Horsham 1 scored an important win over Worthing 1 last Tuesday. I was able to make an important contribution by holding a draw in my game, with the score at 2.5-1.5 in our favour; this gave us a 3-2 win.
My opponent surprised me a little by chosing to go into the Open Sicilian as White, rather than the Grand Prix Attack, which he had employed in many games. As a result, I got to play my first Najdorf in over five years. The game developed in an acceptable fashion, and I reached a position where I could have taken a draw by repetition; however, looking at the other games remaining, I though I might need to try to win, so I kept the game going. As it happened, I ran into trouble, but fortunately my opponent didn’t take his chances, and the game was level by the time we adjourned. After looking at it overnight, we agreed that it was a draw.
I give the game below with some notes.