Last night I played Anthony Higgs in the final of the Quickplay Knockout. In order to finish the competition problem, Anthony and Brian Donnelly had arranged to play their Semi-Final, then for me to play the winner all on the same club evening. Anthony overcame Brian 2.5-1.5 in a tightly-contested match, before taking me on in the final.
Our first game saw me gain the initiative as Black, but this fizzled out and we agreed a draw. The second game saw Anthony obtain a good position out of the opening. I attempted an unsound sacrifice, but fortunately Anthony did not find the correct defence, and I emerged a pawn ahead. However, I did not play the most accurate moves to exploit my advantage, then I contrived to lose on time as I became engrossed in the position, trying to work out how to exploit my extra pawn! This win gave Anthony the match and victory in the competition.
I give the game below with some notes.
In the first game my 19th (whilst maybe being poor) was not an accidental blunder, with my passive position I was aiming to activate pieces with 19…Nxc3 20.Bxc3 Rxe3 21.Qd4. An unfortunate end to the second game, I thought I had used up my luck against Brian but it kept running for me…