Missing the trees for the wood

 I was feeling quite optimistic after the first week of the Downend Summer Quickplay. A long lay-off hadn't impacted badly on my play, and I produced some good, energetic games even at the sort of speed that I usually struggle with. I was also on a high enough score to avoid the swiss-gambiteers who skipped the first week in order to be paired on 0/6 (an IM, and three others over 180.) With a little less ring-rustiness to worry about, I saw no reason why I couldn't keep up the pace.

 But it's always seemed to me that one's performance at quick time controls is very form-dependent, and this time things just did not fall into place for me. I made an acceptable score, but played atrociously. If you ask ChessTempo, it will tell you that my tactical ability has risen from 1890 in February to 2140 now... but I'll let the reader judge!

 I started out on 4/6 and was paired with Igor Doklestic (164), whose son played for the university in recent years. Our first game saw my complacent defence as black in a Closed Sicilian get punished, but the second went better for me. After an attack of déja-vu, it appeared on the surface that I enjoyed another prep-fuelled rout. But surface appearances are not to be trusted! Even a very small difference can have a big impact:

 Next I had the interesting challenge of playing a former university team-mate, Chris Russell (198) - interesting, because I am currently living in the same house! I was hopeful for the second game despite getting crushed in the first. I decided to play 1. d4 and take on the Dutch. Unfortunately the result was the same, and I can't say I didn't deserve it - but there were some interesting moments along the way:

 My final two games of the evening were against Steve Woolgar (136), which was a bit of a flashback - I played him in almost my very first game in Bristol. Three years later and the quality of our encounters has not improved! After winning a farcical game as white, my decision to seek tranquil waters meant that I had to grind him down as black in an Exchange Slav. I managed it, but not without some more incredible oversights:

 Perhaps it's mildly inspirational that you can produce 160+ performances with no tactical sight whatsoever, but I can't be impressed by my play. It wasn't all sweetness and light positionally (12. Ne5? against Russell and 11... Na5?! against Woolgar) but my main cause for alarm was the endless string of one-move oversights. Maybe I wasn't concentrating: I rushed against Doklestic for no good reason and so missed a finesse, overlooked black's en prise Bishop (!) against Russell, and missed the same win move after move against Woolgar, not to mention sleepwalking into 16... Rfc8?. At this speed there is obviously no time for day-dreaming, but that doesn't mean you should rush. When I finally calmed down in the first game against Woolgar I came up with some good ideas, and in the game with Russell I had my chances; I had just had to see a line 5 ply deep on move 18.

 Still a lot of work to be done then. But I take solace in the fact that I was fairly convincing in the endgames against Woolgar - my recent efforts have had some benefit. Equally, I did not wilt under the glare of the clock. Nonetheless, beginner-level blunders will make it all meaningless every time. I saw that, and much else, in an eventful rapidplay congress on Sunday. This one was graded, and so formally marked the start of my 2015-16 campaign.