How not to prepare

Onto round three then, and the small bonus of a double white for my first meeting with one of the top seeds. I'd also been shoved up to board one, where I would ultimately be camped out for the next five rounds. I was playing Martin Costley (186/2124) and had to do it with only one recorded tournament in the last decade to go on. But sometimes you can learn a lot from only a few games: he seemed to do well with clear plans and calm waters. Or so I thought!

He opted to dispute that assessment with a provocative opening choice, but I'm afraid to say he gave a masterclass in how not to prepare for a game:

However well-prepared you are, it's not possible to analyse everything right to the end (trust me, I've tried...) and 99% of the time you do eventually have to play chess. All you can do is set your opponent problems (perhaps insoluble ones, if they have a sloppy repertoire) and steer the game towards a position you're familiar and comfortable with. I think that Costley lost sight of this simple fact.

His opening choice was flawed on several grounds. Even if you don't know me or this blog, my published games make it very obvious that I'm at home in sharp mainlines. The Polugaevsky is theoretically suspect, so if I do remember the lines then you get a bad position (even getting most of the way there was enough.) He rattled down the absolute mainline, making it easier for me to remember and more difficult for him when I diverted with a weak move. But above all, he wasn't comfortable with the resulting position. Almost all of us below master level find a rearguard action hopelessly difficult - including my opponent, to judge by his earlier games. Putting the dark-squared bishop on c5 had far-reaching consequences, and allowing me to play Rb3 with tempo was suicidal.

I won't have the memory for games like this forever, so I guess I should enjoy it while it lasts. 19. Qxe4? was a stupid way to slip out of theory (it's a simple comparison exercise!) which could have been punished on a different day. The game was similar to the previous round in that I built up a winning attack with strong and simple moves but then stumbled when given a chance to convert it - this time the critical moment came on move 24. As usual I was looking at the right candidate moves but couldn't overcome some roadblocks down the line. Once again I was redeemed by a positional advantage so great that gravity did the work for me.

2/2 from kind pairings was all I would have expected, but this made it a real lightning start - massive for a momentum player. I was surprised to find myself playing a 170 in the fourth round, and whilst I had black against a super-solid line to look forward to, it was another opportunity which I would have to take.