This game gave me black against Colin Davison (166/1994). A few years ago he was getting some great results in swashbuckling style, which weren't very encouraging for me to play over, but in recent times a little spark of some kind has gone. Therefore I was happy with the opening choice, even if it's not the most familiar system to me. Unfortunately, one ill-judged move ruined my efforts, and poor follow-ups quickly led me into a lost ending...
Well, all I can say is that I'm still a net debtor in such situations! That was one of the luckier escapes I've had in a while, although I'd like to think that there was a bit of skill involved in pulling it off; I had to disguise my intentions carefully.
It was a shame that things came to that though, since an Open Sicilian proved as difficult for him as I'd suspected. Moves like 8. h3 and 12. Bd3 just feel wrong, and once I managed to modify the pawn structure I was a happy bunny. But I got a bit too eager, and didn't properly consider the consequences of 16... d5. The most reliable plan appears to be ...exf4 followed by ...Nd7-e5, choking off White's light-squared bishop just as in the game against MacQueen. Instead I lost a pawn and continued to damage my position by rushing it. I was annoyed even after winning the game, so you can imagine what a loss would have felt like!
As it was, 3/6 didn't seem so bad, even if the points hadn't quite lined up as they should have. For round 8 I was up to the respectability of the middle order, and the promise of another theoretical duel.
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