Game 5 - Mick Riding (1854) vs Zak Tomlinson (1745)
I was already happy with my score of 2.5, so any result here is a bonus.
For my efforts, I have Black vs a player who's current ECF is 171 but has been higher.
I did some quick prep on him too, seeing he plays a variety but quite often 1.b3
The Nimzowitch-Larsen attack starts with this move.
I recall a lucky win I had in this opening to win £500 in Blackpool last year,
where after I posted the game I was advised by GP and one other to play 3...a6,
so that White does not have the awkward Bb5 move. I took that lesson on board, literally.
That game was in this thread, game 5:
Thread 180401
Could I win again, but this time vs a much stronger opponent?
[Event "Harrogate Major"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2020.01.19"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Riding, Mick"]
[Black "Tomlinson, Zak"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A01"]
[PlyCount "44"]
1. b3 e5 2. Bb2 Nc6 3. e3 a6 {That takes care of that, I smiled internally when playing this} 4. Nf3 d6 5. c4 Be7 {Unfortunately, I'm not too familiar with how Black is supposed to coordinate from here, so all my moves now are made purely at the board} 6. Nc3 f5 7. d4 e4 {Whilst he was thinking, I realised that d5 might be good for him and started looking for responses} 8. Nd2 {? Computer's agree that d5 was best for White to gain a slight advantage, now it's even} Nf6 9. Be2 O-O 10. O-O Qe8 {Allows the Queen to get in the game} 11. f3 Qg6 {White wasn't too happy with the position here, plenty of head shaking... good news for me!} 12. fxe4 {? He probably didn't want to make this move, as it helps bring my light-squared Bishop in the game (shades of round 2) computer's prefer locking down with f4} fxe4 13. Rf4 {? Kh1 was better, now Black can create further weaknesses with Bh3, threatening mate and provoking g3} Bf5 {? I honestly considered Bh3 but decided it wouldn't come to anything and e4 could fall if I'm not careful} 14. Kh1 h5 15. h3 Qh7 {Gets opposite the King and allows g5} 16. Qg1 g5 17. Rf2 {I was feeling excited about my attack, but on this move I couldn't find any way for it to progress... Nb4 has been a suggestion a few times already by computer's, but I never once seriously considered it} h4 {I played h4 instead to ensure White's g-pawn couldn't move, also freeing the h5 square for my Knight one day} 18. Raf1 Bg6 19. a3 {White was also struggling to find moves... after only 19 moves, we had used roughly an hour each of our times} Rae8 20. g4 {? Bd1 was a suggested move, looking for Bc2 to attack e4, now Nxd4 is available for Black, pushing e3 if taken} hxg3 {? Instead, my thoughts were that g4 was a mistake because the h-file becomes semi-open, exposing White's King slightly} 21. Qxg3 Qh6 {Defends g5 and frees the h7 square, potentially to place a Rook on} 22. Kg2 {Well this plan could now be met with Rh1... I once again can't find a way through, engines score the game around +1.00 in White's favour now} Bd8 {I played this to defend e4 and offered a draw... Mick said he'd think for a minute, but soon shook my hand saying he had just been offered a lift home. It's likely that if this was an earlier round he would have played on.} 1/2-1/2
Mick Riding
Inaccuracies - 3
Mistakes - 3
Blunders - 0
Average centipawn loss - 30
Zak Tomlinson
Inaccuracies - 1
Mistakes - 1
Blunders - 2
Average centipawn loss - 36
-------------------------
My first Major of 2020 delivers a positive result!
3/5 is never enough to win prizes of course, but I'm happy with the effort.
My tournament FIDE performance rating was 1853, the ECF equivalent was 164.
If I'd have found that tactic in round 1 it would've been even better!
As always, the tournament crosstable is here:
http://chess-results.com/tnr507476.aspx?lan=1&art=4&flag=30
My one loss was to a guy who won all 4 of his games, finishing in joint 1st with 4.5/5.
Our ECF grade's get updated this month.
I'm currently 149, but predict it will go down slightly... maybe 145, but could be wrong.
The next congress is my local, in Doncaster... why not join in?
Info here:
https://mannchess.org.uk/doncong.htm
Cheers all,
Zak