Writing my traditional review of another six months' slowplay games is a little easier than it was last time, since I have 32 games to use rather than 21. Even so, with most of my metrics turning on their heads again I have to wonder if annual analysis would be more helpful. Still, I have in the numbers in front of me now!
Performance by colour went from one extreme to the other. I had an astonishing 196 (+9 =3 -3) showing as black, largely fuelled by 5½/6 (213!) with the Sicilian, but slipped right back to 173 (+5 =4 -8) as white. I got more Sicilians than everything else combined, but the main culprit was the French, which yielded only two losses to lower-graded players in messy Winawer lines. Whilst the average of my white opponents was a bit higher (182 vs. 177) I don't think it had much bearing; I'm just doing better at imposing my sort of game with the black bits at the moment.
In 2016-17 the Young clan could have lived comfortably off of my 4NCL and county games, but they'd have gone hungry on a 167 performance (+1 =1 -3). The fact that finding a study-like way to lose with a clear extra piece deprived me of a 187 showing does illustrate the peril of small sample sizes though. The appalling Weald Congress and strong LJCC Congress cancelled out for 174 (+4 =2 -5), my 'real' tournament showing, the Major Open, was 195 (+5 =2 -2), but all this was trumped by an evening league performance of 198 (+4 =2 -1). Yes, the flavour of chess I've tried to axe because I always underperform.
I did make one big breakthrough: I have started beating 190s consistently (+3 =2 -3, and 3/4 post-Llandudno). Now I can start targeting 200s, where I'm still scoring 0%. Worse, I had wobbles against 170s after beating them so reliably beforehand, mustering only +1 =0 -3 (although a strong +8 =1 -1 below that). Has complacency set in? I don't think so - the offending games just show that anyone can beat me if they randomise enough.
Draw offers are a loose metric of my nerves, and were bound to increase in number after the record lows of last season. I offered nine draws - four of them in the later rounds of the Major Open - and received six, for an offer frequency of 0.47/game (up from 0.14). Interestingly I did well after a refusal whoever made the offer: four of my nine offers were declined and I scored +3 =0 -1; five of the six I received were spurned for +3 =1 -1. That shows in a high performance in long games, although the limited data rears its head again: 188 for games of 0-29 moves, 188 again for 30-39, 159 for 40-49 and 191 for 50+. Exactly what that means, who can say?
Overall I got +14 =7 -11 for a 184 performance, which would be 191 if not for my simply disgraceful play at the Weald. That seems fair, but I have been very streaky: after Weald (138 from 4 games) came a lightning start to the Major Open (213 from 6 games), before I stumbled at the finish line and lost my self-belief for the next couple of months (168 from 9 games); I then regained it by beating a couple of 140s and suddenly got some excellent results again (202 from 11 games) but more reverses at the crunch end of the London Junior carried over gloom into the next list (151 from 5 games). Unfortunately that's just who I am; I think I recover from even bad losses quite quickly, but at the subconscious level it doesn't seem to be so. I can sum up this review exactly as I did the last one: "when I played well, I played very well; when I played badly, anything could go wrong." It does seem though that whenever I make progress on a weakness, it rears up again as soon as I move on. Slow time controls, draw offers, games against 170s and games with the white pieces were the culprits this time. Who knows what I'll be shaking my head at in six months' time?
With 2017 out of the way I still find myself five games in arrears, with another four to come at Kidlington this weekend - but at least I can't plead lack of time any more. First of all was the second 4NCL weekend of the season; junior teams are inevitably short-staffed in January and so I found myself scaling chilly heights on the board order.
No comments:
Post a Comment