This was a game for Drunken Knights 2 against Wanstead - one of the teams that we would have to see off to avoid sinking into a relegation scrap. I was down on board 10, and for the most part we were well ahead on grades: 212-188 , 207-180, 202-189, 207-178, 204-176, 194-177, 192-172, e200-174, 183-171, 167-166, 169-162, 171-136. I was the 'unlucky' one, having to make do with just a one-point advantage over my opponent Paul Barclay (166). But at least this was the second of what turned out to be nine (!) consecutive whites...
The opening was a mixed bag - objectively nothing special, but excellent on a practical level. Sure enough, I was able to outplay him. As in most of my London League games, there was a big hole near the end, but yet again I got away with it:
A comprehensive win (10½-1½; WWLWWWWWWWDW) was what we are after, and allowed us to edge up towards mid-table. And as I said in the previous post, it was essential for me to recapture some momentum.
I'm happy to confirm that this will be the last Caro-Kann for the foreseeable future - by now I was getting rather bored of it! Knowingly move-ordering myself into a Panov-Botvinnik wasn't ideal, but any time for chess work has to go into this blog at the moment. And I had the advantages of familiarity with a position where understanding outweighs memory for concrete lines, as well as Black opting for a sub-optimal defence. 14... f5, 18... g5 and 29... h5 are jarring moves, and eventually he paid for them. But I missed my best opportunity in the opening by passing over 11. Ne5, and nearly botched everything with 34. c6?. At that moment, I was saved by the time advantage that I'd amassed earlier - 36... Rc2 isn't a hard move to spot.
I still had time to squeeze two more games into February, the first of them being Castles' penultimate Croydon League match.
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