrious opponents.
I quietly made a big openings breakthrough, finally performing well as black. In fact I scored +3 =3 -2 for a 173.9 performance. My white field was so strong (190.6) that +1 =5 -3 was still worth 174.8. No single opening appeared more than 3 times, so not much can be said, but I note that my good black performance came when I didn't face a single theoretical 1. d4. Still, following my January advice and dialling down the ambition helped too: both black losses were won positions disappearing in time scrambles.
Game length also defies analysis owing to the small sample size. But it's unsurprising that 3 of my 4 wins were in under 40 moves - without a quick knockout I'm often scuppered by nerves or the clock. Unfortunately, all 4 sub-30 move games were drawn! Speaking of draws, I regressed. The proportion jumped (8/27 to 8/17), offer frequency edged up (0.51/game to 0.53), I made the majority of them (6/14 to 5/9) and only once declined a draw. I drew that game anyway, and lost both games in which my own offer was turned down. It's plain nervousness: only once did I offer to a lower-graded opponent.
Looking ahead, things haven't changed since January. Once again, my results only improved slightly, but I think that I'm playing much better and close to breaking out of my plateau. Fixing a few little things could have a big impact. The season's lesson is to seek strong opposition ahead of results. I lost more games than I won, but this list was not a failure. Admittedly it could and should have been better, and I have things to work on. In spite of my recent blogging activity, endgames aren't sorted yet, and nor is calculation. Above all, I'm being destroyed by nerves. 2015-16 holds opportunities though, since I should be able to play much more. And maybe even start posting my games punctually...
Finally, as usual, my grade prediction. The switch from 30-game countback to 6-monthly averages hits me again, this time for 5 points! So I will only rise slightly, I think to 168: a modest gain, but with obvious potential. My rapid grade might creep upwards, but then I only played 7 games. This season I certainly plan to remedy that, and indeed I already have 6 on the board! I hope to post them soon.
Before that though, it really is time to cover the second week of the Downend Summer Quickplay. My recent succession of 'how to' posts has conveyed a bit of a know-it-all tone, but analysing your games is always a sure way to bring you back to earth...
* Ignoring the 40-point rule - and for once that makes a pretty big difference. I played two junior players, for whom I have used current grades including increment.
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