A much more solid set of performances were put in by the Kenilworth contingent today, to varying degrees of satisfaction. Paul will probably be the most disappointed person at only achieving a draw, simply because of how good a position he obtained out of the opening. After Paul played a mainline Dunst (1. Nc3 d5 2. e4 d4 3. Nce2) it did not appear that his opponent knew the correct plans to adopt in the position, wasting quite a number of moves shuffling his knights around, and giving Paul time to build up a nice initiative on the kingside. Unfortunately, at the crucial moment, where a continuation was available that would win material by force, Paul failed to play it at the position soon swung back to equality. Whilst in normal circumstances missing a non-obvious winning move would not be a disaster, it was particularly disappointing as Paul had in fact seen the moved, and did realize how strong it was. Unfortunately, he also saw another move which he thought provided an equal simple advantage. Sadly, it did not.
Mark, I would imagine, will be somewhat more contented with his solid draw with the black pieces. As black, he played what I think can only be described as a Warwickshire specialty (given how many players from the area use the line), a reversed Grand Prix attack against the English Opening (1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 f5). I don't know if the opening has any other names, but I very rarely see it played by anyone from outside the Kenilworth and Coventry clubs. It did, however, seem to provide Mark with a perfectly adequate position, and more importantly he also had much more time on the clock than he has had in many of his previous games. I don't know if this was a conscious decision or simply a result of getting into a position he understood better, but fortunately on this occasion time trouble induced blunders were avoided, and a draw was soon reached.
I had a slightly unpleasant experience in my morning game, where I misplayed the move order in the opening quite badly, and ended up having to give up a piece for two pawns to avoid falling into a very passive position. My two extra pawns were, however, connected central pawns and hence I still had good chances of holding the game, even as we went into an endgame of rook and knight against rook. The computer seems to tell me that with precise play a draw can be held, but in practice the extra piece gives the defender so many chances to go wrong, and unsurprisingly I went wrong, getting my king cut off on the side of the board, leaving my rook far too much work to do to hold the game. There is absolutely nothing interesting to be said about my afternoon game. My opponent was white, messed up the opening, and basically forced an immediate draw, which I couldn't really avoid. The shortest standardplay game I've had so far in tournament (and short than quite a few of the rapidplay games).
Just the very end of a game from the championship to show you today, as evidence that it is not just us who manage to blunder horribly in approximately level positions. Black is absolutely fine, but after one terrible move he is forced to resign instantly.
Summary thus far:
Total score by Kenilworth players: 49/109
Score against titled players: 0/4
My personal performance:
Played: 37
Wins: 16
Losses: 14
Draws: 7
Well played endgames: 11
Atrocious blunders: 9
Games won through opponent's illegal moves: 1
Mark, I would imagine, will be somewhat more contented with his solid draw with the black pieces. As black, he played what I think can only be described as a Warwickshire specialty (given how many players from the area use the line), a reversed Grand Prix attack against the English Opening (1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 f5). I don't know if the opening has any other names, but I very rarely see it played by anyone from outside the Kenilworth and Coventry clubs. It did, however, seem to provide Mark with a perfectly adequate position, and more importantly he also had much more time on the clock than he has had in many of his previous games. I don't know if this was a conscious decision or simply a result of getting into a position he understood better, but fortunately on this occasion time trouble induced blunders were avoided, and a draw was soon reached.
I had a slightly unpleasant experience in my morning game, where I misplayed the move order in the opening quite badly, and ended up having to give up a piece for two pawns to avoid falling into a very passive position. My two extra pawns were, however, connected central pawns and hence I still had good chances of holding the game, even as we went into an endgame of rook and knight against rook. The computer seems to tell me that with precise play a draw can be held, but in practice the extra piece gives the defender so many chances to go wrong, and unsurprisingly I went wrong, getting my king cut off on the side of the board, leaving my rook far too much work to do to hold the game. There is absolutely nothing interesting to be said about my afternoon game. My opponent was white, messed up the opening, and basically forced an immediate draw, which I couldn't really avoid. The shortest standardplay game I've had so far in tournament (and short than quite a few of the rapidplay games).
Just the very end of a game from the championship to show you today, as evidence that it is not just us who manage to blunder horribly in approximately level positions. Black is absolutely fine, but after one terrible move he is forced to resign instantly.
Summary thus far:
Total score by Kenilworth players: 49/109
Score against titled players: 0/4
My personal performance:
Played: 37
Wins: 16
Losses: 14
Draws: 7
Well played endgames: 11
Atrocious blunders: 9
Games won through opponent's illegal moves: 1
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