On top of the world

Mid-tournament insomnia was something I had to deal with last summer in Bournemouth, and when it struck again in Llandudno I had the tournament situation to ponder too. Although the game against Sugden left a bitter taste, I was very happy to have guessed my next pairing wrongly; although Morgan Blake (183/1833) was no slouch, he wasn't the 194-graded top seed I really wanted to play with white, and that made me inexplicably optimistic.

For the second time in four rounds, I was ambushed in the opening - although this time I only had myself to blame. But I was desperate to cling on, and what followed was an epic in every sense of the word:

Although no-one knew it at the time, with this game I realised a longstanding dream and qualified for next year's British Championship. I think it was a worthy performance, even if some of the smoother processions in earlier rounds were objectively better. I was surprised in the opening but kept my cool even after unwittingly sacrificing the exchange, dug in deep when I lost control, seized my one fleeting chance to turn the tables yet again, and finally overcame dogged resistance in the queen ending to grind out a very special win after more than 5 hours' play.

That unusual grittiness means most to me, but the game itself was instructive in all stages. When facing the Maroczy Bind it's essential to grab any counterplay offered, so 14... d5!? at least stands as a good practical try (as well as an appalling tactical oversight!) I knew that there would be some compensation for the exchange, but not as much as there was - and there could have been even more if I'd involved my bishop on move 24. From there I stumbled into a battle for the c-file which I tried to win by forcing moves alone and therefore lost, before getting some counterplay and finally a nice tactic to reach a won ending. Even then, converting it took a long time; it's hard to convey the problems in the heat of the moment when the engine blankly tells you that everything wins.

In the space of 24 hours I'd gone from gloom to euphoria. With 5½/6 I now led by a clear point, three rounds from the end. I had a grading performance of 213 at this stage, and for one fleeting moment my FIDE rating nudged over the 2000 mark. So far everything had gone fantastically - now I merely had to win the tournament.