The Major Open has changed a lot in two years though; now that it's clearly the best way to qualify for the strengthened Championship, it attracts plenty of 190+ interest and in my view is the big success story of the recent format changes. I was seeded 24th of 80, and started with white against Matthew Wilson (159/1817) - a chance to make up for our first encounter. Unfortunately, whilst I didn't lose this time, the game was otherwise very similar:
Surefooted through the middlegame, but unsteady and uncertain once the hard work was out of the way - not exactly anything new. It's a pity though, because I was very encouraged by the level I displayed for the first 23 moves. I was ready for his opening surprise, came armed with a new idea, and by playing on both wings in the sequence from 16-18 (showing good dynamic understanding in the process) I managed to stretch Black's position to breaking point.
It's the conversion that is always the problem - something that challenges you to hold your nerve and be patient for hours at a time. This is very difficult when your confidence is shaky; what you want is certainty, and you can't get it when the win is materialising slowly. Even though I knew exactly what to do in general terms, until you see a concrete win there's always some doubt, and the thought that one slip could ruin it all. It's no coincidence that my longest win of the tournament took 33 moves. It gives me second thoughts about trying to play calm chess if I then have to win all of my games twice.
So much for some early momentum, and things would get worse before they got better.
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