The first hint

At root, I'm a momentum player - my back catalogue is littered with slumps in form caused just by losing a solitary game. So I didn't really want to be playing the top seed in my group, FM Tim Wall (207/2183) as early as the second round, even with the white pieces. How easy it would be to get outplayed by a much stronger player, convince myself that I played terribly and was on woeful form, and then proceed to prove it in the following games.

But there is an upside to being emotionally volatile as well: unexpectedly good results can spur you on. And so this game, outwardly dull and uneventful, was probably quite important. As White, it is possible in some openings to just sit on the position, take no risks, and smile at Black. This was a conservative performance in that style:

In a way, it's frustrating that I couldn't make more of this game - at no time was a serious advantage ever on the cards. Black's position is too reliable for that to happen, and it was a similar experience which made me largely drop the Panov-Botvinnik. True, it's easy to play, which makes it a powerful weapon at quick time controls, but I find it difficult to knowingly play second-rate openings, which is why I find the 2... Nf6 Scandinavian unduly irritating at the moment.

Even so, I could hardly grumble at the welcome bonus of a half-point here. In fact I was on the cusp of being worse at several moments (20... Red8, 24... Bxf3 and 28/30... Nh5 could all have been moments of truth) but at the time it felt like a controlled performance. Thankfully I didn't know about the various little details that Stockfish is only too eager to highlight, and could believe that I had played an accurate, controlled game. For that reason, it's a very bad idea to analyse your games in the middle of a tournament - besides, why waste the energy?

So far so good then - but the highlights of the week still lay ahead.