Last night I scored an extremely lucky win against Paul Taylor in the Horsham Chess Club Championship. Although early on I had the opportunity to secure a slight advantage, I passed this by, and instead developed my position very ineffectively. My opponent was able to build up a very strong attacking formation. However, although he retained the better chances until very near the end of the game, he was never quite able to put me away. Finally, he slipped up in a most unusual endgame position, and I was able to snatch victory at the death.
The game is given below with fairly light notes. At quite a few points, Black could have pressed his advantage home with the thematic …f4, but failed to do so. It is notable that in the endgame, his pawns were very strong even when a piece – or even two – down.