I played this game on board 2 for Wallington, against Surbiton in the Alexander Cup (Surrey's main knockout event). Even without most of their top players, they would always be favourites: 170-200, 168-149, 165-189, 161-184, 158-181, 147-169, 142-167, 136-156, e120-151, 105-e155. My opponent was named as a 193, but I was immediately suspicious: he hasn't played outside Berkshire for the last year, and no-showed in the same fixture a few years ago. Twenty minutes in, and lo! A substitute appeared: Stephen Kearney, graded 149. I had to be favourite now, but reaching an unfamiliar position turned out to matter more:
With credible resistance elsewhere, we lost 3.5-6.5 (LLDDDWLDLD). I was more depressed by my game: I have to be on known territory or I can barely play at all. This game was hard to forget, right down to the Q-R ending. To be fair, Kearney played very well, despite snatching a hot pawn and believing my Rxd4 idea: his opening play was much more pertinent, and his technique was enough to get the job done. But I must say that I played atrociously!
Being employed by an IM has its perks, and when I showed this game I learnt a lot about what white aims for. I knew that h3/g4 was an idea, but not that it can be safely combined with Kingside castling; b3/c4 was completely new to me. That's a lot to be ignorant of - combined with some beginner's tactical mistakes, I was painfully reminded that 'the stronger you become, the more you realise how weak everyone really is.' But that's not what really nags: it's the powerlessness, as attested by the delay in posting. I'm still too perfectionist to accept being a ~170, but the real world is catching up with me. There just never seems to be time to do anything about it at the moment.
I am probably playing too much at the moment, but at least the chance to rectify things is never far away. Next up was the daunting prospect of board 2 in the top division of the London League.
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