This year, Sussex qualified for the National Stages of the County Championship. We were drawn against Greater Manchester, and the match was played at Tyseley & District Working Mens Club in Birmingham. Even though the match was reduced to twelve boards, we were still only able to raise a team of ten, which meant that we defaulted on two of them. This handicap meant that we were up against it from that start, and in the end we were unable to overcome the deficit.
On a personal note, I was pleased to have finally won a game in the National Stages. My opponent played an unfashionable line as White against my Nimzo-Indian, and I soon got a good game. After some subsequent errors, I was able to break through on the kingside, and my opponent promptly resigned.
I give the game below with some notes.
I knew it, a Philidor player at heart! 🙂