4NCL Round 7

I was on 3/6 in the Open Congress with one game to play, a respectable standing though one of those 3 points was a default so only a slightly disappointing 2/5 from games played. Up against someone I'd played before, same colours, same opening, and despite checking it out just before the game I still managed to mess it up a little. Escaped to equality (just a shade better, perhaps) and was happy to settle for a draw though if there had been more at stake I could have played on a little. But I hadn't seen the engine's suggestion for a small advantage, so it's surely a fair result. Final result of 3.5/7 and I think I might have gained a couple of rating points (but no more). Enjoyable and interesting games for the most part anyway, and I look forward to the next season. Here is the game, it wasn't terribly exciting:

In the last round of the team event we had a very small chance of a promotion spot but as well as needing to win big, it also required other results to go our way so wasn't entirely in our hands. I had a very comfortable win against a significantly lower rated player who started out with a rather dodgy gambit (probably played as a blunder, though the line does have a name). From then on I dominated and won a piece with (I thought) a nicely constructed 7-move tactical sequence ending with a fork of piece and mate, which I was pleased about as I've been working on more consciously creating tactics out of identifiable elements rather than just waiting for blunders to fall into my lap. I made slightly heavy weather of finishing things off after that but was never in any danger.

Perhaps the most interesting feature of this game is that neither player made any 'blunders" at all (nor even any "mistakes" until the game was won), it was decided by a lot of slightly inaccurate moves creating an overwhelming position for me. That's the second such game I've had in recent weeks. Chess isn't all about making the next-to-last blunder, even at our level!

The team won 3-1 but our rivals for the 2nd spot also won, so there was nothing we could have done to leapfrog them and we finished a creditable 3rd place in the division. Last season we were 6th and only missed relegation by a tie-break, so we're moving in the right direction and we should be well in the mix again next time.