Ancient wisdom

"But didn't you say you'd have more time now you're not working?" Yes, although it seems you can never have enough time to do everything - or at least not the drive. Needs must though, and I'm still five games behind, so back to Kidlington for the Sunday morning round.

I was playing Dave Hackett (187) after the inevitable overnight withdrawals were factored in. No preparation then, but that didn't really matter as he happily gave me an overwhelming position from the opening. But I missed too many chances, even after outplaying him from an equal position, and was bound to pay the price in the end:

When I first referred to 'ancient wisdom' in the notes it was just a throwaway line, but the more I thought about, the more it seemed that a lot of what happened in this game arose from both players ignoring well-known principles. Whether it was Black giving away space, development and a colour complex in the opening yet assuming that his miserable position would be bulletproof, me placing a knight passively on g3, both of us believing that tactics don't always arise naturally from a better position, or (fatally) me failing to keep my king active in the ending, there were far too many mistakes in this game.

After the various adventures of the opening and middlegame had died down, this was yet another game that boiled down to me getting outplayed in an uncomfortable ending that was nevertheless well within the drawing the margin. My games against Wall and Claridge-Hansen spring to mind, and there's another in the queue. Three of the four beneficiaries are 200+ (two of them FMs), and the fourth was 197 in the previous list. So am I choking over and over again, or is my endgame play not up to scratch? Against Wall and Hackett I was clearly aware of the importance of active play, but failed to apply the principle consistently, and against Claridge-Hansen all I needed to do was move my king one square further down the board. The reader will have to wait for the fourth game, but can probably see a pattern emerging.

Before all that though came the last round at Kidlington. If you enjoyed my ludicrously deep theoretical coverage during the LJCC Open then you're in for a treat, although the setting is a little different this time...