In history lies all the secrets

"Ah, the pride and sorrow of CSC..." someone joked as I came into the office this morning. It seems that everyone already knows how I got on in the Major Open, but it's still my duty to chronicle it all over again. I can't really complain at my fate; I played some nice games, gained a lot of rating points and achieved one of my great ambitions by qualifying for next year's Championship. I also learnt some painful lessons, but they're still a few posts away. I can start with the happier memories.

I didn't come to Llandudno in great spirits. The 4NCL was the last time I'd been on form, and the Weald Congress had been particularly disheartening. The obscurity of North Wales wasn't appealing, and I was reminded of that on the way home by a 7-hour journey. But there were some plus sides: I'd taken the week beforehand off work to get ready (even getting my brother to play a game resembling tennis with me in a bid to address my glorious lack of stamina) one game a day is clearly my strongest suit right now, and Llandudno turned out to be a nice seaside town, with everything close together and a picturesque 15-minute walk to the venue each day. I was even in a good B&B this time. That made it easy to settle into a good routine.

An obvious sign of my progress over the last 12 months was that I was the higher seed for my first round game - although, with FIDE ratings as jumbled as ever, I was lucky to avoid a 178 and 177 as the lower seed on the adjacent boards. Instead I played a young WCM from Wales, Shayanna Sivarajasingam (147/1774), with black. Whilst it took a long time to make any headway against her very solid opening repertoire, I eventually noticed a lost opportunity from her recent practice and was only too happy to let her offer it up again:

Good preparation isn't just about finding the best moves - you have to factor in the human element. I'm in two minds whether my decision to go into the 11... d5 line was good judgement or a reckless gamble, but my intuitive feeling that my opponent hadn't checked the earlier game proved accurate, and if I'd been wrong I'd have got nothing worse than stale equality. The line I avoided, 9... Nc6 10. Nde2 Qe6!?, would have been fine too, but it looked easier for White to play.

However, after I won a piece I can't say I covered myself in glory. My diminished confidence showed at times, particularly in my reaction to White reaching the seventh rank. The reader can imagine the visions I was having at that moment. It got to the point when I had to think quite concretely about how to win with an extra piece, but that was probably a good warm-up for the challenges ahead in the end; a wake-up call but nothing more.

For round 2 the Swiss pairing gods smiled on me again, and I got the lowest seed in the score group. I also got a chance to avenge the game right before this one!