Arrogance at the chessboard

A few years ago I read an Aagaard article in which he argues that a repertoire can either be principled (narrow so you know the positions, but solid so you can't be prep-bombed) or opportunistic (avoiding pitched battle in the opening at all costs). But I've always wondered if you can have an arrogant repertoire - playing the same sharp positions all the time and daring people to try and out-prepare you. It's risky of course, but even in wilder games understanding can outweigh surprise and it's possible to win big when your opponents get it wrong. 

In round 2 I was paired with black against Kishan Modi (173/1778). I didn't really know what to expect for this game, but I was advised to expect a theoretical fight and that proved to be correct. Sure enough, he got his surprise in first, but there is a lot more to effective preparation than that:

At professional level it might be another matter, but for lowly amateurs I think the arrogant strategy can work if you put the effort in. That's mainly because the general standard of preparation is so low! (As I also found out in the summer.) 10. f5 was a nice try, but 12. Bxf6 is too committal to play without something concrete in mind. White really misses his dark-squared bishop - for example, in the 13. Nd5 variation Black could never get away with castling if it was on the board, since White just plays g4-g5-g6 and meets ...h6 with Bxh6. Basically then we get an uncharted Najdorf where White has already made some concessions; what does he think is going to happen? It's a pity I didn't play 13... Bb7, when the game could have ended very quickly.

Where you can't be arrogant though is in the middlegame, and I have to admit that I got carried away by the successful opening. I was far too outlandish (17... Rc5?!, 21... b5?) and didn't see that Modi was finding good ideas in a position I refused to credit with any resources at all. I was deservedly outplayed in this part of the game, but redeemed by the careless 26. Nc1, which allowed me to get the ...d5 break and take back the initiative with decisive effect. Even this might be ascribed to the opening in a way though: if you know that ...d5 is the big idea in this structure then it becomes apparent that the sorry knight on a2 was in fact contributing to White's position.

Not a routine smash then, but the sort of game I win too often: relying on good positions to bail out my conversion. I was happily oblivious to it all at the time and only knew that I'd reached 2/2 without (I thought) ever being in real danger. That left me as hopeful as I could be given what I had to face up to next.