4NCL Round 4

First up, the 4th round of the Open Congress. A win here would propel me to the upper echelons of the table, a loss would leave me mid-table. After a slightly dodgy opening where (playing black) I over-reached with my central pawns, I had established equality and was hopeful of eking out an advantageous endgame when disaster struck with a silly oversight that rapidly collapsed my position.

Frustrating when that happens, but it's part of the game. Ah well, 3 more rounds to go.

Then the team match, and we were up against a beatable opposition (we hoped). I was black again, facing another 1900 (OTB) opponent. Started out with a Panov Caro which I'm not very familiar with, but it went ok and I found myself in a lovely endgame with great pressure agains his weak pawns. Unfortunately I missed a tactic for a clean win, had to fight for a while in a complicated position and lost the plot under time pressure, eventually flagging while working out how to take advantage of my opponent's blunder!

I'm disappointed about the loss and even more so about the fortnight's result of 0/2 which doesn't seem a fair reflection of the way I played. On the other hand, at least I did play well in the second game and was winning for the large majority of the game (including as my flag fell). A disadvantage of my e-board setup is that I don't get to see the clock clearly. My laptop is away to the side out of my line of sight, so maybe I should arrange things a bit better. Regardless of the way it ended, I had a bit of a melt-down under time pressure anyway. I must try to keep better control.

Due to a default on Board 2 and a late swindle on Board 3, we won the match anyway. A relief as it would have been annoying to have cost the team a win with my debacle.